Ethiopia said today that it had launched a major counter offensive against Eritrea hours after its neighbour accepted a comprehensive peace plan that includes a cease-fire.
On May 31, Ethiopia said its two-year war with Eritrea was over because it had accomplished all its aims and recovered captured territory.Government spokeswoman Selome Tadesse said Ethiopian troops were responding to “provocations by the Eritrean army” on western, central and eastern fronts.Selome said Ethiopian troops at the Bure front in southeastern Eritrea near the major Red Sea port of Assab had been reinforced, and fighting continued there for the third straight day Saturday.The Ethiopian offensive at the Guluj and Tesseney fronts in western Eritrea near the Sudanese border Sudan’s border began at 4 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) “in line with instructions to the defense forces to deal decisively with any provocative attacks by the Eritrean army.”Selome accused the Eritreans of attacking Ethiopian troops while they were withdrawing in northwestern Ethiopia’s Humera region.There was also fighting around Senafe, an Eritrean town 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of the capital, Asmara, that the Ethiopians captured shortly before May 31, Selome said.The spokeswoman said Eritrea had attacked retreating Ethiopian troops to “convince the international community that that it was regaining the upper hand.”Eritrean officials could not be reached for comment Saturday.The Ethiopian offensive began hours after Eritrea Friday announced it had agreed to a 15-point peace deal worked out by the Organization of African Unity. The agreement includes a cease-fire, stationing of peacekeepers along contested border areas and outside demarcation of the contested 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) border, Eritrean government officials said late Friday.Eritrea accepted the plan follwoing indirect peace talks in Algiers. Algeria holds the current chair of the 53-member organization.Ethiopia’s position following Eritrea’s acceptance was not immediately clear.In New York, Eritrea’s U.N. Ambassador Haile Menkarios said his country was calling on the international community “to take strong action against Ethiopia in the event that Addis Ababa rejects the OAU proposal.”The neighbors, among the world’s 10 poorest countries, have been battling since 1998 over their disputed 620-mile (1,000-kilometer) border.

The war has cost the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians.Selome said there was no fighting Friday but said Ethiopian forces had responded to an Eritrean “provocation” Thursday night.. Ethiopia yesterday said thousands of its citizens had been rounded up in Eritrea and held in camps following an intensification of the two-year border conflict between the Horn of Africa neighbours. Ethiopia yesterday said thousands of its citizens had been rounded up in Eritrea and held in camps following an intensification of the two-year border conflict between the Horn of Africa neighbours.
The attaché Wondimu Degefa, the most senior Ethiopian diplomat in Eritrea, said 8,000 Ethiopians were under detention at several sites. He said: “I have detailed information about the numbers who have disappeared. Where are they now? They have not been sent back to Ethiopia, so they must be in camps.”The Red Cross said it visited a camp at Shikete, near Asmara, the capital, where 2,000 Ethiopians were held but had not been granted access to other alleged camps. Bruce Orina, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Asmara, said: “Our delegates visited Shikete but there is concern about other places we have heard about where we have not been granted access.” An estimated 80,000 Ethiopians live in Eritrea, more than half in the capital, working as silversmiths, shopkeepers and labourers.Since the war began in May 1998, tens of thousands of Eritreans living in Ethiopia have been rounded up and dumped across the border.Eritrea, a province of Ethiopia until 1993, says its policy is more lenient, offering voluntary repatriation to Ethiopians wishing to return home.

Yemane Gebremeskel, Eritrea’s presidential adviser, said those at Shikete were there for their own safety, because they lived in a battle zone or were at risk of reprisal attacks from locals. Mr Yemane said the Red Cross would be given “unlimited access” to any other sites it wished to visit.But the issue of Red Cross access to Ethiopian prisoners of war is unresolved. While Ethiopia has given some access to Eritrean prisoners, Red Cross officials have been unable to visit Ethiopian soldiers captured on the other side of the front line.Eritrea is not yet a signatory to the Geneva Conventions. Mr Yemane said negotiations were continuing with the Red Cross, which he said did little to help Eritrean guerrillas during their 30-year war of liberation against Ethiopia. Mr Yemane said: “We are still negotiating about access to prisoners. We feel sooner or later it will be sorted out.” He declined to say how many Ethiopian prisoners were being held.Yesterday Eritrea accused Ethiopia of launching a fresh offensive near its Red Sea port of Assab as talks aimed at ending the war between inched along. Artillery, soldiers and aircraft were said to have attacked Eritrean positions on Thursday 23 miles from Assab.