From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Tue Jul 08 2008 - 12:57:39 EDT
Sudan says Ethiopia attacked military base
08 Jul 2008 14:20:16 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds Ethiopian official)
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, July 8 (Reuters) - Sudan's army accused Ethiopian troops on
Tuesday of attacking a military camp in northern Sudan and killing about 19
people.
A senior Ethiopian official played down the allegation, saying any "minor
incident" on the border could be easily resolved.
Sudan's military spokesman said the attack took place early on Monday in the
Jabel Hantub area of Sennar state.
"They hit a camp belonging to the central reserve police and they killed
about 19 people," the Sudanese army spokesman said. He did not know how many
people were injured.
The central reserve police are a heavily armed military unit and are often
deployed along border areas or to defend the capital Khartoum.
"This was an attack and we don't know the reason -- we have no problem with
Ethiopia and there are no border disputes or tribal clashes in that area,"
the army spokesman said.
Bereket Simon, special adviser to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi,
told Reuters in Addis Ababa the problem was that the long frontier was not
properly demarcated.
"Sometimes locals from both sides trespass and minor incidents do happen,"
he said, denying troops were involved.
"If there was a minor incident involving local inhabitants ... Ethiopia is
confident both governments will solve the problem in accordance with the
prevailing peaceful norms we maintain."
Sudan signed a north-south peace deal in 2005 which ended Africa's longest
civil war and also improved relations with its east African neighbours.
One Sudanese security source and another government official said the attack
may have been because Sudan had given refuge a to local Ethiopian officials
few weeks earlier and had refused to hand them over to Addis Ababa.
It was not clear why the officials sought refuge in Sudan. Ethiopia is
fighting rebels from the Oromo region which borders Sudan and who want
greater autonomy for their areas.
The Sudan army spokesman said a joint Ethiopian-Sudanese committee had been
formed to investigate the attack. (Additional reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse
in Addis Ababa; Editing by Matthew Tostevin) (For full Reuters Africa
coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit:
http://africa.reuters.com/)
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