Eritrea accepts plan for cease-fire in war with Ethiopia

June 9, 2000
Web posted at: 10:53 p.m. EDT (0253 GMT)

In this story: 'A step forward' RELATED STORIES, SITES

ALGIERS, Algeria (CNN) -- Eritrea on Friday accepted a proposal from the Organization of African Unity that officials say could lead to a cessation of hostilities with Ethiopia.

The proposal calls for a U.N. mission to be dispatched to the region and for Ethiopian soldiers to withdraw from territories they are occupying, provided the Ethiopians are given security guarantees.

Diplomatic sources said there were signs that Ethiopia, which is expected to respond to the proposal Saturday, will also accept it.

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The Eritrean ambassador to the United Nations, Haile Menkerios, said his country "has decided to respond positively to the appeal of the OAU and its partners and to go the extra mile for peace."

Eritrea called on the international community to take strong action against Ethiopia in the event that it rejects the OAU proposal.

'A step forward'

A U.S. official called the Eritrean's acceptance of the deal "a step forward."

"There are more steps to be taken," the official said. "But if the Ethiopians accept what the Eritreans have accepted, this could finally lead to a cessation of hostilities."

Diplomatic sources said they have had "good, productive discussions with both sides."

The discussions are being held in Algiers, Algeria, under the auspices of the OAU, a coalition of African nations of which the Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is the chairman.

Ethiopia and Eritrea have been at war since 1998 when a border dispute arose after countries' leaders disagreed over the introduction of a separate Eritrean currency -- called the Nafka -- which Ethiopia refused to accept as legal tender.

Some Ethiopians see this war as a playing out on a large scale of the recently developed personal enmity between the country's leaders.

A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said an estimated 350,000 people had been affected by the region's drought, and that the war had increased the number of people in need of immediate assistance.

Annan has urged an immediate and mutual halt in fighting.

Hostilities erupted in the past three weeks, displacing tens of thousands of people and resulting in thousands of casualties on both sides.

Eritrea claimed on Friday that Ethiopia had launched a major offensive near the Red Sea port of Assab late on Thursday. Fighting between the two sides continued into Friday.

Eritrea said that it repulsed the attack and that other fronts in the war were quiet on Friday.

Correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Reporter Carol Pineau contributed to this story.

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