Word: eritreans
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...second time in three years because of drought, Western food donations have once again begun pouring into the country. But much of this aid never reaches the hungry. Last week relief officials reported that 172 tons of food, given chiefly by Italy, were destroyed when rebels of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front attacked a 17-truck commercial convoy moving supplies to the stricken provinces of Eritrea and Tigre. The guerrillas say the vehicles were used to ferry ammunition to government troops, a charge adamantly denied by aid organizations and U.S. officials, who fear many people will die if relief...
During the last famine the rebels and international agencies had a policy of live and let live. But in late October, Eritrean People's Liberation Front guerrillas attacked an unguarded convoy of 23 trucks on its way from Asmara, capital of Eritrea, to Mekele, capital of Tigre. One driver was killed, and the trucks -- loaded with 674 tons of food, enough to feed 30,000 people for a month -- were destroyed by grenades. The E.P.L.F. claimed that some of the trucks contained military equipment, a charge that U.N. officials deny. Since then, the E.P.L.F. has attacked two Ethiopian military-civilian...
...rebel sabotage brought the entire operation for Tigre and Eritrea to a halt for more than a month. Not only were the convoys under threat from Eritrean and Tigrean rebels, but even those agencies willing to risk assault could not move their trucks because the government closed the roads. "If many people die this year and next, it will not be due to drought but the politico- military situation," said one relief worker...
Through the parched Eritrean highlands in northern Ethiopia, 25 trucks rumbled along a rough, winding road. Their cargo: 674 metric tons of food, enough to feed 30,000 people for a month, destined for drought victims in the provinces of Eritrea and Tigre...
...relief never reached its destination. About 25 miles south of the Eritrean capital of Asmara, secessionist rebels of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front opened fire on the unarmed, unescorted convoy, killing one driver and wounding three others. After clearing the vehicles of passengers, the rebels blasted the trucks with grenades, setting them ablaze. Half the food was burned beyond salvage, and all the vehicles were destroyed. The rebels claimed that some trucks carried government bombs and ammunition. "Completely untrue," said Michael Priestly, coordinator of the U.N. relief effort. "The people who did this did not even look under...