Nairobi: The Eritrean government said on Friday
that the attack on its military outposts by neighboring
Ethiopia was meant to divert attention from a border dispute
between the two countries.
Ethiopia said yesterday it carried out a ground assault
on the outposts because Eritrea was training "subversive
groups" that carried out attacks inside Ethiopia.
No details about the military operations or any damage or
casualties have been released.
"It is patently clear that the Ethiopian regime could not
have unleashed such a flagrant act of aggression with such
audacity without the protection and succor of the United
States in the Security Council," said Eritrean Foreign Affairs
Minister Osman Saleh.
Eritrea routinely accuses the United States of
overlooking abuses by Ethiopia, a key US ally in the region in
its war against terror.
"The government of Eritrea, urges for the umpteenth time,
the UN Security council to shoulder legal and moral
responsibilities and to take appropriate measures to rectify
acts of aggression against Eritrea`s sovereign territories and
to ensure justice and the respect of the rule of law," he
said.
Osman said such attacks have been going on for the last
10 years and yesterday`s assault was meant to divert attention
to the fact that Ethiopia occupies Eritrean territory.
Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war from 1998 to 2000.
He said the timing of the attack appears to have been
deliberately chosen to coincide with the tenth anniversary of
a ruling by a boundary commission, which it says, ruled in its
favor.
PTI
