The Eritrean Conflict Middle East Hot Spot - Raouf el-Gammal - January 1972

Raouf el-Gammal

A high-stakes guerrilla war is raging in Eritrea – Ethiopia's fourteenth province. This war could become a dangerous extension of the Israeli-Arab struggle. A foreign power controlling Eritrea could cut a vital trade artery and precipitate a major war. Twelve hundred miles south of the Suez Canal, a struggle for control of the southern entrance to the Red Sea is under way. Watching the conflict, and having vital interests at stake, are Israel, the United States and several European nations. The seat of the unfolding drama is Eritrea, a coastal province of Ethiopia, which runs several hundred miles from Sudan in the north to French Djibouti in the south. Ever since 1962 when Ethiopia incorporated Eritrea as the 14th province of her Empire - a move that displeased many Eritreans - a radical organization, the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), has been fighting the Ethiopian army. - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library