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Victory to the People of Eritrea: USSR-Cuba Get Out

By VVAW

The newest war has now broken out on the Horn of Africa. Fresh from fighting alongside Ethiopian troops of strongman Mengistu Haile Mariam against Somalia, the Soviet Union and their Cuban mercenaries are taking their roadshow to Eritrea. Mengistu has even praised the estimated 1,000 soviet and 17,000 Cuban troops who, he says, "are living with us, dying with us and fighting with us, standing side by side with the broad masses of Ethiopia."

Located in the northern most region of Ethiopia, bordering on the Red Sea, Eritrea has long been the victim of colonial designs. First the Italians came, then the soldiers of the British empire claimed Eritrea for their Queen. In 1952, just two years after a general election voted for an independent Eritrea, the U.S. rammed a mandate through the U.N. that forced Eritrea to "federate" with Ethiopia. And then they moved in. Multinational corporations set up headquarter. The U.S. built the larges military base in the whole of Africa and paid for an intricate spying facility to aid Israel's efforts to keep an eye on developments in the Mid East. With the U.S. pulling the leash, Emperor Haile Selassie set into motion a terror campaign against the Eritrean people. Factories were shut, unions were banned, all freedoms were denied, intellectuals were imprisoned and the Eritrean parliament was all but destroyed. In 1962, Haile Selassie's forces annexed Eritrea proclaiming it an Ethiopian province.

Throughout this bloody history the Eritrean people waged valiant resistance. At a high point in the struggle a general strike rocked the country for four days in 1958. Before the strike could be crushed, Ethiopian troops had murdered 1500 people. It was a bitter lesson for the Eritrean peoples. Strikes and demonstrations were clearly not enough to drive the imperial lists and their dogs out. Armed struggle was necessary. And so the war for national liberation was born. Today, nearly all of Eritrea's 3 million people live in liberated zones. Only tow key cities remain under Ethiopian rule?Asmara where 500 Cuban troops are stationed, and Mosawa. The war in Eritrea threatens to become the latest hotspot in the struggle between revolution and superpower contention.

With the Soviets moving in, a whole new dimension has been added to the Eritrean revolutionary struggle. The same Soviet union that once professed "great love and support" for the Eritrean people, and once denounced Ethiopia as "fascist and expansionist," now lauds the fascist Ethiopian government as "Marxist and revolutionary" and decries the liberation struggle for being "misdirected by imperialism." In fact nothing has changed but which horse the U.S.S.R is trying to ride.

The same Soviet Union who champions itself as the true "proletarian internationalists" has unleashed its Cuban mercenaries against the Eritrean people. Military equipment including troop transport planes, jet fighters and tanks are being airlifted in. The Cubans have been busy for the last 8 months trying to whip some Ethopian reactionary troops into shape to try to break through the Eritrean encirclement of Asmara and Mowana. And finally, their build-up complete, they launched a full-scale invasion with 20,000 troops trying to break through around Asmara and at least 20,000 more invading across the border toward the town of Assb.

The Eritrean people have learned quickly that the Soviet social-imperialists are no more guided by principles of "proletarian internationalism" than the U.S. is guided by a love for "freedom and democracy." And they are not about to bow down to a new master when liberation is in reach. Two major military pushes led by Cubans have already been repulsed. The number of Cuban soldiers killed in the Horn in proportion to the population surpasses the number of Americans killed in Vietnam. The liberated zones continue to develop with agricultural production, communication and transport networks expanding to meet the demands of an expanded war. And with each day the peoples' confidence and determination to fight until victory increases. Even under the blows of the invasion, a statement of the Eritrean Liberation Front-Revolutionary Council said " our forces are holding fast on the two major fronts and prevent the enemy from making any significant progress."

Hot from their escapades in the recent war between Ethiopia and Somalis, the Soviets are out to grab all they can in the Horn of Africa. In fact, that was but a mere taste of the bigger dish they would like to serve up. With 15,000 Cuban troops in Angola, 17,000 more in Ethiopia, the Russians hope to create a pincer movement that would catch Mozambique and Zambia in a squeeze between the Horn and Angola. But victory in Eritrea is key to their plans to grab hold of the area. And for this they are willing to roll the dice high.

What's at stake is not just the Horn, or even Mozambique, but the rights to vital waterways that would open up trade routes from the Mid East to Europe and the Americas. The Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean are all part of the booty these prates hope to snatch.

Soviet meddling in the Horn of Africa reflects the world scene today. A scene shaped by stepped-up rivalry for world domination between the two superpowers?the U.S.S. R. and the U.S. A world shaped by struggles of oppressed peoples for liberation. While southern Africa and the Middle East have recently been the world's hot spots of this battle between revolution and superpower domination, the Soviet maneuvering in Eritrea could thrust the struggle there into center stage. The spotlight will certainly be on the Eritreans who along with their brothers and sisters throughout Africa today are standing up to throw the foot of the imperialists the hell off their backs!

(The basis of the article is taken from the national paper of the Revolutionary Student Brigade.)