Peace is best

They adore coffee, love communal dining and cherish their families. It's no surprise then that Eritreans have settled well into the lifestyle of the UAE, writes Shalaka Paradkar.

On one of those unforgettable, only-in-Dubai mornings, I find myself sitting face to face with a former guerrilla fighter who took up arms when he was 6. He has traded in the Kalashnikov for a sharp suit; the battlefield for cultural fiestas and educational programmes for the UAE Eritrean community.

He is now even a doting father of two.

Yohannes Teclemichael is the Dubai consul general for one of the world's youngest nations, the State of Eritrea.

His comfortable office in the Ministry of External Affairs building in Dubai is a far cry from the trenches of Nacfa, base for the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) and a rugged city in northern Eritrea, where he started his career as a freedom fighter.

Teclemichael is matter-of-fact about his past.

"Every Eritrean played a part in gaining independence. They did it by taking up arms (against Ethiopia) or by sacrificing their home for it," he says.

It's rare that a country's struggle for independence involved all its population, but Eritrea's did - with thousands of women participating in the war efforts.

Often confused with its 10-times-larger neighbour, Ethiopia, Eritrea is fascinating for many reasons, chief among them the story of how it was created. Eritrea was colonised by Italy in 1840 and - together with Italian Somaliland and Abyssinia - was part of Italian East Africa.

Arguably, Italy's most notable impact on the colony was in the realms of cuisine and design. The Italians also built a railway linking the Red Sea port city of Massawa to the capital city of Asmara in 1909.

Then came the Second World War. In 1941, British forces overran the region and Abyssinia, of which Eritrea was then a part, was declared a British protectorate. Subsequently, in 1944, British forces withdrew from the region.

The following years were typified by turmoil and economic decline, as well as uncertainty about the region's political future. The UN decided to federate Eritrea with Ethiopia in 1950.

Under Ethiopian rule, Eritrean political parties were banned. Eritrea's national languages, Tigrinya and Arabic, were replaced by Amharic as the official language in schools.

Ethiopia completely annexed Eritrea in 1962. The Eritreans, ignored for long by the international community, turned to armed conflict to liberate their nation.

The bloody conflict endured for 30 years and saw an exodus of Eritrean refugees. The EPLF launched an offensive against Ethiopia in 1976, with highly committed guerrilla forces (estimated to number 20,000) waging war on the occupying Ethiopian forces. At least a quarter of EPLF freedom fighters were women.

In recognition of their contribution, 30 per cent of the seats in Eritrea's parliament are reserved for women and it's possibly the only country in the world where International Women's Day is an official holiday.

Teclemichael was involved as a guerrilla fighter in the EPLF's siege of Nacfa in September, 1976.

"From 1976 to 1985, I was on the field with the EPLF. We liberated several towns in successive years: Karora, Afabet, Elaberet, Keren, Decamhare, Agordat and Mendefera. By 1977, Massawa was in our hands. After 1985, I was recruited to serve in various other capacities," he says.

The Eritrean armed struggle was also remarkable because the guerrillas were not funded by a superpower.

"We were alone in fighting the strongest army of any African nation; there was no support from outside, no food, no ammunition. Sacrificing yourself for Eritrea was acceptable for every fighter. At the end of the day, it's not the army or size of weaponry that matters, but the man and the strength of his belief," Teclemichael says.

In fact, the EPLF was close to victory in early 1978, but the battle for Eritrea was prolonged by the Soviet Union giving military aid to the communist regime of Haile Mariam Mengistu (who deposed Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974) in Ethiopia.

Struggle for independence
Eritrea comprises two distinct regions: the southern plains and the northern highlands.

The EPLF bunkered down in the northern hills near Sudan, making temporary shelters by burrowing into the hills and caves of the regions around Afabet and Nacfa in Sahel province. Today, the ruins of these settlements are tourist attractions.

The war ended in 1991, when the EPLF entered Asmara after having captured Massawa. The Ethiopian army was defeated. Two years later, following a referendum, Eritrean independence was declared.

Such a prolonged war wreaked devastation on the people and the land.

As a result of the conflict, 60,000 people died, with an equal number disabled and an estimated 50,000 orphaned. Today, the battle-scarred country is littered with approximately a million land mines, which are still maiming innocent people.

Aside from the casualties, millions of Eritreans lost their homeland.

Take, for instance, Dubai-based banker Osman Mohammad Musa Debeke, whose elder brothers were guerrilla fighters in the EPLF. Uprooted from his home, the port city of Massawa at 11, Debeka spent the next few years as a refugee. He and his family were shunted to neighbouring nations, such as Sudan.

Then - alone - he made the journey to Kuwait and eventually came to Dubai in 1977. He travelled on Eritrean travel documents and (due to the conflict) could only return home 20 years later.

Even more poignant is the story of Dahab Mohammad, a cook based in Dubai. Leaving her native Eritrea, Mohammad journeyed to Ethiopia, but was expelled on account of her nationality. She left behind her Ethiopian husband of Eritrean origin and four children. It has been seven years since she has seen her family.

People like Mohammad await the normalisation of relations between the two countries, so those with their families in Ethiopia can be reunited with their loved ones.

Even after independence, Eritrea has been at war: with Yemen, Djibouti and Ethiopia.

After a brief period of peace, Eritrea and Ethiopia again went to war in 1998 over border incursions. No fewer than 10 peace initiatives failed, before a UN-brokered settlement in 2000 that saw a sizeable peacekeeping force deployed in Eritrea.

Already one of the world's poorest nations, Eritrea's fortunes sunk even lower as thousands of people had to rely on aid and many more were displaced, following the most recent conflict with Ethiopia.

Poor rainfall and a crippled infrastructure have further added to the woes of the country's agrarian economy. Today, Eritrea needs substantial food aid and imports.

Yet the Eritrean people remain united and staunchly patriotic. There is almost no tribalism or religious demarcations in a population that's half Muslim and half Christian.

"It doesn't matter which part of Eritrea we are from ? what matters is we're Eritrean," says Asmeret H. Giorgis, an accountant based at the consulate in Dubai.

The Eritrean people won independence for their country and are committed to its reconstruction. The volunteer army and the diaspora are pooling resources to rebuild the country's infrastructure.

"Don't forget we are a heroic people and have endured worse. A nation of 3 million fought back a country of 10 million - and won!" Debeke says.

While there is tension between Eritrea and Ethiopia, there is no denying the similarities of the two countries. Eritreans and Ethiopians love their coffee ceremony and sponge up their spicy meat stews with injera bread. They both have a taste for pizza and pasta, the tomato sauce perked up by berbera chilli paste.

Injera bread is an Eritrean staple that's difficult to make, but superb to eat. Homesick Eritreans make a beeline for one of Deira's several restaurants that serve Horn of Africa cuisine. Two places particularly recommended are Bab Al Mandeb and Al Mantoop in Frij Murar.

Giorgis says her idea of comfort food is "store-bought injera, which I eat with zigni and yoghurt. Zigni is a meat or chicken stew flavoured with pure butter and spices and slow cooked," she explains.

Spice of life
Which brings us to the Bab Al Mandeb cafeteria, where Dahab Mohammad is chef and whose claim to fame is injera spongier than a luxury mattress.

The Bab nestles in the shadow of the Hyatt Regency Deira, tucked away behind auto repair shops and grocery stores. Its entrance is misted in a haze of sheesha smoke, and the interior is a summary paean to all things Eritrean.

There is a plate-glass display case of the kind that would showcase pink iced pastries and fried patties in old-fashioned bakeries.

Only here it's filled with Atlanta-recorded CDs of Eritrean music by Loul Fesshaye, video cassettes with home printed covers, woven grass baskets (thahlili) used to serve shuro (beans) and pretty terracotta coffee decanters (jebena).

The television is tuned to EriTV, where a somewhat inanimate conversation between two men is watched keenly by coffee-chugging Eritreans.

The friendly waitresses speak almost no English, but know enough to offer me a cup of milky sweet tea, the way Indians like it, with a hint of cardamom. Like all Eritreans, their features are incredibly beautiful.

The injera arrives on a gargantuan plate with the wot (stew) ladled over it, in a steaming fragrant pile. It's sour and soft - perfect for soaking up the meat, sauce and spice.

Injera is made from a small grain called t'eff, which Mohammad says is almost impossible to get in Dubai.

She imports her t'eff from Eritrea.

The grain is ground by the mill where you purchase the t'eff. The flour is mixed into a thin gruel with water and left to ferment for a couple of days. It's then mixed with boiling water and poured on to a heated flat griddle, much like an Indian dosa.

Lisa George, my guide to all things Eritrean, tells me that since Eritrea was colonised by Italy, its food has hints of Italy in the sauces and condiments.

"Eritrean food is strictly eaten by hand. Injera is torn into strips and used to scoop up bits of tender meats and veggies stewed in lots of exotic spice-rich sauces, based on the main spice, berbere," George says.

"The best part is that everyone sits around and shares food from the same plate, rounding off the meal with coffee or tea."

Indeed, even the poorest Eritrean family enjoys a coffee or tea break at least twice daily. It's a tradition shared with Ethiopians - yet is still proudly Eritrean.