Surrender or Starve: Travels in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea by Robert D. Kaplan

Author:Robert D. Kaplan [Kaplan, Robert D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780307547682
Google: U0o_6dGSTr8C
Amazon: 1400034523
Published: 2008-12-18T04:11:36.139000+00:00

Woldeselassie, expecting to return home in a few days, left his wife and three children back in his village. This was about the time that a Newsday report (December 9, 1984) entitled, “New Start for Chosen Few” by Josh Friedman, indicated that a number of resettlement abuses, including the forced separation of families, had ended.

We arrived in Adwa on December 9 [1984] and were surrounded by soldiers in the middle of the town. [Woldeselassie explained how the soldiers picked out the youngest and strongest looking of the peasants and took them to prison.] We shouted, “Who was going to take care of our cattle?”… They answered it would be no loss if we lost our cattle, the government was going to resettle us and would replace our cattle in the new settlement.”

There were more than 1,000 people in the prison at Adwa. A cadre by the name of Debesai was responsible for our registration. He declared that Tigre was only stones and rocks and the soil had lost all fertility, therefore the government had to bring us to more fertile areas. …We shouted all at once and started a big row which enraged our cadre Debesai very much. Debesai went to the administrator…. That man got angry too, came to prison and called us out, insulted us and finally ordered us to crawl back into the prison yard on our knees. The soldiers watched over the execution of his order and beat us as we crawled….

We were kept in the prison for ten days. There was an absolute shortage of water. I don't know whether the old, the sick and the women got any at all. Every time the water was brought, a fight … started and only those who had the support of young, strong men received some water…. Some people tried to break out … my friend Makonnen, for example, but he was recaptured … and beaten the whole night. … The next morning he had to roll in the dirt before our eyes, water was poured over him until he was covered with mud. Then they ordered him to crawl back and forth on his elbows and knees. … He had to shout with his breaking voice that this would happen to anyone who tried to run away. He was not allowed to clean himself the whole day and his wounds were not treated.

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