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controls this gate controls the tankers
carrying "black gold" - vital oil -
and othcr stratcgic materials from the
Persian Gulf arca to the immense indus–
trial arcas of Europe.
Even though the Suez Canal is now
closed, the strait is still of vital strategic
importance. An oil pipeline connects
the Israelí Red Sea port of Eilat -
which can accommodate super-tankers
- to the Mediterranean. Also, a con–
sortium of Wcst European countries has
begun work on two parallel pipclines
that will extend from the port of Suez
on the Red Sea to Alexandria on the
Meditcrranean. These pipelines wíll
carry oil from thc Middle East to feed
European industries.
But to gct to these pipelines from the
rich oil lields of the Persian Gulf, oil
tankers must pass through the Bab el
Mandeb. Since Eritrea - as well as
French Djibouti and the People's Re–
public of Southern Yemen (ex-British
Aden) - can control this strait, it
makes control of Eritrea very important,
if only indirectly at present, to Europe.
More directly and immediately jeop–
ardízed is Ethiopia. Ethiopia's economy
would be placed at thc merey of foreign
interests if Eritrea evcr seccded. With–
out Eritrea, Ethiopia is landlocked. Its
only two ports giving it acccss to thc
Red Sea are Massawa and Assab. T hese
are in Eritrea.
There is also amplc reason for Amer–
ican interests to kecp Eritrea free of the
BY-PASSING THE SUEZ CA–
NAL
-
lhe lsroelis hove com–
pleled o huge oil pipeline from
lhe porl ol Eilol on lhe Gull
ol Aqobo lo Ashkelon on lhe
Medilerroneon. Tonkers unlood
lheir corgo ol Eilol. The oil is
lhen corried by lhe pipeline lo
Ashkelon, where il is ogoin
looded on ships ond sent lo
Europe. The lsroeli pipeline
eliminoles lhe long lrip oround
lhe soulhern tip of Africo, os
well os lhe now-impossoble
Suez Conol.
T he
PLAIN TRUTJI
hostile, foreign domination that is now
trying to gain control.
In Damascus, Saleh Al1med Ayad, an
ELF official, declared, "The Eritrean
revolution is linked to all revolutions
and particularly to the Arab revolution.
The batt!e between Ethiopia and Eritrea
isn't racist but is intended to Jiberate
Eritrea from United States and Zionist
domination as represented by the mili–
tary bases Ethiopia has given the United
States."
Actually there is only one United
States military-communications base -
the Army's Kagnew base in Asmara, the
capital of Eritrea. It is America's last
mi litary outpost on the entire Afcican
continent. The
$70
million facility,
with its 4,000 servicemen and depcn–
dents, is primarily a communications
complex. At a 7,600 foot altitude and
near the eguator, the facility possesses
one of the world's most interference–
free locations for a communications
center.
Perhaps more important as an indica–
toe of American interest in the arca is
the amount of direct aid the Unitcd
States has given Ethiopia, which now
governs Eritrea as an integral part of
the oatioo. Over the past two decades
the United States has contributed some
$240 million to Ethiopia's economic
development, and provided
$140
mil–
lion in military assistance. This total of
nearly
$400
million represents one of
the largest American aid commitments
January
1972
to any African nation. The United
States, obviously, regards Ethiopia as a
strategically important nation.
Israel, too, is aware of Ethiopia's
strategic importance. Israel went
to
war
in
1967
to insure free passage for her
ships through the Straits of Tiran,
between the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red
Sea, to her Red Sea port of Eilat.
If
the
Southern entrance of the Red Sea at Bab
el Mandeb were bottled up by hostile
Arab forces, Eilat would be cut off from
Jndian Ocean shipping. This is why Is–
rael has been quietly offering technical
assistance, including a police training
program in aoti-guerrilla activities, to
the Ethiopian government.
The authoritative Cairo newspaper
Al-Ahrm11
recently said that Israel has
offered to provide Ethiopia with missile
and patrol boats, together with a radar
network and the reguired Israelí army
personnel. According to
AL-Ahram,
the
offer was made by General Haim Bar–
Lev, the Israelí Chief of Staff, to the
commander of the Ethiopian Navy dur–
ing his visit to Addis Ababa in Septem–
ber,
1971.
AL-Ahram
described Israel's
naval strategy in the Red Sea following
the
1967
war as an attempt to domínate
the southern area in order to undermine
possible Arab plans to block navigation
of Jsrael-bound ships.
The ELF operates closely with the
Al-Fatah guerrilla group in Damascus,
Syria. Al-Fatah provides training facili–
ties for Eritrean radicals interested in the