Somalia-backed seccessionist forces in Ethiopia claimed Saturday to have occupied all but a few settlements in two provinces of the southeastern Ogaden region they seek to control.

The Western Somali Liberation Front WSLF, claiming to hold more than 90 percent of the region that makes up one-fourth of Ethiopia, reported fighting as close as 130 miles from the capital of Addis Ababa.

The WSLF, quoted by official Mogadishu radio in a broadcast from the Somali capital, said "heavy fighting" continued around
six settlements in the southern Ethiopian provinces of Bale and Sidamo, provinces of the Ogaden.

The insurgents, claimed by Ethiopia to be regular Somali forces, are fighting around scattered towns 400 miles inside Ethiopia,
according to latest WSLF reports.

Official Ethiopia radio, in a broadcast from Addis Ababa monitored here, Saturday reported only on continuing clashes around
junctions on the country's only railroad with the coast running through the northernmost Ogaden. The railroad has been cut by
insurgents for two months.

There was no independent confirmation of the reports.

Western diplomats here believe most of the Ogaden now is occupied by the insurgents while three strategic northern towns
remain in government hands.

The latest WSLF communique reported the only Sidamo provincial town still in government control Saturday was Negele,
about 290 miles south east of Addis Ababa.

Sidamo province, bordering Kenya, is in the south of Ethiopia and the farthest point the insurgents have panetrated in three
weeks of fighting.

In neighboring Bale province, east of Sidamo, the WSLF reported fighting around three settlements. One, Sheik Hussein, is
only 130 miles southeast of Addis Ababa.

Without offering casualty figures, the WSLF said Ethiopian troops, backed by jet fighter and armor, "suffered heavy losses of
manpower and equipment and many of the troops have fled from battle." It claimed that in "heavy fighting" for the Sidamo
provincial border settlement of Moyale, 114 Ethiopian officers and men "fled across into Kenya for shelter."

There was no official reaction from the Kenyan government to the report.

Moyale is 400 miles south of the Ethiopian capital. The WSLF claimed most Ethiopian forces it is fighting is Sidamo are
"stragglers from areas already liberated . . ."

It claimed inhabitants of areas occupied by the insurgents, people with strong ethnic ties to neighboring Somalia, "are busy
rebuilding the towns which have been demolished by Addis Ababa troops."

Somalia has persistently denied active involvement in the Ogaden fighting. Ethiopia claims Somali warplanes, tanks, armored
cars, artillery and regular troops invaded the region - about the size of Britain - July 24.

The aim of the insurgents, according to the WSLF, is to annex the region and either declare it independent or write it with
Somalia.

The Associated Press (AP)
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