Addis Ababa ‘has killed a million’

Press, 1 September 1977, Page 9

Addis Ababa ‘has killed a million’

NZPA-”.euter Nairobi War communiques said yesterday that more than 180 more troops had been killed in battles between Ethiopian forces and Somali rebels fighting for control of the Ogaden Desert. In the continuous propaganda war between Somalia and Ethiopia Radio Mogadishu accused Addis Ababa’s military Government of a systematic reign of terror tn I which more than one million ipersons had been killed.

Ethiopia’s official press ■ said tens of thousands of what it called “counter revolutionaries" and “sub-' 1 versives" had beep killed or rounded up as its pro-Marxist military Government fought ; to crush the rebellions. In the latest reported fighting near the northern Ogaden town of Harar, Ethiopian troops are said to have killed 31 Somali rebels during a search-and-destroy; operation without suffering any casualties themselves.

The Western Somali Liberation Front, claiming to control 97 per cent of the area. | said its guerrillas had killed 'B3 government troops in re.cent clashes and had seized large caches of arms and ammunition. Only the Bale province capital of Goba and the town of Ginir remained in Ethiopian hands, the Somalis said. An earlier Ethiopian com inunique said its forces had killed 71 Somalis in the same area.