Eritrea: Press Statement

                    Asmara

PRESS RELEASE
11 June 2008
Posted to the web 11 June 2008

Shabait

 

There is no one that has not observed and been surprised with the Djiboutian government’s totally unwarranted recent anti-Eritrea hostile campaigns.

It has also been making continued futile attempts to drag the Government of Eritrea into its concocted animosity.

As the Eritrean government has repeatedly asserted, although it is closely and patiently following up the developments and its sponsors, it hereby reiterates that it would under no circumstances get involved in an invitation of squabbles and acts of hostility designed to undermine good-neighborliness.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

 

Horn of Africa neighbours clash

Aljazeera.net

11/06/08

Troops from Djibouti and Eritrea have fired shots at each other along their shared border, the Djiboutian military said in a statement.

The clashes took place on Tuesday in the Ras Doumeira area where Eritrean troops reportedly carried out an incursion on April 16, sparking tensions between the two Horn of Africa neighbours.

“During the pursuit of an Eritrean deserter who tried to rally the Djiboutian armed forces, the Eritrean military opened fire on our units at around 12:30am [0930 GMT],” the Djioutian army said in a statement.

“The Djiboutian armed forces retaliated with their weapons.”

The army said that Eritrean military officials then issued an ultimatum for Djibouti to return all 30 Eritrean deserters on its soil or face armed action.

“At 6:40pm [1540 GMT], under the cover of darkness and prayer time, Eritrean troops opened fire on our soldiers,” the statement said.
 
“In the face of this attack, our military struck back … As this statement is published, the fighting continues.”

Stand-off

The fighting is the first since Djibouti accused Eritrean forces of digging trenches on both sides of the border, infringing several hundred metres on to Djiboutian territory, an accusation Asmara has vehemently denied.

The claims began a tense stand-off which raised fears of an all-out military confrontation at the southern end of the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

Djibouti and Eritrea had twice previously clashed over the border area.
  
In April 1996 they almost went to war after a Djibouti official accused Eritrea of shelling the town of Ras Doumeira.
  
And in 1999, Eritrea accused Djibouti of siding with Asmara’s rival Ethiopia, while Djibouti accused its neighbour of supporting Djiboutian rebels and having designs on the Ras Doumeira region.

According to international human rights organisations, thousands of young Eritreans attempt to leave their country every year.

Ethiopia  recently reported that 1,300 Eritrean had defected and crossed the border in the last six months.

Djibouti is backed by France and the United States, both of which have big military bases in the country, while Eritrea is accused of backing anti-government fighters in Somalia and is involved in a long-running border standoff with Ethiopia.

Latest Update: Fighting continues between the Djibouti Army and Eritrean Forces

BBc/ NEWS

11/06/08

Two Djibouti say two soldiers have been killed and 17 wounded in border clashes with Eritrean troops, Djibouti says.

Fighting continued on Wednesday morning after clashes broke out on Tuesday following weeks of rising tension.

Djibouti said its forces were forced to fight back after coming under fire from Eritrean troops demanding the return of deserters who had fled to Djibouti.

Last month, Djibouti complained to the UN that Eritrea was fortifying its side of the border.

At the time, Eritrea denied it was planning for war and has not commented so far on the latest incident.

Since Eritrea gained independence in 1993, the Horn of Africa country has been involved in two serious conflicts over territory with its neighbours.

Both US and France have military bases in Djibouti

Two dead in Djibouti: Eritrean Forces clash with the Djibouti Army

By Omar Hassan

11/06/08

DJIBOUTI, June 11 (Reuters) – Two Djiboutian soldiers were killed and 21 wounded when troops clashed with Eritrean forces along their border overlooking strategic Red Sea shipping lanes, Djibouti said on Wednesday.

The first fighting since 1996 between Eritrea and Djibouti broke out on Tuesday after a nearly two-month standoff. Djibouti hosts French and U.S. military bases and is the main route to the sea for Eritrea’s arch-foe Ethiopia.

Djibouti said the clash began after Eritrean soldiers deserted and the Eritreans fired on them, prompting return fire. A second outbreak came when Eritrean soldiers later demanded their deserters back.

Eritrean officials declined to comment and there was no independent confirmation.

Fighting continued on Wednesday in the Mount Gabla area of northern Djibouti, Djibouti’s Defence Ministry said.

Also known as Ras Doumeira, it overlooks the strategic Bab al-Mandib straits, which are a major shipping route to and from Europe and the Middle East.

A Reuters witness at a French hospital in Djibouti said helicopters had ferried in dead and wounded soldiers.

In mid-April, Djibouti accused Eritrea of digging trenches and building fortifications on the Djiboutian side of the frontier. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki told Reuters in a recent interview that was a “fabrication.”

MILITARISED

The Djiboutian army says nearly 75 percent of its 11,000 troops are now stationed along its boundary with Eritrea, which is one of Africa’s most militarised states and has more than 200,000 soldiers as part of a mandatory conscription programme.

Djibouti hosts two foreign military bases, including one of France’s biggest overseas contingents and a U.S. counter-terrorism task force of about 2,000 soldiers — many of them elite special forces.

It is also a vital route for landlocked Ethiopia, which has vowed to protect its shipping access in Djibouti if necessary.

Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a border war in 1998-2000 that killed 70,000 people, and lingering enmity has fuelled conflict in neighbouring Somalia and in Ethiopia’s Ogaden region.

Former colonial power France signed a mutual defence pact with Djibouti after the Horn of Africa nation’s independence in 1977.

Djibouti has turned itself into a regional shipping hub after massive investment from Dubai.

In a letter to the U.N. Security Council in early May, Djibouti’s foreign minister said he suspected a “sinister” move by Eritrea to disrupt shipping lines along the Red Sea.

This weekend, an African Union fact-finding mission was in Djibouti to investigate the issue. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ ) (Additional reporting by Jack Kimball in Asmara; Editing by Bryson Hull and Matthew Tostevin)