ERITREA-ETHIOPIA: New fighting focused on central front

Follow @{0}NAIROBI, 23 May 2000 (IRIN) - Heavy fighting broke out between Ethiopian and Eritrean forces on the Zala Anbesa-Egala front in the early hours of Tuesday morning, an Ethiopian government statement said. It gave no details of the latest clashes, taking place in a disputed border area occupied by Eritrean forces since May 1998. Later in the day, however, the Ethiopian authorities said their forces were achieving “resounding victories”, Reuters reported. The area had remained quiet since Ethiopia launched its latest offensive into Eritrea on 12 May. In Asmara, presidential spokesman Yemane Gebremeskel confirmed that Ethiopian forces “made an attack on Zala Anbesa and Tsorona,” AFP reported. Eritrean radio later reported that Eritrean rather than Ethiopian forces were scoring “resounding victories” on the front. There were no independent reports of the fighting. The Eritrean Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday that Ethiopian forces had also attacked Eritrean positions in Bure, on the eastern front, 70 km southwest of the port city of Assab. The statement claimed the Bure offensive had been rebuffed, as had an Ethiopian advance on the Eritrean border town of Omhajer in the far west of the country.