Ethiopia and Eritrea blame each other
for border clash
13 June 2016 Africa
Ethiopia and Eritrea have exchanged
accusations over who started Sunday's
fighting at their disputed border.
Ethiopia's Information Minister Getachew
Reda described the clashes in the Tsorona
area as "an Eritrean initiative".
Earlier, the Eritrean government said that
Ethiopia had "unleashed" the attack.
A peace deal in 2000 ended the countries'
two-year war border war but it has not been
fully implemented.
Ever since, the countries have been in a state
of "neither war nor peace", says the BBC's
Ethiopia correspondent Emmanuel Igunza.
Residents on the Ethiopian side of the border
reported hearing gunfire and seeing a large
movement of troops and artillery towards the
frontier on Sunday.
There were reports that clashes continued into
Monday morning.
"There were significant casualties on both
sides, but more on the Eritrean side," Mr
Getachew told the AFP news agency.
Eritrea has not mentioned any casualty
figures.
US worried about Eritrea-Ethiopia clashes
The US government says it is "gravely
concerned" about the clashes on the Ethiopia-
Eritrea border on Sunday and Monday.
"As both Ethiopia and Eritrea are party to the
2000 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement and
there cannot be a military solution,
Both sides should exercise restraint and
engage in political dialogue, State Department
spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
We reported at the time that it is not clear
why fighting erupted.
But there has been an impasse since a peace
agreement in 2000 over the disputed town of
Badme.