Ethiopia accepts "in principle" OAU peace proposal

Eritrea announced on Saturday that it had accepted a proposal by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) for an immediate cessation of hostilities. The proposal called for the two sides to redeploy to positions 25 km apart to create a "temporary separation zone". A UN peacekeeping force would be deployed in this zone to monitor both sides' observance of the ceasefire and allow the work of delimitation and demarcation of the border to go ahead. An Eritrean Foreign Ministry statement said Ethiopia was attempting to torpedo the talks by presenting preconditions for redeployment. "Although Eritrea rejected the Ethiopian
position as preposterous and totally unjustified, it has decided to respond positively to the appeal of the OAU and its partners and to go an extra mile for peace." Algerian mediator Ahmed Ouyahia told Algerian television on Saturday that the Ethiopian delegation had given a "response of acceptance in principle" to the OAU proposal. The Ethiopian government spokesperson, Selome Taddesse, said on Saturday that the proposal would be
submitted "as a matter of priority and urgency" to the Ethiopian
leadership which would give its response to the OAU current chairman in the shortest possible time.

Meanwhile, the front-line around Bure on the eastern front continued to be the main flashpoint of the fighting, with both sides reporting more clashes over the weekend. Ethiopian radio reported on Sunday that Ethiopian forces were continuing to inflict heavy losses on the enemy. Eritrea said the fighting had subsided on Sunday after repeated massive offensives by the Ethiopians, who had been forced to retreat, leaving
behind thousands of dead and wounded. The Bure front had been relatively quiet until Eritrea withdrew from heavily-fortified positions close to the disputed border. In Asmara, an Eritrean Foreign Ministry statement said on Monday that Ethiopia was delaying its response to the OAU proposal in order to reequip its forces, It said Ethiopian prisoners of war captured
in the fighting around Bure "invariably attest that their mission was to capture Assab". Ethiopia has repeatedly denied that it has any claims on Eritrean territory.