By Paul B. Henze
April 1992
The Escarpment Highway
We went to Massawa for an overnight visit during our first weekend in Asmera. The escarpment route from Asmera to Massawa is now free of checkpoints and military patrols. As of early January, the highway had been repaired as far as Mai Atal where it enters the Samhar. The rest of the route had potholes and broken stretches, but repair was underway. A few wrecked trucks and tanks (most of them have been hauled away) and occasional destroyed buildings at the edges of towns where police or soldiers were stationed are all that remain to remind the casual observer of the intense fighting that raged up and down the Eritrean escarpment for more than a quarter century. The towns are intact and full of life. Our traveling companions, a young man and young woman who had both been fighters in the field, pointed out landmarks where EPLF and Derg forces had faced each other. We stopped to look at trenches with shelters roofed with rails rocks. The graceful viaducts and stone tunnel entrances of the railway, which parallel the highway for much of the way, give the misleading impression that the railway could be as easily restored as the road. But most of the rails and cross ties were ripped out and used for fortifications. Picturesque as it is, it seems doubtful whether rebuilding the railway would repay the investment.
When we began the descent outside Asmera the escarpment was covered with dense fog which obscured the old monastery of Debre Bizen. Its monks looked down on the battles below them and survived and are said to be doing well again. Nefasit’s churches and mosques rose proudly out of a tan landscape. But as we drove on to Embatcala everything turned green (from good winter rains) and the scrub vegetation on the distant slopes looked like thick forest growth. We drove through stands of larger trees along the lower escarpment near Sabarguma. Farmers have planted corn, beans and grain in fields around Ghinda and Dongollo. Citrus orchards looked good but are said to need a great deal of rehabilitation and replanting. Local people were selling bananas along the road. Asmera University is preparing to reopen its agricultural research station at Ghinda. With plentiful water, flowering trees and bougainvillea along streets and pathways and green mountainsides as a backdrop, Ghinda is as beautiful as any town in Eritrea.
Upper and Lower Dongollo, the source of the best mineral water in Eritrea (readily available in Asmera) provided a final spectacle of lavish greenness before we descended into the thorntrees of the escarpment foothills and than entered the desert. The massive, unattractive Italian-built bridge over the Dogali Wadi has survived intact, but the red star-capped monument which Mengistu had built to commemorate the famous defeat of the Italians on its hundredth anniversary in 1987 is gone.
Destruction in Massawa
We had heard so many reports of the devastation Massawa suffered from Derg bombing that we were prepared for the worst as we approached the city. I had seen a good deal of destruction when I was there in the spring of 1987. That damage had been done during the fighting in the winter of 1977-78 when Eritrean fighters came close to capturing the city from the Derg until factions began quarreling among themselves. The Russians came to the Derg’s rescue with air and naval bombardment. The mainland portions of the city had suffered severely and local people still cursed the Russians for causing unnecessary destruction. On this trip, as we entered the outskirts of Massawa, we saw no undamaged large buildings. Some were in total ruins. on the north side of the highway the railway tracks are still crowded with engines, boxcars and flatcars that have been rusting for two decades.
Wrecked Equipment and Soldiers’ Bones
Our first stop was a compound on the south side of the highway–a “graveyard” of destroyed Derg equipment. It was filled with wrecked tanks, trucks, jeeps, pieces of guns, piles of shells and stacks of other military debris and equipment brought in from the countryside. It was appalling and depressing.
We crossed the highway and drove a short distance through the sand to a large thorntree surrounded by a crude fence of corrugated tin. Inside dark green Russian ammunition boxes were stacked two and three high. Several had broken open. Out tumbled human skulls and bones mixed with helmets, boots, cartridge belts and knapsacks! The skeletons were dismembered. In all these must have been the remains of at least a hundred men.
All the boxes had cyrillic lettering. A few had the notations “Dogali #1” and “Dogali #2” chalked on them in Ethiopic letters. Why were they stacked here? We were told that when the city was captured no one had noticed these boxes among all the other debris that littered the landscape. When they were discovered, no one could be found to explain where they had come from. They were thought to be the remains of soldiers killed many years before. Perhaps they had been dug up for reburial and then abandoned in the confusion of later fighting. They will be buried again, still unidentified. Unknown soldiers. They are only a few of the tens –perhaps hundreds?– of thousands of young men who died in the fighting in the Derg’s futile effort to subdue Eritrea.
Into Massawa
We drove past more buildings pockmarked from shellfire and with gaping holes from artillery and bombs. We stopped at the edge of the sea where we could look out to the two islands which form the heart of the city. Several rusting tanks were mired in mud where the highway approaches the causeway that crosses to the island of Taulud. The causeway was undamaged and the road surface was intact. Streets which had been blocked by debris from buildings and wrecked vehicles when the city was captured by EPLF forces and then bombed by the Derg have all been cleared and the potholes and craters have been filled.
The monumental Orthodox Church of St. Mary with its prominent dome seems to have been especially attractive to the Derg’s air force. Solidly constructed of massive stone blocks, it is still standing, though all its glass has been shattered. Workmen were busy repairing the walls. Restoring this church to its original condition will take time and money. Inside the odor of incense overcame the odor of rubble. The church was in use. Stacks of kabaros, tsinatsels, umbrellas and vestments were ready for use. The next morning, a Sunday, a large crowd was attending services when we came by.
In the area between the church and the sea we found another graveyard of Soviet equipment –thousands of tons of tanks, trucks, and guns –much larger than the first we had seen. Here, next to the sea, it would be easy to load the stuff on ships and send it out if it can be sold for processing as scrap.
Haile Selassie’s palace in ruins
It is hard to see what military significance Haile Salassie’s palace at the north
end of Taulud could have had. This Arabian-nights structure surrounded by splendid tropical gardens must have been easy for the bombers to find. It is the most severely damaged major structure in Massawa. It took many direct bomb hits. Badly “wounded” statues of lions lie in the gardens which have died out completely from lack of water. Workmen were sawing up the remaining and making piles for burning charcoal. The grand staircase of the palace was covered by an avalanche of stone and mortar from the walls above. Making our way around the second story arcade, we were happy to find that most of the splendidly carved wooden doors and Islamic-style window screens were intact. Rooms that had escaped destruction were piled with monumental furniture, carved screens and art. All were locked. Nothing appeared to have been looted. Isayas Afewerki told us when we saw him in Asmera the next week that they planned eventually to rebuild the palace and turn it into a museum, as they have done with the undamaged imperial palace Asmera. “These palaces are part of our history,” he said, We want to preserve them.”
The Red Sea Hotel
The south end of Taulud has suffered less severs damage. We were pleased to find a bit of bougainvillea still blooming in the gardens of the Red Sea Hotel. The bar was open and offering Amstel beer and soft drinks. A waiter recognized me from my stay in the hotel in 1987. The gardens of Mme. Melotti’s beautiful villa on the southern tip of the island have lost some of their trees but are in far better condition than those of the imperial palace. It suffered only a couple of artillery hits. The caretaker showed us a large spot in the swimming pool where one of the generals committed suicide when the EPLF captured the city.
We checked in at the Dahlak Hotel, a large modern, multi-story structure next to the causeway that leads to Massawa island with a good view of the old city. A modernistic garden annex was being renovated for guests. Its bedrooms had just been painted and they could not be occupied. The kitchen and storerooms were badly shot up and the restaurant, with a fine view of the old city on Massawa Island, was in a state of total disorder. The second floor had been cleaned up for visitors. The hall was decorated with old photographs. We were given a simple, clean room with a working bathroom. Massawa has running water that comes form a restored well in the Dogali Wadi and has round-the- clock electricity from oil generators.
Old Massawa
The outermost island –old Massawa proper– was our destination. We spent the evening and the morning of the next day there. Its splendid old buildings, many of which date from the time of the Turks, have not been as severely damaged as many reports claimed. But the basic structures are intact and the charming arches and balconies can be readily repaired. People were already working some of them. The streets were busy and boys were playing soccer in an open space. The oldest mosque, painted a bright mint green, is undamaged.
In the port, a Sudanese ship was unload bags of textile sizing from England. Three large cranes are in working condition. The lighthouse on the outermost point of the island is operating and men were fishing along the shore. Nearby, large quantities of steel rods and construction reinforcements were stacked in huge piles. They had recently arrived and were labeled for transport to Tigre.
Food, Drink and Entertainment
Massawa must have at least two dozen colorful bars, all doing good business. We had a refreshing papaya and banana frappe in one. At another which had a refrigerator full of Melotti beer we had a good dinner. The Asmera brewery is working but has difficulty supplying the demand throughout Eritrea. Small traders have opened shops throughout the city, as have tailors, shoemakers and leather workers. Large quantities of fruit and vegetables were on sale in the central market brought down from Ghinda and Dongollo. An ample supply of Italian style bread is assured by continued relief deliveries. The World Food Program has an office in the port. We were pleasantly surprised when we walked into the Eritrea Provision Company to find a well stocked grocery. Goods are coming in by dhow from Yemen. Local fishermen are already sending 600 kilos to Asmera daily but new boats are necessary to expand the catch. The rich shrimp and lobster beds off the coast are not yet being exploited.
Massawa’s Future
It would be incorrect to say that Massawa presents a picture of prosperity. But neither is it a spectacle of devastation. The city is alive. There are at least as many people as there were in 1987 and they are working, not simply existing. Reconstruction will require a good supply of labor for a long time to come. Labor can be attracted from the highlands. With peace assured, the salt industry can be reactivated. Boat-building and maritime servicing industries will develop again. There are opportunities for expansion of
fishing and tourism. The provisional government of Eritrea hopes to turn the Dahlaks into a major destination for European tourists in the winter. The Russians left behind a huge base with a working desalination plant. Europeans and Israelis have already shown interest in developing it commercially. Italians and Israelis are said to be considering investing in fishing.
As the flow of aid to Eritrea and the pace of investment pick up, Massawa, as Eritrea’s main port is bound to benefit. Isayas Afewerki told us his government is committed to restoring the city completely and investing in its future. A new phase of the long life of this historic city has begun. We left Massawa with the expectation that when we return in a year or two it will have made significant progress toward prosperity.
_______________________
Paul B. Henze works for Rand Corporation. Mr. & Mrs. Henze spent 6 weeks in Ethiopia beginning in January. They spent a week in Eritrea. Mr. Henze has promised to provide us with further articles on other aspects of his visit to Ethiopia. Photos were provided by Mr. Henze.