(10 Jun 1998) Natural Sound

Fighting continues along the ravaged border between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Reports of shelling in the Eritrean held bordertown of Zala Ambessa on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning has left another town reeling from the devastation of attack.

Eritrean Defence Forces have blamed Ethiopian forces for the attack.

There were no civilian casualties reported.

Eritrean Defence Forces were mobilised on Wednesday after a retaliatory campaign of fresh shelling was launched by Ethiopian troops on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

The attack took place in the town of Zala Ambessa, on the border between the two warring countries.

Zala Ambessa is situated on the Ethiopian side of the border, but is controlled by Eritrean forces.

The attack did not claim any civilian lives, although Eritrean Defence Forces captured a number of Ethiopian prisoners of war.

While Eritrean Defence Forces rolled by in tanks to monitor the streets of Zala Ambessa, ordinary civilians were tentatively trying to regain their homes in the countryside.

Scores of Ethiopian tanks in the area have been captured and reclaimed by Eritrean forces.

Eritrean forces seized the border town of 15thousand last week.

Zala Ambessa is an important outpost largely because of a road linking the port of Massawa to Ethiopia's Tigray Region.

A languishing peace proposal put forward by the United States and Rwanda includes a recommendation that Eritrea withdraws to positions it held prior to May 6.

However, the Eritrean government has welcomed a plan approved by diplomats at an Organisation of African Unity summit on Wednesday to send a sixpresident delegation to mediate the dispute.

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