May 22, 2000. Copyright 2000. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

NEW DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS TO END HORN OF AFRICA WAR

LONDON, May 22, Graphic News: DIPLOMATIC efforts to avert a new catastrophe in the Horn of Africa and restart peace talks have begun with the European UnionÕs special envoy Reno Serri meeting Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki.

Mr. Serri, an Italian Foreign Ministry under-secretary, told reporters on arriving in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, that he was ÒoptimisticÓ a peaceful solution could be reached to end what he called Òthe most acute phaseÓ of the two-year war between the two Horn of Africa foes.

Up as 550,000 Eritreans have left their homes to escape Ethiopian warplanes in the intensifying border conflict. Some 70,000 refugees have crossed the border into Sudan and U.S., British and German nationals are being evacuated from Asmara.

The latest clashes began only a day after U.N. envoy Richard Holbrooke urged leaders of the two countries not to return to a Òsenseless war.Ó Following the outbreak of hostilities the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to impose an immediate arms embargo on Ethiopia and Eritrea in an attempt to limit their border dispute.

The fighting is over a 160 square-mile (415 square-kilometre) sliver of barren, rocky territory, the subject of a dispute dating back to EritreaÕs independence in 1993. Ethiopia claims it is sovereign territory seized by Eritrea in 1998.

The conflict was rekindled on May 12 when Ethiopia launched massive assaults against Eritrean positions along a 60-mile (100-kilometre) stretch on the western Badme front.

To reach the lightly defended Mereb river crossing point, south of Enda Simeon, Ethiopean forces marched over mountains impassable to tanks and artillery, while to the west they used tanks backed by Russian-built fighter-bombers and helicopter gunships to pound Eritrean defences, before moving northwards and seizing Barentu, about 45 miles over the border.

The town of Agurdat, 28 miles north of Barentu has been evacuated and Ethiopian forces are reported to be 30 miles from Asmara.

Barentu -- which lies along an arterial east-west road -- is a strategic military command and supply base as well as the centre of EritreaÕs crop-producing heartland.

Meles Zenawi, EthiopiaÕs prime minister, has denied wanting to seize control of of Eritrea, but insists that his army will Òreverse the Eritrean transgression of two years ago.Ó

The war has left observers bewildered. The two nations share cultural similarities, speak the same language, practise the same religion, suffer from the same crushing poverty and face the same famine and drought that is affecting 13 million people in the Horn of Africa.

But personal rivalry between Eritrean President Isaias and Prime Minister Meles -- allies in the 1991 revolution against the regime of Haile Mariam Mengistu -- led to the rejection of a peace plan brokered by the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

With strong defensive positions and so far undefeated in battle, Mr. Isaias refused to give up any ground prior to negotiations. Mr. Meles, keen to improve his nationalist credentials with elections looming, was just as stubborn in his demands that Eritrea withdraw first.

During this diplomatic interlude both built their armed forces, with Ethiopia quadrupling defence spending to $467 million and Eritrea similarly increasing spending to $236 million in 1999.

In a separate peace move Algerian Justice Minister Ahmed Ouyahia has travelled to Addis Ababa to confer with Ethiopian leaders. Mr. Ouyahia is the personal representative of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the current OAU chairman.

The OAU has appealed to both famine-stricken countries to end the conflict but the ferocity of the war appears to have killed off any chance of the two nations uniting to fight their common enemies of drought, starvation and disease while their current leaders are in power.
/ENDS
Sources: JaneÕs Intelligence Review, Reuters, UPI