SG/SM/7392
AFR/227

SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS ON ERITREA, ETHIOPIA TO STOP FIGHTING, RESUME NEGOTIATION

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary- General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General deeply deplores the resumption of large-scale fighting between Eritrea and Ethiopia. He urgently appeals to both countries to cease hostilities immediately and to return to the process of negotiation in order to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.

The Secretary-General stresses that the differences between the two countries cannot justify in any way the great loss in human lives they already have suffered and stand to suffer further. He is further concerned that the renewed fighting will worsen the already grave humanitarian situation prevailing in both countries and in the Horn of Africa region more widely.

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United Nations