In Eritrea, self help is a national legacy

Tag : cut out metal
You can hear the ping of metal striking metaland the gentle buzz of wood being cut before you even enter Medebrmarket in the Eritrean capital.
Inside, a cacophony of hammering and sawing assails the ears whilebright blue flashes from welding guns strike the eyes. Down a dirtstreet inside this old open market, artisan Berhane Seid cuts smallslits in a shell casing.
The combs that Berhane carves from these remnants of Eritrea's warsare sold to hairdressers, who use them to straighten hair.
"Self-reliance is very important ... You don't have to expectanything from anybody," says the veteran of Eritrea's 1998-2000border conflict with neighbor Ethiopia.
Berhane, like many in the Red Sea state, feels a steely pride inthe government's self-reliance policy, a legacy of Eritrea's30-year independence war with Ethiopia, Washington's top regionalally.
During the war -- popularly known as the "Struggle" -- guerrillashad little outside help. Goods like medicines and radios weremanufactured in camouflaged tents and bunkers.
After independence in 1991, that enforced policy became an enduringlegacy. But it has put Eritrea, home to around 4.7 million people,at loggerheads with many Western donors and could hamper foreigninvestment, analysts say.
In late 2005, drought-prone Eritrea cut food aid by more than 94percent, according to aid agencies. Months later, all food aid wasstopped except to people displaced by the border war with Ethiopia,according to the World Bank.