OAU seeks to halt fresh fighting in Horn of Africa

Fighting raged yesterday in the border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, as the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) approved …

Fighting raged yesterday in the border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, as the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) approved a new peace mission.

Officials in both capitals reported continued fighting for control of Badme, a town on the western front which has been occupied by Eritrean troops since hostilities first erupted last May.

The clashes which began on Tuesday have pitted infantry units and tanks face-to-face on a vast, heavily mined plain on the Horn of Africa, the Eritrean presidency said, adding that they followed intensive bombardment by Ethiopian warplanes.

Ethiopia reiterated: "If Eritrea would withdraw from Ethiopia's territory, not only would air strikes be unnecessary, but all fighting would cease to be necessary."

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Eritrean radio meanwhile said its troops had shot down an Ethiopian helicopter gunship, destroyed 31 tanks and captured three tanks.

The announcement was greeted by blaring car horns in Asmara, the Eritrean capital.

An OAU spokesman, Mr Ibrahim Dagash, said: "A new team from the OAU will be sent as soon as possible to Eritrea," following the scrapping of a mission on Tuesday.

The OAU seeks an "end to the war, commitment to the peace process as embodied in its peace proposals (and a) response to the clarifications" Asmara had sought to the OAU Peace Framework accepted by Addis Ababa. Asmara has reserved its response to the 11-point plan, which calls on Eritrea to withdraw from Badme. The fighting is officially over some 2,000 square kilometres of land along the ill-defined border.