     Abdul-basit | Saturday, November 18, 2000 - 11:01 am
Oromo front claims victory against Ethiopian army - Eritrean reportBBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom, Nov 16, 20.
The Oromo Liberation Front [OLF] killed and wounded 212 weyane [Ethiopian]
soldiers its military engagements against the weyane forces from 28th October-9th November in eastern and southern Oromiya [southern Ethiopia], a statement from the front says.
The OLF says in its statement that its combatants killed 36 weyane soldiers and wounded 36 others in an attack against the weyane forces in Machara
[phonetic]and Jarso, in the eastern and western parts of Harerge, eastern
Oromiya [southeastern Ethiopia].
The OLF combatants also killed 51 weyane soldiers and wounded 39 others in an attack against the weyane forces in a place called Bamba Kache [phonetic], AreroDistrict, Borena Zone, in southern Oromiya [southern Ethiopia]. The OLF forces also attacked a weyane military convoy on the Moyale-Elestino [phonetic] road and killed 14 soldiers and wounded 16 others...
Source: Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea, Asmara, in Tigrinya 0430 gmt 16
Nov 00 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.
World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright
NAIROBI, Nov 17 (Reuters) - An
Ethiopian rebel group said on Friday it
had blown up a train transporting government soldiers and weapons to the region where the rebels are fighting for independence. The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) said in a statement the train ran over a mine planted by its forces
southwest of the regional capital of Dire
Dawa in eastern Ethiopia on Tuesday. "The mine
completely destroyed the engine and six wagons of the train," the statement said. "The men and materials on the train sustained heavy casualties." The alleged attack came aweek after the OLF said it would intensify attacks
against military targets as it steps up its seven-year guerrilla struggle for independence for the southern Oromo region. The government denied the attack took place. "The OLF claim is not true," Ethiopian government spokesman Haile Kiros Gessesse said. "The rebels have been marginalised and have lost the confidence of the people they claim to represent and this is a futile attempt
to show their existence." But OLF spokesman Lencho
Bati claimed the government was deploying "a huge force" to fight the rebels in the south, transporting them by road and rail from their former positions along the northern border with Eritrea. Ethiopia signed a ceasefire agreement
with Eritrea in June after a two-year border war in which tens of thousands of soldiers were killed. "It is a futile attempt to put out the liberation struggle of the Oromo people," Bati said by telephone from the OLF"s headquarters-in-exile in Washington. "All roads, railways and other forms of communication used for military purposes are legitimate targets for the OLF." In May, the OLF said it blew up another train which it said was carrying government-bought arms from the port of Djibouti.
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