Families return to border town

More than a thousand families have returned to an Ethiopian border town destroyed during the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday.

The families, who fled Zalambessa during the bloody conflict, which ended in December 2000, have returned to start rebuilding their demolished houses, the ICRC added.

Zalambessa was the scene of some of the heaviest fighting during the border war – which cost the two countries some 70,000 lives and millions of dollars in lost revenue. People have gradually been returning to the town over the past two years.

The ICRC is now distributing four truckloads packed with thousands of tarpaulins and blankets as temporary shelter for the returning families. Tents have also been erected as emergency health centres run by the Ministry of Health for 10,000 people for the next three months.

"Many of the displaced from Zalambessa are living in precarious conditions," the ICRC said in a statement from their offices in Addis Ababa. "The first priority for the returning population is the access to clean water," the organisation added.

A single water pump serves the entire population of the town, which is a few kilometres from the 25-km wide temporary security zone that separates Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The World Bank is also supporting the reconstruction of the town to the tune of US$6.5 million. Surveying work has been underway since it was declared free of landmines. Some 841 houses and 260 small business premises are expected to be built.