Introduction by Basil Davidson and Lionel Cliffe. In april 1976, Dan Connell slipped into Eritrea's besieged capital, Asmara, where he witnessed the assassination of a top-ranking Ethiopian official and its bloody aftermath - the summary execution of dozens of innocent civilians. His front page account in the Washington Post broke Ethiopia's long-standing information blockade. This is the first of a two-volume collection of Connell's writings, spanning a quarter-century, recounting the experience of Eritrea's protracted war of independence and its postliberation transition.