DATE=2/16/99
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-245584
TITLE=ETHIOPIA ERITREA (L-ONLY)
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=EMBADAKAYNA, ETHIOPIA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: ETHIOPIA IS REINFORCING POSITIONS ALONG ITS NORTHERN
BORDER, PREPARING FOR ANOTHER ROUND OF FIGHTING WITH ERITREA.
CORRESPONDENT SCOTT STEARNS IS AT THE FRONT, WHERE HE REPORTS
THOUSANDS OF CIVILIANS HAVE BEEN DRIVEN FROM THEIR HOMES.
TEXT: CONVOYS OF TRUCKS CLIMBED THE STEEP, DUSTY HILLS OF
NORTHERN TIGRAY PROVINCE, CARRYING AMMUNITION AND DIESEL FUEL
TOWARD THE FRONT.
RUSSIAN SELF-PROPELLED GUNS, ARTILLERY MOUNTED ON TANK BODIES,
LINE THIS ROCKY RIDGE, FLANKED BY ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS AND INFANTRY
DUG-IN BEHIND LOW ROCK WALLS.
THIS IS THE TSORONA FRONT, WHERE ETHIOPIA SAYS IT IS DEFENDING
ITSELF IN THIS BORDER WAR AGAINST ERITREAN INVASION, AND ERITREA
SAYS ETHIOPIA IS TRYING TO PREVENT IT FROM RECLAIMING LAND IT
SAYS IS RIGHTFULLY ERITREA'S.
HEAVY SHELLING HAS DISPLACED MORE THAN 16-THOUSAND PEOPLE ON THIS
FRONT. LESS THAN 10-KILOMETERS FROM THE FIGHTING, UNDER AN
OUTCROP OF DRY RED ROCKS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF EMBADAKAYNA, MORE
THAN 160 FAMILIES ARE LIVING IN CAVES.
// OPT // THEY COOK IN SMALL, MUD OVENS OUTSIDE THIN, STICK
SHACKS DRAPED WITH BLANKETS AND CARDBOARD ROOFS. A YOUNG MOTHER
STEWS GOAT MEAT WHILE HER SON FIGHTS WITH A CHICKEN FOR A SCRAP
OF PAPER TORN FROM A SCHOOL EXERCISE BOOK. IT IS AN ENGLISH
LESSON, PRINTED NEATLY IN BLUE INK. IT READS: "THE DAY IS LONG."
// END OPT //
ABABA GEBRESELASSIE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST PEOPLE TO MOVE TO THE
CAVES. WITH THIN GRAY HAIR BRAIDED CLOSE TO HER HEAD, MS.
GEBRESELASSIE SAYS SHE LEFT HER HOME IN THE VILLAGE OF MAIHAMATU
WHEN THE COMPOUND CAME UNDER ATTACK FROM ERITREAN SHELLINGS.
/// GEBRESELASSIE ACT IN TIGRINYAN -- IN FULL AND UNDER ///
MS. GEBRESELASSIE SAYS IT IS A TWO-KILOMETER WALK TO WATER FROM
THE CAVE. BUT COMPARED TO THE LIVES OF HERS SONS AND HER BROTHER
AT THE FRONT, SHE THINKS IT'S NOT SO BAD. // OPT // SHE SAYS--
WE HAVE SOME FOOD. WHAT IS HARD IS HOW COLD IT GETS AT NIGHT IN
THE ROCKS. // END OPT //
ZEROU BERHANE IS A LOCAL COUNCIL MEMBER, RESPONSIBLE FOR
DISTRIBUTING BLANKETS, PLASTIC SHEETING, AND A RATION OF WHEAT.
WITH FIGHTING ON THE TSORONA FRONT CONTINUING, HE SAYS THE SAFEST
PLACE FOR CIVILIANS IS TO STAY IN THE HILLS.
/// ZEROU ACT IN TIGRINYAN -- IN FULL AND UNDER ///
MR. ZEROU SAYS THEY RESETTLE PEOPLE IN CAVES BECAUSE THEY CANNOT
BUILD NEW HOUSES FOR EVERYONE WHO IS DISPLACED. HE SAYS -- HERE
IN THE ROCKS, THE PEOPLE ARE PROTECTED FROM SHELLING.
MORE AND MORE ETHIOPIAN SOLDIERS ARE MOVING NORTH IN TRUCKS AND
ON FOOT THROUGH ABANDONED STONE VILLAGES. AFTER EIGHT-MONTHS OF
THREATS FROM ERITREANS ACROSS THE BORDER, MICHAEL MILEW SAYS IT
IS TIME HE JOINS THE FIGHT -- INSTEAD OF WAITING IT OUT IN THE
CAVES.
/// MILEW ACT IN TIGRINYAN -- IN FULL AND UNDER ///
AFTER WAITING TO SEE WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THIS WAR, MR. MILEW
SAYS -- ALL MY OLDER BROTHERS ARE AT THE FRONT NOW, SO IT IS TIME
I LEAVE THE FAMILY HERE AND JOIN THEM.
IT IS AN UNLIKELY WAR BETWEEN FORMER ALLIES DIVIDED BY ECONOMIC
JEALOUSIES, TERRITORIAL RIVALRIES, AND A SEEMING DESIRE TO PROVE
THEY DO NOT NEED EACH OTHER, ALTHOUGH NO TWO COUNTRIES IN AFRICA
ARE MORE ALIKE IN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE THAN ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA.
MS. GEBRESELASSIE SAYS EVERYTHING SEEMED FINE BEFORE ERITREAN
INDEPENDENCE IN 1993. NOW WITH THIS WAR, SHE WONDERS IF LIFE
HERE WILL EVER BE THE SAME.
/// REST OPT ///
/// SECOND GEBRESELASSIE ACT IN TIGRINYAN -- IN FULL AND UNDER
///
MS. GEBRESELASSIE SAYS BEFORE THE WAR, ETHIOPIANS AND ERITREANS
CROSSED THE BORDER TO ATTEND EACH OTHERS' WEDDINGS AND BAPTISMS.
SHE SAYS -- IT IS WHY WE WERE SO SURPRISED BY THE FIGHTING,
BECAUSE BEFORE WE WERE FRIENDS. (SIGNED)
NEB/SKS/PCF/RAE
16-Feb-99 10:53 AM EST (1553 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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