Press Update (12:30 p.m. LT)
Over 3,700 Ethiopian Troops Decimated on Assab Front;
Large Quantities of Medium and Small Weapons Seized

The large scale attack that Ethiopia launched yesterday on the Assab front has been totally foiled with the Ethiopian army suffering huge losses.

Ethiopia deployed two divisions in the fighting that raged from 3:30 until 10:00 a.m. in the morning and that continued in the late afternoon until 7:00 p.m.

Ethiopia's 38th division was almost decimated. All in all, 3,755 Ethiopia troops were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Several heavy armoured vehicles were destroyed.

Large quantities of medium and small arms, and communications radios were captured.

Ethiopia first denied the occurrence of fighting yesterday but later admitted to small scale skirmishes as a "continuation of provocations by Eritrea the previous day." Ethiopian statements were contradictory even then, claiming on Friday that the "provocation" was by two Eritrean "platoons" which were presented the next day as "two battalions."

The Assab front was quiet today apart from intermittent shelling that started around 10:00 this morning.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Asmara, 4 June 2000