In theory, governance in Eritrea is modeled after the Chinese: a political party births the ideas, a government executes them.  Thus, in every governmental office–from the nation’s capital down to the sub-zone–there is a party representative. There is a hierarchy in both institutions: in the political party, it is the Secretariat composed of the Secretary General (or Chairman), Secretary, and Heads of Organizational, Political and Economic Affairs.  In the government, it is…who cares.  It is the party that runs things.  But if the party never convenes a congress, never has elections, doesn’t have a functioning central or executive committee, who do the executives report to?  Then it becomes what we have: a One Man State.  A Man-ocracy.  This leads to the question: what the hell does the Secretary do?  And, um, who is he?

To answer this burning question, Embassy Media had an interview with the Secretary of the People’s Front (for democracy and justice, but we won’t mention that because if we just stop at People’s Front people will be reminded of the continuity with eritrean PEOPLE’S liberation FRONT), Mr. Alamin Mohammed Seid.  Well, no, that is not WHY they interviewed him (we will get to that later), but the point is (and I think you are getting sidetracked here), he is alive, albeit without a job description.

Technically, his job description as a secretary is to run the day-to-day affairs of the party.  That is politics and organization.  But political affairs is being run by Mr. Yemane Gebreab, and organizational affairs is being run by Mr. Abdella Jaber, but, since in his brief absence (by which we mean in jail without charges since 2013, only five years, which is nothing in the Eritrean calendar of prisons), organizational affairs is also being run by Mr. Yemane Gebreab, this leaves Alamin Mohammed Seid a very important role at the Ministry of We Have Muslims, Too.

You know how the Eritrean political fronts (government and opposition alike) have one SINGLE role for their female members?  To deal with “women issues”?  Well, actually, two: to deal with women issues AND to prepare injera and xebHi at festivals?  Well, in the PFDJ, the role of Mr. Alamin Mohammed Seid (and Mr. Ramadan Mohammed Nur, when he is defrosted) is to be the Face of Diversity.   Mind you, this is NOT to assure the Eritrean Muslims that they are represented in the PFDJ (even tone-deaf PFDJ knows that is futile); no, it is to assure Eritrean Christians that the PFDJ is not an exclusive club but very diverse.   This is why Alamin Mohammed Seid is brought from the dead only to answer questions of unity and diversity. That is his portfolio: unity, diversity, using the PFDJ Manual.

The World According To Alamin

Eritrea is a very young country, not even 30 years old.  Also, the one million year old Homo erectus discovered in the Afar region of Eritrea is clearly an Afar Eritrean woman.  Clearly.  So, it is also an old nation.  But remember, Eritrea is a youthful nation.  Also, Islam was introduced to Eritrea before it was spread in Saudi Arabia and Christianity was introduced to Eritrea in the 4th century by Aba Salama who came to Eritrea FIRST. FIRST!  You mean St Frumentius, the first Bishop of Axum? The man who converted and baptized the Ethiopian King Ezana to christianity in the 4th century? The king who then Christianized Ethiopia? No, of course the interviewer didn’t ask those questions: he just nodded his head sheepishly as Alamin claimed for Eritrea all things historic.  That the sahaba (companions of the prophet) built a mosque in Eritrea is more noteworthy and historic than why they came to begin with: there was a just king in Ethiopia.  Or in the Land of Habesha, but that is a word–habesha— that the PF-ers do not like, except when it serves their purpose and here it did so he did.

Axum is an appendage of Adulis.  And Axum (the religious see of Aba Salama) is only famous because the British (who apparently were plotting even during the time of Aba Salama, even before they were a nation) found it in their interest to make Axum more famous than Adulis.

We are a young country but an old people.  A civilized people with laws.  Did I mention we are civilized people?  Yes.  But very, very young country.  Some countries are 200, some countries are 300 years old.  But we are not even 30 years old.  But, during the Italian occupation, there were 150,000 Eritreans who were enlisted by Italians and it is they who occupied Libya, and Somalia. The number of Eritreans enlisted by Italy is the only page that Messrs Isaias Afwerki and Alamin M Seid read from Zemehret Yohannes’s book Italian Colonialism in Eritrea, (Zemehret himself is no slouch when it comes to history distortion department.)   And, explains rambling Alamin, the Italians have never paid reparations for this. If Italians should pay reparations for conscripting 150,000 Eritreans, what does the PFDJ owe us for conscripting millions?  Where are my manners: I interrupted the wanasa and derdasha of Alamin: do go on, sir …..There is Via Keren in Somalia and Via Somalia in Akhria so, there.  Yeah, it is something.  I am sure some of those underage children your PF rounded up from Akhria, disappeared months later, are Eritreans of Somali origin, from Via Somalia. How very civilized we are.

But do go on, PFsplaining, sir.  Four hundreds years ago we were writing.  Before the Europeans can write!  Or, he caught himself, if they wrote, they wrote little.  They were in the dark ages! But, sir, one of the world’s most famous writers, a Brit, wrote during this period: William Shakespeare, have you heard of him?  Also during this period, another, a Spaniard (also a European) wrote one of the greatest books ever written, Don Quixote, which helps us understand people like you, Mr. Alamin and your PF, always out on futile journeys waging futile wars.  Haven’t you heard of them?  No, of course, the interviewer didn’t ask that.   And what exactly were these great works of literature that we the Eritrean writers with our own alphabets create 400 years ago? We translated the Bible to Tigrinya. And?  We also translated the Bible to Tigrinya.

But what he came for, why the interviewer from Embassy Media, PF propaganda outlet, even bothered to interview him was for the same reason Fox News brings in black people to give conservative messages: people unfairly accuse us conservatives of being racists, so we need you to relay our message which you agree with.  This won’t convince any blacks, but it will make the whites feel good.

So, here it is.  We are a secular country.  We are a tolerant country.  We are one people: the Saho intermarried with the Tigrinya; the MensaE tribe of Tigre have Muslims and Christians.  We are a civilized people.  We are a cultured people.  We are a secular country: I am at the offices of the People’s Front (it is actually PFDJ), there can’t be a cross and a picture of St Mary hanging in the office.  Just like I can’t go to  a priest or a sheikh and tell him what to preach on Sunday or Friday.  We are a secular country.  And we can’t have religion in the government or our schools.  Sure, we may teach religion as a subject.  But we can’t use religion as a basis to admit or to deny admission.  Otherwise, we will be like all these countries in the region whose people are at each other’s throats.  Arrest? Yes, we will arrest people if they endanger our unity.  Human rights? There are countries who claim to be democratic with human rights where people go to bed hungry and are homeless.  We have human rights here and nowhere else in the world.  Healthcare, clean water, food: that’s human rights.  And we have it here.  I can travel anywhere, get on a bus, with nobody asking me where or why.

Conclusion 

What a nice and very reassuring Musulman.  He is a good Mohammedan!  I wish there were more like him.  With people like him, our future is assured.  The government never tells priests and sheikhs what to say in their sermons. Never.   Only those who endanger national unity are arrested and only after they had their day in court. Always.  There is freedom of movement: an Eritrean can travel anywhere, anytime.  No need for any “moving permit” or “exit visa” or Regret Letter.   Private schools or religious schools should not be allowed to exist, even if our laws say they can.  We are very civilized ancient young people with fealty to law, except when they are inconvenient.   What is human rights without food and clean water, amirite? Amirite?  We are a civilized people with a long history of law and culture and sophistication.  We are young and old, the gateway to civilization and with people like Alamin Mohammed Seid once in a while coming to assure us that the messages we hear daily from Isaias Afwerki, Yemane Gebreab, Yemane Gebremeskel is indeed shared by all Eritreans, regardless of their religion, ethnicity and gender, why, we have a very bright future! So bright it is blinding and we need special glasses–corrected to PF vision– to see it.

Happy Independence Day! Happy Mother’s Day! Ramadan Kareem! Oops, I mixed State, Gender and Religion.  Hope to see Alamin M Seid at the dais beaming slavishly at Isaias Afwerki.

When I was a young boy and people talked about Tripoli and Trenta Cinque (1935), my eyes glazed over. I am sure you have interesting stories to tell, old man, but it can’t possibly be more interesting than my game, ashekakat Alem*, so buzz off! So now, when GG reminded me about Kagnew Station, I can see those who are young glazing over. But I must tell a story, it is the cycle of life.

Before they put that imperfect oval grass in Eritrea, that odd grass which is now considered iconic Asmara, and is, along with Mai Jah Jah and the Shidda, sold in postcards, you know the oval grass on the way to Camboni, there didn’t use to be an oval grass: it was just four way traffic, with a suspended traffic light. One dawn, a GI who was driving a…, well I don’t know what he was driving, but he surely was DWA (Driving While American), and he trashed it. Shattered glasses everywhere.

He paid off the imperial authorities for that is what Americans do and case was closed.

Went to class, a geography class. An American helicopter buzzed by and we looked out the window. A geography class meant drawing all the continents of the world—there was no CAD then, it was all pencil drafting. The helicopter hovered by—maybe it flew too low and that’s why we looked out. My rebellious teacher, Father Menegatti, perhaps he was a Jesuit priest, said: “look at them! Just look! They are raiding your wealth! Who knows what they are taking? Your gold, your tomatoes—which they will sell back to you as tomato paste.”

How does it feel, to make me feel like you do….That was OMD, many years later. I had no idea, not one clue, that the all powerful, almost god Haile Selasse was weeks away from being overthrown. How the mighty fall!

Back to my drawing. I drew the zig zag of Alaska, went down to the continental United States, lingered on the California coast. How would I know that would be home 30 years later?

Father Joseph came and told a tall tale. It was about a two-timing love-stuck sailor. Then the letter of Lucy went to the envelope of Anna… Jokes should come with expiration dates; after a 3rd retelling, the teller should go through a mild spontaneous combustion. Bless the padre, the joke had nothing to do with his subject, math. He thought his jokes were funnier than we thought they were. Naturally, he assumed that this was due to our English illiteracy. We thought, padre, they just ain’t funny but we drink it down without a glass of water.

Then my super-rebellious English teacher (later, I learned that all the rebelling Fathers were sent to Africa) Father Lauro, was in class now, totally frustrated with our English.

“It is not, ‘if I was’” he corrected, “it is ‘if I were.’” Then, he gave a naughty example: a dig at our troubled child, Mussa: “For example: ‘If I were Mussa,’” he said mocking the tallest student sitting, bored, in the back of the class, “If I were Mussa, I would be paying attention in the classroom!”

No dark sarcasm in the classroom…teacher! leave those kids alone…

English grammar makes absolutely no sense. We had spent months learning the conjugation, “I was, he/she/it was, we were, they were” and now the teacher was teaching us that if the sentence is preceded by “if”, then all bets are off and you are supposed to say, “if I were…”

Mussa is not fazed. He says, “I understand.” Then use it in a sentence, challenges Father Lauro. Mussa, the bad boy, says, “If I were Father Ladro, I would not be smoking while I graded the students tests!”

Double taboo! But I understand only one of them. One, we were all supposed to pretend that Father Lauro did not smoke. Priests do NOT smoke and those smelly test results we got had nothing to do with his smoking. Two, and worse, as the coolest kids understood, Mussa was deliberately mis-pronouncing Father Lauro’s name. For Ladro in Italian meant thief.

Father Lauro scribbled something on his notebook dramatically, gesturing wildly, to indicate that Mussa was in big, big trouble.

I wonder where Mussa is now. Statistical probability, and something I heard a few years later: he joined one of the fronts, our ungrateful fronts, in Kebid Bret and was martyred somewhere?

That afternoon, Father Lauro gave me a ride on his motorcycle. A Harley Davidson, no less: I told you he was a rebel! “You probably will join the rebels and die young,” he warned me, “Who knows?” I said. He shrugged and asked me where I wanted him to drop me off. I said anywhere because anywhere in Asmara is home and he dropped me anywhere. In his diaries, he wrote: another promising African going anywhere, nowhere.

Next day was Friday. At the end of the day, we were all lined up and taken to a quarter. Our own crossroad. Two directions to go. I can’t say North, South, East, West, it was a long time ago and I had no sense of direction. So, pardon me, I will use the illiterate “this way” and “that way.” This way was the library and that way was the Camboni Theatre. This way was boredom and that way was Spaghetti Westerns, where Lee Van Cliff spoke Italian (with English and Arabic subtitles, I think, just like the Indian movies.) But we still understood the movie’s plot: this was easy to do because Lee never spoke in the movies; he just aimed and shot his rifle, always hidden under his trench coat, always taller than him. In spaghetti westerns, the solution to any problem is that somebody was itching to be shot and it was the duty of the hero to reluctantly, grudgingly, stoically, scratch that itch.

They stopped us at the crossroads to pause dramatically and we had no idea whether we were going to the library or the theatre.

Then the headmaster, Father Charles, arrived: grim, serious and unsmiling. His grave expression was probably due to our insistence on calling him by his first name (Charles) and insisting on butchering it (Char-less) the same way we insisted on calling Comboni Camboni.   I don’t know any Camboni alumni who has ever seen that man’s teeth. It was not a good day: today we had to go to the library. We groaned and he stared back, unsmiling. We opened our serious geography (again!) books, but inside, the cool kids had their comic books. I opened a big geography book but, inside, hidden, thanks to a friend, I had my Spiderman. Pow! Kaboom! I don’t know what pow and kaboom meant because even the grunts and non-verbal sounds Americans make were different from ours. I mean, Americans say “ouch” when they hurt. Ouch??? And their women don’t even know how to produce that special short hand our mothers used in lieu of saying “yes.” h’kkkk.

But the comics were drawn beautifully. Wearing his Harambe shirt, and bell-bottom jeans, my friend, Stephanos drew comics inspired by Shaft in Africa and certified himself, one more time, that he was the coolest kid at school. I knew where he was, in 1978 (left our ungrateful fronts). I wish I knew where he is now.

Went home and Kagnew was on. Long before I knew John Denver was not cool, I thought he was, because he was on Kagnew, for God’s sake, an American radio station which played nothing but country, Motown, folk and rock music. We liked country music, because we could understand the lyrics: this is way back in the old days when America’s smart bombs were sweet music.

country roads take me home to the place I belong, West Virgina, mountain momma, take me home. I never understood how a mountain could be a momma but I didn’t understand Americans, anyway, I just thought they were larger than life. Damn! They could destroy traffic lights and get away with it! Then came Johnny Cash, then some bubblegum rock, I think the Archies (Oh! sugar!) and then some guy I didn’t know who was singing a song that sounded like something I had heard my neighborhood homeys sing:

Shezeley AytHazeley
shizeley aytHazeley
shizeley!
gezana,
geza Kh’ray,
swana swa X’ray,
shizelay!

Years later, I learned that it was Tom Jones and the song was “she’s a lady.” And he wasn’t even AMERICAN! What a let down. Many, many years later still, I saw Tom Jones at a concert gyrating and doing Prince’s Kiss to middle aged ladies. It was not the same thing.

That Friday, just another Friday, at night, I switched to short-wave radio, scanning for news. Came my grandmother and asked me:

“Do they mention Jebha at all?” Jebha was short for the Eritrean revolution.

I said, “no, grandma, they didn’t. They never do!”

She said, “belash!” And Jebha wasn’t mentioned that night. Again. And we went to sleep, with rumors that the next morning the Tor Serawit were going to raid homes searching for weapons, trashing furniture, and asking where the men, whose pictures were in our family albums, were. I listened to Jimi Hendrix and Marvin Gaye and I called it a day.

It was just another Friday. Or maybe it is a medley of Fridays, in no particular order.

This article first appeared as Unbound: Just Another Friday (1974) at awate.com on August 31, 2007. The “GG” reference below is Gabriel Guangul.

I am just going to pin this image here, courtesy of @KidaneAida. Anybody researching “what happened to #EritreaAt27” doesn’t need to read books or watch documentaries. This is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary. pic.twitter.com/RNFWCqGZjr

— saay (@saayounis) May 21, 2018

This says it all.

— Asennai :: ው ታንግ ኢዝ ፎር ዘ ችልድረን:: (@Asennai) May 21, 2018

pictures speak volumes!

— ኣንSON (@anldaw1) May 21, 2018

Twenty seven years ago today, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Army (EPLA) was delivered the final victory in evicting Ethiopia’s occupation forces from Eritrea and triumphantly entered its capital, Asmara, to jubiliation and cheers from the Eritrean people, who initiated the struggle decades earlier.  There was no confusion what this meant and that’s why, two years later, Eritreans would overwhelmingly legalize the victory by voting in an internationally observed referendum: it meant that, henceforth, the Eritrean people would exercise their right to self-determination, to exercise their sovereignty, to choose a path without any interference from foreign powers, lease of all Ethiopia.

Since this right to self-determination was one that was determined as extremely unlikely if not impossible by all the experts–the United Nations, the African Union, renowned pundits and politicians–it is rightly described as a “David-vs-Goliath” and “against-all-odds” victory.

Of course, May 24th, is worthy of celebration for a number of reasons.  There are many people in the world who believe, just as Eritreans believed, that they have a right to determine their fate including the Palestinians, Kurds, Ireland, East Timor, Kosovo, and even Crimea.  Eritreans’ victory is the exception and not the rule.  Second, unlike many self-determination movements, the case of Eritrea is not predicated on ethnic rights but a form of anti-colonialism.  Not that Ethiopia was a colonial power, but because Eritrea was not allowed the exercise rights granted to former colonized people.

Of course, the day is commonly referred as “Independence Day” because that is the date Eritrea became independent of Ethiopian occupation.   But independent also means having the freedom to choose.  And, in 2018, twenty-seven years after Eritrea’s Victory Day, people don’t have the freedom to choose their government.  They don’t have the freedom to live in their own country unless the government they didn’t have the freedom to choose grants them the permission to do so.  They don’t have the freedom to assemble or to express themselves.  The freedom of expression is so limited  an Eritrean can’t express an opinion on the whereabouts of those who made this Victory Day literally happen:

On this day 27 years ago, #EPLA under THE command of Petros Solomon would take Asmara, liberating #Eritrea.

The Commander of Nakfa, Zara & Kerkebet Fronts

Chief Strategist of #EPLF, Head of Military Intelligence – Brigade 72.

Central Committee 1977 – 94

Dungeon for 17 Years! pic.twitter.com/jVRIuDKbAb

— Wedi 9 (@ZeMike09) May 23, 2018

A daughter doesn’t know the whereabouts of her father:

Eritrea at 27. I am wearing one of the few items that I have kept of my father. Used to love stealing his T-shirts. It has long lost his smell…Held Incommunicado in Eritrea since 2003. pic.twitter.com/BLvnAuSe8F

— Semhar Habtezion (@SHabtezion) May 24, 2018

A mother doesn’t know the whereabouts of her daughter:

And every day, the Government of Eritrea refuses to account for thousands of our compatriots whose minimal rights to even know why they are arrested and where they are arrested–never mind due process–have been violated. Given these facts, Eritrea’s Independence Day should be celebrated for the fact that one more tyrant (Mengistu, Haileselasse) has no say on our freedom. But since we always assumed that the removal of that obstacle will result in our freedom to deny anymore tyrants lording over us, and since this day is not here yet, it is natural to have mixed feelings and celebrate it with a heavy heart.

Eternal gratitude to those who rid us of one tyrant. They should serve as inspiration to embolden us to challenge all future tyrants, specially on Victory Day like May 24. And, if you are a history buff, feel free to make the connection between our Victory Day and the USSR’s Victory Day.

You can spend hours, hoping in vain, that Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki will say something–anything–that makes sense. You could invent a drinking game where you take a shot any time he mentions “Weyane” (warning: you will not be able to operate heavy equipment by the time the interview is over.) And when you are done, people will ask you “what did he say?” and you won’t remember anything? No worries: here’s the Isaias Afwerki Bullshit Generator: just pick any subject, any verb, any object, any filler from each column and you will have constructed the entire speech of Isaias Afwerki, every single time. (Be sure to expand the list: there are 20 rows, 4 columns.)

(Originally published March 3, 2018)

On Tuesday, June 5, 2018, the Executive Committee of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) issued a formal statement that says Ethiopia will fully honour the Algiers Agreement and the decision of the Boundary Commission. The statement was previewed by the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff in a tweet the same day:

#Ethiopia & #Eritrea have the most unique cultural, historical & blood ties.The suffering on both sides is unspeakable because the peace process is deadlocked.This must change for the sake of our common good.Our gov’t is expected to take a new initiative to address the stalemate.

— Fitsum Arega (@fitsumaregaa) June 5, 2018

The next day, speaking at the 4th conference of the national anti-corruption coalition on Wednesday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed explained that direct military confrontation and the ‘no peace no war’ stalemate have been costing both countries heavily and his administration intends to change this by complying with the decision of the boundary commission in order to normalise relations with Eritrea. The announcement has produced an explosion of hope and expectation among both Ethiopians and Eritreans. There have been also those who refused to join the chorus: Eritreans who cast aspersions on the announcement as another ‘Weyane Public Relations gimmick’ and Ethiopians – mostly Tigrayans – who think the decision does not consider the wish of the Tigrayan people on the issue. The most ironic thing is that some die-hard PFDJ supporters and Tigrayan nationalists seem to have found after very long time, for different reasons of course, the same cause to agree on. The most telling example of this is Elias Amare – a noted PFDJ apologist – and Fetsum Berhane Dire – an editor with Horn Affairs and apparently sympathetic to the TPLF-dominated EPRDF – describing the announcement as a distraction from the just-released announcement of privatization of vital Ethiopian assets by the Ethiopian government.

To the surprise of nobody, the Eritrean government has not made any official pronouncements about the Ethiopian announcement. In lieu of an official response, the Minister of Information, Yemane Ghebremeskel, responded to a question on twitter saying “it’s been 16 years since Eritrea has unequivocally accepted the Algiers agreement and the decision of the boundary commission.” It is a legitimate response, albeit one made in the attics of twitter in reply to a twitter passer-by.

To be fair, Eritrea does not have much to do apropos the adherence to the terms of the Algiers agreement and the decision of the boundary commission. On many occasions, its officials have made the point that relations with Ethiopia would be restored if Ethiopia acted in accordance with the decisions of the boundary commission. Therefore, when people speak about how the ball is now in Eritrea’s court, they need to be specific what they mean by that. So far, the Ethiopian government has only expressed intent and we should not jump our guns and suspend all our political disbelief.

That caveat out of the way, however, diplomatic decorum and statesmanship calls upon the Eritrean government to officially respond to the Ethiopian overtures along the lines that ‘Eritrea welcomes the announcement as the right first step in the right direction and reiterates its long-held commitment to restore relations once the decision of the boundary commission is respected to the letter.’ (Also, it would not cost Asmara a thing to add one or two lines congratulating the new Ethiopian prime minister on his assumption of office).

It is clear that things are not the same in Ethiopia as they were before. The political scale is unmistakably tipped towards the reformist elements within the ruling party. The TPLF old guards are out and new political players are in. Few are now those extreme voices who wax aggressively irredentist towards Eritrea. No one except marginal groups seem to buy the Ethiopia-is-too-strong-to-abide-by-international-law and too-big-a-country-to-be-landlocked realpolitik mot d’ordre. Almost all respectable Ethiopian activists and commentators have expressed their support of the Ethiopian government’s statement. To paraphrase Mao, everything under the Ethiopian heavens is in flux; the situation is excellent. Failing to take cognizance of this and proactively engage it – as President Isaias intimated in his Independence Day speech – would be extremely reckless and will definitely embolden those elements who do not want to see the border issue resolved in accordance with the decision of the boundary commission.

The border issue has been an albatross hung around the neck of the Eritrean body-politic for the last twenty years. Utterly failing to capitalise on the legal and moral high ground the Algiers agreement and the decision of the boundary commission afforded it to wage effective diplomatic campaign, and exhausting itself trying to force Ethiopia’s hand through proxy wars and support for myriad Ethiopian political opposition forces, the PFDJ government has resigned itself to a comatose-like state for many years. The border issue has become an ersatz of politics-proper; consumed the entire economic, social and cultural resource of the country; channelled all the political libido into its narrow vortex; foreclosed constitutional patriotism and made crass jingoism as the only legitimate expression of love to the country and the people. Using the issue as a pretext, the PFDJ has put in place extensive bio-political regime of control, subordination and appropriation of labour. It has militarized and securitized society, and turned the country into a carceral state. The issue has become its favorite rationale for suspending civil and political rights, and freedoms of expression, belief and assembly. In a convoluted logic, the ‘no war no peace’ situation is blamed for arbitrary and unlawful disappearance of political dissidents.

I was a fifth grader when the war started. I spent my entire adolescence and about ten years of my adult life under its shadows. I saw all of my immediate and distant family members mobilised to the war fronts. Tragically, some of them did not come back and some are still in the trenches and others fled the country like the rest of the nearly half a million Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers scattered around the world. Every Eritrean is affected by the situation in one way or the other. It is thus incumbent on everyone to retire the empty ‘patriotic’ exhibitionism and call on the Eritrean government to proactively engage with putatively new political momentum in Ethiopia.

Your Excellency,

First of all, please kindly allow us to express our appreciation for the constant efforts of your government, the EPRDF and the National Assembly which we recognize as an effort geared at ensuring peace and stability both within Ethiopian borders and around the Horn of Africa.

We take cognizance of your government’s latest moves with regard to the Algiers Peace Agreement – an agreement which was reached to end a senseless bloody border war between two brotherly people of Eritrea and Ethiopia. Indeed, this issue has been outrageously lingering in the course of the past 20 years, producing nothing but more pain and agony within and between the Eritrean and Ethiopian people. We noted today, with utmost interest and delight, your government’s decision to unconditionally implement the final and binding decision of the Border Commission ruling dated April 13, 2002. We believe this particular decision was taken as part of the ongoing efforts of your government which is aimed at promoting and forging the cause of peace between all neighboring countries in the Horn of Africa. Indeed, your decision is truly symbolic and Eritreans living inside and outside of the country are following the matter with great interest and hope for a better future.

Similarly, we also take note of a reciprocating and positive response on the part of the government of Eritrea to your government’s call for peace. In particular, we mention the remarks of President Isaias Afewerki made on June 20, 2018 on the occasion of Eritrea’s Martyr’s day. He unequivocally indicated his acceptance of your invitation and that his government is sending a delegation to Addis Ababa for ‘constructive engagement’ in regard to this matter.

In light of these positive developments, please kindly allow us to draw your attention to some issues and concerns that we have as your government embarks in talks with the delegates of Eritrean government. We present them below and we do so out of sheer desire to see that peace and prosperity reign over the people of Eritrea and Ethiopia. In particular, we strongly believe that any engagement with the Eritrean delegates or any decision thereof has to put the interests of the peoples of both Eritrea and Ethiopia at the forefront.

It is on record that the Eritrean government security agents and operatives had a kind of ‘safe houses’ in which kidnapped Eritreans were kept, tortured, executed and buried. Many Eritreans disappeared in such cruel operations carried out on Ethiopian soil.

1. We would like to highlight, and your government is well aware of the fundamental fact, that Eritrea has neither a constitution, parliament or rule of law- it is ruled by one party under the total control of one man. Ever since its existence as an independent state in 1993, Eritrea has never carried out any national election. This creates a great concern in regards to any talks carried out with Eritrean delegates and as such we plead that it receives the necessary attention in the process.

2. We wholeheartedly understand that the people of Ethiopia cannot enjoy peace, democracy and prosperity in the absence of such ingredients within the neighboring countries. Ethiopia cannot be an island of peace where the neighborhood remains flooded with insecurities to the human person. In its 27 years of independence, Eritrea is identified as a place where the rights and securities of the human person are simply disregarded and violated on daily bases. By building a network of more than 350 incarceration sites, shipping metal containers and concentration camps countrywide, Eritrea has earned the title of ‘a prison state’. Thousands of prisoners of conscience remain languishing in such prison camps with no communication to the outside world, even to their families. Torture and executions are rampant, and Eritreans’ rights are violated in every possible way. A situation like this continues to cause a lot of pain to the Eritrean people and has become a tremendous destabilizing cause in the neighboring countries.

3. Finally, we would like to draw your kind attention to the first years of Eritrean independence and the good relations developed with Ethiopia at the time. Sadly, such good government-to-government relations of the time had created an opportune moment for the government of Eritrea to hunt down its Eritrean opponents who were leading a peaceful life in Ethiopia. It is on record that the Eritrean government security agents and operatives had a kind of ‘safe houses’ in which kidnapped Eritreans were kept, tortured, executed and buried. Many Eritreans disappeared in such cruel operations carried out on Ethiopian soil.

Today, many Eritreans continue to flee their country precisely due to such an oppressive and terrorizing culture of governance in Eritrea. Thousands of Eritrean refugees, human rights defenders and political activists and groups are currently living in Ethiopia. Notwithstanding to the talks with the Eritrean government, we plead with your government to continue providing the necessary legal and security protection they need. Please do not let the sad history repeat itself.

We thank you for your time and kind considerations.

With sincere regards,

Elizabeth Chyrum,
Director
—
Human Rights Concern – Eritrea (HRCE)
London, UK

eritrea.facts@gmail.com
+44 7958 005 637
www.hrc-eritrea.org

phases goal and achievement

Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1

الإعلان العالمي لحقوق الإنسان خاص بارتريا

ኣድማሳዊ ኣዋጅ ሰብኣዊ መሰላት

What was the war about? And what is this peace about? And why did peace happen in June 2018 and not, for example, in November 2004? Why was there a “border war” in May 1998 to begin with?  What is our peace dividend?

It was not about borders or demarcation. If it was, 7 weeks after Ethiopia unconditionally accepted the Algiers Agreement, there would be some movement there. But, PM Abiy said yesterday, they haven’t even begun talking about the border. It is a secondary issue, he said. They have been too busy dialoguing peace to worry about demarcation which (dialogue now, demarcation later) is exactly a deal we could have had 14 years ago.

It was not about Eritrea. If it was, people would raise holy hell when their president said that Ethiopians and Eritreans are one people and one country, an argument that Eritreans spent 50 years, and gave up untold sacrifices, winning.

It’s not about sovereignty. If it was, people would raise holy hell when their president, who usurped power, usurped it further by giving it to a non-Eritrean (Abiy, constitutionally required to place Ethiopia’s interest above all else) to run our affairs.

ህዝቢ ኤርትራን ህዝቢ ኢትዮፕያን ረኺቡዎ ዘሎ ዕድል ቀሊል ነገር ኣይኮነን እወ ኣነ ተደጋጋሚ ተደጋጋሚ ኢለዮ ኣለኹ ዝኾነ ዝግበር ነገር እንድሕር ኣሎ ወኪል ንስኻ ኢኻ: ንስኻ ኢኻ ትመርሓና: ንቀልዕለም ኖ ኖ ናይ ንቀልዓለም ኢለ ከሐጉሶ ኢለ ወይ ዘረባ ንኽጥዕመኒ ምእንቲ ኢለ ዝብሎ ዘይኮነ ናይ ብሓቂ እዚ ሕጂ ህይወት ኣልቢስና ንደፍኦ ዘለና ሰላም ፍቕሪ ጸጋ ናይ ክልቲኣቶም ህዝብታት ጥራይ ዘይኮነ ናይ ልምዓት ናይ ገስጋስ ናይ ዕብየት መደባትና ሓደ ካብቲ ካልእ ዝፍለ ኣይኮነን ነዚ ካኣ ዶክተር ኣብይ ብዝድለ ክመርሓና እዩ::

Contrast this handover of power without the input of the Eritrean people to what exactly was the trigger for Eritrea’s armed struggle as prophetically told by Ibrahim Sultan in one of his many letters to the United Nations in the 1940s and 1950s:

“The Eritrean people’s cause is a just cause of the independence of people who refuse and reject any form of annexation, dismemberment or a return to the hated colonialism no matter what type it would be, whatever form it takes, or from which direction it comes. This indisputable right to independence to which our country is attached can not be ignored without creating a new area of strife in East Africa, since the Eritrean people will never accept Ethiopian domination.”

Then, ponder this slavish admission, this national embarrassment:

It’s not about the Eritrean people. If it was, why have none of the political prisoners been freed—some in jail for a decade, some for two decades, some for more? Shouldn’t people be screaming bloody hell for their release now that all the excuses used for their arrest are depleted?  Where is our peace dividend?

It is all about the mutual hatred of EPLF/PFDJ and TPLF.  For the TPLF, the solution for Eritrea was sometimes “regime change” and sometimes a cold war.   For the PFDJ, the TPLF had to be “defeated”: by which did they mean: they had to lose based on the bylaws of the coalition party they created and constitutional system they designed so they can leave Addis and focus their efforts in Mekele? No, they were supposed to be overthrown by all the armed groups who had declared an armed struggle from Eritrea–resulting in the extension on the sanction on Eritrea.  But now that the system the TPLF created caught up with them–a natural, internal Ethiopian dynamic– it has to be declared an Eritrean victory following precisely the strategy designed and pursued by Isaias Afwerki.   A friend calls this: “bullseye drawn after a dart is thrown.”   Wherever the dart lands, the bullseye can scoop it and declare “mission accomplished”, “game over”, etc.

This is why, even as the nation collapsed, the USSR used to feed its populace WWII videos of USSR triumphing over Germany. Similarly, the triumphant PFDJ presiding over a rapidly declining state has to talk over, and over, and over about the TPLF. Well, until Abiy or the UAE Emir gives Isaias Afwerki the green light it is time to stop. Then they will be reminding us about how Harbeyna Weyane has always believed in our cause that we are a colonized people and since the colonizer and colonized are the same people, oh, heck, we colonized ourselves. We are special.

And for this most pyrrhic of “victories”, Eritrea had to be sanctioned, had to exile half a million people to the other half million already exiled, subjected to the worst of the worst human traffickers, drown in the Mediterranean, be in a state of war and military readiness, undeclared state of emergency, make zero progress in building political institutions, and an economic system based on coupons and stipends.

And now, the supporters are hoping (not even demanding but hoping) that the same Master Engineer of the Disaster will reform himself, as long as we don’t pressure him. Like the monster Dr Frankenstein created will reform himself, no longer a fallen angel but an Adam. This one guy who has betrayed Eritrea and all its dead and living heroes more than any other enemy foreign or domestic as documented here is, they hope, going to lead Eritrea’s reform movement.  Shouldn’t the absolute minimum demand of the Eritrean people be, for this man, who has betrayed the cause of the Eritrean people, to resign?

The following was written in reply to an article at awate.com, “The Game Is Over”, by Ismael Ibrahim Mukhtar,  where he quotes Isaias Afwerki’s  “Game Is Over” and argues that the games that have to be over are games of domination, game of justifying the unjustifiable, and game of “I win, you lose.” All are great points I agree with, but I was somehow drawn to one fact: that Isaias Afwerki did not say “the game is over” but “game over” and here’s what I think is its significance;

1. Although your article is called “the game is over” and although you quoted Isaias Afwerki as saying “game is over”, what he really said is “game over”;

2. In politics, this phrase owes its origin to the Arab Spring of 2011. If you recall, every slogan of the time was, obviously, in Arabic. Alshaeb yourid Isqat Alnizam (the people demand the downfall of the regime), Irhal (leave) and graphic representations, and shoes, to show disrespect to their local tyrant. But there was one, and only one, English phrase that made its appearance: “game over”;

3. In the Arab world, English is not exactly a strong second language and the only place they would have heard that phrase is in pop culture and particularly in…..video games. In earliest video games, where economizing of words was critical, the phrase “game over” was used instead of “game is over.”

4. I say all this to take you to this: Isaias Afwerki was dismissive of the Arab Spring; he claimed that it was driven by US intelligence who were engineering fawda hhalaqa (creative chaos) etc etc. But he needed something to signify that what was happening in Ethiopia was a people’s uprising rejecting his nemesis (and former partners) Tigray People’s Liberation Front and thus its appropriation and usage. (It might help you to remember that he has never said a single original thing—notice how inarticulate he was in the post-peace speeches—but he is an expert appropriator)

5. The June 20 speech where he indicated his acceptance of Ethiopia’s offer spent most of its time not on explaining why he is accepting the offer but on renouncing Weyane. With a sprinkling of praising Trump. Thus “game over”, “vultures” and other words that were mindlessly repeated by his parrots within days.

6. Since the phrase owes its origins to video games, I am sure as a father, you have played enough of them to know what the next phrase is: “play again?”

7. So the “game over” is temporary, particularly to those hooked on the game, and who never advance to the next level. They will play it again and again, the same game without advancing to the next level.

8. Recall that pre-1998, Eritrea and Ethiopia entered into all sorts of agreements that the people of both countries never saw but, throughout, never bothered to demarcate the border because they were thinking way past the border, they said. Then they had a “border war” and they started telling us about how they had been having disputes that they didn’t want to wake us up (the children) and tell us about it.

9. Now (“play again?”), the two countries are back to signing agreements that the people don’t know, and they have “temporarily” suspended talks on borders as it may get in the way of the kisses they are blowing at each other. Meanwhile, the two kings have already started their uber king of the jungle contests. Expect the PFDJ flock to be told (if they haven’t already) that Isaias was behind all the maneuvers that resulted in all the changes in Ethiopia. Meanwhile, the Ethiopian leader has made it a habit (in his tours) of addressing Eritreans (but not Tigrayans) in Tigrinya. There was one curious message he addressed to Eritreans in his US tour where he made specific references to Qerro, Fano and Zerma (rebellious youth in Ethiopian provinces in their local language).

10. In 1994, Eritrea vowed to overthrow the government of Sudan. But it thought better of it and decided to go to war with Yemen over a “border.” Then it said “Game Over” (quietly) when arbitrators ruled the major points of the dispute in favor of Yemen. But, we didn’t pay attention because by then we were in “Play Again?”, this time with Ethiopia. That went to arbitration, but in the meantime we went to war with Sudan, in proxy war, in support of Eastern Front rebels (“play again?” This ended in a peace treaty with Sudan (“game over!”). And so we decided to go to Somalia, in a proxy war with Ethiopia “Play Again?” which got Eritrean sanctioned (“game over.”) Then we decided to join with the Saudi coalition which had declared war (and war crimes) on Yemen (“Play Again?”)

11. So yes you are right, it is always Lose-Lose, because as soon as game over is declared they can’t wait to play again. None of this will change until we the people have a People’s revolution and take power and pledge to never make a decision without getting the consent of the people as expressed in votes, referendum, plebiscite. The fate of our people is too important to be left to politicians. They are gameholics, hooked on “game over” and “play again?”

Years ago, my friend Saleh Gadi Johar, who was trying to explain to a self-described nationalist why Eritrea needs an opposition instead of having people work with the government to correct its mistakes, said “Opposition is natural. Even supernatural: even God has an opposition and they are called atheists.” I remember that statement when the post “Game Over” Eritreans asked, “what will become of the Eritrean opposition?”

1. “The opposition” encompasses anyone and anything that has expressed its disapproval of, and vote of lack of confidence in, the manner that Eritrea is governed. As such, the opposition is a “pressure group” which includes organized entities with party platforms and programs (armed and unarmed, inside and outside Ethiopia), civil society with missions including single-issue groups (women’s empowerment, “Free Aster” (video), “One Day Seium“), media outlets (short wave radio, internet radio), talk show programs (Paltalk), websites (published in English, Arabic, Tigrinya), and individuals who are considered, in today’s parlance, “influencers” with large following (video.)

2. Based on the resources and energy the Isaias government spends from its meager resources to counter and neutralize them, one can say with absolute certainty it considers them a threat. (See Saudi Leaks. See also the hacking of the hugely listened-to Erena) But maintenance of its image as the sole opinion-shaper of Eritrea requires the Eritrean government to hold all the following views simultaneously: they don’t exist, they are not Eritreans, they are traitors. Clearly if you don’t exist, you can’t be anything; if you are not an Eritrean, you can’t be a traitor. And if you are a traitor, it assumes there is a country with laws and a conviction.

3. Now, with respect to the way forward for all these organizations. They were not formed because there was no peace agreement between Eritrea and Ethiopia. They were formed because there are huge problems with the way the country is being run. So what will they do next? If your movement is “Free Aster Yohannes” you won’t stop until they free her. If they do, your mission is accomplished. If your movement is set up because you are advocating for religious rights, you won’t stop until they are freed. If they are freed, your mission is done. If you are an exiled media (assenna, for example, or Erena), you won’t stop until you are allowed to practice your craft in your own country or those who can do so make you irrelevant. Etc, etc.

4. Similarly, with the political organizations which have political platforms that are presenting themselves (two word definition for all of them would be “decentralized, self-rule”) as an alternative to the PFDJ’s political platform. They will continue their struggle until they presumably can make it a reality or they are defeated. The confusion here might be that some have convinced themselves all of them are dependent on Ethiopia’s Weyane and with that gone, poof, they will be gone too. (See paragraph 1.) But this is PFDJ propaganda and like all PFDJ propaganda (see also: “if only Weyane would be gone the sanctions would be gone”), it will be proven false. But don’t take my word for it, check back with me in 3 months.

5. As to the opposition’s influence: to my knowledge, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, US State Department, Human Rights Council do not have reporters or representatives in Eritrea. Yet, they were able to show to the world the monstrous nature of the Isaias regime. So when people say the opposition is “demonizing a demon”, well,  how do they think the world knew he was a demon to begin with?  And, from my perspective, since the Isaias government has an oversized media cranking out propaganda of what an upstanding world citizen it is, the least the opposition can do (the very least) is to share with the world how demonic it is.

6. The demands of the Eritrean opposition, as fragmented as it is, remain constant and consistent and you will hear them at all demonstrations they hold:

a. Free all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience
b. End the undeclared but defacto state of emergency
c. End indefinite national service
d. End culture of violence and impunity
e. Bring about rule of law and constitutionalism

7. These are not requests that are dependent on some promise of good behavior. They are  citizens demands on the Isaias Government. And I added the word “government” so you don’t accuse me of having fixation on the man. In truth, I believe in “truth-in-labeling” and the Eritrean Government has demonstrated, over and over, that it is a one-man show with a rotating band of enforcers. It believes in nothing except in ensuring that it is executing the wishes of its boss.

8. The most valid criticism of the opposition, is that because of its inability to articulate its view and its vision, nobody knows what it stands for.  Perhaps the best way to summarize it in contrast with PFDJ:

9. It is entirely possible for an Eriteran to agree with the Opposition in some areas, with the PFDJ in other areas. If the PFDJ has faith in its vision for Eritrea, it would hold free and fair elections and see if the people, on whose behalf it claims to speak, endorse its vision.

10. Finally, everybody within the opposition believes that regrouping and forming a broad coalition is necessary. What has been missing is not on describing what is needed but how to make it a reality.

To say the sanctions on Eritrea are “politically motivated” is to state the obvious because all sanctions are politically motivated.  The question is: does the Government of Eritrea have the political chops to navigate its way in a political world?  The answer, very clearly, is it does not.  But the government and its supporters have been saying, no, this does not signify the Eritrean government is inept; it means the United Nations, and particularly the United States, is unfair.It would be redundant to discuss the genesis of the sanctions but we can discuss where we are, and the way forward: 

On the sanctions:

1. Recently, the Eritrean MoI argued that the real question is not whether they should be lifted but why they were placed to begin with;

2. I would argue, as Ambassador Andeberhan wrote in his book, that the Isaias Gov “virtually dared the Security Council to sanction it.” I would go a bit further and say it practically begged the Security council to sanction it;

3. In a continent whose member states instinctively recoil at any Western or UN sanction of an African country and, when it happens, ignore it (eg: Libya, Zimbabwe), the Isaias regime did the unthinkable: it somehow managed to get Africa to set a precedent and endorse sanctioning an African country, which it hadn’t done since Apartheid South Africa;

4. The PFDJ wasn’t done getting Eritrea sanctioned. Its continuous defiance ensured even tougher sanctions in subsequent years. Whereas the first sanction was specifically targeted against the regime (arms embargo, asset freeze and travel bans on “individuals to be named”), the subsequent sanctions carried with them the stigma of discouraging investment (in theory at least: given the fact that the PFDJ’s investment policy ensured the country is always ranked dead last in world ranking of Ease of Doing Business, none would have come anyway particularly given the labor pool of conscripted youth);

5. This ተለኻኺምና ንጥፋእ cowardly policy of the regime  was consistent with the policy it pursued during the war to ensure its officers were not targeted while the National Service were spared on the basis of their uniforms; in this case, the regime was using the people as “human shield” from UN sanctions;

6. Despite all its protests, the Isaias regime brought the sanctions upon itself when it allied Eritrea with armed Somali extremists determined to overthrow an internationally recognized government (Somali President “Formajio” is a product of that), as well as its refusal to acknowledge its conflict with Djibouti and deal with it which it started doing AFTER it was sanctioned (!);

7. Despite all its protests, the sanctions were not fully enforced as the US intervened to spare the “individuals to be named later” who were going to be listed in the UN’s travel ban (none were ever listed and they moved about freely), just as it would later do by preventing the UN from disclosing and bringing to trial officials at “the highest level of government” who committed crimes against humanity, when the UN’s Commission of Inquiry identified them and was ready to present them to a tribunal;

8. As it often does, the Isaias regime only makes things worse. While the Somalia issue is largely off the table now (one of the two causes of the sanctions), the Djibouti case remains, supported by the Africa Bloc;

9. The only outstanding issue is that of prisoners of war and the Isaias regime’s refusal to be forthright about the issue. It is entirely possible that it has accounted for every POW, but because it had been caught in a lie before (whereas it claimed it had no POWs, 2 escaped and testified to the Somalia Eritrean Monitoring Group, then later 4 were released with Qatari mediation/bribe) its credibility on the issue is shattered;

10.After repeated refusals to comply with the sanctions resolutions, its refusal to meet with the Chair of Sanctions Committee and even reply to the letter he sent the Permanent Representative, show that the Isaias government has learned nothing, and it continues to stumble its way through this. As does its miscalculation that once Ethiopia and Somalia sign off (thus the hurried invite to the Somali president to visit Eritrea), the sanctions were guaranteed to be lifted. Thus the MoI editorial that the question is not whether the sanctions should be lifted but why they were imposed to begin with (hint: because you are politically so inept you should not hold any power higher than traffic cop, if that.)

11. Finally, here’s something that is a shame of not just the government, not just its supporters, but a stain on the entire population of Eritrea. In all the talk of whether there were 6 or 12 Djibouti POWs, there are long descriptions of their names and ranks, and pictures and stories and the government’s alibis. Meanwhile, the Djibouti government has said that it held 17 Eritrean POWs. And it released their names to the SEMG. Nobody, except 2 opposition-affiliated individuals and orgs, has ever raised their issue. Their names are as follows:

1. Binyam Mengistab,
2. Mohamed Mahmud Abrahim,
3. Shishay Zejarayas Weldemariam,
4. “Kuwaja” Halemikael Gebreslade,
5. Yonas Berektb Msgna,
6. Tesfu Habtezgy Nuguse,
7. Ahmed Mohamed Feki,
8. Fishaie Kubrom Tekle,
9. Asfaha Araia Teklesenbet,
10. Tesfu Beyne Gebreab,
11. Merhawy Teklehaymanot,
12. Nuguse Mana Andu,
13. Beraki Tekleab Gebrekidan,
14. Kesete Sbhatu Nuguse,
15. Tekleweyni Hadgu Abadi,
16. Ayob Haileab Habtemariam
17. Tesfu Weldemikal Fruzin.

12. There are many (so many) reasons why the Isaias government should resign but topping the list has to be its absolute indifference to, and callousness with, the lives of Eritreans, including those whom it sends in harms way. To-date, it has not mentioned them, never mind advocate for them, because they are inconvenient to its tall tale that nothing happened and it was all a fabrication. If you are thinking “they may have a point”, recall how inhumane the regime was when Lampedusa happened and shocked the world and we were all grieving.

13. The interests of most of the countries of the Horn and the Arab Gulf are for the sanctions to be lifted.   What is sad for Eritreans is that their government has learned no lessons from sanctions: they were imposed in 2009 because it virtually dared the UN to impose them.  Meanwhile, the government, its supporters and many who are not supporters, continue to argue that this was a “political” case and there was no justification for their imposition.  The facts say otherwise, and to claim they are not is further evidence of the government’s abdication of responsibility and accountability.

Question 1: So, what’s up with Saudi Arabia and UAE? Why are they, all of a sudden, so active and everything?

Dr Newitol: It is two young crown princes and one king who likes to deport people. They all agree that Qatar hosts terrorists, Arabs are not ready for democracy, and China, Russia, Iran and Turkey should have limited spheres of influence.  As in none.

Question 2: But why is UAE leading Saudi Arabia in all these assertive plans….?

Dr. Newitol: Nobody screens these questions? Saudi Arabia’s budget is 261 billion and UAE’s is 13.7 billion. So of course the Saudis are the bosses here.

Question 3: What do you think about Prime Minister Abiy and his campaign of “medemer” and pardoning everyone.

Dr. Newitol: Charity begins at home: he first pardoned himself! He was a part of a government, EPRDF, and its security apparatus which he said committed state terror against citizens. To pardon himself, he has to pardon others.

Question 4: Is Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki well?

Dr. Newitol: No.

Question 5: What is the difference between Ethiopia’s Five Point Peace Plan (2004) and Ethiopia’s Five Pillar Peace Plan (2018)  with Eritrea?

Dr. Newitol: About 14 years.

Question 6: Why did Ethiopia miss her monthly loan repayment to China?

Dr. Newitol: So China can stop its development plans, go to arbitration court, and make room for UAE, Saudi Arabia and USA.

Question 7: What do you call 100 Ethiopian young men and 17 Eritrean old women thirty thousand feet up in the air?

Dr. Newitol: Eritrean Airlines.

Question 8: Why do bad things happen to good people?

Dr. Newitol: Because good things happen to bad people.

Question 9: Now that there is peace between Eritrea and Ethiopia, what will change about the Eritrean National Service?

Dr. Newitol: They are now called National Peace Service and the yearly rounds are called Peace Round.

Question 10: Whatever happened to once mighty Egypt? Why is it in decline?

Dr. Newitol: Because, 650 million years ago, God did not place in Egyptian land enough organisms that could decompose to become fossil fuel now.

_______________

Dr. Newitol is a composite of three experts who have volunteered to answer all your questions. Send your questions here; if you want to be the fourth composite, say something that 2 out of the 3 will approve.

Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation that seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group, making them question their own memory, perception, and sanity. Using persistent denial, misdirection, contradiction, and lying, it attempts to destabilize the victim and delegitimize the victim’s belief.”

The term originates in the systematic psychological manipulation of a victim by her husband in the 1938 stage play Gaslight, known as Angel Street in the United States, and the film adaptations released in 1940 and 1944. In the story, a husband attempts to convince his wife and others that she is insane by manipulating small elements of their environment and insisting that she is mistaken, remembering things incorrectly, or delusional when she points out these changes.

1. Government of Eritrea On Alliances

1A. For the umpteenth time, we will never ever allow any foreign country to establish bases in Eritrea. This is what makes Eritrea different from all other countries. We also don’t believe in any “alliances” and we never join them.

1B. We have given UAE a base and, by doing so, we have outsmarted those who wanted to isolate us. We have also joined the Saudi alliance which we call the “Saudi initiative” although the Saudis call it an alliance.

2. Government of Eritrea On US Military Bases

2A. We will hire a lobbyist and conduct interviews to convince the US to establish a military base in Massawa instead of Yemen or Djibouti. We will even tell them that our landscape looks like that of Tora Bora. Whatever it takes.

2B. The US asked us to establish a military base but we said no.

3. Government of Eritrea On 1997 Constitution

3A. We have designed a constitution unlike any other in the world because it was people-driven, and we conducted hundreds of meetings with thousands of our people all over the world for two years to ensure that it’s exactly what the people want and it is timeless because it has mechanisms for its amendment.

3B. We had to get rid of the constitution because Dr Bereket, the chief drafter of the constitution, compromised it by meeting with Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization advocates in Canada and saying he would be open to amending it to reflect their concerns.

3C. Actually, we had to get rid of it because when it was written the Warsay did not have a hand in its drafting because they were too young then.

3D. I don’t want to debate “is it alive? is it dead?” but we are going to draft something but I don’t want to call it a constitution but law of governance. There is no timeline for it. (video)

4. Government of Eritrea On Territorial Integrity

4a. Final and binding means final and binding: no negotiation, no normalization with Ethiopia until they leave from every inch of Eritrean territory and it’s demarcated in accordance with the virtual demarcation outlined by EEBC! This is such a matter of principle for us that we will hold on to this view no matter what and however long it takes.

4b: All the things we said above only applied if Ethiopia is governed by TPLF, see? If someone else is in charge of Ethiopia, demarcation can wait, troop removal can wait, what matters is peace, love, and normalization.

5. Government of Eritrea On Sovereignty

5a. Those who say Eritrea and Ethiopia are “one people” have ambitions of subjugating Eritrea.  I am not Habesha; I am Eritrean!  We are two distinct countries, with distinct histories.  There is nothing remarkable about some Eritreans and Ethiopians sharing common culture as is the case with every colonized African country whose borders were made by colonizers. Eritrea also shares commonality with the people of Sudan and Djibouti.  But that doesn’t make us “one people.” We have written lots of literature on this and we have made it very clear to the author of “Identity Jilted”

5b. Anyone who says Eritreans and Ethiopians are two peoples doesn’t know history. (video.)

6. Government of Eritrea On National Service

6a. National Service is designed to ensure that people from different ethnic groups of Eritrea get to know one another and get immersed in the crucible of Eritreanism. Its indefinite nature is only due to the fact that war has been imposed on us and Ethiopia remains belligerent.

6b. National Service is like the Marshal Plan: a way to rehabilitate a post-war Eritrea. It’s part of the country’s national development plan.

6c. National Service’s indefinite nature will soon (January 2016) become finite. We will tell all European ambassadors that fable until we cash the 200 million Euro development check they gave us to reduce migration.

6d No it won’t be; we never said that. It will stay as long as Ethiopia remains a threat.

6e. The threat is gone; we are at peace; and some family members have been told that new recruits will serve only 18 months. Mr Minister of Information, is this true? I don’t deny it is true, but  if it were true, we would have announced it in our public media, Reuters is told by Mr MoI.

7. Government of Eritrea On G-15 (Reformers)

7a. What G-15? More like G-3! Only 3-4 of the G-15 are treasonous, reported the government newspaper Trgta in 2001. The rest were misled by them. So we shouldn’t treat their case uniformly. Just before their arrest on September 18, 2001, the accusation was that they were guilty “at the minimum, abdication of responsibility during Eritrea’s difficult hours, at the maximum, grave conspiracy.”

7b. All G-15 are treasonous and they were “conspiring to overthrow the legal government of the country…, colluding with hostile foreign powers with a view to compromising the sovereignty of the country, undermining Eritrean national security and endangering Eritrean society and the general welfare of its people

7c. A former guard, Eyob Bahta (video) said several of the G-15 died either in the first prison (Embakala) or their final destination (Eila Eiro.)

7d. Eritrea’s Foreign Minister, Osman Saleh, (who has no earthly idea) said they are all alive and well.  

8. Government of Eritrea on Free Press

8. In an interview, Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki said that he doesn’t know the disappeared publisher (now, along with many of Eritrea’s private journalists, is reported dead) of one of the few private press Eritrea had before it was shut down.  I don’t know him (Joshua, founder of private newspaper). If I don’t know him, how can I tell you where he is?

9. Government of Eritrea On Qatar

9a. Qatar was the only destination for Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki for many, many years. (Photo).  Qatar was trusted with Djibouti mediation to such an extent all questions related to the mediation were deferred to it by the President.

9b. Qatar has always been a dangerously Islamists country who wants to destabilize Eritrea.

10. Government of Eritrea On Djibouti Prisoners of War

10a The SEMG claim that Eritrea had Djibouti prisoners of wars are lies, their claims that they escaped are lies, all are categorical lies..

10b. The Djibouti POW issue is solved: two escaped, and we handed over four.

11. Government of Eritrea On The People of Eritrea

11a: Eritrea is the land of the brave and its people are patriotic and will do anything for their country.

11b: Eritrea is a land where the people you suspect the least–people who founded the revolution, people who spent their entire lives to liberate Eritrea, are traitors.  Members of the party’s own central committee, executive committee, artists, businesspeople, elderly, journalists, teachers, conscripted soldiers.  And there are so many of them and they all, coincidentally, seem to be opposed to the rule of Isaias Afwerki.

12: Government of Eritrea On Due Process

12.1 Art. 191 of Eritrea’s Civil Procedure grants citizens “Right of Habeas Corpus”, that is: “Every person arrested or detained prior to trial shall have the right to petition any court for his release on the grounds that his arrest or detention is without due process in violation of the laws and Constitution of Eritrea. Such petition may be filed by the arrested person, his counsel, a relative or any other interested person acting on behalf of the arrested person.”

12.2:  Eritrea’s Justice Minister refers questions about habeas corpus to the Minister of Foreign Affairs who refers it to National Security.   Pilot Dejen Andeheshel was arrested without charges for 15 (1999-2014) years, until his escape. He was interviewed by assenna.com after his escape and he disclosed, among many surreal things that, while in jail, he was discouraged from asking why he was arrested because his question would be offensive as it would imply the government wrongfully arrested him.  Read his recent interview where he says that though living in Sweden now, he still feels like a prisoner.

13. Government of Eritrea on Armed Ethiopian Opposition Groups

13.1 The claims by the UN’s Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea (SEMG) that we host armed Ethiopian opposition groups are categorically false.
13.2 All the changes that happened in Ethiopia are largely due to our efforts to help Ethiopian democratic forces in Eritrea.We are now going to reconcile the Eritrea-based armed Ethiopian opposition (whose existence we denied) with the new government of Ethiopia because Asmara is the capital of peace and reconciliation. We will never reconcile with Eritrean opposition because they are not opposition but traitors who sold out Eritrea.  Plus, what opposition? They don’t exist.

14. Government of Eritrea on Eritrean Opposition Groups

14.1 They do not exist and they don’t matter.
14.2 Over the last 20 years, they have colluded with the enemies of Eritrea and worked day and night for regime change.  Now that their main benefactor, the Weyane, is dead and buried, it is game over: they exist even less.

That both festivals – the first of their kind – had taken place in 2018 was no small feat. For these festivals to take place in the heels of the major peace event between Eritrea and Ethiopia, however, is a stroke of luck for the public to push both the opposition political blocks and the civil societies to rise to the occasion and deliver the goods. The public was in no mood for politics as usual. They want to see action. They want to see a strategic plan with a blueprint to boot. As sheer coincidences would have it eight Eritrean intellectuals* were there to offer some such blueprint for the taking – No condition. No interest in assuming power. Willing to incorporate any other ideas to make the document, not only as robust as possible, but also one where this road map could become a rallying cry for the mass movement that Eritreans are ready and willing to support. Simply put, these eight individuals are a think-tank who devoted their time, energy, and knowledge so majority of Eritreans can work under some common principles to achieve the direly needed change in the homeland. This observational piece will mainly focus on the produced blueprint, which is now available in three languages, namely Tigrinya, Arabic, and English. Using Denver and Atlanta as sites of contention, “a discursive space”, if you will, will provide a portrait of the dialogue that ensued.

A Discursive Space

A discursive space in the context of the subject at hand is premised on the notions of sociocultural and linguistic theory that homes-in-on recurring episodes. The face-to-face engagement calls attention to these recurring themes and tries to highlight the direction of the discourse through thematic episodes. In the case of the Denver and Atlanta festivals, a sociopolitical space can be added and the use of the blue-print document is one episodic example that will have social, cultural, and political subtext to the mass movement where the public is driving the discourse. The civil societies and political opposition groups can become the conduit via which these people-centered mass movements are made realizable.

Engaged Public is Empowered Public

What was fascinating to this observer is the fact that the audience was not only assertive but unwilling to settle for business-as-usual or to the reversion of the status quo ante, if you will. Hence, discussions were tense, where the organized groups wishing to operate as they have been for the past 18 years while the audience wanted the organized groups to adapt the road map. The triangulation of the discourse appears to rest at the seams, where the empowered public demanded, in the case of the Atlanta festival, that two representatives of the blue-print were given extra time to answer some more questions, elaborate further on the road map. This was one shining example in what could happen when the public is empowered and engaged. The kind of dynamic discourse that the Atlanta festival proffered; the kind that could conceivably work in offering an integrative and principled strategies of resistance that majority of Eritreans can use as a launching pad to elevate the discourse and achieve the needed change through social and political justice was clearly in the offing.

The fluidity and the breathtaking speed by which the peace process between Eritrea and Ethiopia that the Eritrean public was made to observe has created this unprecedented empowering public discussion of counterpoise, counteract, pivot, and paradigmatic change of a perspective that the civil societies and the political opposition groups appear to have not been ready to embrace. This is the reason why the blue-print (the road map) had gotten the kind of enthusiastic attention that it did.

The Blue Print and/or the Road Map

One of the key elements to staying relevant in civil and political discourse rests in the ability of those who are engaged in it to be keenly aware where the mood of the public is when major events of monumental import take place. Once aware the leaders cannot remain behind the public and expect to lead from behind. They must quickly adjust not only their tone and rhetoric but also come up with a road map that clearly shows they can lead from the front. What the eight Eritreans offered was nothing short of that. For the most part, the document they produced is the Universal Human Rights Declaration that the UN issued in 1948. As Dr. Selah Nur and Mr. Sengal Woldetensae explicated in the Atlanta Festival is that they customized it to fit to the Eritrean context by adding five principles so it can be used by any Eritrean activists who wish to advance the cause of social and political justice.

The other critical element to these eight individuals worth mentioning here is that they have no interest in assuming political or civil leadership based on the road map. In fact, they have varying interest in political organizations, in civil societies, in many other community related activities. What brought them together is the shared interest they have for Eritrea, the country, and for the good will toward the Eritrean people who continue to see an unprecedented suffering. These are accomplished individuals in their respective field of endeavors. They don’t need Eritrea to survive. Eritrea, however, needs exemplary Eritrean professionals like these eight individuals who put the interest of Eritrea and its people ahead of their own interest.

Granted, many other skilled Eritreans will find some points to add here and points that can be rephrased, points to be molded, adjusted, amended in the road map. And that’s precisely why I am choosing to share these documents with various social media outlets, the first of which, of course, is my home-turf, awate. The Tigrinya and Arabic translations will follow in due course, of course. In other words, attending the Atlanta Festival the weekend of August 3-5 gave me optimism, albeit guarded one, that finally Eritreans are overcoming their suspicions of one another’s motives; the festival has had characteristics that any discursive space would have, namely elements of resistance, frustrations, heated arguments, layered, at times, in blunt language and at other times in nuanced ways. In the end, however, what invariably prevails tends to be what an engaged public wanted. In my estimate, the latter was exactly what occurred in Atlanta as a spectacle of contention. Sites of contention tend to be the source of where new way of looking at issues begin to emerge, and emerging they have. What needs to happen now is for these eight individuals to expand their work with an eye toward Europe, another site of contention, a site of demonstration in Geneva, which is slated to take place at the end of this month.

From a discursive space standpoint, certainly, the Atlanta festival is an extension of the Denver festival. The Europe festival can now become an extension of these two festivals. The blue print or the road map as its episodic event can tie them all to become one robust Eritrean mass movement that will ostensibly reverberate in the homeland.

beyan.negash@gmail.com

P.S. As an outsider looking in, there was one powerful subtext from the audience that I am compelled to mention that pushed the conversation onward to a positive direction. Of course, I am cognizant of the fact that a discourse of the sort I described above materializes because of give and take from all involved, but there was one constant theme, one who was intensely focused individual who pushed the discourse, namely Kibrom “Santim,” forward. My hats off to him irrespective of his aggressive stance, he was not only on point on all the interventions he made in the middle of the conversation, but was also forward looking. This is my small way of saying may the likes of Kibrom speak more and more in some such public arenas.

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ፈስቲቫል ኤርትራ 2018 ኣብ ዯንቨርን ኣብ ኣትላንታን
እዞም ብዓይነቶም ናይ መ መሪያ ዝኾኑ ናይ ዯንቨርን ናይ ኣትላንታን ፈስቲቫላት፡ ኣብ 2018 ዓ.ም. ምክያዶም ንባዕሉ ንእሽተይ ጅግንነታዊ ስራሕ/ዓወት ኣይነበረን። እርጊ እግሪ እቲ ኣብ መንጎ ኤርትራን
ኢትዮጵያን ዝካየድ ዘሎ ናይ ሰላም ኣገዲሲ ምዕባሌ ምክያዶም’ውን ከም ጽቡቕ ኣጋጣሚ ኮይኑ፡ ህዝቢ ንፖለቲካዊ ውድባትን ንስቪካዊ ማሕበራትን ነቲ ተፈጢሩ ዘሎ ኩነታት ተጠቒመን ኣድማዕን
ውጺኢታውን ስራሓት ንኽሰርሓ ድፍኢት ንኽገብር ዘኽኣሎ ኣጋጣሚ ኢዩ ነይሩ ክባሃል ይካኣል ኢዩ። እቲ ተሳታፋይ ህዝቢ፡ ንፖለቲካ ከም ቀዯሙ (politics as usual) ዝዓይነቱ ኣካይዲ ዝኸውን መንፈስ ኣይነበሮን። ተግባር ጥራሕ ክርኢ ኢዩ ዝዯሊ ዝነበረ። ህዝቢ ክጓዓዘሉን ክዓስለሉን ዝኽእል ስእላዊ ማሕተም (blueprint) ዝሓዘ ስትራተጂካዊ መዯብ (strategic plan) ክርኢ ኢዩ ዝጽበ ዝነበረ። ከም ፍጹም ኣጋጣሚ ዕድል ግዱ ኮይኑ፡ ብ8 ኤርትራውያን ምሁራት (ኪኢላታት) ተዲልዩ፡ ብዘይ ቅድመ-ኩነት ንህዝቢ ጠቕሚ ንኽውዕል፡ እቲ ህዝቢ ዝጽበዮ ዝነበረ መዯብ ዝሓዘ ጽሑፍ ኣብቲ ፈስቲቫል ቀሪቡ ነይሩ። እቶም ነቲ ጽሑፍ ዘዲለዉ ምሁራት፡ ስልጣን ናይ ምሓዝ ባህጊ/ድሌት የብሎምን። እቲ ጽሑፍ፡ ዝውሰኽ ጠቃሚ ሓሳባት ተወሲኽዎን ዘይጠቅሙ ዝተባህሉ ሓሳባት ጎዱልዎን፡ ንኽምዕብል ጥራሕ ዘይኮነስ፡ ህዝባዊ ምንቅስቓሳት ዝዓስልሉ መራሕ ካርታ (road map) ኮይኑ ድልውነትን ዯገፍን ኤርትራውያን መታን ከረጋግጽ፡ ብህዝቢ ምምሕያሽ ክግበረሉ ኢሎም ኢዮም ናብ ህዝቢ ኣቕሪቦሞ።

ብቐሊል ኣገላልጻ፡

እዞም 8 ወልቀ-ሰባት ከም ሓዯ ሓሳብ ዘመንጩ ጉጅለ (think-tank) ኮይኖም፡ ጊዚኦም፣ ጉልበቶምን ፍልጠቶምን ብምውፋይ፡ ኤርትራውያን ኣብ ትሕቲ መሰረታውያን መትከላት ተጥሪኒፎም ናይ ሓባር ቃልሲ ብምክያድ፡ ነቲ ኣብ ኤርትራ ዝድለ ዘሎ ቅጽበታዊ ለውጢ ነኸረጋግጹ ዘኽእሎም ባይታ ንምጥጣሕ ኢዮም ዝሰርሑ ዘለዉ። እዛ ናይ ትዕዝብተይ ጽሕፍቲ፡ ብቀንደ ብዛዕባ እቲ ድሮ ብቛንቛታት ትግርኛ፣ ዓረበኛን እንግሊዘኛን ተዲልዩ ዘሎ ንድፊ (blueprint) ዘተኾረ ኢዩ ክኸውን። ዯንቨርን ኣትላንታን ከም ናይ ክርክር መዯበራት/ቦታታት (sites of contention)፡ እንተትዯልየ’ውን “ናይ ህውተታ/ዕንኪላሎ ቦታ” (discursive space) ክባሃል ይካኣል፡ ምጥቃም ናይቲ ዝሳዓበ ዝርርብ/ዘተ ስእሊ ክህበና ይኽእል ኢዩ።

ናይ ህውተታ/ዕንኪላሎ ቦታ

ብመንጽር እዚ ሒዝናዮ ዘለና ዛዕባ፡ እዚ ናይ ህውተታ/ዕንኪላሎ ቦታ ዝብል ኣምር፡ ኣብቲ፡ ኣብ ነናሻብ ዝዯጋጋሙ ፍጻሜታት ኣትክሮ ዝገብር ናይ ማሕበረ-ባህላውን ቛንቛውን ክለሳ-ሓስብ፡ መሰረት ዝገብረ ኢዩ። ገጽ ንገጽ ዝግበሩ ዝርርባት ነዞም ዝዯገጋሙ ቴማታት ኣስተብህሎ ምግባርን፡ ነቶም ዝዯጋገሙ ቴማታት ብምጥቃም መገዱ ግዕዞ እቲ ምይይጥ ምንጻርን ዝሓትት ጉዲይ ኢዩ። ነዞም ናይ ዯንቨርን ናይ ኣትላንታን ፈስቲቫላት እንተወሰድና፡ ማሕበረ-ፖለቲካዊ ቦታ ክውሰኾም ይካኣልን፡ ምጥቃም እቲ ዝቐረበ ንድፊ ሰነድ፡ እቶም ህዝባዊ መንቅስቓሳት፡ ማሕበረዊ፣ ባህላውን ፖለቲካውን ሰረታት ሃልይዎም፡ ህዝቢ ዝድርኾ ምይይጥ ንኽህሉ ዘኽእልን ሓዯ ኣብነታዊ ፍጻሜ ኢዩ ነይሩ። እዚ ህዝቢ ማእከል ዝገበረ ህዝባዊ መቅስቓሳት በተን ሲቪካውያን ማሕበራትን ፖለቲካውያም ውድባትን ኣብ ባይታ ብግብሪ ክውን ክኸውን ይካኣል።

ተሳትፍኡ ዘዕዘዘ ህዝቢ፡ ዓቕሙ ዘኻዕበተ ህዝቢ ኢዩ ዝኸውን

ከም ታዓዛባይ ዝመሰጠኒ ነገር፡ እቲ ተሳታፋይ ህዝቢ ጻዓዱ ነይሩ ጥራሕ ዘይኮነስ፡ “ጉዲያት ከም ኩሉ ጊዜ” ንኽቕበልን ወይ’ውን ናብቲ ናይ ትማሊ ዯውታ ንኽምለስን ፍቓዯኛ’ውን ዘይምንባሩ ኢዩ። ስለዝኾነ፡ በቲ ሓዯ ሸነኽ፡ እቶም ውደባት ሓይልታት ከምቲ ን18 ዓመታት ክገብርዎ ዝጸንሑ እንዲገበሩ ክቕጽሉ ይዯልዩ ስለዝነበሩን፡ በቲ ካለልእ ሸንኽ ካኣ፡ እቲ ተሳታፋይ ህዝቢ፡ ነቲ ዝቐረበ ንድፊ ሰነድ ከም መራሕ ካርታ ተቐቢሉ ኣጽዱቑ ክጥቀመሉ ይዯሊ ስለዝነበረን፡ እቶም ምይይጣት ወጥሪ ዝመልኦም ኢዮም ነይሮም። ትሕዝቶን መቐረትን ናይቲ ዝርርብ ንምዕቃን፡ ኣብተን መላጋግቦታት እንታይ ይግበር ነይሩ ምርኣይ የድሊ። ንኣብነት፡ ኣብ ናይ ኣትላንታ ፈስቲቫል፡ ብሓይልን ጻዓድን ጠለባት እቲ ተሳታፋይ ህዝቢ፡ እቶም ነቲ ንድፊ ሰንድ ዘቕረቡ ክልተ ወከልቲ፡ ዝያዲ ሕቶታት ክምልሱን ነቲ ዘቅረብዎ መራሕ ካርታ ዝያዲ መብሪሂ ክህብሉን ተወሳኪ ጊዜ ከምዝዋሃቦም ተገይሩ። እዚ፡ ተሳትፍኡ ዘሐየለን ዓቕሙ ዘኻዕበተን ህዝቢ እንታይ ክገብር ከምዝኽእል ዘርእየና ሓዯ ርኡይ ኣብነት ኢዩ። ከምዚ ናይ ኣትላንታ ፈስቲቫል ዝሃበና ዲይናሚካዊ ዝኾነ ዝርርብ፡ ዝተዋሃሃዯን መትከላውን ናይ ምቅዋም ስትራተጅን ብምፍጣር፡ መብዛሕትኦም ኤርትራውያን ከም መንጠሪ ባይታ ተጠቂሞም ነቲ ዝርርብ ብምሕያል፡ ነቲ ኣብ ኤርትራ ዝድለ ዘሎ ናይ ማሕበራውን ፖለቲካውን ፍትሒ ለውጢ ከምጽእ ዘኽእል ባይታ ይፍጠር ከምዘሎ ዝሕብር ኢዩ ነይሩ።

እቲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ዝዕዘቦ ዘሎ ኣዝዩ ታኣፋፍን ብዘገርም ፍጥነት ዝጓዓዝ ዘሎን፡ ኣብ መንጎ ኤርትራንኢትዮጵያን ዝግበረ ዘሎ መስርሕ ሰላም ዝፈጠሮ፡ ቅድሚ ሕጂ ዘይነበረ ናይ ህዝቢ ሓያል ተሳትፎታት ኣብ ዝርርብ ሓያል ኣንጻራዊ ሓይሊ ኣብ ምፍጣር፣ ምድካም ጸላኢ፣ መቐልስ ምግባርን ኣብ ኣጠማምታ ጉዲያት ነጥበ-መቐይሮ ዘከተለን፡ ሲቪካዊ ማሕበራትን ፖለቲካዊ ውድባትን ክቅበልዎን ክርዕምዎን ዘይተዲለዉሉ ህሞት ኢዩ ነይሩ። ስለዝኾነ ኢዩ’ውን፡ እቲ ዝቐረበ ንድፊ ሰነድ (መራሕ ካራታ) ኣዝዩ ልዐልን ውዕውዕን ዝኾነ ናይ ተሳተፍቲ ተቐባልነት ዝረኸበ።

እቲ ንድፊ ሰነድ(ን/ወይ) መራሕ ካርታ(ን)

ንኣብ ሲቪካውን ፖለቲካውን ሂወት ሕብረተሰብ ዝነጥፉ ኣካላት፡ ኣብ ዝግበሩ ሲቪካውን ፖለቲካውን ዝርርባት ኣገዯስቲ ኮይኖም ክቕጽሉ ዘኽእሎም ሓዯ ኣገዲሲ ረቛሒ፡ ኣብ ጊዜ ግዙፍ ስምብራታት ዘለዎም ዓበይቲ ፍጻሜታት ክፍጠሩ ከልዉ፡ ናይ ሰፊሕ ህዝቢ ሃምን ቀልብን ኣበይ ከምዘሎ ብትኩርነት ምግንዛብ ምኽኣል ኢዩ። ሓንሳብ ግንዛቤ ምስረኸቡ፡ መራሕቲ ብድሕሪ ህዝቢ ኮይኖም ካብ ድሕሪት ክመርሑ ትጽቢ ክገብሩ ኣይክእሉን ኢዮም። ብቑልጡፍ ቃነኦምን ጧቃ መዯረኦምን ምስትኽኻል ጥራሕ ዘይኮነስ፡ ካብ ቅድሚት ኮይኖም ክመርሑ ከምዝኽእሉ ብግልጺ ዘርኢ መራሕ ካራታ ከቕርቡ’ውን ኣለዎም። እቲ እቶም 8 ኤርትራውያን ምሁራት ዘቕረብዎ ንድፊ ሰነድ፡ ንሱ ኢዩ ነይሩ ካብ ምባል ሓሊፍካ ካልእ ክባሃል ኣይካኣልን ኢዩ። ዝበዝሐ ክፋላት ናይት ሰነድ፡ እቲ ኣብ 1948 ዝጸዯቀ “ኣድማሳዊ መሰላት ዯቂ ሰባት” ብዝባሃል ሽም ዝፍለጥ ናይ ሕቡራት ሃገራት ሰነድ፡ ንክውንነት ኤርትራ ንምንጽብራቕ፡ 5 መሰረታውያን መትከላት ተውስኽዎ ዝተዲለወ ኮይኑ፡ ዝኾነ ማሕበራውን ፖለቲካውን ፍትሒ ኣብ ኤርትራ ንክረጋገጽ ዝቃለስ ኣካል ክጥቀመሉ ከምዝኸል፡ ዶ/ር ሳልሕ ኑርን ሓው ሰንጋል ወልዯንሰኤን ኣብዝሃብዎ መግለጺ ሓቢሮም።

እቲ ካልእ ኣብዚ ከይተጠቕሰ ክሕለፍ ዘይብሉን፡ ነቶም 8 ወልቀ-ሰባት ኣገዲሲ ረቛሒ ዝኾነን፡ ብመሰረት እቲ ዘዲለውዎ መራሕ ካርታ፡ እዞም ሰባት ናይ ዝኾነ ይኹን ሲቪካውን ፖለቲካውን መሪሕነት/ስልጣን ባሕጊ ይኹን ድሌት ከምዘይብሎም ምዃኑ ኢዩ። ብግዯ ሓቂ እንተኾይኑ፡ ኣብ ፖለቲካውያን ውደባት፣ ሲቪካውያን ማሕበራትን ኣብ ብዙሓት ናይ ማሕበረ-ኮማት ንጥፈታትን፡ ዝተፈላለየ ድሌታት ኢዩ ዘለዎም። እቲ ብሓዯ ንኽሰርሑ ዝገበሮም ምኽንያት፡ እቲ ዘለዎም ሓባራዊ ድሌት ኣብ ሃገረ ኤርትራን ነቲ ኣብ መዲርግቲ ዘይርከቦ ዝቓይ ዝርከብ ዘሎ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ዘለዎም ሓባራዊ ጽቡቕ ድሌትን ኢዩ። እዞም ምሁራት ኤርትራውያን፡ ኣብ ዘዝነጥፍሉ ዓውዯ-ስራሓት፡ ኣዝዮም ዕውታት ኢዮም። ንኽነብሩ ኤርትራ ኣይተድልዮምን ኢያ። ብኣንጻሩ፡ ረብሓ ሃገሮምን ህዝቦም ቅድሚ ውልቃዊ ረብሐኦም ዝሰርዐ፡ ከምዞም 8 ኣብነታውያን ኤርትራውያን ኪኢላታት ዝኣመሰሉ፡ ኤርትራ ኢያ ትዯልዮም። እቲ ዝቐረብ መራሕ ካርታ፡ ብብዙሓት ኪኢላታት ኤርትራውያን ዝውሰኹ ጠቀምቲ ነጥብታት፣ ዝማሓይሹ ሓረጋት፣ ዝመዓራረዩን ዝስተኻከሉን ነጥብታት ተገይርሉ ከምዝማሓየሽ እምነተይ ኢዩ። ከምኡ ስለዝኾነ’ውን ኢየ፡ ነቲ ንድፊ ሰነድ ብብዙሓት ናይ ማሕበራዊ መድያ፡ ብቐንደ ካኣ በታ ናተይ ዝብላ ዶት ኮም፡ ኣቢለ ክዝርግሖ ዝውስን ዘለኹ። ብካልእ ኣዛራርባ፡ ኣብዚ ኣብ ኣትላንታ ኣብ ነሓሰ 3-4 2018 ዓ.ም. ዝተኻየዯ ፈስቲቫል ኤርትራ ምስታፈይ፡ ዋላኳ ዕቃበ ይሃልወኒ፡ ኣብ መጨረሻ ኤርትራውያን ዝነበረና ሕድሕዲዊ ምጥርጣራት ሰጊርናዮ ኢና ዝብል ተስፋ የሕዱረ ኣለኹ። እቲ ፈስቲቫል፡ ዝኾነ ናይ ህወተታ/ዕንኪላሎ ቦታ ዝህልዎ ባህርያት፡ ማለት: ሓዯ ሓዯ ጊዜ ብዯርቕ ቛንቛ (ዝድርጓሕ) ሓዯ ሓዯ ጊዜ ካኣ ብልዙብ ቛንቛ ዝውርወሩ ናይ ተቓውሞ፣ ናይ ብስጭትን ተስፋ ምቑራጽን ናይ ርሱን ክትዓትን ቃላታት ነይሮም ኢዮም። ኣብ መወዲእታ ግን፡ እቲ ኣብ ጉዲዩ ሓላፍነት ወሲደ ዝነበረ ተሳታፋይ ህዝቢ ዝዯልዮ ዝነበረ ሓሳብ ኢዩ ተዓዊቱ። ብናተይ ግምት፡ ኣብ ኣትላንታ፡ እቲ ናይ ክርክር ምርኢት ብዓወት እቲ ተሳታፋይ ህዝቢ ኢዩ ተዛዚሙ። ናይ ክርክር መዯበራት ምንጪ ሓደሽ ሓሳባትን ኣጠማምታት ኣብ ጉዲይትን ምቕልቃል ዝጅመረሎም ኢዮም፤ ኣብ ኣትላንታ ካኣ ከምኡ ኢዩ ኮይኑ። ሕጂ ክኸውን ዘሎዎ፡ እዞም 8 ውልቀ-ሰባት ስርሖም ንምስፋሕ፡ ነቲ ኣብ መወዲእታ ነሓሰ ክግበር ተሓሲቡ ዘሎ ናይ  ነቫ ሰላማዊ ሰልፊ ኣትክሮ ዝገበረ፡ ናብ ኣውሮጳ ገጾም ቁሊሕ ብምባል ካልእ ናይ ክርክር መዯበር ከምዝፍጠር ምግባር ኢዩ። ብመንጽር ናይ ህውተታ/ዕንኪላሎ ቦታ ክረአ ከሎ፡ ፈስቲቫል ኣትላንታ መቀጸልታ ፈስቲቫል ዯንቨር ኢዩ። ሕጂ፡ ናይ ኣውሮጳ ፈስቲቫል ናይዞም ክልተ ፈስቲቫላት መቀጸልታ ክኸውን ይኽእል ኢዩ። እቲ ንድፊ ስነድ ወይ’ውን እቲ መራሕ ካርታ ከም ናይ ፍጻሜ ኣጋጣሚ ብምዃን፡ ኩሎም ፈስቲቫላት ኣብ ሓዯ ተጠሚሮም፡ ናህሩ ናብ መላእ ኤርትራ ክዘሩቕ ዝክእል፡ ሓዯ ህጡር ኤሪትራዊ ህዝባዊ ምንቅስቓስ ክኾኑ
ይኽእሉ።

ድሕረ ጽሑፍ፡
ከም ኣብ ወሰን (ወጻኢ) ኮይነ ንውሽጢ ዝዕዘብ ዝነበርኩ፡ ክጠቅሶ ዝግዯድ፡ ነቲ ዝርርብ ንቕድሚት ናብ ኣወንታዊ መዯምዯምታ ዘድፍኦ፡ ካብ ውሽጢ ተስተፍይ ዝብገስ ሓዯ ንጹርን ሓያልን ዝኾነ ቴማ ነይሩ። ከምዚ ኣብ ላዕሊ ዝገለጽክዎ ዓይነት ምይይጥ፡ ካብ ኩሎም ተሳተፍቲ ብእንካን ሃባን ዝምዕብልን ዝጽዕን ምዃኑ ዝርዲእ እዃ እንተኾንኩ፡ ብሓዯ ካብ መጠን ንላዕሊ ትኩር ዝኾነ፡ ብክብሮም “ሳንቲም” ዝብል ሽም ዝፍለጥ ተሳታፋይ ዝቐርብ ዝነበረ ቀጻሊ ቴማ፡ ነቲ ምይይጥ ንቕድሚት ዯፊእዎ ኢዩ። “ቖቢዏይ ብምልዓል፡ ክብረት ይሃበለይ ክብሎ ይዯሊ”። ንሁር ኣቃራርብኡ ብዘየግድስ፡ ኣብ ማእከል እቲ ምይይጥ ዝገበሮም ዝነበሩ ሓጸርቲ መዯረታት ኩሎም ነጥቢ ዝሃርሙ (ካብ ኣረስቲ ዘይወጹ) ነይሮም ጥራሕ ዘይኮኑስ፡ ንቕድሚት ዝጠመቱ ኢዮም’ውን ነይሮም። ከምዚ ማለትይ ካኣ፡ ከም ባዓል ክብሮም ዝኣመስሉ ሰባት ኣብ ከምዚ ዝኣመሰሉ ናይ ህዝቢ መጋባእያታት፡ ብዙሕ ንክዛረቡ ዕድል እንትዝረኹብ ከመይ ንማሓረ ኢየ ዝብል ዘለኹ።

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Documents:

1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Amended To Reflect Eritrean Reality (English, Arabic, Tigrinya)

2. Phases, Goals & Achievement

On Tuesday, June 5, 2018, the Executive Committee of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) issued a formal statement that says Ethiopia will fully honour the Algiers Agreement and the decision of the Boundary Commission. The statement was previewed by the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff in a tweet the same day:

#Ethiopia & #Eritrea have the most unique cultural, historical & blood ties.The suffering on both sides is unspeakable because the peace process is deadlocked.This must change for the sake of our common good.Our gov’t is expected to take a new initiative to address the stalemate.

— Fitsum Arega (@fitsumaregaa) June 5, 2018

The next day, speaking at the 4th conference of the national anti-corruption coalition on Wednesday, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed explained that direct military confrontation and the ‘no peace no war’ stalemate have been costing both countries heavily and his administration intends to change this by complying with the decision of the boundary commission in order to normalise relations with Eritrea. The announcement has produced an explosion of hope and expectation among both Ethiopians and Eritreans. There have been also those who refused to join the chorus: Eritreans who cast aspersions on the announcement as another ‘Weyane Public Relations gimmick’ and Ethiopians – mostly Tigrayans – who think the decision does not consider the wish of the Tigrayan people on the issue. The most ironic thing is that some die-hard PFDJ supporters and Tigrayan nationalists seem to have found after very long time, for different reasons of course, the same cause to agree on. The most telling example of this is Elias Amare – a noted PFDJ apologist – and Fetsum Berhane Dire – an editor with Horn Affairs and apparently sympathetic to the TPLF-dominated EPRDF – describing the announcement as a distraction from the just-released announcement of privatization of vital Ethiopian assets by the Ethiopian government.

To the surprise of nobody, the Eritrean government has not made any official pronouncements about the Ethiopian announcement. In lieu of an official response, the Minister of Information, Yemane Ghebremeskel, responded to a question on twitter saying “it’s been 16 years since Eritrea has unequivocally accepted the Algiers agreement and the decision of the boundary commission.” It is a legitimate response, albeit one made in the attics of twitter in reply to a twitter passer-by.

To be fair, Eritrea does not have much to do apropos the adherence to the terms of the Algiers agreement and the decision of the boundary commission. On many occasions, its officials have made the point that relations with Ethiopia would be restored if Ethiopia acted in accordance with the decisions of the boundary commission. Therefore, when people speak about how the ball is now in Eritrea’s court, they need to be specific what they mean by that. So far, the Ethiopian government has only expressed intent and we should not jump our guns and suspend all our political disbelief.

That caveat out of the way, however, diplomatic decorum and statesmanship calls upon the Eritrean government to officially respond to the Ethiopian overtures along the lines that ‘Eritrea welcomes the announcement as the right first step in the right direction and reiterates its long-held commitment to restore relations once the decision of the boundary commission is respected to the letter.’ (Also, it would not cost Asmara a thing to add one or two lines congratulating the new Ethiopian prime minister on his assumption of office).

It is clear that things are not the same in Ethiopia as they were before. The political scale is unmistakably tipped towards the reformist elements within the ruling party. The TPLF old guards are out and new political players are in. Few are now those extreme voices who wax aggressively irredentist towards Eritrea. No one except marginal groups seem to buy the Ethiopia-is-too-strong-to-abide-by-international-law and too-big-a-country-to-be-landlocked realpolitik mot d’ordre. Almost all respectable Ethiopian activists and commentators have expressed their support of the Ethiopian government’s statement. To paraphrase Mao, everything under the Ethiopian heavens is in flux; the situation is excellent. Failing to take cognizance of this and proactively engage it – as President Isaias intimated in his Independence Day speech – would be extremely reckless and will definitely embolden those elements who do not want to see the border issue resolved in accordance with the decision of the boundary commission.

The border issue has been an albatross hung around the neck of the Eritrean body-politic for the last twenty years. Utterly failing to capitalise on the legal and moral high ground the Algiers agreement and the decision of the boundary commission afforded it to wage effective diplomatic campaign, and exhausting itself trying to force Ethiopia’s hand through proxy wars and support for myriad Ethiopian political opposition forces, the PFDJ government has resigned itself to a comatose-like state for many years. The border issue has become an ersatz of politics-proper; consumed the entire economic, social and cultural resource of the country; channelled all the political libido into its narrow vortex; foreclosed constitutional patriotism and made crass jingoism as the only legitimate expression of love to the country and the people. Using the issue as a pretext, the PFDJ has put in place extensive bio-political regime of control, subordination and appropriation of labour. It has militarized and securitized society, and turned the country into a carceral state. The issue has become its favorite rationale for suspending civil and political rights, and freedoms of expression, belief and assembly. In a convoluted logic, the ‘no war no peace’ situation is blamed for arbitrary and unlawful disappearance of political dissidents.

I was a fifth grader when the war started. I spent my entire adolescence and about ten years of my adult life under its shadows. I saw all of my immediate and distant family members mobilised to the war fronts. Tragically, some of them did not come back and some are still in the trenches and others fled the country like the rest of the nearly half a million Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers scattered around the world. Every Eritrean is affected by the situation in one way or the other. It is thus incumbent on everyone to retire the empty ‘patriotic’ exhibitionism and call on the Eritrean government to proactively engage with putatively new political momentum in Ethiopia.

Your Excellency,

First of all, please kindly allow us to express our appreciation for the constant efforts of your government, the EPRDF and the National Assembly which we recognize as an effort geared at ensuring peace and stability both within Ethiopian borders and around the Horn of Africa.

We take cognizance of your government’s latest moves with regard to the Algiers Peace Agreement – an agreement which was reached to end a senseless bloody border war between two brotherly people of Eritrea and Ethiopia. Indeed, this issue has been outrageously lingering in the course of the past 20 years, producing nothing but more pain and agony within and between the Eritrean and Ethiopian people. We noted today, with utmost interest and delight, your government’s decision to unconditionally implement the final and binding decision of the Border Commission ruling dated April 13, 2002. We believe this particular decision was taken as part of the ongoing efforts of your government which is aimed at promoting and forging the cause of peace between all neighboring countries in the Horn of Africa. Indeed, your decision is truly symbolic and Eritreans living inside and outside of the country are following the matter with great interest and hope for a better future.

Similarly, we also take note of a reciprocating and positive response on the part of the government of Eritrea to your government’s call for peace. In particular, we mention the remarks of President Isaias Afewerki made on June 20, 2018 on the occasion of Eritrea’s Martyr’s day. He unequivocally indicated his acceptance of your invitation and that his government is sending a delegation to Addis Ababa for ‘constructive engagement’ in regard to this matter.

In light of these positive developments, please kindly allow us to draw your attention to some issues and concerns that we have as your government embarks in talks with the delegates of Eritrean government. We present them below and we do so out of sheer desire to see that peace and prosperity reign over the people of Eritrea and Ethiopia. In particular, we strongly believe that any engagement with the Eritrean delegates or any decision thereof has to put the interests of the peoples of both Eritrea and Ethiopia at the forefront.

It is on record that the Eritrean government security agents and operatives had a kind of ‘safe houses’ in which kidnapped Eritreans were kept, tortured, executed and buried. Many Eritreans disappeared in such cruel operations carried out on Ethiopian soil.

1. We would like to highlight, and your government is well aware of the fundamental fact, that Eritrea has neither a constitution, parliament or rule of law- it is ruled by one party under the total control of one man. Ever since its existence as an independent state in 1993, Eritrea has never carried out any national election. This creates a great concern in regards to any talks carried out with Eritrean delegates and as such we plead that it receives the necessary attention in the process.

2. We wholeheartedly understand that the people of Ethiopia cannot enjoy peace, democracy and prosperity in the absence of such ingredients within the neighboring countries. Ethiopia cannot be an island of peace where the neighborhood remains flooded with insecurities to the human person. In its 27 years of independence, Eritrea is identified as a place where the rights and securities of the human person are simply disregarded and violated on daily bases. By building a network of more than 350 incarceration sites, shipping metal containers and concentration camps countrywide, Eritrea has earned the title of ‘a prison state’. Thousands of prisoners of conscience remain languishing in such prison camps with no communication to the outside world, even to their families. Torture and executions are rampant, and Eritreans’ rights are violated in every possible way. A situation like this continues to cause a lot of pain to the Eritrean people and has become a tremendous destabilizing cause in the neighboring countries.

3. Finally, we would like to draw your kind attention to the first years of Eritrean independence and the good relations developed with Ethiopia at the time. Sadly, such good government-to-government relations of the time had created an opportune moment for the government of Eritrea to hunt down its Eritrean opponents who were leading a peaceful life in Ethiopia. It is on record that the Eritrean government security agents and operatives had a kind of ‘safe houses’ in which kidnapped Eritreans were kept, tortured, executed and buried. Many Eritreans disappeared in such cruel operations carried out on Ethiopian soil.

Today, many Eritreans continue to flee their country precisely due to such an oppressive and terrorizing culture of governance in Eritrea. Thousands of Eritrean refugees, human rights defenders and political activists and groups are currently living in Ethiopia. Notwithstanding to the talks with the Eritrean government, we plead with your government to continue providing the necessary legal and security protection they need. Please do not let the sad history repeat itself.

We thank you for your time and kind considerations.

With sincere regards,

Elizabeth Chyrum,
Director
—
Human Rights Concern – Eritrea (HRCE)
London, UK

eritrea.facts@gmail.com
+44 7958 005 637
www.hrc-eritrea.org