In Eritrea, self help is a national legacy

By Jack Kimball

ASMARA (Reuters) - You can hear the ping of metal striking metal and the gentle buzz of wood being cut before you even enter Medebr market in the Eritrean capital.

Inside, a cacophony of hammering and sawing assails the ears while bright blue flashes from welding guns strike the eyes. Down a dirt street inside this old open market, artisan Berhane Seid cuts small slits in a shell casing.

The combs that Berhane carves from these remnants of Eritrea's wars are sold to hairdressers, who use them to straighten hair.

"Self-reliance is very important ... You don't have to expect anything from anybody," says the veteran of Eritrea's 1998-2000 border conflict with neighbor Ethiopia.

Berhane, like many in the Red Sea state, feels a steely pride in the government's self-reliance policy, a legacy of Eritrea's 30-year independence war with Ethiopia, Washington's top regional ally.

During the war -- popularly known as the "Struggle" -- guerrillas had little outside help. Goods like medicines and radios were manufactured in camouflaged tents and bunkers.

After independence in 1991, that enforced policy became an enduring legacy. But it has put Eritrea, home to around 4.7 million people, at loggerheads with many Western donors and could hamper foreign investment, analysts say.

In late 2005, drought-prone Eritrea cut food aid by more than 94 percent, according to aid agencies. Months later, all food aid was stopped except to people displaced by the border war with Ethiopia, according to the World Bank.

In the past three years, the Asmara government has repealed the permits of more than a dozen international aid agencies. It says Western powers have used aid in the past to meddle in countries' internal affairs.

It also says food aid creates a culture of dependency.

"Genuine independent help is not neo-colonialism," said one Western diplomat in Asmara.

EQUAL PARTNERSHIP

Eritrea's tradition of self-reliance comes vividly to life in Medebr market.

Used oil drums are recycled to make traditional ovens for cooking injera -- a spongy bread eaten in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Artisans construct intricate Orthodox Christian crosses. Others pound away at sizzling scrap metal, morphing it into hoes for the planting season.