As spectre of famine looms, Ethiopia renews border war

Even as Ethiopia traipsed wearily towards yet another full-blown famine, its Government yesterday launched a renewed war against Eritrea.

A senior Ethiopian official admitted privately to Reuters news agency that it was his country which began the attack, saying peace efforts had failed and it was time to push Eritrea out of territory seized at the start of a war in May 1998.

Along a disputed border, rival armies traded artillery fire yesterday and deployed fighter jets. Eritrea, a former province of Ethiopia which won independence in 1993, claimed Ethiopian forces had launched an offensive with heavy shelling and what it called "human wave assaults".

Meanwhile, in southern Ethiopia, there are 16 million people affected by severe drought.

Mr Richard Holbrooke, the US ambassador to the UN, warned both sides the security council would consider imposing sanctions if fighting began again.

"The alternative is a senseless war which will kill tens of thousands of people, and hundreds of thousands will die of famine because of the diversion of resources to the war effort."

Hunger is indeed fast tightening its grip on parts of Ethiopia. In Dendo Kayisha Humbo, for instance, hundreds of people - mainly mothers and children, queued this week hoping to qualify for a Concern feeding programme.

Children weighing less than 70 per cent of their ideal weight qualified for therapeutic feeding and any with oedema - a condition of such severe malnutrition that the body in effect "eats" itself - are receiving special treatment.

As he arrived early yesterday in Munich, Mr Holbrooke was despairing. "This is the most senseless war in the world," he said.