Humanitarian Crisis Looms Amid Eritrea’s War

Eritrea teetered on the edge of a major humanitarian crisis Thursday, as more than half a million people fled invading Ethiopian troops, artillery and warplanes, U.N. and Eritrean aid officials said.

With the key western town of Barentu under the control of the Ethiopian military, Eritrea also faced a humiliating reversal in its two-year war with its larger neighbor over a border dispute. The latest round of fighting began last Friday.

Ethiopian forces were pursuing the Eritrean army toward the provincial capital, Agordat, 40 miles northeast of Barentu, Ethiopian state radio and TV said Thursday.

Authorities urged residents of Agordat to leave. Mendefera, south of Asmara, the capital, also was emptying, said Worku Tesfamichael, director of the state-run Eritrean Relief and Refugee Commission.

The fighting has driven 550,000 Eritreans from their homes or makeshift camps, Tesfamichael said.

With an additional 300,000 people affected by a regional drought, Eritrea’s needs are staggering, a U.N. official said. Authorities have asked U.N. agencies here for help in obtaining relief supplies.