Isaias retains strong police and security services even if much of his military strength has been decimated. He will probably find it hard to resist the temptation to use harsh methods to enforce uniformity and suppress dissidence. Isaias has mobilised the Eritrean diaspora to press Europeans and Americans for sympathy and emergency relief. Eritrean propaganda presents the country as the victim of Ethiopian invasion and stresses alleged Ethiopian atrocities against simple citizens, destruction of property, and theft of valuable goods. There is little substantiation for Eritrean claims.
Warfare inevitably results in damage to property and dislocation of people.
Ethiopia claims that its forces were under clear instructions to minimise destruction and do as little harm as possible to civilians. There is no reason to doubt this claim. Ethiopia disarmed all captured Eritrean soldiers and took possession of Eritrean military equipment and supplies as it was entitled to do by rules of warfare. Many of the allegations of Ethiopian misbehaviour that are spread by Eritrean media, Eritrean embassies and EPLF sympathisers abroad are intended to counteract the doubts of both the Eritrean population within the country and the diaspora. The aim is to create an illusory impression of continued EPLF vitality, and above all, to keep the diaspora sending money.