Press Release
Ethiopia's Intentions to Unleash War Cannot Be Disguised

The Government of Eritrea had issued a statement on January 12 warning of Ethiopia's planned attack against Eritrea. This warning is based on various indicators including tangible activities on the ground, reports leaked by Western intelligence sources and accounts of defecting Ethiopian soldiers whose number is increasing each day.

But, in characteristic fashion, the Ethiopian Government is trying to deny these facts, accusing Eritrea of "drawing attention to a fictitious impending offensive." It has moreover resorted to well-known distortions to portray Eritrea as desirous of impeding the OAU peace process underway. In reality, however,

1. It is Ethiopia which has inexplicably declared on 6 January 1999 that the "peace proces has come to an end." This happened despite the fact that the OAU High-Level Delegation remains seized of the border dispute in accordance with the decision of the Central Organ. Eritrea has explicitly reaffirmed, through its letter of December 18, its desire to cooperate with the OAU to promote the process underway.

2. The OAU has not "ascertained that Eritrea is the aggressor" as the Ethiopian statement falsely asserts. Paragraph 7 of the OAU proposal, indeed, reads: "In order to determine the origins of the conflict, an investigation be carried out on the incidents of 6 May 1998 and any other incident prior to that date which could have contributed to a misunderstanding between the two Parties regarding their common border, including the incidents of July-August 1997." Eritrea has welcomed this proposal. But Ethiopia has been opposed to any investigation because it knows that it was the aggressor party which launched the unprovoked attack on May 6, 1998, and the party that committed aggression in Bada and Badme in July 1997.

3. It was Ethiopia that escalated the armed clashes in Badme to the entire boundary between the two countries: declaring total war on May 13th; launching an attack on the Zalambesa front on May 31, 1998; and, the first air strike on Asmara on 5 June 1998.

4. Finally, Ethiopia has rejected the call for a cessation of hostilities although this is the primary point in the OAU proposal as well as UN Security Council resolutions.

Indeed, if Ethiopia has no intentions of launching war, then it should have no qualms on agreeing to a cessation of hostilities, including a total ban on air strikes.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asmara, 15 January 1999