Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — Ethiopia Thursday said it had released additional 154 Eritrean prisoners of war or POWs under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The freed Eritreans are expected to return home Sunday, 11 March, via the Mereb River crossing along the countries' common border, according to a statement by the office of the government spokesperson in Addis Ababa.

It is the fifth batch of Eritrean POWs to be released by Ethiopia bringing the total to 1,835 since the two sides concluded a comprehensive peace agreement 12 December 2000, that ended their two-and-a-half-year border war.

The agreement commits both parties to release civilian detainees as well as POWs they have been holding since the outbreak of the conflict in early May 1998.

Ethiopia released a total of 359 Eritrean POWs during the first two days of exchange of prisoners 23-24 December. Another 914 Eritrean POWs were freed and returned home 3 January 2001.

The third batch of 154 were released 16 January, while the fourth, numbering 254 were freed and returned home 13-14 January.