ERINA Update
(Eritrean News Agency,
Tel:  ++291-1-117627, Fax:  127385)
Friday, August 27, 1999


 
News Agency Reports Fresh Ethiopian Invasion

Press reports from Somalia are reporting another large scale invasion of
western Somali towns by "thousands of Ethiopian troops." Witnesses said
heavily armed mechanized units from the Ethiopian army closed off roads and
sealed a number of villages and towns. Clan elders said troops were
conducting house to house raids, confiscating communications equipment and,
in some cases, torturing residents. Ethiopian troops had made a series of
large scale incursions into Somali towns over the last six months and, even
as far back as 1996, had been occupying towns and villages in western
Somalia.

"Addis Ababa Is Stalling," Says Foreign Minister

Eritrean Minister of Foreign Affairs Haile Woldensae has called on the
international community to "use all their efforts for the implementation of
the OAU peace plan." At a briefing with the diplomatic community in Asmara
yesterday, the minister recapped the recent visit of OAU envoy Ahmed Ouyahia
who delivered "the official document that clearly articulates the
clarifications of the OAU in response to questions raised by Ethiopia
relating to the technical arrangements." Haile pointed out that Eritrea had
already accepted, in full, the three documents comprising the peace package,
which include the Framework Agreement, the Modalities for Implementation,
and the Technical Arrangements. He noted that "Ethiopia has refused to
accept the third document" which, he added, was "merely an elaboration and
technical details of the two political documents endorsed at the OAU Summit
level." Haile said the process had "reached the stage where political and
diplomatic maneuver by the Addis regime should not be tolerated."