http://www.voanews.com/content/eritrea-says-more-than-200-ethiopians-killed-in-border-clash/3379175.html
Eritrea Says More than 200 Ethiopians Killed in Border Clash
Henok Fente
June 16, 2016 12:30 PM
The government of Eritrea says its forces killed more than 200
Ethiopian troops and wounded more than 300 during fighting Sunday and
Monday in a contested border area.
There has been no independent confirmation of the figures, released by
Eritrea in a government statement Thursday.
In an interview with VOA's Horn of Africa Service, Ethiopia's
Communications Minister Getachew Reda suggested the figures are
inaccurate but stopped short of denying them.
"A retreating army and an army in disarray under normal circumstances
does not have a sense of what happened," he said.
He also said Ethiopia has no interest in disclosing its assessment of
damages during the battle.
Both countries have claimed the upper hand in the fighting, which took
place in the area of Tsorona, an Eritrean town that was a flashpoint
during the border war the countries fought between 1998 and 2000.
A map delineates past areas of conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Eritrea said Thursday that its forces "quashed" the Ethiopian attack
and forced the troops to retreat beyond their starting points.
Ethiopia has said its force drove back an Eritrean attack and chose to
withdaw from the site of the clash "once our objective was achieved."
US urges restraint
The U.S. Department of State expressed concern over the military
action, calling on both sides to exercise restraint.
"We also urge both Ethiopia and Eritrea to cooperate in promoting
stability and sustainable peace in the region," U.S. Department of
State spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Tuesday.
Eritrea has appealed to the United Nations Security Council to condemn
what it called a military offensive by Ethiopia.
The border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia killed an estimated 70,000
people. Since then, the two countries have fought periodic battles on
their boundary, the most recent before this week coming in 2012.
Both governments accused the other of starting the latest battle to
distract attention from political problems and internal opposition.
Received on Thu Jun 16 2016 - 13:35:15 EDT