U.S. Trucks May Take Food to Rebel Areas of Ethiopia

The United States is considering providing a limited number of trucks to haul food supplies to rebel-held areas of Ethiopia’s drought-stricken Tigre province, using the “back door” through Sudan.

The decision has been under high-level consideration by the State Department for three months, according to a U.S. official in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, reflecting concern over the effects of such a move on American relations with the Soviet-backed government in Ethiopia.

The issue of U.S. support for cross-border operations into Ethiopia is likely to confront Vice President George Bush as he begins a four-day visit to Sudan next Monday. He will visit the refugee centers in the eastern part of the country and meet with Sudanese President Jaafar Numeiri.

Bush provoked some debate on Ethiopian relief in Washington on Monday when he assailed the Soviet Union and Ethiopia’s government, contending that “food for starving millions still takes a back seat to military cargo.”

Although the United States is concerned about Ethiopian reaction to possible cross-border operations, American policy-makers are equally worried about the impact of relief operations in economically and politically troubled Sudan if nothing is done to relieve the mounting refugee burden on the Sudanese side of the border. The country is a key American ally in the region, in particular a friend of Egypt and an opponent of the radical Libyan regime of Col. Moammar Kadafi.

The rebel forces of Tigre, organized as the Tigre People’s Liberation Front, have been fighting the central government of Ethiopia with marginal success for 10 years. Now, with Ethiopia in the midst of a devastating drought, Tigre spokesmen--as well as representatives of several relief agencies--say that rescue efforts are not reaching the worst-hit Tigrean areas. They say 60% of the people affected most by drought and famine are in the rebel-held areas of Tigre and are not being fed.

As a result, about 200,000 Tigre famine victims have marched out of Ethiopia and into refugee camps in eastern Sudan. Relief experts say 100,000 others are “in the pipeline,” heading for Sudan.

The refugee influx threatens to strain to the breaking point relief efforts in Sudan that have been mounted by a number of international agencies. In addition, Sudan itself is struggling through severe drought at a time when its economy is in deep distress.

Apart from the refugee problem, about 4.5 million Sudanese famine victims will be fed this year only with the help of international relief efforts, most of them coming from the United States.

Limited Mandate

The key agency involved in the care and feeding of the Ethiopian refugees on the Sudanese side of the border is the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, but its mandate does not allow it to participate in cross-border operations. The few agencies that do run “back-door” operations into Tigre keep a low profile to avoid irritating the Ethiopian government.

The Tigrean Relief Society, the social service arm of the liberation front, which maintains offices in Khartoum, says it received about 14,000 metric tons of grain in 1984 from sources operating through Sudan, principally the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Emergency Relief Desk of Khartoum, an umbrella agency composed mainly of European church groups.

Abadi Zemo, the relief society’s spokesman in Khartoum says the 1984 amount is less than 10% of what will be needed to stave off disaster in the coming year. He adds that his organization urgently needs trucks to haul the food supplies into Tigre.

In September, M. Peter McPherson, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, announced that his agency would consider proposals for relief operations in Tigre operated through Sudan. Two American agencies, Mercy Corps International and Lutheran World Relief, submitted proposals.

Both agencies requested funds to buy grain from Tigre farmers and distribute it to people in areas of the province where crops had failed. That portion of both proposals was approved by AID officials.

Truck Requests Fare Badly

The agencies also asked for funds to purchase trucks to haul the grain. The Lutheran World Relief proposal, which would have provided 30 trucks for Tigre, was turned down. Mercy Corps International asked for 26 trucks for Tigre. According to Terry Norr, the agency’s field director here, AID officials in Washington have approved the plan in principle but are holding back until a suitable ownership arrangement for the trucks can be worked out. Most likely, the vehicles will be owned and controlled by Mercy Corps and used by the relief society of Tigre.

The issue is touchy because the U.S. government does not want to suggest that it is supporting an insurgent movement against an established African government.

“The question of food is relatively clear-cut for the Americans,” Norr said, “but providing trucks is a thornier issue. Everyone concerned wants to make it clear that the trucks will be used to haul food and not to support a guerrilla war.”

Pressure for cross-border relief operations is growing, particularly among the various relief agencies in Khartoum. In part, this may be because they want to see their operations expand, but also because there is widespread agreement that the famine in Tigre is worsening daily. The pressure is likely to increase in the coming weeks as the refugee population in Sudan continues to grow.

Already about 600,000 Ethiopian refugees--including the 200,000 from Tigre--are in camps in eastern Sudan, and the Sudanese Commission for Refugees estimates that 3,500 more are arriving daily. Two refugee camps in eastern Sudan have already become, in effect, the third- and fourth-largest cities in the region.

Curb on Refugee Flow

As a result, any plan that might stem the tide of refugees pouring out of Ethiopia sounds attractive on the Sudanese side of the border. To many relief agency representatives here, cross-border operations are the logical answer.

The Tigrean relief agency has told U.S. officials that it needs 182,000 tons of grain and 700 trucks to supply the people in the areas it controls. It is not likely to get anywhere near those amounts.

Political analysts here point out that heavily increased back-door operations into Ethiopia have serious implications for the Sudanese.

Muslim-controlled Sudan is already faced with an insurgent movement against the government in the Christian and animist southern region of the country, a movement supported from bases in Ethiopia. If the Ethiopians see what they regard as unacceptable relief activity going on in Tigre, they might be able to increase pressure on the Numeiri government in southern Sudan.

Also, some U.S. Embassy personnel here are known to be skeptical about increased American visibility in the Tigre relief operation.

“Some of these relief agencies are talking about something pretty conspicuous,” one source said. “There has to be serious thought given to the possible consequences. What does it mean for the Sudanese government? What happens when the Ethiopian air force strafes a relief column and a few foreigners are killed or wounded?”

The Ethiopians bombed a relief column in Tigre in December, and last week, Ethiopian MIG fighters hit three provincial capitals in the region, according to Tigre rebel spokesmen in Khartoum.

A few observers here think it is likely that the United States will step up its support for cross-border operations but try to remain as far in the background as possible. This may mean, they say, that the United States could provide the food but leave the provision of vehicles to some other international agency. So far, however, no other agency has stepped forward on the question.