Massive casualty figures reported

Eritrea claimed on Wednesday that Ethiopia had lost 37,000 dead and wounded in battles between 12 and 17 May 2000. A foreign ministry statement said the Ethiopians had also lost 19 tanks, five heavy artillery pieces and nine tanks mounted with anti-aircraft guns. It gave no figures for Eritrean losses. Ethiopia on Wednesday dismissed as “ridiculous” Eritrea’s claims of having killed or wounded 37,000 men. “You cannot kill so many people while you are on the run,” Agence France Presse (AFP) quoted an Ethiopian government official as saying.

Eritrean troops returning from the front have told journalists that Ethiopia was using “human-wave tactics” - committing thousands of troops to advance against Eritrean positions, with scant regard for the cost in casualties. The Ethiopians have denied using such tactics. Meanwhile, a report from the pro-government Walta Information Centre in Ethiopia reported that Eritrean forces, “unable to withstand the might of the Ethiopian defence forces”, were using Eritrean civilians as human shields. The US State Department’s best estimate for casualties in the first two years of the conflict was 50,000 to 60,000, The ‘New York Times’ reported on Monday.