By: BEN

During the last days of Eli, in the bible (1 Samuel 4:11, 5:6), the Ark of the Covenant was taken by the Palestines and the whole Israel was in shock. When Eli, who was the care-taker of the holiest Ark heard this bad news, he fell from his seat and died.

However, in the Palestine village, the Ark had not brought any joy or peace but instead death, terror, and sickness. Finally, because the Palestine understood that God was enraged by their act, they sent the ark back to the Israelis to avoid further misery on their own people.

I recalled this section of the bible during my stay in the city of Zalanbessa. I stared in disbelief as to what the Eritrean army has caused to the whole city especially to those holy places where people flock to worship God. The only mosque and the two churches the city had were badly damaged and the roofs were dismantled to build trenches. Most of the religious paintings were peeled from the church wall and torn apart.

However, what exactly brought the above quote to my mind was when I later learned that even the Ta'bot (Replica of Ark of the covenant) was stolen from one of the churches by this sick-minded army.

I wondered what Shaebia soldiers felt when they entered those holy places wearing their boots where God commanded his people to "take-off" their shoes for his house is blessed and immaculate. I wondered what they felt when they started to rip the roofs off and continued to tear the icons from the churches' wall. I even wondered what could have been said by their army leaders when they were told to go out and demolish the whole city and hold the Ta'bot as a trophy.

While wondering about the whereabouts of that Ta'bot, my mind went back to the first two weeks of May 2000. And I thought may be, just may be, all the death, the humiliation, the displacement, and finally the defeat the Eritreans went through was due to their wicked acts in Zalanbessa and its holy shrines. May be God was enraged, as he was on the Palestines in the Old Testament. May be that was the reason why Eritrea's children perished on the fields of Zalanbessa. May be it is because of the Ark Eritrean mothers have a lot to weep.

Even though I have read and saw photos of the destroyed city, I must admit, the extent to which it is transformed into was mind boggling. I was numb for a while and couldn't believe this was the work of a fellow human being. There was no a SINGLE home left untouched in the town including the two churches and the only mosque I mentioned earlier. The city now looks like one of the Central American cities hit by Hurricane Mitch - abandoned, desecrated and lifeless. To make matters worse the land mine infested fields, in and around the city, still claim the lives of returnees.

Even Lt Col Christopher Kabwe of Zambia, the team leader of UNMEE for Zalanbessa (UN Mission for Eritrea and Ethiopia) couldn't keep his feeling when he first saw the ruins of that city. He was quoted as saying, he has "never seen anything like it" . . . " My first impression is the place has been very badly damaged. Very badly indeed".

Yes Zalanbessa is the "sign and seal" of Isayas's brute force and eventually his total demise!!

Ben