From: wsargeant@IGC.ORG (Winslow L. Sargeant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:Ethiopia, aid convoys a target 'du
Date: 9 Apr 92 18:53:20 GMT

/* Written 10:06 am  Apr  9, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "ETHIOPIA: AID CONVOYS A TARGET" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: ETHIOPIA: AID CONVOYS A TARGET


an inter press service feature

by obinna anyadike

dire dawa, ethiopia, apr 6 (ips) -- ethiopia must be one of the
few countries in the world where insurance companies routinely
offer ''bandit, shifta and guerilla'' (bsg) policy coverage.

in the eastern province of hararghe, where lawlessness is
endemic, it is neded.

here, the road running from djibouti to the refugee camps on
the somali border, is in the hands of several competing
ethnic-based armed movements in a region which is a melting pot
of different nationalities.

attacks on vehicles and looting, particularly of relief
trucks carrying food from djibouti, are common. the worst
stretch of road is the 100 kms between the ancient muslim town
of harer to jigjiga.

apart from ambush, the truck drivers have to cope with mines
laid by the islamic front for the liberation of oromia (iflo),
retaliating against interim-government troops' accidental
shooting of their number two man in dire dawa.

since the beginning of the year, most of the foreign aid
agencies supplying the somali refugee and ethiopian returnee
camps on the eastern border have suffered casualties and lost
vehicles.

the highest toll has been on the british relief organisation,
oxfam, which has had three drivers killed.

the aid agency drivers however have a cavalier attitude to
the risks they run. ''its a good job, a good salary, i like my
job'', emmanuel libsaker, 28, told ips.

each morning, government soldiers of the ethiopian people's
revolutionary democratic front (eprdf) check the road visually
for mines. it is far from a perfect system.

the eprdf also escort vehicles, in what the uninitiated would
imagine should be an orderly convoy. instead it resembles a mad
dash of wild west gold prospectors as the huge articulated
relief lorries, their organisations' flags flying, take the road
at full tilt.

the theory is that if one goes fast enough, the mine should
explode behind you. the mangled wreckage beside the road
suggests that this does not always work. (more/ips)


ethiopia: aid (2)

adam abdi, a driver for save the children fund, has a more
effective if not cynical tactic. ''when we reach a place where i
know the road is bad, i let the others go on, and then follow in
their tyre tracks''.

''death is common. i may try to duck if there is shooting,
but with mines you can't protect yourself. i don't think i am
brave, but i need to work to satisfy my family so i like it,''
he added.

according to libsaker, ''i who is saving up to get married,
my girlfriend gets frightened for me so i tell her 'no, the road
is ok', something like that. she believes me''.

but he admits, ''the eastern part is very dangerous because
of the mines. we can't see them, nobody knows where they may be.
but we have a convoy system. i can't go alone and i drive
carefully and get my truck serviced every month''.

libsaker worked for three years in the north, which was a
battle ground between the tigrean people's liberation front
(tplf, now in essence the eprdf) and the forces of former
president mengistu haile mariam, overthrown in may 1991.

''in the north the war was face to face with the military and
the tplf, not like this civil war. now somebody can stop you and
take your clothes, money and kill you. they are not soldiers,
just bandits'', libsaker believes.

it is an opinion shared by abdi. caught in a crossfire last
month, he was guided with his lorry through the bush by the iflo
after they had taken everything of value he had.

the drivers, regardless of organisation, are a close-knit
community that share information and gossip about road
conditions and mourn over the loss of colleagues.

although in january drivers at the aid agency 'care' went on
strike for one day to demand better death benefits, it is
regarded as a job. the truck drivers are an elite. they can earn
promotion and are well paid by ethiopian standards.

but libsaker has another motive: ''my work is very important.
in the refugee camps, the people need so much shelter, food
items, and they are human beings like me.''
(end/ips/oa/ar/apc/92)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african