(Oct 08, 2012, iOL)--Ethiopia has released 75 Eritrean prisoners of
war captured in March during a cross border attack on a military base,
officials said on Tuesday. “The government of Ethiopia
believes it is proper to release these captive soldiers of Eritrea and
let them go where they want,” government spokesman Bereket Simon told
AFP.
“Ethiopia doesn't have any
interest to keep them here,” he said, but added the move does not signal
a change in the icy relationship between the two long-time foes. “The Eritrean government is
adamant and has refused to discuss issues of common concern and there
are no actual discussions taking place,” he said.
Eritrea
won independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year struggle, but
they returned to war in a bloody 1998-2000 border conflict which left at
least 70 000 dead. The two countries remain at odds
over the flashpoint town of Badme, awarded to Eritrea by a UN-backed
boundary commission but still controlled by Addis Ababa. Seven of the released prisoners
applied for political asylum in Ethiopia, Bereket said, adding that they
were free to stay if they wanted.
Tensions flared in January when
two Germans, two Austrians and one Hungarian were killed in the attack
on the slopes of Ethiopia's famed Erta Ale volcano in the desolate Afar
border region. Eritrea denied involvement in the incident and did not retaliate after Ethiopia attacked their military base.
The Ethiopian-based Afar
Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front (ARDUF) rebels, fighting a
low-level insurgency against “political marginalisation” by Addis Ababa,
claimed responsibility. They said they have no ties to Asmara. - AFP
Source: iOL
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