Eritrea destroyed Ethiopian invasion army in Tsorona front - Border Clash — Eritrea said it quashed the latest Ethiopian attack along the Tsorona front and killed more than 200 troops, entailing heavy losses on Ethiopia. It also said it controlled the position where Ethiopia initially unleashed the attack. (Photo: Tosrona Central Front, Archive)

By TesfaNews,

Eritrea said it killed more than 200 ~~Ethiopian~~ TPLF troops and a further 300 wounded following the regime’s surprise attack on June 12, 2016 along the Tsorona Central Front, Eritrea’s Information Ministry said today in a statement on its website.

The statement also adds, Eritrea quashed the Ethiopian attack and forced the troops to retreat beyond where they initially unleashed the attack.

There was no mention of any prisoners of war but the ministry says these tolls are “conservative estimates”.

In an interview with VOA’s Horn of Africa Service, Ethiopia’s Communications Minister Getachew Reda suggested the figures are inaccurate but stopped short of denying them.

“A retreating army and an army in disarray under normal circumstances does not have a sense of what happened,” he said.

He also said Ethiopia has no interest in disclosing its assessment of damages during the battle.

Eritrea accuses Ethiopia of sparking the fighting and said the purpose and ramifications of this latest attack are not yet clear.

The Ethiopian Foreign Ministry instead accused Eritrea of the attack and said retaliatory, rather they call it “proportional”, measures were taken and seriously weakened the Eritrean army.

News of renewed border attack raised fears that the two countries could be sliding once again toward an all-out war.

Eritrea has appealed to the United Nations Security Council to condemn what it called a military offensive by Ethiopia.

The African Union this week has urged Eritrea and Ethiopia to exercise restraint and avoid any actions that could further endanger regional stability.

The Horn of Africa nations should “refrain from any statement and action likely to aggravate the situation,” African Union Commission chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said late Tuesday in a statement.

“A deal brokered by the African Union that was agreed on by the two nations 16 years ago hasn’t been fully implemented,” Dlamini-Zuma said. The continental body is ready to help Ethiopia and Eritrea “address the challenges at hand and normalize their relations,” she said.

Eritrea Press Release – Update

tsorona-attack — Picture taken after Eritrea quashed the attack and controlled Ethiopia’s initial position

By Shabait,

The Sunday attack of June 12, 2016, launched through the TPLF regime on the Tsorona Front was quashed on Monday (13 June) morning entailing heavy losses to its troops.

TPLF troops were compelled to retreat to locations beyond from where they initially unleashed the attack.

In this reckless attack whose ultimate aim is difficult to comprehend, more than 200 TPLF troops have been killed and more than 300 wounded. These are conservative estimates.

Why did this callous bloodshed happen? And, for what purpose?

Those who have instigated this reckless act have attempted to provide the TPLF with political, media and diplomatic smoke-screen, both before and after the attack. They have also deceitfully tried to apportion equal blame to the aggressor and the victim. The Government of Eritrea will address these dimensions of the attack in subsequent statements.

Ministry of Information
Asmara
16 June 2016

Why Ethiopians Stand With Eritrea this Time

Member of the Patriotic Ginbot 7 Council and Head of Foreign Affairs of the External Leadership, Ato Neamin Zeleke, told the Washington based Netsanet Le Ethiopia radio that the majority of the Ethiopian people wants to live in peace, as a good neighbour with Eritrea and support no war or attack of any kind on Eritrea by the minority ruling TPLF regime.

If push comes to shove, Ato Neamin said, Ethiopians will stand by Eritrea and fight back to free themselves from the clutches of the unpopular Ethiopian regime.