Ethiopia and Eritrea appeared close to a ceasefire in their two-year-old war yesterday after Ethiopia agreed in principle to a peace plan that would put a UN military force along their disputed border.
Eritrea, whose negotiating position was hit by a string of recent battlefield losses, had already agreed to the peace plan so Ethiopia's acceptance could lead to a quick ceasefire in a war that has killed tens of thousands of soldiers.
Eritrea, however, said it did not believe its much larger southern neighbour was serious about peace and accused it of "buying time" to prepare new attacks.
The peace proposal, drawn up in two weeks of negotiations in Algiers, calls for both sides to withdraw to positions held before hostilities began in May 1998 and for a UN force to be deployed in a 20-km buffer zone until international arbitrators demarcate their 1,000-km border.
The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) mediators said they expected a formal peace agreement would be signed at the end of this week but conceded that differences still remained over the precise definition of the "security zone" between the rival armies and on the role of the UN military force. Ethiopia seized a large chunk of Eritrean territory in a huge offensive launched in midMay and had said it would not pull back until a buffer zone was set up to prevent Eritrea from making fresh attacks.
After Eritrea agreed to the peace plan on Friday, Ethiopia launched new attacks along the border. Then, late on Sunday, it gave cautious backing to the peace plan mediated by the OAU.
"Ethiopia remains committed to ensuring a lasting and sustainable solution to the conflict and has agreed in principle to the proposals put forward in Algiers," the government said in a statement.
Fighting continued early on Monday around the western Eritrean town of Guluj but the rest of the border was quiet.
Eritrea said its forces killed 4,125 Ethiopian soldiers and wounded over 7,000 more in last week's fighting near Assab.
"Ethiopian POWs captured in these battles invariably attest that their mission was to capture Assab," the foreign ministry said.