Ethiopia accused of border killing

The Eritrean government has accused Ethiopian troops of shooting dead an Eritrean woman, Leul Haileselase, aged 27, in the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) on the disputed border. A report by official Eritrean radio on Tuesday said the woman was killed in Kisad Emba, which lies between Zela Ambesa and Senafe.

The deputy spokeswoman for the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), Angela Walker, told IRIN that the killing was being investigated. “UNMEE can confirm the killing of the woman occurred, and is conducting an investigation of the incident,” she said. Eritrean diplomatic sources said the incident was “the consequence of the continued Ethiopian presence in the TSZ”.

Meanwhile, official Ethiopian radio said on Wednesday that a list had been released of 171 Ethiopian victims of Eritrean aggression. It said the Law Forum for Peace had based its report on first-hand accounts by relatives and close acquaintances of the victims, supported by photographs. Killings, abductions and beatings were carried out against the Ethiopians residing in Asmara, the Eritrean capital, and some other towns in Eritrea at the height of the war in May 2000, Ethiopian radio said.