No-War-No-Peace, and now Total War, Take Huge Toll in Eritrea

Souad Dajani, an American of Palestinian origin and author of Eyes Without Country: Searching for a Palestinian Strategy of Liberation (Temple University Press, 1994), has taught at Antioch College and Northeastern University. She is the Middle East & Africa Program Coordinator for the Boston-based humanitarian and development agency Grassroots International which has supported the work of local organizations in Eritrea since 1984.

ADI KESHI, ERITREA. The IV bag sways gently beneath a branch of a spiked acacia tree. The patient has just been removed. In the glare of the hot mid-afternoon sun, it looks eerie and foreboding--both an emblem and an omen. I am in a Displaced People's Camp in the desert hills south of Barentu. Over 20,000 people live here, just a fraction of the 266,000 or more driven from their homes since war with Ethiopia erupted in May 1998.

Two years have passed since the first skirmishes, ostensibly over the border separating the two countries. (For an analysis of the war, see Dan Connell, "Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Crisis: From Alliance to the Brink of War," in the March 1999 issue of Peacework). Since then, the conflict has faded from the public eye, but the crisis continues unabated. As Eritrea stands poised to celebrate its seventh year of independence on May 24, 2000--the "no-war-no-peace" situation in the Horn of Africa grinds on. Alternatively described as "the world's largest conflict" and "the bloodiest war" today, this fight between two former allies has already taken an enormous toll: 50-70 thousand dead--five times more than in Kosovo.

IV bag hanging from acacia tree, Displaced People's Camp in the desert hills south of Barentu, Eritrea. Photo: Grassroots International

The war's humanitarian consequences, coupled with the growing threat of famine across the region, are appalling. Prolonged drought has put over 16 million people at risk, eight million of those in Ethiopia. Hundreds of thousands in both countries have been directly affected by the war; millions more remain vulnerable.

Eritrea, whose population is barely one-fifteenth that of Ethiopia, has close to ten percent of its population mobilized at the front. Thirty refugee camps shelter those fleeing the fighting. The country's meager resources are strained to the maximum. For the last two years, the government has worked with UN agencies and a handful of NGOs, such as Grassroots International, to secure food, tents, water, and vital medications for the refugees. But many potential donors have taken a wait-and-see posture toward assistance that is leaving Eritrea in the lurch.

Unlike those of drought-stricken areas in central and southern Ethiopia, Eritrea's harvest last year was adequate, thanks mainly to the volunteers--aging government workers, high school students, and others from the cities and towns--who went to the countryside to bring in the crops, while most able-bodied women and men remained in the trenches. Close to 600,000 Eritreans, however, are at high risk from the drought and will be especially vulnerable in the event of renewed fighting.

On my way to Adi Keshi, I visit Shambuko, whose 9000 residents fled here when they came under vicious Ethiopian bombardment in February 1999. We are well within Eritrean territory, quite distant from the contested border, yet the town was not spared. There is a huge hole in the small private hospital. Its ceiling was caved in by an artillery shell.

Along the main street, I see row upon row of deserted houses, their windows blown in, their doors perched precariously on their hinges. The walls bear witness to what the people, now huddled in a distant refugee camp, endured during the fighting. Shambuko is a ghost town. The only signs of life are a few dogs and chickens and an occasional army jeep speeding through. And this scene is repeated in dozens of towns within firing distance of the border across much of Eritrea.

Expulsions Add to the Human Cost

Over the last two years, 67,000 Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin were summarily rounded up and ejected from Ethiopia, often with little more than the clothes on their backs. The main targets were men, forcibly separated from their families and expelled, leaving wives and children behind at the mercy of a brutal Ethiopian regime.

Their property and assets confiscated, these deportees become the responsibility of an already over-burdened Eritrean government. Urban deportees (some 58% of those expelled) are given basic assistance and then left largely to fend for themselves. I met with over 30 professionals and businesspeople during my ten-day visit. Their stories are hair-raising. Many are frantic about the fate of wives and children left behind.

The National Confederation of Eritrean Workers recently lodged an official complaint with the International Labor Organization over Ethiopia's violations of international law and its illegal confiscation of these peoples' property. Other organizations have also lodged protests, but the practice continues.

A full 42% of those expelled are "rural refugees," people who have for the most part joined the displaced in the camps around Eritrea. Along with government assistance offered through the Eritrean Relief and Refugee Commission, services are provided by the mass organizations, especially NUEYS--the National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students. With its main office in the Asmara capital and with branches around the country, NUEYS boasts a membership of over 130,000--almost half of them women. It is the most dynamic of Eritrea's popular organizations, and symbolizes the Eritrean determination to prevail against the odds, despite the country's chronic lack of international support.

NUEYS juggles its regular youth activities while trying to involve young people in the camps in self-help projects. It has set up literacy classes, first-aid training, and sports leagues. I see dozens of girls and boys learning their letters on improvised benches under a shade tree outside Adi Keshi.

Failure of the International Community

The failure of the international community--particularly the US--to effectively mediate this conflict is disconcerting and incomprehensible. Despite numerous visits by US Special Envoy Anthony Lake and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice, among others, no breakthroughs have been achieved. This, despite the fact that a US- and UN-brokered Organization for African Unity peace plan--drawn up with the partial agreement of both countries--has been on the table for close to a year.

Ethiopia at first claimed to accept the plan, but when Eritrea came on board, the Addis Ababa government suddenly got cold feet, claiming it needed clarifications and amendments. In the months since the final OAU Plan was presented in July 1999, there has been no visible US pressure on Ethiopia to sign. Instead, Washington waffles under the pretext that it prefers that the two sides negotiate between themselves.

Meanwhile, the Clinton administration sends massive "humanitarian" aid to an already weapons-saturated Ethiopia, whose government continues to divert scarce resources to acquire more guns. In contrast, several European countries have halted all aid to Ethiopia pending its agreement to the OAU Plan--thus clearly identifying the main obstacle to peace.

Today, while famine and disease threaten the region, renewed fighting appears imminent. The latest OAU mediation ended in failure on May 5, when Ethiopia again signaled its refusal to sign the agreements. Some critics charge that Ethiopia is directing donated food and medicines to its armed forces; there are concerns that Ethiopia is diverting relief funds into weapons purchases.

Consider this: despite drought and imminent famine, Ethiopia is spending more than one million dollars a day on sophisticated new weapons. But neighboring Eritrea, also drought-stricken and desperately poor, is doubly punished. Because of its successful harvest, achieved mainly through its citizens' remarkable volunteer efforts, its people are seen as not needing our help, so the country receives only token emergency aid.

As a result, Eritrea faces an uncertain fate. Its people-driven development programs are stalled, its resources are stretched to the limit, and its saber-rattling neighbor, Ethiopia, appears to feel it can maintain the crisis at this level with no repercussions--at least none from Washington.

If Ethiopia can walk away from yet another OAU mediation, secure in the knowledge that international famine relief aid will continue to flow, it may well read this as a signal that it can attack Eritrea directly with impunity. If so, its leaders may either try to conquer additional Eritrean territory or to strike at vulnerable points deep within Eritrea, using its newly acquired Russian jet bombers to hit populated centers. The next flash point could be the central border near Tsorona--a bare 90 kilometers from Asmara--where heavy fighting also took place in early 1999.

To avert this, the US, as the only party with leverage on both sides, should insist the two governments immediately sign the OAU Plan and disengage their forces. A neutral third force should be put in place in the disputed areas until the appropriate mechanisms are established to evaluate various claims. Unless the US acts now, the next weeks could be even more bloody than any so far in this tragic and terribly under-reported conflict.

Ethiopian Invasion Creates Humanitarian Crisis

Please consider supporting Grassroots International's Eritrea Emergency Fund. Contact UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke (212-415-4000 or <usaun@undp.org>) and ask why the Security Council is not considering immediate trade and other economic sanctions against Ethiopia until it ends the invasion of Eritrea.

Half a million Eritreans are fleeing their homes as the Ethiopian army advances into their country, overwhelming the capacities of Eritrean relief organizations. To support them, Grassroots International is launching an appeal for emergency aid for the affected areas to be administered by the Eritrean Relief and Refugee Commission (ERREC). Commissioner Worku Tesfamichael of ERREC wrote May 20, "Food needs to start arriving within 24 hours, and this isn't exaggerating. This is about saving lives." ERREC has issued an urgent international appeal for emergency supplies, such as tents, blankets, food, and water storage facilities.

Ethiopia's latest offensive brings to a boil a conflict that has been labeled the world's bloodiest war. After obstructing a cease-fire agreement sponsored by the Organization for African Unity, Ethiopia has admitted initiating this current round in the two-year conflict. Eritrea agreed months ago to accept the OAU plan and begin negotiating the issues that divide the two countries.

Half a million people is an enormous number for Eritrea, whose population is only 3.5 million. One out of ten battle-age Eritreans is mobilized for national defense, and now one out of seven has already been uprooted by the fighting. Even before the current fighting, international analysts had identified some 600,000 Eritreans to be at special risk of famine.

--Kevin Murray and Sona Bari, Grassroots International

To support the Grassroots International Eritrea Emergency Fund: 179 Boylston St., 4th floor, Boston MA 02130; 617-524-1400 ; <www.grassrootsonline.org>