Our driver Walde called out in the Tigranya language to reassure the girl that there was no danger. But in a land like Eritrea where the countryside is still pock-marked with trenches it is hard to get used to the fact that 30 years of war are finally over. The girl s reaction was perfectly understandable - death could easily come at the whim of strangers in large vehicles pointing odd machines in your direction. Peace will take a bit of time to get used to. Travel anywhere in the Horn of Africa and one reality becomes obvious.
War is contagious.
Refugees from southern Sudan caught in the crossfire of civil war flee in terror across the Ethiopian border. Not too long ago Ethiopian refugees fled across the Sudanese border for exactly the same reason. As I travelled through Eritrea and the northern Ethiopian province of Tigray I got at least the hint that this is possible, which would be all the more remarkable given the startling conditions in the region. Few illusions are possible about this part of the world - it is poor in almost every sense of the word. It has few natural resources, no surface water, badly degraded soil and very little rain.