U.S. Completes Evacuation From Eritrean Capital

U.S. military forces completed the evacuation of Americans from the beleaguered capital of Eritrea on Sunday as a top U.S. diplomat left Africa with the fighting between Eritrea and neighboring Ethiopia still out of control.

Assistant Secretary of State Susan E. Rice departed Burkina Faso, where African leaders endorsed a proposed cease-fire agreement that U.S. officials hope will end the bombing raids and border skirmishes of recent days.

As foreigners were evacuated during a temporary halt in bombing, Eritrea braced for a resumption of the air raids, according to reports from the region. Ground fighting continued, with Ethiopia claiming to have captured a town 65 miles southwest of the Eritrean capital, Asmara.

U.S. military officials dispatched two C-130 cargo planes to Asmara for evacuation of Americans over the weekend. The planes rescued 118 Americans and 58 citizens of other nations Saturday, taking them to a base in Amman, Jordan, a State Department spokeswoman said. By late Sunday, the United States had evacuated 368 people, including 231 Americans, she said.

“The U.S. government continues its coordination with other governments to assist any remaining Americans who may wish to leave Eritrea,” the spokeswoman said.

However, there were no more flights scheduled to carry Americans out of the country.

The U.S. Embassy in Asmara remained in operation with a skeleton staff, despite several bombing raids by Ethiopian pilots flying MIG-21 jet fighters.

The two Horn of Africa nations began fighting in early May over fertile border territory that both claim as their own. After a series of clashes between ground forces, they exchanged their first bombing raids Friday.

*

African leaders, joined by Rice, met in Burkina Faso for the annual summit of the Organization of African Unity. The ministers called for a cessation of hostilities based on a joint peace proposal offered by the United States and Rwanda.

Rice made significant progress in advancing the U.S.-Rwandan plan, which has been accepted in principle by both Eritrea and Ethiopia, according to Herman J. Cohen, a former assistant secretary of State who attended the conference.

The proposal calls for a withdrawal of Eritrean military forces from disputed border regions, a third-party peacekeeping force to monitor the cease-fire and an ultimate resolution of the dispute through international courts.

Rice outlined the proposal to African ministers Saturday, calling it a good, neutral accord, said Cohen, who is now affiliated with the Global Coalition for Africa. Rice left it to Ethiopia and Eritrea to resolve the final sticking points, he said.

Cohen said that Eritrea appears to have provoked the current round of hostilities by occupying the border territory, and he noted that the fighting is only the latest in a series of clashes between Eritrea and its neighbors, including Yemen, Sudan and Djibouti.

“The sympathy goes with Ethiopia in this dispute, but both made serious mistakes,” he said.

The border quarrel dates back to Italy’s conquest of Eritrea in the last century, after which the Italians drew a new border with Ethiopia. Ethiopia was given control of Eritrea during the 1960s, triggering a war for Eritrea’s independence that lasted 30 years.

Italian authorities said Sunday that they have provided the two nations with all existing historical documents and maps in an effort to help resolve the border dispute. Eritrea claims it is occupying territory defined by the boundaries drawn by Italy in 1885.

*

Relations between the two nations have also soured over Eritrea’s decision last year to issue its own currency--and Ethiopia’s countermove to block open currency exchanges between the two.

Until the current hostilities started, U.S. officials had been optimistic about the future of Eritrea, based on political and economic reforms by the new government. Although the nation’s annual per capita income is just $149, its economy has been growing by 4% annually.

U.S. officials said they “regret the decision to evacuate Americans” and that it was based “solely on security grounds [and] does not reflect a change in our bilateral relationship with Eritrea.”

*

As of Sunday, no evacuation order had been issued for Americans in Ethiopia, although State Department officials said that U.S. government employees in the northern Tigre and Gondar regions have been relocated. Officials are also warning U.S. citizens to remain in contact with the U.S. Embassy in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Eritrea claimed Sunday to have downed two Ethiopian MIGs, including one flown by Col. Bezabbah Pedros, a former prisoner in the war for Eritrean independence. The pilot was reportedly captured and taken to a local hospital for treatment of injuries. “We were surprised to see him again,” an Eritrean spokeswoman said.

*

Times wire services contributed to this report.