It’s dash of Italy in the heart of Africa. Eritrea’s Italian colonisers left more than 60 years ago, but their sense of style remains. The capital’s art deco streets are among the safest and cleanest on the continent.But as Mark Corcoran reports, the elegant façade of the capital conceals a dirty secret. The guerrilla fighters who overthrew Ethiopian rule to create an independent Eritrea pledged to create a unique African state blind to tribe, religion or gender. Eritrean nationalism, has become another African failure – beset by war, famine, and dictatorship.It’s a tragic tale of a dream souring. When tiny Eritrea celebrated its incredible victory over its giant neighbour Ethiopia, after a 30-year David and Goliath-style struggle, the world celebrated.
That was in 1993. Now, just a decade on, Isaias Afewerki, the former guerrilla leader who led his people to independence is refusing to yield power – closing down the free press, locking up critics, and presiding over a one-party state through the barrel of a gun. And the country is on a war footing again, bogged down in a never-ending dispute over the border with Ethiopia. The ceasefire holds for now, with UN peacekeepers patrolling the disputed area, but in a two-year bloodbath, at least 100,000 Eritreans and Ethiopians were sacrificed in a war so pointless it was described as being “like two bald men fighting over a comb”.
“Vision is one thing,” says the man in question, President Afewerki. “Realising vision is a completely different story.”
Music
Corcoran: It’s a dash of Italy in the heart of Africa. Sunday morning in Asmara – capital of Eritrea. The Italian colonisers left 63 years ago – but the passion for ‘la dolce vita’ remains. These Italian art deco streets are among the cleanest, and safest in Africa.
Music
Corcoran: But the good life is elusive. Once Africa’s youngest, most promising democracy – Eritrea is now careering down the path to dictatorship.
Soldiers still wear the distinctive sandals – made famous by an earlier generation of fighters - who fought an epic 30-year war of liberation from Ethiopia – a struggle to create a unique African state blind to tribe, religion or gender. A revolution now immortalised by this bizare monument.
When the Eritreans joyfully declared their independence from Ethiopia back in 1993, it was heralded as the beginning of an African renaissance, but what has followed has been a decade of war, famine, drought and more recently, political repression. For many here, this great experiment in African democracy – a dream supported by so many in the West – is now dead.
Corcoran: Just twenty minutes drive from the cafes of Asmara you find a very different Eritrea. This is part of the regular circuit for Askalu Menkarios. The hands-on Minister for Labour and Social Affairs – she is also a famed veteran of the independence struggle. Now she must stand and watch as her people are gradually reduced to this.
Supervisor: There are 14,000 individuals, who are supplied with food today. There is a problem. We don’t have enough, but there is nothing much we can do.
Askalu: You know, we were distributing twenty kilos per family – now he’s telling me its 12.5 kilos per family only per month.
Corcoran: So you are basically running out of supplies here?
Askalu: Almost, yes almost.
Corcoran: Eritrea is in the grip of drought – and will have to import 70% of its food this year.
Corcoran: What percentage of Eritrea’s population are dependent on food aid to survive?Askalu: At this time you know you can say almost two thirds.
Corcoran: Eritrea asked the international community for $140 million U.S. dollars in aid this year – but many donor nations are baulking - fearing the money will be spent on weapons, not wheat.
Askalu: We cannot blame God for the problems we are in now - it’s all human made – man made – if Ethiopia didn’t invade Eritrea we wouldn’t be in this situation now.
Music
Corcoran: The peace that finally settled over this land was all too brief. In 1998 – barely 5 years after independence - Eritrea and Ethiopia began arguing again over ownership of Badme, an obscure town – down there in the rugged border country. It remains unclear who started the shooting, but both sides stubbornly refused to back down.
The fighting rapidly escalated into a two-year bloodbath. By the time they’d fought each other to a standstill, one hundred thousand people were dead – and Ethiopia occupied a quarter of Eritrea.
These Indian peacekeepers are part of a 4,000 strong United Nations force now on the ground, monitoring an increasingly fragile peace. They patrol part of a 25 kilometre wide buffer zone – that runs the full length of the Eritrea--Ethiopia border, 1,000 kilometres of this imposing terrain.
They may speak the language of diplomatic understatement – but the consequences of failure here are clear.
Indian Officer: Sometimes tempers do run high – and that is what we are here for.
Corcoran: And something like 100,000 people were killed here?Indian officer: Right. In the last war that’s what the people the statistics speak of.
Corcoran: Last year an International Boundary Commission declared Badme and other contested areas to lie inside Eritrea – a ruling Ethiopia refuses to accept. For the moment peacekeepers occupy the disputed territory – closely monitored by the Eritreans.
Indian officer: This is the region where the new boundary is supposed to cut across in a manner which is not acceptable to one party to the conflict.
Corcoran: This particular valley here?
Indian officer: Yes this particular valley here. The extent of the area we are talking about is from where we are standing – slightly down below, into the valley – up to the ridgeline on top.
Corcoran: In the few years of peace following independence, Eritrea had embarked on a remarkable infrastructure program that was the envy of the developing world. Much if it now lies in ruins.
Indian officer: This is Senafe town. This used to be a very, very important town before the war. It still continues to be very important. Corcoran: And what happened here?
Indian officer: This was a telephone exchange. Unfortunately in the war it got destroyed – you can see the total destruction.
Corcoran: This looks new – it was built – what – after independence?
Indian officer: Yes. I think if I’m not wrong ’98 vintage and it got destroyed in 2000.
Corcoran: Also destroyed was the vision of this man – Eritrean President Isaias Afewerke – once universally hailed as father of the nation.
President Isaias: Vision is one thing,
realising vision is a completely different story.
Corcoran: President Isaias now leads a nation clearly on a war footing. With a population of only 4 million, a staggering 300,000 are in national service.
He was a brilliant guerrilla commander - during the liberation struggle -- but these days Isaias is a man with few friends left in the world -- apart from Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi who donated the fighters that fly overhead on national day.
Many ruling party comrades believed the border war could have been avoided and were scathing of the President’s handling of the conflict.
or Isaias Afewerke, this was treachery of the highest order.
President Isaias: You would find treason, betrayal, vacillation, compromising national security and a number of other things.
Corcoran: The celebrations now reflect the growing paranoia of the leadership.The snakes represent Eritrea’s many enemies - not just Ethiopia – but the traitors within.In late 2001 – with the world pre-occupied by the aftermath of September 11 – the President struck.Elections were cancelled. A draft constitution suspended. The free press silenced. Cabinet ministers and generals were jailed or fled into exile.President Isaias: So it's not politics, it had nothing to do with views, ideas, opinions but our national security was in danger. We had to take the appropriate measures to defend the nation and its sovereignty.
Corcoran: Such is the fear and paranoia here in Asmara – that no Eritrean dares publicly discuss politics. The dozens of revolutionary heroes, politicians, journalists and businessmen who dared speak out – and were later arrested – have – for all intents and purposes ceased to exist.To get some idea of what’s really going on here behind the picturesque facade of Asmara – we need to travel abroad – to meet those Eritreans who’ve managed to escape the regime.
Music
Corcoran: For 15 years during the struggle Paulos Tesfagiorgis was a key administrator of the independence movement.Now this former member of the ruling circle endures a lonely exile in the United States. He dares not return home.
Paulos: I don’t think I would see my country beyond the airport – I would be arrested there.
One sad thing about the way this government operates is that it can arrest people - make them disappear – incommunicado – no communication – we don’t know where they are – and we are talking about well known people – prominent people and God knows what happens to others who are not known.
Amnesty International reports that hundreds of Isaias’ critics have been detained. Including this man - Fessahi Joshua Johannes - seen here in happier times in this 1997 Foreign Correspondent report.He established this touring youth circus to remind the next generation of the sacrifices of the struggle.
Joshua: We have to teach the children – we have to keep in mind – we have to preserve it
Corcoran: A famous veteran, playwright and prominent newspaper publisher – Joshua personified the Eritrean success story.
Joshua: Yes, we have done our duty – we have done our duty – I believe that (smiles)
Corcoran: But Joshua is now among 21 prominent political leaders and journalists – held without trial at a secret location. His fate was sealed, after writing an open letter to the President criticising his increasingly autocratic rule.
Paulos: He was among the journalists who were detained, one of the journalists who went on hunger strike – and taken away from prison and put where? Nobody knows.
Corcoran: During our visit to Eritrea, Isaias was suddenly called away on a trip to Libya and Italy – that according to western diplomatic sources also included arms buying, but he later agreed to answer questions put to him on our behalf.
Journalist: Last time ABC Foreign Correspondent visited Eritrea they profiled a former fighter turned journalist, an artist named Fessi Johannes, known as Joshua – where is he now?
President Isaias: I don’t know him.
Journalist: He was co-founder of the newspaper Setid which was the biggest newspaper here prior to it being shut down.
President Isaias: I don’t know.
Journalist: . . .or where he might be?
President Isaias: I don’t know him, if I don’t know him, how can I know where he might be.
Paulos: He can afford to say that you see – that is his problem – he can deny – and put himself in a problem he has become incapable of facing the truth – and doing the right thing.
Corcoran: Eritreans may be short on food but there’s an abundance of political rhetoric.State TV feeds the masses a steady diet of propaganda – as the regime attempts to merge the sacrifice of the liberation struggle with the present confrontation with Ethiopia..Singer: How was the dawn assault with your bullets sounding… tat, tat, tat!
Paulos: If you look at the propaganda there is no tone
of reconciliation – there is no tone of calming down.
Corcoran: Notably absent is the once vibrant, outspoken media. In Eritrea today – the State is the truth.
Journalist: Why isn't there any free press in
Eritrea?
President Isaias: What is free press?
Journalist: Press which is not run by the government.
President Isaias: There is no free press anywhere. It's not in England, it's not in the United States, I would like to know what free press is in the first place.
Corcoran: There are no elections yet – there’s no free press - and you’ve locked up a large number of critics of the government both politicians, generals and journalists – I mean how do you respond to that?
Askalu: Well – basically what’s said doesn’t mean it’s true.
How does you define democracy? How does it work? It’s always context based. We cannot have imported models and you know frames to fit – there’s no democracy that fits all – you know.
Music
Corcoran: Amid the relative luxury of Asmara there’s an all-pervading sense of war weariness. Originally conscripted for two years, many young Eritreans, such as musician Johannes Tquabo, have now been in the army for a decade.
Johannes: Since 1994 I am in military service – and military fighter. It’s very bad – I feel so bad about it, but… if there is a war we can’t leave you know.
Corcoran: Before his call-up Johannes was one of Eritrea’s most popular young singers. Today, on leave, he’s still instantly recognised by his many fans.
But celebrity counted for little when he found himself just another soldier fighting for his life.
Johannes: I lose many friends…and I may kill many enemies too. I got fragment injured in my right side leg. I come back to hospital – and after that they call me to sing here.
Johannes: They imprisoned love but we got out on bail.
Corcoran: By day he performs in a military propaganda band. But by night, Johannes attempts to rebuild his career. Most of the audience are like him – urban, middle class conscripts.
Singing
Corcoran: There is no youthful exuberance here – too many friends and relatives are missing for that.
Corcoran: This is Asmara’s other war memorial – known locally as “The Tank Cemetery”. A vast resting place for the detritus of four decades of conflict. Many now fear this is how the great Eritrean dream will all end if Isaias doesn’t address a growing resentment from within his own ranks.Paulos: This kind of frustration developing within the military – we don’t know what’s going to… what the channel is for this frustration. It could be some kind of coup d’etat .
This is not uncommon in Africa – coup – counter coup - counter coup – so forget stability – forget development and forget the rest of the people.
Corcoran: But the President couldn’t care less what his critics think. He’s the father of the nation – and as far as he’s concerned it’s a job for life.
President Isaias: For me, retirement means retiring from wanting to in life from what you aspire to achieve in life, in a nation, and I don’t think that will ever cross my mind again any time in the future as long as I am alive. Paulos: Power became the only aim of the President of Eritrea – power at any cost.
Music
Corcoran: Out on the border – the UN peacekeepers are acutely aware that any minor shooting incident could trigger another war.
Corcoran: This is the end of the road is it?
Indian officer: This is the end of the road. Beyond this, you will enter Ethiopia. Corcoran: A big problem is the lack of a physical boundary here. Nomadic cattle herders from Ethiopia often wander across accompanied by armed Ethiopian militiamen.
Corcoran: What happens when they come in contact with the Eritreans?
Indian Officer: No – we don’t let that happen – that much of a hold we have in this region, that we do not allow the two populations to get in contact.
The peacekeepers job is not being made any easier by the extraordinary outbursts of their increasingly belligerent host.
Journalist: Is the UN peace keeping force here doing a good job or indeed a fair job in your opinion?
President Isaias: I don’t think they're doing any job at all.
Journalist: In what sense?
President Isaias: There is nothing to be done here, I mean they're not ah keeping peace and there is no peace to be kept here. They live like tourists, they live like I don’t know, they have no job to do.
Singing
Corcoran: The long years of military service are slowly destroying youthful hopes and dreams of a better life. But Johannes is resigned to his fate – it’s his country – right or wrong.
Johannes: Always we are with our government. We don’t like it – but we don’t have a choice.
Corcoran: For this generation - the inheritors of the so-called African Renaissance – there’s little to celebrate – except a future promising war, famine and dictatorship.
Reporter: Mark Corcoran
Camera: Geoffrey Lye(Peter Karanaja, David Martin)
Sound: Kate McCure
Editor: Garth Thomas
Research: Vivien Altman
That was in 1993. Now, just a decade on, Isaias Afewerki, the former guerrilla leader who led his people to independence is refusing to yield power – closing down the free press, locking up critics, and presiding over a one-party state through the barrel of a gun. And the country is on a war footing again, bogged down in a never-ending dispute over the border with Ethiopia. The ceasefire holds for now, with UN peacekeepers patrolling the disputed area, but in a two-year bloodbath, at least 100,000 Eritreans and Ethiopians were sacrificed in a war so pointless it was described as being “like two bald men fighting over a comb”.
“Vision is one thing,” says the man in question, President Afewerki. “Realising vision is a completely different story.”
Music
Corcoran: It’s a dash of Italy in the heart of Africa. Sunday morning in Asmara – capital of Eritrea. The Italian colonisers left 63 years ago – but the passion for ‘la dolce vita’ remains. These Italian art deco streets are among the cleanest, and safest in Africa.
Music
Corcoran: But the good life is elusive. Once Africa’s youngest, most promising democracy – Eritrea is now careering down the path to dictatorship.
Soldiers still wear the distinctive sandals – made famous by an earlier generation of fighters - who fought an epic 30-year war of liberation from Ethiopia – a struggle to create a unique African state blind to tribe, religion or gender. A revolution now immortalised by this bizare monument.
When the Eritreans joyfully declared their independence from Ethiopia back in 1993, it was heralded as the beginning of an African renaissance, but what has followed has been a decade of war, famine, drought and more recently, political repression. For many here, this great experiment in African democracy – a dream supported by so many in the West – is now dead.
Corcoran: Just twenty minutes drive from the cafes of Asmara you find a very different Eritrea. This is part of the regular circuit for Askalu Menkarios. The hands-on Minister for Labour and Social Affairs – she is also a famed veteran of the independence struggle. Now she must stand and watch as her people are gradually reduced to this.
Supervisor: There are 14,000 individuals, who are supplied with food today. There is a problem. We don’t have enough, but there is nothing much we can do.
Askalu: You know, we were distributing twenty kilos per family – now he’s telling me its 12.5 kilos per family only per month.
Corcoran: So you are basically running out of supplies here?
Askalu: Almost, yes almost.
Corcoran: Eritrea is in the grip of drought – and will have to import 70% of its food this year.
Corcoran: What percentage of Eritrea’s population are dependent on food aid to survive?Askalu: At this time you know you can say almost two thirds.
Corcoran: Eritrea asked the international community for $140 million U.S. dollars in aid this year – but many donor nations are baulking - fearing the money will be spent on weapons, not wheat.
Askalu: We cannot blame God for the problems we are in now - it’s all human made – man made – if Ethiopia didn’t invade Eritrea we wouldn’t be in this situation now.
Music
Corcoran: The peace that finally settled over this land was all too brief. In 1998 – barely 5 years after independence - Eritrea and Ethiopia began arguing again over ownership of Badme, an obscure town – down there in the rugged border country. It remains unclear who started the shooting, but both sides stubbornly refused to back down.
The fighting rapidly escalated into a two-year bloodbath. By the time they’d fought each other to a standstill, one hundred thousand people were dead – and Ethiopia occupied a quarter of Eritrea.
These Indian peacekeepers are part of a 4,000 strong United Nations force now on the ground, monitoring an increasingly fragile peace. They patrol part of a 25 kilometre wide buffer zone – that runs the full length of the Eritrea--Ethiopia border, 1,000 kilometres of this imposing terrain.
They may speak the language of diplomatic understatement – but the consequences of failure here are clear.
Indian Officer: Sometimes tempers do run high – and that is what we are here for.
Corcoran: And something like 100,000 people were killed here?Indian officer: Right. In the last war that’s what the people the statistics speak of.
Corcoran: Last year an International Boundary Commission declared Badme and other contested areas to lie inside Eritrea – a ruling Ethiopia refuses to accept. For the moment peacekeepers occupy the disputed territory – closely monitored by the Eritreans.
Indian officer: This is the region where the new boundary is supposed to cut across in a manner which is not acceptable to one party to the conflict.
Corcoran: This particular valley here?
Indian officer: Yes this particular valley here. The extent of the area we are talking about is from where we are standing – slightly down below, into the valley – up to the ridgeline on top.
Corcoran: In the few years of peace following independence, Eritrea had embarked on a remarkable infrastructure program that was the envy of the developing world. Much if it now lies in ruins.
Indian officer: This is Senafe town. This used to be a very, very important town before the war. It still continues to be very important. Corcoran: And what happened here?
Indian officer: This was a telephone exchange. Unfortunately in the war it got destroyed – you can see the total destruction.
Corcoran: This looks new – it was built – what – after independence?
Indian officer: Yes. I think if I’m not wrong ’98 vintage and it got destroyed in 2000.
Corcoran: Also destroyed was the vision of this man – Eritrean President Isaias Afewerke – once universally hailed as father of the nation.
President Isaias: Vision is one thing,
realising vision is a completely different story.
Corcoran: President Isaias now leads a nation clearly on a war footing. With a population of only 4 million, a staggering 300,000 are in national service.
He was a brilliant guerrilla commander - during the liberation struggle -- but these days Isaias is a man with few friends left in the world -- apart from Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi who donated the fighters that fly overhead on national day.
Many ruling party comrades believed the border war could have been avoided and were scathing of the President’s handling of the conflict.
or Isaias Afewerke, this was treachery of the highest order.
President Isaias: You would find treason, betrayal, vacillation, compromising national security and a number of other things.
Corcoran: The celebrations now reflect the growing paranoia of the leadership.The snakes represent Eritrea’s many enemies - not just Ethiopia – but the traitors within.In late 2001 – with the world pre-occupied by the aftermath of September 11 – the President struck.Elections were cancelled. A draft constitution suspended. The free press silenced. Cabinet ministers and generals were jailed or fled into exile.President Isaias: So it's not politics, it had nothing to do with views, ideas, opinions but our national security was in danger. We had to take the appropriate measures to defend the nation and its sovereignty.
Corcoran: Such is the fear and paranoia here in Asmara – that no Eritrean dares publicly discuss politics. The dozens of revolutionary heroes, politicians, journalists and businessmen who dared speak out – and were later arrested – have – for all intents and purposes ceased to exist.To get some idea of what’s really going on here behind the picturesque facade of Asmara – we need to travel abroad – to meet those Eritreans who’ve managed to escape the regime.
Music
Corcoran: For 15 years during the struggle Paulos Tesfagiorgis was a key administrator of the independence movement.Now this former member of the ruling circle endures a lonely exile in the United States. He dares not return home.
Paulos: I don’t think I would see my country beyond the airport – I would be arrested there.
One sad thing about the way this government operates is that it can arrest people - make them disappear – incommunicado – no communication – we don’t know where they are – and we are talking about well known people – prominent people and God knows what happens to others who are not known.
Amnesty International reports that hundreds of Isaias’ critics have been detained. Including this man - Fessahi Joshua Johannes - seen here in happier times in this 1997 Foreign Correspondent report.He established this touring youth circus to remind the next generation of the sacrifices of the struggle.
Joshua: We have to teach the children – we have to keep in mind – we have to preserve it
Corcoran: A famous veteran, playwright and prominent newspaper publisher – Joshua personified the Eritrean success story.
Joshua: Yes, we have done our duty – we have done our duty – I believe that (smiles)
Corcoran: But Joshua is now among 21 prominent political leaders and journalists – held without trial at a secret location. His fate was sealed, after writing an open letter to the President criticising his increasingly autocratic rule.
Paulos: He was among the journalists who were detained, one of the journalists who went on hunger strike – and taken away from prison and put where? Nobody knows.
Corcoran: During our visit to Eritrea, Isaias was suddenly called away on a trip to Libya and Italy – that according to western diplomatic sources also included arms buying, but he later agreed to answer questions put to him on our behalf.
Journalist: Last time ABC Foreign Correspondent visited Eritrea they profiled a former fighter turned journalist, an artist named Fessi Johannes, known as Joshua – where is he now?
President Isaias: I don’t know him.
Journalist: He was co-founder of the newspaper Setid which was the biggest newspaper here prior to it being shut down.
President Isaias: I don’t know.
Journalist: . . .or where he might be?
President Isaias: I don’t know him, if I don’t know him, how can I know where he might be.
Paulos: He can afford to say that you see – that is his problem – he can deny – and put himself in a problem he has become incapable of facing the truth – and doing the right thing.
Corcoran: Eritreans may be short on food but there’s an abundance of political rhetoric.State TV feeds the masses a steady diet of propaganda – as the regime attempts to merge the sacrifice of the liberation struggle with the present confrontation with Ethiopia..Singer: How was the dawn assault with your bullets sounding… tat, tat, tat!
Paulos: If you look at the propaganda there is no tone
of reconciliation – there is no tone of calming down.
Corcoran: Notably absent is the once vibrant, outspoken media. In Eritrea today – the State is the truth.
Journalist: Why isn't there any free press in
Eritrea?
President Isaias: What is free press?
Journalist: Press which is not run by the government.
President Isaias: There is no free press anywhere. It's not in England, it's not in the United States, I would like to know what free press is in the first place.
Corcoran: There are no elections yet – there’s no free press - and you’ve locked up a large number of critics of the government both politicians, generals and journalists – I mean how do you respond to that?
Askalu: Well – basically what’s said doesn’t mean it’s true.
How does you define democracy? How does it work? It’s always context based. We cannot have imported models and you know frames to fit – there’s no democracy that fits all – you know.
Music
Corcoran: Amid the relative luxury of Asmara there’s an all-pervading sense of war weariness. Originally conscripted for two years, many young Eritreans, such as musician Johannes Tquabo, have now been in the army for a decade.
Johannes: Since 1994 I am in military service – and military fighter. It’s very bad – I feel so bad about it, but… if there is a war we can’t leave you know.
Corcoran: Before his call-up Johannes was one of Eritrea’s most popular young singers. Today, on leave, he’s still instantly recognised by his many fans.
But celebrity counted for little when he found himself just another soldier fighting for his life.
Johannes: I lose many friends…and I may kill many enemies too. I got fragment injured in my right side leg. I come back to hospital – and after that they call me to sing here.
Johannes: They imprisoned love but we got out on bail.
Corcoran: By day he performs in a military propaganda band. But by night, Johannes attempts to rebuild his career. Most of the audience are like him – urban, middle class conscripts.
Singing
Corcoran: There is no youthful exuberance here – too many friends and relatives are missing for that.
Corcoran: This is Asmara’s other war memorial – known locally as “The Tank Cemetery”. A vast resting place for the detritus of four decades of conflict. Many now fear this is how the great Eritrean dream will all end if Isaias doesn’t address a growing resentment from within his own ranks.Paulos: This kind of frustration developing within the military – we don’t know what’s going to… what the channel is for this frustration. It could be some kind of coup d’etat .
This is not uncommon in Africa – coup – counter coup - counter coup – so forget stability – forget development and forget the rest of the people.
Corcoran: But the President couldn’t care less what his critics think. He’s the father of the nation – and as far as he’s concerned it’s a job for life.
President Isaias: For me, retirement means retiring from wanting to in life from what you aspire to achieve in life, in a nation, and I don’t think that will ever cross my mind again any time in the future as long as I am alive. Paulos: Power became the only aim of the President of Eritrea – power at any cost.
Music
Corcoran: Out on the border – the UN peacekeepers are acutely aware that any minor shooting incident could trigger another war.
Corcoran: This is the end of the road is it?
Indian officer: This is the end of the road. Beyond this, you will enter Ethiopia. Corcoran: A big problem is the lack of a physical boundary here. Nomadic cattle herders from Ethiopia often wander across accompanied by armed Ethiopian militiamen.
Corcoran: What happens when they come in contact with the Eritreans?
Indian Officer: No – we don’t let that happen – that much of a hold we have in this region, that we do not allow the two populations to get in contact.
The peacekeepers job is not being made any easier by the extraordinary outbursts of their increasingly belligerent host.
Journalist: Is the UN peace keeping force here doing a good job or indeed a fair job in your opinion?
President Isaias: I don’t think they're doing any job at all.
Journalist: In what sense?
President Isaias: There is nothing to be done here, I mean they're not ah keeping peace and there is no peace to be kept here. They live like tourists, they live like I don’t know, they have no job to do.
Singing
Corcoran: The long years of military service are slowly destroying youthful hopes and dreams of a better life. But Johannes is resigned to his fate – it’s his country – right or wrong.
Johannes: Always we are with our government. We don’t like it – but we don’t have a choice.
Corcoran: For this generation - the inheritors of the so-called African Renaissance – there’s little to celebrate – except a future promising war, famine and dictatorship.
Reporter: Mark Corcoran
Camera: Geoffrey Lye(Peter Karanaja, David Martin)
Sound: Kate McCure
Editor: Garth Thomas
Research: Vivien Altman