Bid to regain control of Eritrea

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33774, 21 February 1975, Page 13

Bid to regain control of Eritrea

ADDIS ABABA, February 211. Guerrillas in Eritrea are harassing Ethiopian troops north of the beleaguered city of Asmara as the military Government tries to regain control of the rebel province.

Reliable sources in Addis Ababa today said that throughout yesterday and last night sporadic fighting took place near Kerene. •'>" miles from Asmara on the road to the Sudan. This is an important route for arms shipment to the 1000-strong guerrilla army.

Ethiopian Air Force fighterbombers hit suspected secessionist positions south and east of Asmara, capital of Eritrea, reliable sources said. A new martial law governor of Eritrea took up his .post in Asmara yesterday. Reliable sources said that Brigadier-General Getachew Nadu —appointed last Saturday when Ethiopia’s military rulers declared a state of .emergency throughout Eri-trea-—had arrived in Asmara [by air from Addis Ababa. General Nadu, a member of

the political^-dominant Ani lhara ethnic group, replaced Immanuel Amde Mikhael. the first Eritrean ever to be made •Governor of Eritrea The sources said that Amde Mikhael left for Addis Ababa on the same aircraft which brought in his successor His new duties were not known. Inside Asmara, the situation was reported calm after lan outbreak of wild shooting yesterday and heavy street fighting on Tuesday night An Italian civilian who staved behind after the foreign communitv was flown out of the city earlier this month was shot dead as he sought refuge in a church. Diplomatic sources said that during Tuesday's fight ing the guerrillas freed 12 political prisoners detained for medical attention in Asmara hospitals. They included a young man who was gaoled for trying to kill an Ethiopian general in the Eritrean capital two years ago.