Press Release
Update on the Fighting on the Burie (Assab) Front

Heavy shelling continued at press time on the Burie front that began at 6:30 a.m. this morning.

The Ethiopian attack along the Burie front line raises serious issues of motive as the TPLF regime does not have claims on this territory.

One MI-24 helicopter gunship was shot down by air defense units of the Eritrean Armed Forces and crashed behind Eritrean defense lines. Its pilot, Captain Eshetu Bekele (Military ID No. 216/85), was killed. The other crew members could not be identified.

Ethiopia had violated the moratorium on air strikes by employing helicopter gunships and fighter planes in previous fighting on the Mereb-Setit and Alitena-Mereb fronts earlier this week. The agreement, which was brokered by President Clinton on 14 June 1998, required the party opting out from the arrangement to notify the United States Government in advance. The TPLF regime failed to do so, prompting President Clinton "to urge the Ethiopian government to refrain from a further use of its aircraft as currently employed along the border" in a statement that the White House released on 9 February 1999.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asmara, 14 February 1999