A convoy of trucks carried 110 tons of emergency food Friday to a war zone in the northern part of Ethiopia, but a damaged bridge prevented it from carrying all its planned load. The bridge was not strong enough to handle trucks with trailers attached, so each truck carried just 10 tons of food instead of the 22 tons that would have been possible with trailers, said Yohannes Abraham. Abraham is an official of the Catholic Relief Services in Ethiopia. Eleven trucks made the 74-mile journey from the provincial capital of Dessie over a mountainous road to Kobo. Another convoy of 11 trucks covered the same route Monday in what relief officials said was a trial run. Its drivers reported the damaged bridge. Both trips went without a hitch. A consortium of Ethiopian churches is ferrying the food into the area, which is caught in the conflict between government troops and the rebel Tigre People's Liberation Front. The Tigreans are fighting to oust President Mengistu Haile Mariam and establish a government patterned after that of Albania, the last hard-line Marxist state in Eastern Europe. The emergency food comes largely from private donors in the United States and Western Europe. It is intended to feed 1 million people deprived because of the war and drought. A formal cease-fire does not exist, but the rebels and government have promised safe passage for convoys. The church groups hope to extend their distribution network from the north to southern Eritrea province, where another war is under way between the government and the secessionist Eritrean People's Liberation Army.
