'Eritrea behind blasts'
2006-03-13 09:53
Addis Ababa - Ethiopia on Sunday accused its neighbour Eritrea of supplying bombs that exploded in Addis Ababa last week and of backing the perpetrators of the blasts that injured four people.
"Terrorists backed by the Eritrean government, such as the Oromo Liberation Front and other traitors ... were behind the terrorist plots perpetrated in the city during recent days," said a police statement reported by the state-run Ethiopian News Agency (ENA).
Relations between the east African nations have been tense since they fought a two-year war in the hot and mainly arid highlands of the border region from 1998 to 2000, which claimed some 80 000 lives and ended with a peace pact negotiated in Algeria.
The police statement added that investigations had traced the type of bombs that rocked Addis Ababa on Tuesday to Eritrea.
"There is indisputable evidence that the grenades were smuggled into the country from Eritrea," the statement said.
"The plots were aimed at instigating fear and terror in society and crippling the ongoing development and democratisation process in the country," it added.
Following their peace agreement in 2000, the two countries agreed to the terms of a 2002 independent border commission, but thus far Ethiopia has refused to fully implement the agreement and has called for the demarcation to be reviewed.
- SAPA