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11 June, 2008
DJIBOUTI (AFP) - Two Djiboutian soldiers were killed and 68 others wounded during a battle with rival Eritrean forces on their disputed border, a diplomat told AFP Wednesday, a day after the clash.
The Djiboutian foreign ministry issued a statement accusing Eritrea of seeking to destabilise the entire Horn of Africa region by attacking Djibouti and vowed to use all available means to defend itself.
The rivals exchanged fire Tuesday for the first time since a tense stand-off started at their border two months ago.
"There are two dead and 68 wounded on the Djibouti side," said the diplomat on condition of anonymity. There were no reports of fatalities on the Eritrean side.
Sporadic gunfire could be heard in the Ras Doumeira area on Djibouti's northern border early Wednesday as President Ismail Omar Guelleh visited some of the wounded soldiers in the capital.
Fighting erupted after Eritrean military officials issued an ultimatum for Djibouti to turn in 30 Eritrean deserters on its soil or face armed action.
The clash was the first since tension between the two neighbours escalated two months ago and raised fears of an all-out military confrontation that would plunge the already restive region into further chaos.
"The bellicose attitude of the Eritrean state towards the Republic of Djibouti leaves no doubt over the malevolent intentions of Eritrean government," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Djibouti accused Eritrea of "harbouring subversive plans to destablise the Republic of Djibouti and by ricochet the entire Horn of Africa region."
The two countries had already clashed at least twice over the border area at the southern end of the Red Sea.
In April 1996 they almost went to war after a Djibouti official accused Eritrea of shelling the town of Ras Doumeira.
In 1999, Eritrea accused Djibouti of siding with Asmara's arch-foe Ethiopia, while Djibouti accused its neighbour of supporting Djiboutian rebels and having designs on the Ras Doumeira region. Eritrea has denied this.
Djibouti has accused Eritrean forces of digging trenches on both sides of the border on April 16, infringing several hundred metres (yards) on to Djiboutian territory, an accusation Asmara has denied.
On May 19, Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki described talk of a military standoff as "a wild invention."
The Djiboutian government condemned what it described as "a new aggression by Eritrea, which relishes its role as a rogue state" and warned in the statement that "it will defend its supreme interests by all available means."