Feature - Life slowly resuming in Tserona

Looking down on the southern Eritrean town of Tserona, over a thousand glinting roofs dominate the landscape. It was not always the case. Less than a year ago, the same view would have revealed empty shells with no roofs. The town, close to the Ethiopian border in Eritrea's mountainous Debub region, was nearly obliterated during the Eritrea-Ethiopia border war, and its entire population fled. "During the third offensive [in May 2000], the Ethiopians looted everything from corrugated iron sheeting to household goods," said Woldu Medhani of the Tserona sub-zone administration. Some housing structures were completely destroyed, others partially damaged and the sub-zone's population of 33,000 people fled the area. For one year, they lived in camps for internally displaced people (IDPs). But in less than five months, a postwar rehabilitation project, implemented by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), has put metal roofs, doors and windows back on the houses. Life is slowly returning to Tserona - once an important cross-border trading centre. To date, 2,750 houses have been rehabilitated in the area, with a further 1,750 in the nearby sub-zone of Senafe - a total of 4,500 houses. The project is funded by The Netherlands and Italy - in fact Tserona's town square has been renamed The Hague Square in appreciation of the assistance. Sixty-year-old Lemlem Gebreyohanes returned to Tserona in June 2001, happy to be home, despite the fact that all her household goods had been taken. Life under canvas in the IDP camp was very hard, she stresses. "I can't imagine it now," she says. "We were in a very bad situation. We only had a few grains for survival." Now she is preparing to cultivate her land, so that her dependence on food aid will cease.

Destroyed houses at Gamae

Some 10,000 people are still displaced, unable to return home, because their villages have either been completely destroyed or are under Ethiopian occupation. The nearby village of Gamae has been razed to the ground - its inhabitants are just a few hundred metres away in a sprawling IDP camp. According to UNDP programme officer Assefaw Tewolde, Gamae is due to be reconstructed so that the people can resume their livelihoods. But there is still much to be done in Tserona.

Destroyed market place in Tserona

Vital nerve centres such as the market, health centre and the court house have been reduced to rubble. The market now consists of makeshift stalls in the centre of town. Some of the houses are beyond repair. Assefaw says there are some 1,500 destroyed houses still to be rehabilitated, along with schools - there are still students in makeshift classrooms - and electricity has to be restored. Now there is also the challenge of creating sustainable livelihoods for the local population and introducing income-generating activities.