In Ethiopia, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) claims to have brought virtually the whole of the northern province of Eritrea under its control. Speaking in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Tuesday (17 January), Haile Menkerios, a member of the EPLF Executive Committee, said that three quarters of the port of Massawa is under guerrilla control, together with the road linking Massawa and Asmara, the Eritrean capital, 64 kilometres (40 miles), away. He claimed that the only connection now with the rest of Ethiopia is by air. He was also asked about his movement's reaction to reports of Soviet military support for the Ethiopian Government.