1. The Ethiopian government, in a fresh wave of arrests on Saturday and Sunday, continued to detain Eritreans living in Ethiopia, especially in the capital Addis Ababa, sources revealed. Though the exact number is not yet confirmed, the sources said around 2,000 Eritreans were detained. The number includes Eritreans who own small and large-scale businesses. The Ethiopian government has been canceling business licenses of Eritreans expelled from the country. Ethiopian officials have also been appropriating properties belonging to Eritreans.

2. The OAU ministerial committee on the border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia wound up its two-day session on August 2, 1998. The committee, composed of Burkina Faso, Djibouti, and Zimbabwe, reviewed the report submitted to it by the ambassadorial committee appointed to study the origin of the conflict and to propose ways of resolving it. It also held a series of separate talks with the delegations of both countries led by their respective foreign ministers. The ministerial committee is next expected to present its findings and recommendations to the heads of states of the OAU committee on the border conflict. The Eritrean delegation to the mediation talks called for immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities. The delegation also asked for a UN-supervised African peacekeeping force to be assigned to the disputed areas.

3. An Egypt-based Arab journalists' organization called for the cessation of TPLF's inhumane acts of imprisonment and deportation of Eritreans in Ethiopia. During its July 28-30 meeting in Alexandria, the organization noted that the torture the Ethiopian government is inflicting upon the law-abiding Eritreans is illegal. The organization also proposed that the Eritrean-Ethiopian border dispute be settled through legal and peaceful means.

4. Eritrea and Libya signed an agreement yesterday to promote Eritrean-Libyan cooperation in trade, customs, investment, education and culture. Both sides agreed to set up a joint higher commission to oversee the implementation of the agreement. The Eritrean delegation, headed by Minister of Trade and Industry Ali Seid Abdellah, signed the agreement in Libya after areas of cooperation had been identified through joint ministerial sessions. The Eritrean delegation went to Libya on 29 July in line with the bilateral agreement concluded between the two governments to strengthen economic and cultural ties. Earlier, a Libyan delegation visited Eritrea on a similar mission.

Veronica Rentmeesters, Information Officer
Embassy of Eritrea to the US
1708 New Hampshire Ave NW, Washington DC 20009, USA TEL: 202 588 7587 FAX: 202 319 1304
E-M: veronicX@embassyeritrea.org

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