Alison
Cozby 4492
PEIC
Jane
Perlez, "Prisoner no. 14279: Forlorn pawn in
Summary: Among 55,000 prisoners of war, many young, uneducated members of
the Ethiopian Army end up in the hands of rebels. Two rebel groups , The Eritrean People's Liberation Front, who
fight for independence of its northern province, and the Tigrean People's
Liberation Front, which is a guerilla movement that has been fighting since the
mid-1970's to overthrow Mengistu's government and replace it with a more
Marxist regime, often keep Ethiopian Army prisoners in hopes that they will
eventually join rebel ranks.
No Red Cross Access- Although the Red Cross is
not allowed access to the prisoners, those held by the Eritreans are believed
to be held in generally good conditions, perhaps receiving the same rations as
the rebel forces. Many of the captives,
only teenagers, joined the Ethiopian army because they were forced or
desperate, were given only three months of training, and made it on the front
lines for only a few days before being captured. Now they are held in a large football sized area, kept from
running by guards and foreboding mountains.
The 1,500 prisoners sleep outdoors on sleeping mats, and mill about
(sitting around, playing soccer) during the day. The Ethiopian Government refuses to acknowledge the captures as
its policy is that a soldier is fighting or dead. The Eritrean rebels say they will release 10,000 prisoners who
are from territories that are now "liberated", so those fighters
would not end up in the Ethiopian Army again.
Whose Side Are They on?- It seems that this promise to let some prisoners return to their
'liberated" homes is not all that promising. Most of these "liberated' areas are controlled by the
Tigerean People's Liberation Front, and so it is hypothesized that the rebels
are releasing prisoners merely with the hope that they will choose to join the
guerrilla forces. In addition to the
outdoor camps that hold war prisoners, the Eritreans also hold two Soviet
advisors in even better conditions, well fed and harmlessly detained in small
cottages. The
Ethiopian Leader's Dire
Message- Ethiopian leader, Col. Mengistu Haile Maiam,
appeal to armed forces, on radio and television, to make a final stand against
the rebel forces. It seems that the
fear of a rebel victory was very real as he warned that if the rebels took the