Word: eritrea
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...last week in Ethiopia's northern province of Eritrea, warfare continued between government forces and rebel soldiers who belong to the Eritrean Liberation Front, a well-armed Moslem guerrilla organization which is dedicated to whining Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia. The situation was summed up by a Western diplomat in Addis Ababa: "The country could fall apart one night...
...city past government tanks and machine-gun positions. At week's end the estimate of soldiers and civilians killed in the civil war had risen to 3,000. There were also reports from Khartoum that Ethiopia had accepted a three-point proposal for a cease-fire in Eritrea proposed by the Sudanese government...
...center of the battle was the palm-fringed city of Asmara, Eritrea's capital, which was rocked by mortar, bazooka and howitzer fire as rebel commandos attacked army and navy installations. One exchange caught a group of 30 Americans, including the local consul, in a social club; they gamely sang John Brown's Body and other traditional songs as tracer bullets arced overhead. A U.S. communications base was hit in another assault. Throughout the week, Ethiopian planes bombed and strafed guerrilla concentrations and mud-hut villages suspected of supporting the rebels. By week's end, according...
...troubles in Eritrea date back to 1962, when Haile Selassie annexed the former Italian colony. Over the years, the rebel forces of the predominantly Moslem Eritrean Liberation Front gained control of the countryside, but have never made much headway against Ethiopian forces amassed at Asmara. Even after Haile Selassie was overthrown last September, the position of the guerrillas did not improve appreciably-partly because the front man for the new military government, General Aman Michael Andom, was himself an Eritrean and tried to solve the problem by granting greater autonomy to the province. Ever since Andom was killed last November...
...unrest spread beyond Eritrea to Tigre province, just south of Asmara, where guerrillas blew up a bridge and halted a convoy of 50 army tanks bound for the relief of the city. In Addis Ababa, a few skirmishes took place between nervous soldiers and civilians. The government was said to be setting up three concentration camps in the capital in possible preparation for the internment of tens of thousands of Eritreans who live there. In case serious fighting breaks out in the city, the junta was reported to be moving Haile Selassie from the National Palace to a secret hideout...