Ethiopia: Eritrea: Eritrea says it killed 10 TPLF troops

By Ethioguardian

ZALAM BESA: Eritrea's government has said its troops killed 10 TPLF, Ethiopia’s dictatorial regime ruling party, soldiers after they attacked Eritrean positions on New Year's day, something TPLF, also called Woyane, in Addis Ababa has denied.

A statement dated January 2 on the website, run by the Eritrean ministry of information, said: "In the early morning hours of January 1st 2010, TPLF soldiers launched successive attacks in the Zalam besa front and were swiftly driven back with 10 of their soldiers killed and two captured."

TPLF (Woyane) is Ethiopia’s dictatorial regime ruling party. Although TPLF (Woyane) claims TPLF to be a partner in a ruling coalition, the other parties that made up the EPRDF, the name of the coalition, does not have any impact in any decision making process. TPLF represents Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, which advocates the independence of Tigray, a province in the northern part of Ethiopia, since its foundation in the 1970’s. TPLF controls more than 90% of the Ethiopian army important positions and other governmental positions.

In Ethiopia, Bereket Simon, the TPLF government's head of information, accused the Eritrean government of trying to cover up an attack by Eritrean rebels in which 25 Eritrean government soldiers were killed.

"This new allegation that it killed TPLF (Woyane) soldiers is an attempt by the regime in Asmara to deflect its internal crisis by implicating Ethiopia," he told Reuters.


The Eritrean rebels in Ethiopia are trained and supported by the Ethiopian TPLF regime. TPLF also allows the settling of Eritrean rebels in Ethiopia, and gave them the chance to use Ethiopia as a base to attack Eritrea.

The two Horn of Africa neighbours have had long running hostilities and tensions simmer along their common border due to a dispute over the lines of the border.


The U.N. security council voted to slap sanctions against Eritrea last week on accusations of supporting and arming Somalia's hardline Islamist insurgents.


Some of the information was taken from Reuters