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In Asmara, the city that Benito Mussolini called "the gem of the Horn of Africa," the Ethiopian army is increasingly nervous. The vital 56-mile highway to the port of Massawa, as well as all other roads, is frequently cut, if not actually controlled, by Eritrean forces. The railroad from the port of Assab carries no traffic; its bridges have been destroyed by guerrillas. Ethiopian army units dare not travel unescorted more than a few miles outside the capital. When they do go farther, they move by convoy with tank protection and air cover. Their supplies arrive only by air—at an airfield that is well within the capital city.
There are 150,000 Eritreans in Asmara, and every one is a potential saboteur—"our Trojan horse," says one Ethiopian commander, referring to the civilian population. Two weeks ago, the E.L.F. sent a radio message to its units inside Asmara advising them that buses were urgently needed to carry wounded soldiers to a field hospital. The response came 24 hours later: eight large Ethiopian buses were hijacked just after midnight, spirited out of the city and driven to an E.L.F. aid station 20 miles away.
High Morale. Because of their common cause and recent victories, the E.L.F. soldiers' morale is high. By tradition, they have no specific ranks; all are known as "fighters," even 14-year-old recruits, and commanding officers are elected by their men. Each fighter dresses as he pleases, but all wear black plastic sandals that are said to be good in any weather and any terrain. Every recruit receives two months of basic military training and a heavy dose of Marxist political indoctrination; recent emphasis has been on the writings of Mao Tse-tung and on vague plans for a socialist state after independence. "Socialism will be dominant," Chairman Nasser told TIME'S Brelis, "but we will have to define it as we go along."
Among outside powers, who supports whom in the conflict? To keep track of this, you need patience, a scorecard—and a map. Eritrea is backed by neighboring Sudan, which has long been at odds with Ethiopia and which provides most of the Eritreans' supplies via truck convoys. Radio Ethiopia regularly beams anti-Sudanese broadcasts to Khartoum, threatening to behead Sudanese President Jaafar Numeiry if and when the Ethiopian peasant army manages to roll into Sudan. In response, Khartoum-based Radio Eritrea advises Ethiopians: "We surround your troops in every city they illegally occupy. The war is doomed to end in a disastrous effort."
The Eritreans today are also supported by most of the other Arab states—Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq and Kuwait. The Arabs have always tended to favor the Eritreans over the Ethiopians because they wanted the region to be Arab-oriented. Today the Arab states support Eritrea for an additional reason: the Soviets support Eritrea's enemy, Ethiopia. The Arabs are anxious that the Horn of Africa should not become a Russian zone of influence.