Press Release (7:00 a.m. LT)
Ethiopia Launches Attack on Assab Front

The Ethiopian regime launched an all-out attack on the new Assab front today. The attack started at 3:30 a.m. this morning. Intense fighting was continuing at press time.

The Eritrean front line at Assab is a new front line set at 37 kms. west of the port city. The original front line was at Burrie, which is 71 kms. from the port city and at the established boundary between the two countries. But Eritrea redeployed to this new position in response to the express appeal of the OAU Chairman, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Eritrea completed redeployment to the new front line last Sunday which was verified by the diplomatic community in Eritrea and the international press which visited the area on Tuesday, 30 May 2000.

Ethiopia's offensive on the Assab front deep into Eritrea sovereign territory demonstrates, once again, that the war it has launched has nothing to do with a border conflict. This is purely a war of invasion. It constitutes a fundamental breach of the OAU peace plan and a contemptuous act of betrayal to the OAU Chairman. Ethiopia's offensive on Assab also contravenes UN Security Council Resolutions 1297 and 1298 which call for the respect of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of both countries.

Eritrea calls upon the international community, and the OAU and its partners in particular, to condemn Ethiopia's war of invasion and the offensive that it has launched on the Assab front today to which Eritrea has redeployed in accordance with the OAU appeal.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asmara, 3 June 2000