- Title: Ethiopia: Third Front Opens Up In Border War With Eritrea
- Date: 11th June 1998
- Summary: Tensions deepened between Ethiopia and Eritrea as Ethiopia accused enemy pilots of bombing civilian targets and a new front opened in the conflict. A third front in the border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea opened on June 11 close to strategic Red Sea shipping routes as Ethiopia accused enemy pilots of bombing civilian targets. The warring neighbours reported fighting between their armies 80 km (50 miles) from Eritrea's Red Sea port of Assab. An Ethiopian government spokeswoman said planes bombed civilian targets, killing women and children. Previous fighting in the five-week dispute between the former close allies has been on two fronts far to the west around Zalambessa and Badme. Elsewhere, Eritrean forces were still digging in, apparently for a long drawn-out conflict, in the village of Ambastaglaba, five km from Zalambessa, the Ethiopian border town held by Eritrea. Eritrean anti-aircraft batteries and T54 and T55 tanks were in fresh positions closer to Ethiopia or on Ethiopian territory. Eritreans sought to explain that those positions were in fact Eritrean as shown by a map. Eritrea took its independence from Ethiopia after a referendum in 1993 and the two countries were on friendly terms until a border disagreement turned violent. At least 16,000 men, women and children, displaced by the fighting, have made the 30 km (19 miles) journey south from Zalambessa to Adigrat and more are arriving every day.
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- Location: ETHIOPIA ZALAMBESSA
- Reuters ID: LDL00128YRXI7
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
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- Copyright Holder: Reuters Archive
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