THE NEW YORK TIMES
MARCH 18, 1999

Eritrea displays enemy war dead
'Drama staged,' Ethiopia claims

Ian Fisher

The New York Times

Eritrea said yesterday that it had repulsed Ethiopian troops after a three-
day battle along their disputed border in fighting that cost the lives of at
least several hundred soldiers and perhaps many more.

Eritrea seemed so confident of victory that the army escorted foreign
journalists to the front on Tuesday for the first time in nearly a month.
Reuters reported that at least 300 Ethiopian soldiers lay dead along a
small stretch of the central front.

But Ethiopia called it a "drama staged for foreign journalists,"
accusing Eritrea of planting its own dead and burnt-out tanks in the
battlefield to improve its image after suffering a major defeat to the west
late last month.

"How do those reporting know that . . . the smell of rotting corpses
indeed comes from dead Ethiopian soldiers?" Ethiopia said in a
statement.

Foreign diplomats in both nations said they generally
believed Eritrea's version of the battles, which began early
Sunday.

Yemane Ghebremeskel, an Eritrean spokesman, ridiculed Ethiopia's
suggestion that it had planted the bodies. "They have suffered a big
defeat and they want to downplay it," he said.

The war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, though a local dispute in the
remote highlands on the Horn of Africa, has been a major concern to
outside nations, in part because of the question of casualties.
Estimates by diplomats and military analysts run from 10,000 dead to
twice that, or more. Each side is well armed.

The dispute dates back to 1993, when Eritrea separated amicably
from Ethiopia, but their 965-kilometre border was not settled. Fighting
broke out in May, 1998, when Eritrea claimed the Badame region, the
main area in dispute, and sent in troops.

After an eight-month lull, fighting resumed last month, and Ethiopia
pushed Eritrean soldiers out of Badame. But fighting continues
because Ethiopia asserts that Eritrean troops still occupy three other
areas it says belong to Ethiopia.

TO SEE PICTURES OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR VISIT

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