The World : Food Burned, Rebels Say

Ethiopian rebel aid officials accused government troops of burning food stocks and wrecking water and electric power facilities as they retreated before a rebel offensive in drought-stricken northern Ethiopia. A spokesman for the Eritrean Relief Assn., based in Khartoum, Sudan, said the Ethiopian troops took what food they could when they retreated and burned what they could not carry. Ethiopian officials, who have accused the rebels of sabotaging government relief operations, had no immediate comment on the charge or a similar one by Tigre rebels.