Sunday, 29 January 2006, 3 hours, 26 minutes and 23 seconds ago.
By andnetwork .com
Eritrea blasted the United States on Sunday for "evil" foreign policies which encouraged arch rival Ethiopia to ignore an international border ruling, bringing the countries to the brink of war.
In an editorial published on the information ministry's website, Asmara accused Washington of favouring Ethiopia and using it as a regional power to promote American interests. "The evil attempts made to derail the verdict of the international body by creating different intriguing proposals has encouraged the (Ethiopian) regime to ignore and discard the decision of the boundary commission," the editorial said. "The United States policy towards Africa is designed to divide the continent into specific regions and designate one country out of each region as regional giants and thereby safeguard American interest." Ethiopia has refused to respect a three-year-old border demarcation both nations had agreed to as part of a 2000 peace deal that ended their 1998-2000 war, which claimed at least 80,000 lives. Eritrea has repeatedly warned that new conflict is looming between the Horn of Africa neighbors due to the stalemate, and has harshly criticised the United Nations and major world powers for failing to secure Ethiopia's compliance. Tensions have soared recently on the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) border, with troop movements reported on either side. "The current extremely sad and dangerous situation is the outcome of the erroneous US foreign policy," the ministry's editorial said. Asmara banned UN peacekeeper helicopter flights in October, and in December it expelled all Western peacekeepers. The UN Security Council has threatened sanctions against Eritrea if it does not lift its restrictions. Source : Sapa-AFP /ak
Sunday, January 29, 2006
The cat’s-paw
When the regime of the Eritrean president, Isayas Afewerki, had surprisingly put forward an initiative to reform relations between Eritrea and the Sudan, I had immediately written in this space under the title " The Leopard Can Not Change Its Spots", warning the Government of National Unity not to be deceived and blindly run after mirage. I had asked the government to be prudent and patient while considering the Eritrean motives that stay behind the plan, before responding to it. At that time, too, I said am of the opinion that the Eritrean regime had been in the face of inevitable war with its mother neighbor Ethiopia, and that it was not dim-witted to be engaged in that war bared-back. So, it wanted to quiet its western front until things at the southern front look better. As I have said; the hostility of Afewerki to Sudan will not end, because it is against the Sudan as a country, entity and people; not the Sudanese regime as such. Now Afewerki’s deeds have proven what we had said; because as soon as he has felt détente at the southern front, he put on his old spots and his hands began to practice the awful habit of disturbing Sudan’s stability and security; this time in another area not the east of Sudan but Darfur.Some diplomatic sources disclosed to the press an information about a Chadian-Eritrean plot to flare up situations in Darfur; as 8 Eritrean planes have airlifted military hardware to backup Darfur rebels to carry out an articulated plan that will begin by occupying vital areas in Darfur and will be ended by the total control of rebels over situations in Darfur.Of course these weapons were not from Eritrean warehouses and were not purchased by Eritrean money as well; because the budget and resources of Afewerki’s regime can not afford to good living for Eritreans who have scattered all over the four corners of the world.The Eritrean regime is an entrepreneur that works for powers that use it as cat’s-paw to scribble its neighbors and then it will, together with bunch around it, receive the price. The poor Eritrean people, however, will reap the wind, misery, scattering and disgrace
Thursday, January 19, 2006
شرفه الفنانين/ ألمايو ألكس وهاشم سمرة إحتفال الجالية بعيد الأضحي المبارك
ملبورن ـ عونا
السبت 14 يناير
في أحد الأيام المشهودة للجالية الاريترية في ملبورن تمكنت فيه من إقامة حفل كبير بمناسبة عيد الأضحي المبارك تميز بالترتيب والتنظيم وكثافة المدعوين والمشاركين، كما تضمن الحفل الذي أستمر سبعة ساعات عدة فعاليات تم من خلالها التأكيد علي أهمية النشاط الاجتماعي للجالية. وقد بدأ الحفل في الواحدة ظهراً حين تقاطرت الأسر الي مقر الجالية مصطحبة أبنائها الصغار ليشاركوا في أنشطة فردية وجماعية أحتوت علي تشكيلة من الرياضات ومن أدوات المرح والترفيه الأخري بجانب فقرة "البهلواني" المعتادة. وحظي الشباب أيضاً بفقرات شهدت منافسات رياضية بينهم وسط تأييد ومشاهدة من الحضور، تم في ختامها تكريم وتوزيع الميداليات للفرق الفائزة والخاسرة أيضاً من الأعمار المختلفة، وقام مناضلون من الرعيل الأول والآباء من جمعية كبار السن الاريترية بتوزيع الميداليات، وأستمر الحفل حتي مغيب الشمس وسط تناول وجبة الغداء وتوزيع المشروبات الحلال والحلويات والتسامر بين الحاضرين في جو إحتفالي بهيج، شارك فيه ايضاً أشقاء الاريتريين من الجاليتين السودانية والصومالية ومسئولين أستراليين كان من بينهم محافظ بلدية "موني فالي".
يذكر أن الجالية شكلت مؤخراً لجنة من عشرة أفراد لإقامة الحفلات المختلفة، وكانت هذه الحفلة الانطلاقة الثانية لها بعد المهرجان الكبير الذي أقامته بمناسبة عيد الفطر المبارك وكان مشتركاً مع الجالية الصومالية.
وفي حوارات جانبية اجراها "موقعنا" عبر العديد من المشاركين عن إرتياحهم وسرورهم لترتيب الحفل وتنظيمه ووجهوا تحية مجد وتقدير لكل الاخوة والأخوات الذين ساهموا فيه وأخرجوه بالشكل الرائع، وطالب البعض بإقامة المزيد من الأنشطة والحفلات التي تخاطب الأسر وتقرب من أفرادها وتؤكد علي التلاحم والألفة بينها، وتحافظ علي الصورة الايجابية المأخوذة عنها داخل وخارج القارة الاسترالية.
يوجه موقع (عونا) تحية خاصة الي اللجنة المنظمة لإحتفالات الجالية لما قامت به من عمل ممتع ومبهج، ويحيي ايضاً الأمهات والأخوات اللاتي شاركن في المناسبة وساهمن في إعداد فقراتها. وكل عام والجالية بخير وتقدم ومزيد من النصر
السبت 14 يناير
في أحد الأيام المشهودة للجالية الاريترية في ملبورن تمكنت فيه من إقامة حفل كبير بمناسبة عيد الأضحي المبارك تميز بالترتيب والتنظيم وكثافة المدعوين والمشاركين، كما تضمن الحفل الذي أستمر سبعة ساعات عدة فعاليات تم من خلالها التأكيد علي أهمية النشاط الاجتماعي للجالية. وقد بدأ الحفل في الواحدة ظهراً حين تقاطرت الأسر الي مقر الجالية مصطحبة أبنائها الصغار ليشاركوا في أنشطة فردية وجماعية أحتوت علي تشكيلة من الرياضات ومن أدوات المرح والترفيه الأخري بجانب فقرة "البهلواني" المعتادة. وحظي الشباب أيضاً بفقرات شهدت منافسات رياضية بينهم وسط تأييد ومشاهدة من الحضور، تم في ختامها تكريم وتوزيع الميداليات للفرق الفائزة والخاسرة أيضاً من الأعمار المختلفة، وقام مناضلون من الرعيل الأول والآباء من جمعية كبار السن الاريترية بتوزيع الميداليات، وأستمر الحفل حتي مغيب الشمس وسط تناول وجبة الغداء وتوزيع المشروبات الحلال والحلويات والتسامر بين الحاضرين في جو إحتفالي بهيج، شارك فيه ايضاً أشقاء الاريتريين من الجاليتين السودانية والصومالية ومسئولين أستراليين كان من بينهم محافظ بلدية "موني فالي".
يذكر أن الجالية شكلت مؤخراً لجنة من عشرة أفراد لإقامة الحفلات المختلفة، وكانت هذه الحفلة الانطلاقة الثانية لها بعد المهرجان الكبير الذي أقامته بمناسبة عيد الفطر المبارك وكان مشتركاً مع الجالية الصومالية.
وفي حوارات جانبية اجراها "موقعنا" عبر العديد من المشاركين عن إرتياحهم وسرورهم لترتيب الحفل وتنظيمه ووجهوا تحية مجد وتقدير لكل الاخوة والأخوات الذين ساهموا فيه وأخرجوه بالشكل الرائع، وطالب البعض بإقامة المزيد من الأنشطة والحفلات التي تخاطب الأسر وتقرب من أفرادها وتؤكد علي التلاحم والألفة بينها، وتحافظ علي الصورة الايجابية المأخوذة عنها داخل وخارج القارة الاسترالية.
يوجه موقع (عونا) تحية خاصة الي اللجنة المنظمة لإحتفالات الجالية لما قامت به من عمل ممتع ومبهج، ويحيي ايضاً الأمهات والأخوات اللاتي شاركن في المناسبة وساهمن في إعداد فقراتها. وكل عام والجالية بخير وتقدم ومزيد من النصر
US calls off Eritrea mediation mission
January 19, 2006WASHINGTON -- A US mission to resolve a territorial dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea will be shortened because Eritrean authorities refused to accept the envoy, the State Department said on Wednesday. "They are not facilitating her travel to Eritrea so she is not going to the boundary region" on the Eritrean side, said department spokeswoman Julie Reside. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said last week that she would travel to Addis Ababa and Asmara as well as the conflict area on both sides of the border. The mission has been approved by the UN Security Council, but the Eritrean foreign minister said that he doubted its legality and pertinence. However, according to a State Department official who wished to remain unidentified, Frazer still plans to visit the border region. "She is going to see it, from the Ethiopian side," the official said. "She wanted to see both sides but the Eritreans are not going to facilitate it." "The way we look at it, it is their loss," the official added. Under agreements signed in 2000 that ended 12 years of war between the two countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea were to accept a border demarcated by an international commission. But the border established in 2002 has never been accepted by Ethiopia, and relations between the two countries remain tense.
Eritrea Human Rights report by Human Rights Watch
The Eritrean government’s tyranny became more ruthless in 2005. Rule by force and caprice remains the norm, as the government aggressively moves to intimidate the population and to isolate it from the outside world. The border dispute with Ethiopia continues to fester and is used by the government to justify repressive policies. The government of Eritrea seriously interfered with the United Nations’ ability to monitor troop movements along the border in 2005 and threatened to resume war unless Ethiopia accepts an independent Boundary Commission decision which it considers favorable.
Arrests, Imprisonment and Torture Suppression of Political Dissent and Opinion, Arbitrary Arrest, and Illegal Detention No political party other than the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) is allowed to exist in Eritrea and no national elections have been held since the country won its independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Using the excuse that Eritrea remains at war, the government has refused to implement the 1997 constitution, drafted by a constitutional assembly and ratified by referendum, that respects civil and political rights. The government has arrested thousands of citizens for expressing dissenting views, practicing an “unregistered” religion, avoiding endless military conscription, attempting to flee the country, or on suspicion of not fully supporting government policies. Mass arrests began in September 2001 with the detention of eleven leaders of the PDFJ who questioned President Isayas Afewerki’s erratic and autocratic leadership. The government arrested publishers, editors and reporters and closed all independent newspapers and magazines. The arrests continued in 2005 and included three leaders of government-affiliated labor unions, the only unions allowed to operate in the country. Most of those arrested are held indefinitely in incommunicado detention. None are formally charged, given access to lawyers or brought to trial. Some prisoners are released but are warned not to talk about their imprisonment or treatment. Some manage to escape and flee the country. As of September 2005, the World Food Program reported that ten thousand fleeing Eritreans are in refugee camps in Ethiopia, two hundred of whom fled since January, with two hundred to three hundred more arriving monthly. Prison Conditions and Torture Prisoners are often held in secret prisons, including underground cells. Because of the large number of arrests, less prominent prisoners are packed into cargo containers or in other overcrowded prisons. In addition to psychological abuse, solitary confinement and abysmal conditions, escapees report the use of physical torture. Prisoners are suspended from trees with their arms tied behind their backs, a technique known as almaz (diamond). Prisoners are also placed face down, hands tied to feet, a method of torture known as the “helicopter.” Military Conscription Roundups and Arrests Eritreans between the ages of eighteen and forty-five must perform two years of compulsory national service. In practice, however, the time for service is repeatedly prolonged. There are frequent giffas (sweeps) to round up “evaders”—some of whom have already fulfilled their lawful obligations. The government often uses national service as retribution for perceived criticism of government policies. Those accused of evading service are frequently tortured. Conscripts are often used for public works projects, such as road building. There have been persistent reports that they are also used as laborers on party, military, and officers’ personal farms. In September 2005, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published photographs taken by a diplomat in Asmara who witnessed a killing by security forces of a young man wounded during a giffa. According to the diplomat, a security agent shot the man at close range, execution-style, while the victim lay in the road. The government denied the diplomat’s account and photographs, quoting several persons who lived in the area who asserted that the only body in the street was that of a drunk. In mid-2005, the government for the first time made hundreds of arrests of family members of children who had not reported to the military training camp at Sawa for their final year of high school or who otherwise did not report for national service. Although the government issued denials, foreign diplomats confirmed the arrests. Three separate immigration decisions in 2005, by an appellate court in the United States (Nuru v. Gonzales, 404 F.3d 1207 (9th Cir.), the European Court of Human Rights (Said v. the Netherlands, Application no. 2345/02), and the United Kingdom Immigration Appeal Tribunal (Appeal No: Eritrea CG [2005]UKIAT 00106), granted asylum to Eritreans fleeing conscription on the grounds that national service is used as a measure of political repression and that anyone forcibly returned to Eritrea is likely to be tortured. Religious Persecution The government closed all religious institutions in May 2002 except for those affiliated with the Eritrean Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Eritrean Evangelical (Lutheran) churches and Sunni Muslim mosques. Members of Pentecostal Christian churches are arrested for possession of Bibles or for attending communal worship. In 2005, the government intensified its persecution of adherents of unregistered religions by raiding wedding parties at private homes. Some clergy of a modernizing wing of the Eritrean Orthodox church were also arrested in 2005. Many of those arrested are beaten or tortured during their arrest or while in captivity. Jehovah’s Witnesses have been especially mistreated. Some have been detained for a decade for refusing to participate in national military service even though the official penalty is incarceration for no more than three years. The Eritrean government defends its practices on the ground that the unrecognized churches have failed to register, but some religious groups applied for registration in 2002 and have not been registered. The government announced in April 2005 that it soon would register the Seventh Day Adventist denomination, but as of November 2005, it had not done so. In September 2005, the United States imposed sanctions after having earlier designated Eritrea as a “country of particular concern” for its religious persecution. Suppression of Human Rights Groups Neither domestic nor international human rights organizations are allowed to operate in Eritrea. Indeed, almost no domestic civil organizations are allowed to function except as an appendage to the government or to the PDFJ. In June 2005, the government imposed new restrictions on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) providing assistance to the country. The restrictions require annual registration and prohibit any NGO with less than U.S.$2 million in capital (if foreign) or U.S.$1 million (if domestic) from being registered. No non-governmental sources of information exist except word-of-mouth. Foreign broadcasts are periodically jammed. Relations with Ethiopia The 1998-2000 war with Ethiopia ended with an armistice agreement by which Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to binding arbitration of their border. An international peace-keeping force, U.N. Mission in Eritrea-Ethiopia (UNMEE), maintains troops and observers along the twenty-five-kilometer-wide armistice buffer line between the two countries. The force and the zone are based on the armistice agreement that suspended the conflict. In 2003, Ethiopia announced its rejection the decision of the independent Boundary Commission, largely because it awarded the village of Badme, the flashpoint for the war, to Eritrea. The Eritrean government uses the possibility of renewed conflict as a justification for postponing elections, prolonging national service, and for its repressive policies. Eritrea has lashed out against the international community for not compelling Ethiopia to implement the border commission decision. Eritrea insists that the border be demarcated without conditions and Ethiopia insists that, while it accepts the Boundary Commission’s decision in principle, demarcation can proceed only after bilateral discussions. No serious international pressure has been applied to Ethiopia to honor its commitments. In 2005, President Issayas threatened to resume the war if the impasse is not resolved. In October 2005, the government declared that UNMEE helicopters and night patrols could no longer be used to monitor the border. By November, both Eritrea and Ethiopia had substantially increased troop levels and armament near the border. Key International Actors In January 2005, the African Union adopted a 2003 African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights report finding Eritrea’s arrest of the eleven government officials in 2001 and their continued incarceration in violation of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. In April, the Inter-Parliamentary Union unanimously concluded that continued detention was a gross violation of fundamental rights under Eritrean and international law, and inferred from the conflicting justifications given by the government that the accusations against the eleven were groundless. The international community's assistance consists of food and other humanitarian assistance. The European Union announced in 2003 that it would provide Eritrea an unstated sum under the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights, in addition to a € 96 million five-year aid package (until 2007) for social and economic development. The European Union said that its assistance would depend on the government's willingness to improve civil liberties but has taken no action to withdraw assistance in the face of government intransigence. With minor exceptions, the United States withholds non-humanitarian assistance to Eritrea because it has refused to release two American embassy local employees arrested in 2001. (After four years, no charges have been filed against them.) In August 2005, Eritrea arrested two more local embassy staff, allegedly for human trafficking. In early summer, the government demanded that the U.S. Agency for International Development cease operations in the country without offering a reason, other than that the government was uncomfortable with HIV/AIDS programs and wanted assistance to be provided directly to the government. In September, the United States imposed a partial denial of arms-export licenses on Eritrea for its religious persecution. This sanction is more symbolic than real because the United States exports few arms to Eritrea. The Eritrean ministry of defense issued a statement calling the sanction part of a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency plot to “instill chaos” in Eritrea and to rescue the Ethiopian government. Despite the official U.S. position of keeping its distance, high-level U.S. Defense department officials frequently visit and praise the Eritrean government for fighting terrorism.
Arrests, Imprisonment and Torture Suppression of Political Dissent and Opinion, Arbitrary Arrest, and Illegal Detention No political party other than the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) is allowed to exist in Eritrea and no national elections have been held since the country won its independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Using the excuse that Eritrea remains at war, the government has refused to implement the 1997 constitution, drafted by a constitutional assembly and ratified by referendum, that respects civil and political rights. The government has arrested thousands of citizens for expressing dissenting views, practicing an “unregistered” religion, avoiding endless military conscription, attempting to flee the country, or on suspicion of not fully supporting government policies. Mass arrests began in September 2001 with the detention of eleven leaders of the PDFJ who questioned President Isayas Afewerki’s erratic and autocratic leadership. The government arrested publishers, editors and reporters and closed all independent newspapers and magazines. The arrests continued in 2005 and included three leaders of government-affiliated labor unions, the only unions allowed to operate in the country. Most of those arrested are held indefinitely in incommunicado detention. None are formally charged, given access to lawyers or brought to trial. Some prisoners are released but are warned not to talk about their imprisonment or treatment. Some manage to escape and flee the country. As of September 2005, the World Food Program reported that ten thousand fleeing Eritreans are in refugee camps in Ethiopia, two hundred of whom fled since January, with two hundred to three hundred more arriving monthly. Prison Conditions and Torture Prisoners are often held in secret prisons, including underground cells. Because of the large number of arrests, less prominent prisoners are packed into cargo containers or in other overcrowded prisons. In addition to psychological abuse, solitary confinement and abysmal conditions, escapees report the use of physical torture. Prisoners are suspended from trees with their arms tied behind their backs, a technique known as almaz (diamond). Prisoners are also placed face down, hands tied to feet, a method of torture known as the “helicopter.” Military Conscription Roundups and Arrests Eritreans between the ages of eighteen and forty-five must perform two years of compulsory national service. In practice, however, the time for service is repeatedly prolonged. There are frequent giffas (sweeps) to round up “evaders”—some of whom have already fulfilled their lawful obligations. The government often uses national service as retribution for perceived criticism of government policies. Those accused of evading service are frequently tortured. Conscripts are often used for public works projects, such as road building. There have been persistent reports that they are also used as laborers on party, military, and officers’ personal farms. In September 2005, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published photographs taken by a diplomat in Asmara who witnessed a killing by security forces of a young man wounded during a giffa. According to the diplomat, a security agent shot the man at close range, execution-style, while the victim lay in the road. The government denied the diplomat’s account and photographs, quoting several persons who lived in the area who asserted that the only body in the street was that of a drunk. In mid-2005, the government for the first time made hundreds of arrests of family members of children who had not reported to the military training camp at Sawa for their final year of high school or who otherwise did not report for national service. Although the government issued denials, foreign diplomats confirmed the arrests. Three separate immigration decisions in 2005, by an appellate court in the United States (Nuru v. Gonzales, 404 F.3d 1207 (9th Cir.), the European Court of Human Rights (Said v. the Netherlands, Application no. 2345/02), and the United Kingdom Immigration Appeal Tribunal (Appeal No: Eritrea CG [2005]UKIAT 00106), granted asylum to Eritreans fleeing conscription on the grounds that national service is used as a measure of political repression and that anyone forcibly returned to Eritrea is likely to be tortured. Religious Persecution The government closed all religious institutions in May 2002 except for those affiliated with the Eritrean Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Eritrean Evangelical (Lutheran) churches and Sunni Muslim mosques. Members of Pentecostal Christian churches are arrested for possession of Bibles or for attending communal worship. In 2005, the government intensified its persecution of adherents of unregistered religions by raiding wedding parties at private homes. Some clergy of a modernizing wing of the Eritrean Orthodox church were also arrested in 2005. Many of those arrested are beaten or tortured during their arrest or while in captivity. Jehovah’s Witnesses have been especially mistreated. Some have been detained for a decade for refusing to participate in national military service even though the official penalty is incarceration for no more than three years. The Eritrean government defends its practices on the ground that the unrecognized churches have failed to register, but some religious groups applied for registration in 2002 and have not been registered. The government announced in April 2005 that it soon would register the Seventh Day Adventist denomination, but as of November 2005, it had not done so. In September 2005, the United States imposed sanctions after having earlier designated Eritrea as a “country of particular concern” for its religious persecution. Suppression of Human Rights Groups Neither domestic nor international human rights organizations are allowed to operate in Eritrea. Indeed, almost no domestic civil organizations are allowed to function except as an appendage to the government or to the PDFJ. In June 2005, the government imposed new restrictions on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) providing assistance to the country. The restrictions require annual registration and prohibit any NGO with less than U.S.$2 million in capital (if foreign) or U.S.$1 million (if domestic) from being registered. No non-governmental sources of information exist except word-of-mouth. Foreign broadcasts are periodically jammed. Relations with Ethiopia The 1998-2000 war with Ethiopia ended with an armistice agreement by which Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to binding arbitration of their border. An international peace-keeping force, U.N. Mission in Eritrea-Ethiopia (UNMEE), maintains troops and observers along the twenty-five-kilometer-wide armistice buffer line between the two countries. The force and the zone are based on the armistice agreement that suspended the conflict. In 2003, Ethiopia announced its rejection the decision of the independent Boundary Commission, largely because it awarded the village of Badme, the flashpoint for the war, to Eritrea. The Eritrean government uses the possibility of renewed conflict as a justification for postponing elections, prolonging national service, and for its repressive policies. Eritrea has lashed out against the international community for not compelling Ethiopia to implement the border commission decision. Eritrea insists that the border be demarcated without conditions and Ethiopia insists that, while it accepts the Boundary Commission’s decision in principle, demarcation can proceed only after bilateral discussions. No serious international pressure has been applied to Ethiopia to honor its commitments. In 2005, President Issayas threatened to resume the war if the impasse is not resolved. In October 2005, the government declared that UNMEE helicopters and night patrols could no longer be used to monitor the border. By November, both Eritrea and Ethiopia had substantially increased troop levels and armament near the border. Key International Actors In January 2005, the African Union adopted a 2003 African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights report finding Eritrea’s arrest of the eleven government officials in 2001 and their continued incarceration in violation of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. In April, the Inter-Parliamentary Union unanimously concluded that continued detention was a gross violation of fundamental rights under Eritrean and international law, and inferred from the conflicting justifications given by the government that the accusations against the eleven were groundless. The international community's assistance consists of food and other humanitarian assistance. The European Union announced in 2003 that it would provide Eritrea an unstated sum under the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights, in addition to a € 96 million five-year aid package (until 2007) for social and economic development. The European Union said that its assistance would depend on the government's willingness to improve civil liberties but has taken no action to withdraw assistance in the face of government intransigence. With minor exceptions, the United States withholds non-humanitarian assistance to Eritrea because it has refused to release two American embassy local employees arrested in 2001. (After four years, no charges have been filed against them.) In August 2005, Eritrea arrested two more local embassy staff, allegedly for human trafficking. In early summer, the government demanded that the U.S. Agency for International Development cease operations in the country without offering a reason, other than that the government was uncomfortable with HIV/AIDS programs and wanted assistance to be provided directly to the government. In September, the United States imposed a partial denial of arms-export licenses on Eritrea for its religious persecution. This sanction is more symbolic than real because the United States exports few arms to Eritrea. The Eritrean ministry of defense issued a statement calling the sanction part of a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency plot to “instill chaos” in Eritrea and to rescue the Ethiopian government. Despite the official U.S. position of keeping its distance, high-level U.S. Defense department officials frequently visit and praise the Eritrean government for fighting terrorism.
Monday, January 16, 2006
US plays its ace in Eritrea-Ethiopia border stalemate
January 16, 2006Nairobi: The United States is throwing its geo-political might into breaking the Eritrea-Ethiopia border deadlock, but analysts say its only hope is to persuade Addis Ababa to fully accept the deal that ended a murderous war between the Horn of Africa neighbours.Washington is sending a delegation to the region this week to try to end a years-long stalemate between the countries, so divided over the enactment of a legally binding mapping of their common border that some fear a new war could start. Diplomacy in the sense of brokering a deal will not cut tensions, analysts say, because Eritrea insists that the border is a clear-cut matter of law, where compromise has no place. Only persuading Ethiopia to follow a ruling that awarded a disputed town to Eritrea will solve the dispute."The Americans have to deliver something on the Ethiopian side to be credible, and that is Ethiopia accepting the border decision," said Princeton Lyman, a former United States ambassador to South Africa, who has also worked in Ethiopia. In a pact to end a 1998-2000 border war that killed 70 000 people, Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to accept an independent commission's mapping of the frontier. The commission gave a disputed town to Eritrea. But Ethiopia refused the ruling, branding it unfair because it would separate Ethiopians from their farmland.
New dialogueEritrea has repeatedly said a deal was a deal, and that the international community - especially the United Nations - had failed miserably in enforcing it. It has rejected any efforts at diplomacy, including Ethiopia's offer in late 2004 to accept the deal after new dialogue. Where other diplomatic forays have failed, one thing may give Washington a foot in the door - influence with Ethiopia. Although militarily superior, Ethiopia is the top US counter-terrorism partner in the Horn of Africa, while Eritrea has good relations with Sudanese rebels groups in the east, west and south. That was valuable for the US in terms of solving the Darfur crisis in the Sudan's west, analysts said.Where the US may have been reluctant to push Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi too hard before, raised fears of war in the Horn and the prospect that the UN peacekeeping mission could fail has prompted action. The US mission, headed by Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, has already been given more of a welcome by Eritrea than the last high-level diplomatic effort. - Reuters
New dialogueEritrea has repeatedly said a deal was a deal, and that the international community - especially the United Nations - had failed miserably in enforcing it. It has rejected any efforts at diplomacy, including Ethiopia's offer in late 2004 to accept the deal after new dialogue. Where other diplomatic forays have failed, one thing may give Washington a foot in the door - influence with Ethiopia. Although militarily superior, Ethiopia is the top US counter-terrorism partner in the Horn of Africa, while Eritrea has good relations with Sudanese rebels groups in the east, west and south. That was valuable for the US in terms of solving the Darfur crisis in the Sudan's west, analysts said.Where the US may have been reluctant to push Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi too hard before, raised fears of war in the Horn and the prospect that the UN peacekeeping mission could fail has prompted action. The US mission, headed by Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, has already been given more of a welcome by Eritrea than the last high-level diplomatic effort. - Reuters
Saturday, January 14, 2006
ሰውራዊ ተዘኩሮታተይ ምስ ብጻይ ስዩም ዑቕባሚካኣል
| By ሙሓመድ ብርሃን ብላታ Jan 13, 2006, 16:29 PST | |
ኣቐዲመ ንኹሎም እቶም ሃንደበታዊ ሞት ብጻይና ስዩም ዑቕባሚካኤል ሰሚዖም መሪር ሓዘኖም ንምግላጽ ብኢንትርነት ይኹን ጽሑፋት ብምልኣኽ:ኣብታ ናይ መወዳእታ ካብዛ ግዜያዊት ዓለምና ንምፍናው ዝተገብረ ስነስርዓት ቀብሪ ካብ ኩሉ ኩርናዓት ዓለም ብኣካል ተረኺቦም መሪር ሓዘኖም ንምግላጽ ጥራሕ ዘይኮነስ ቅሰኑ ስውኣትና: ቅሰን: ቅሰን ስዩም ኣሰርካ ተኸቲልና ንዝተለምካዮን ዝሓንጸጽካዮን ሃገራዊ መደባት ክንቅጽሎ ኢና: ክንዕወት ኢና ብምባል: መብጸዐኦም ዘረጋገጹ ገዳይም ተጋደልትን ሓርበኛታትን ዓብይ ምስጋና የቕርብ::
ብምቕጻል ስውእ ስዩም ሓደ ካብቶም ውሑዳት መስረትን ዓንዲ ሕቆ ምጅማር ብረታዊ ቃልሲ ህዝቢ ኤረትራ ኮይኑ: ኣወንታዊን ኣድማዕን ግደ ዝተጻወተ ብምንባሩ: ኣብ ምጅማር ዚ መስርሕ እዚ ምስ ብጾት ስዩም ዑቕባ ሚካኤልን ወልደዳዊት ተመስገንን ተራኺብና ሓባራዊ መደባት ሓንጺጽና ዘይሕለል ነዊሕ ጉዕዞና ክንጅምር ዕድል ዝረኸብኩ ብምዃነይ: ዓብይ ኩርዓትን ሓበንን ይስማዓኒ::
ብጾት ስዩም ዑቕባሚካኤልን ወለደዳዊትን ነቲ ኣብ ይኒቨርስቲ ኣዲስ ኣበባ ትምህርቶም ናይ ምቕጻል ዕድል ረኺቦሞ ዝነበሩ ገዲፎም:ብልዑል ሃገራዊን ሰውራውን ስምዒታቶም ኣብቲ ዛጊት ተጀሚሩ ዝነበረ ብረታዊ ቃልሲ ህዝቢ ኤረትራ ኣወንታዉን ኣድማዕን ግደና ክንጻወት ንኽእል ኢና ብዝብል ሰውራዊ ሕልና ሒዞም ካብ ኣዲስ ኣበባ ተበጊሶም ብጎንደርን መተማን ዳሓር ብገዳርፍ ሱዳን ኣቢሎም ኣብ ወርሒ የካቲት ናይ 1965 ዓ.ን.ፈ ኣብ ከሰላ ክኣትዉ ከለዉ ምስ ቤት ጽሕፈት ውዱብ ተጋድሎ ሓርነት ኤረትራ ተራኺቦም ብኡ ንብኡ ምስ ብዙሓት ኤረትራውያን ኣኼባታት እናካየዱ ጽዑቕ ፖለቲካዊ ጎስጓስ ከምዝጀመሩ ይፍለጥ::
ኣብ ወርሒ ምያዝያን ጉንበትን ናይ 1965 ንሕሉፍ ተመክሮ ተጋድሎ ሓርነት ኤረትራ ንምግምጋምን ብሓዲሽ ኣገባብ ዳግመ ስርርዕ ምክያድን ዝዕላምኡ:ኣባላት ላዕላዋይ ባይቶን መራሕቲ ሓይልታትን ናይ ሓባር ሰፊሕ ኣኼባ ንምክያድ ኣብ ዝሻባሸብሉ ዝነበሩ ግዜ:ብጾት ስዩምን ወልደዳዊትን ኣብ ክውንነት ሕብረተሰብ ኤረትራን ናይቲ እዋን እቲ:ኣብ ህልዊ ፖለቲካዊ ኩነታትን ዝተሞርከሰ ኣብ መጻኢ ጉዕዞ ቃልሲ ዕዉት መታን ክኸዉን በየናይ ዝሓሸ ኣገባብ ክኸይድ ከምዘለዎ ዝእምት ሰፊሕ መጽናዕቲ ናብ ላዕለዋይ ባይቶ ብምቕራቦም ኣገዳስን መሳጥን ኮይኑ ስለ ዝተረኽበ: ኣብቲ ግዜ እቲ ተደላይነቶም ተራእዩ ኣብ ቃልሲ ግዴኦም ዓቢ ክኸዉን ይኽእል እዩ ኢሉ ተባሂሉ:ግምት እዉን ስለ ዝተዋህቦም:ኣብቲ ብመራሕቲ ሰውራ ዝተኻየደ ኣኼባ: ኤረትራ ናብ ኣርባዕተ ምምሕዳራዊ ክፍልታት ክትከፋፈል ከላ: ሳልስይቲ ክፍሊ ሓማሰን:ሰራየ:ኣኮሎጉዛይን:ዘጠቓልል ኮይኑ:ዓብደልከሪም ኣሕመድ ወታሃደራዊ መራሒ :ሓምድ ጅምዕ ምኽትሉ ክኾኑ እንከለዉ: ስዩም ዑቕባሚካኤል ፖለቲካዊ ኮሚሺነር: ሙሓመድ ብርሃን ብላታ ምኽትሉ ከምዝኾና ብኣባላት ላዕለዋይ ባይቶ ተገልጸልና::ብኡ ንብኡ ንኽፍልና ዝምልከት ናይ ወታሃደራውን ፖለቲካውን ናይ ክፍልና ሓለፍቲ ሓባራዊ ኣኼባታት ከነካይድ ከምዝጀመርና ይፍለጥ::
ወልደዳዊት ተመስገን ኣብታ ኣብ ከሰላ ዝመደበራ ሰውራዊት መሪሕነት ከም ካላኣይ ጸሓፊ ክኸዉን ተወሲኑ ብምንባሩ:ኣብ እነካይዶ ኣኼባታት ይሳተፍ ከምዝነበረ ይፍለጥ::
ዝሓንጸጽናዮን ዝተሰማማዕናሉን መደባት ንምትግባር ቀዳማይ ጉዕዞና ኣብ ከተማታት ከበሳ ኬድና ነቲ ስዩምን ወልደዳዊትን ምስ ካለኦት ብጾቶም ኣብ ኣስመራን ካለኦት ከተማታትን ጀሚሮሞ ዝነበሩ ናይ ተማሃሮ ምስጢራዊ ስርርዕ ብሓደ ወገን :በቲ ካልእ ነቲ ኣነን ሓው ሙሓመድ ኢስማዒል ዓብዱን ሓደ ካብቶም ኣብ ምምስራትን ምውዳብን ውድብ ተጋድሎ ሓርነት ኤረትራ ዓቢ ተራ ዝነበሮ ከምኡ እውን ኣባል ኣብ ከሰላ ዝመደበራ ሰውራዊት መሪሕነት ዝነበረ: ኣብዚ ግዜ እዚ ሓደ ካብቶም መራሕቲ ናይ ኤረትራዊ እስላማዊ ሰልፊ ንፍትሕን ልምዓትን ዝኾነ: ነቲ ክልተና ኣቐዲምና ኣብ ወርሒ ጥሪ ናይ 1965 ብላዕለዋይ ባይቶ ዝተዋህበና ናይ ከተማታት መደብ ስራሕ ንኤረትራ ኣቲና ኣስታት ሰለስተ ወርሒ ዝወሰደ ናይ ተጋድሎ ሓርነት ኤረትራ ስርርዕ ኣዕቢናን ኣሓይልናን ጸብጻብና ናብ ላዕለዋይ ባይቶ ኣቕሪብና ስለ ዝነበርና:ነዚ ኣብ ግምት ብምእታው: ኣነን ስዩምን ወልደዳዊትን ሓዲሽ መደብ ስራሕ ሒዝና ኣብ ወርሒ ሓምለ ናይ 1965 ዓ/ፈረንጂ ካብ ካሰላ ጉዕዞና ጀመርና::ድሕሪ ናይ ሰለስተ መዓልቲ ዝወሰደ መንገዲ ኣብ ከተማ ኣቑርዳት ምስ ኣተና ኣብኡ ዝነበሩ ካብቶም ናይ ተጋድሎ ሓርነት ኤረትራ ላዕለዎት ሓለፍቲ ስዉእ ማሕሙድ መሓመድ ሳልሕን ስውእ ሳልሕ መሓመድ ስዒድን ተራኺብና ምስኦም ናይ ምውህሃድ ርክብ መደብ ስራሕ ድሕሪ ምክያድ: ኣነ ኣብ ኣስመራ ጸኒሐ መታን ክቕበሎም ኣቒዲመ ተበገስኩ: ንጽባሒቱ ንሶም እዉን ኣርከቡኒ::
ንሶም ብሎተሪና ተበጊሶም ስለዝነበሩ ኣብ ፎረብያ ምስ በጽሑ ስውእ መድ ብርሃን ነጋሽ ተቐቢሉ ናብቲ ተጋድሎ ሓርነት ኤረትራ ተኻርያቶ ዝነበረት ኣብ ገዛ ብርሃኑ ብእንዳ ኣማን ጦቓሮ ዝፍለጥ ከምጾኦም ከሎ ኣብኡ ምስ ስውእ ስራጅ ኣሕመድ ጸኒሕና ተቐበልናዮም::ግዜ ከይወሰድና ኣብ መደባት ስራሕና ምስራዕ ኣቶና::ካብ ከሰላ ልዕሊ 15 ዝኾኑ መብዛሕተኦም ክቃለሱ ዝመጹ ተማሃሮ ክታሓባበሩና ኣቐዲምና ኣእቲናዮም ስለ ዝነበርና ንደልዮም ሰባት ንምርካብ ኣየጸገመናን::ኣብቲ እዋን እቲ መብዛሕተኦም ብጾት ስዩምን ወልደዳዊትን ተማሃሮ ንዓመታዊ ዕርፍቲ ካብ ኣዲስ ኣበባ መጺኦም ስለዝነበሩ ናይ ተማሃሮን ሰራሕተኛታትን ኣኼባ ከነካይድ ጀመርና: ኣብቲ ኣኼባ ዝሳተፉ ዝነበሩ ብወገነይ ዝዝክሮም ንምጥቃስ ወልደየሱስ ዓማር: ዓብደላ ሓሰን: ሃይለ ወልደትንሳኤ:(ድሩዕ) ኤሰያስ ኣፎርቂ: ዓብዱራሕማን ምህሪ: ገረዝጊሄር ተወልደ: ዓብደልዋሃብ ፍትዊ: ሙሴ ተስፋ ሚካኤል: ሙሓመድ ፊተራሪ ዘይኑ: ስራጅ ኣሕመድ: ተስፋይ ገብረስላሰ: ሚከኤል ጋብር:ጃዕፈር ሙሓመድ:ገረዝጊሄርን ካለኦትን ከምዝነበሩ ይፍለጥ::ድሕሪ ናይ ክልተ ሰሙን ዘካየድናዮ ዕዉት ኣኼባታት ዘይተጸበናዮ ኣብ ግምትና እውን ዘይነበረ ሓደ ምሉ ዝተባህለ ካብ ኣዲስ ኣበባ ናብ ከረን መጺኡ ብመምህር ዑቕባንኪኤል ሓደ ካብቶም ሓለፍቲ ስርርዕ ተጋድሎ ሓርነት ኤረትራ ኣብ ከረን ዝነበረ ናብ መሪሒነት ደብዳቤ ተጻሒፍሉ ናብ ከሰላ ዝመጸ ምሳይን ምስ ሙሓመድ ኢስማዒል ዓብዱን ኣብ ናይ ዜናን ኣብቲ ኣብ ወርሓት 11.12 ን ናይ 1964 ኣብ ከተማታት ሱዳን ቀዳርፍ:መደኒ:ዶማዚን ሩሰርስ:ካርቱም ንኤረትራዊያን ፖለቲካዊ ጎስጓስ ዝምልከት ዑደት ኣካዪድና ብምንባርና ካብዚ ብምብጋስ: ምሉ ምስ ኣብ ከሰላ ዝመደበራ ሰውራዊት መሪሒነት ከምተሓጋጋዚ ኮይኑ ይዋሳእ ስለ ዝነበረ ኩሉ እቲ ዝሓንጸጽናዮ መደባትና ክፈልጦ ኣየጸገሞን::ብድሕሬና ነዊሕ ከይጸነሐ ናብ ጸላኢ ኢዱ ስለ ዝሃበ: ኣብ ኣስመራ ብላዕለዎት ሓለፍቲ ዝተሰነዩ ናይ ስሮዓት ኢትዮፒያ ሰለይቲ ኣጽዒቖም ክፍትሹና ጀመሩ::ኣብ ውሽጢ እቲ ስርዓት ዝነበሩ ዉፉያት ስሩዓትና ምሉ ከም ዝሰለመ ኣብ ሓደጋ ከምዘለና ሓበሩና::ንሕና ግን ከይሰንበድና ካብቲ ዝነበርናዮ ገዛ ብለይቲ ናብ ኪዳነ ምህረት መንበሪ ስዉእ ስራጅ ኣሕመድ ጊዒዝና ስራሕና ብምቕጻል ዕዉት መደባትና ኣሳለጥና::እንተኾነ ካሓዲ ምሉ ኣቐዲሙ ናይ ግርማይ ዮሴፍ ሓደ ካብቶም ኣእቲናዮም ዝነበርና ተማሃሮ ምሉእ ኣድራሻኡ ወሲዱ ስለ ዝነበረ ናብ ገዝኡ ከይዱ ምስ ጸላኢ ዝኾነ ርኽክብ ከምዘይብሉ ብምምሳል ኣታሊሉ ናብቲ ቦታ ስዩምን ወልደ ዳዊትን ዝነበርዎ ገዛ መሪሑ ስለ ዘምጸኦም ብርሑቕ ክከታተልዎ ዝጸንሑ ናይ ኢትዮፒያ ወታሃደራዊ ሰለይቲ ኣኽቢቦም ኣብ ትሕቲ ቀይዲ ከእትውዎም ዕድል ረኸቡ::
ኣነ ኣቐዲመ ናይ ስርርዕ መደባት ሒዘ ኣብ መንደፈራን ከባቢኣን ንጥፈታት ኣብ ዘካይደሉ ዝነበርኩ ግዜ እዮም ተታሒዞም::
ሓለፍቲ ስሩዓትና ከምዝተታሕዙ ምስ ፈለጡ ብቑልጡፍ ሓቤረታ ስለ ዘመሓላለፉልና ክንጥንቀቕ ኪኢልና::
ድሕሪ ቅሩብ መዓልታት ኩነታት ኣባላትና ብቐረባ ንምፍላጥን ምትብባዖምን:ዘፍርሕ ናይ ሓደጋ ኩነታት እንታሃልዩ እዉን ካልእ ኣማራጺ ንምርኣይ ናብ ኣስመራ ከምንኣቱ ተጌሩ:በቶም ኣብ ዝተፈላለየ ኣብያተ ጽሕፈታት መንግስቲ ኢትዮፒያ ዝነብሩ ስሩዓትናን ኣብ ፖሊስ ኤረትራ ዝነበሩ ላዕለዎት መኮኖናት ኣባላትናን ኩነታት ናይቶም ዝተታሕዙ ክንፈልጥ ፊቲንና: እንተኾነ ኣብ ትሕቲ ወተሃደራዊ ጸትታ ኢትዮፒያ ብጽኑዕ ተታሒዞም ስለ ዝነበሩ ኣይተኻእለን::
ድሕሪ ገለ መዓልታት ኣነን ዓብደልውሃብ ፍትውን በታ ኣብ መዓልታዊ ንጥፈታትና ንጥቀመላ ዝነበርና ናይ ውፉያት ኣባላትና ማለት ናይ ዓብደሰላም ዓብደላ ሑሩዩን: ሕሩይ ዓብደላ ሕሩይን መኪና ብሕቡእ ናብ ከባቢ መንደፈራ ከምዘብጽሑና ተጌሩ::ካብኡ ናብቲ ክፍልና ሳልሰይቲ ክፍሊ ናይ ሓይልታት ልምምድን ዳግመ ስርርዕን ተካይደሉ ዝነበረት ቦታ ከባቢ ዓዲ ኩኩይ ባርካ ላዕላይ ብሰላም ኣብ ብጾትና ተጸንበርና::
ስዩምን ወልደ ዳዊትን ስራጅ ኣሕመድን ምስ ካለኦት ዋላ ይታኣሰሩ ነቲ ብዝላዓለ ሕልና ኣበጊሶሞ ዝነበሩ ዓበይቲ መደባትን ሰውራዊ ዕማምን በቲ ካብ ጸላኢ ዝወርዶም ዝነበረ ከቢድ ማህሰይቲን ስቓይን ከይራዓዱ ኣብ ውሽጢ ማእሰርቲ ኮይኖም ንጥፈታቶም ቀጸልዎ::
ንቡዙሓት ዱጋና: ፖሊስ እናወደቡ ምስጢራዊ መምሪሒታት እናሃቡ ብኦም ኣቢሎም እዉን ኣብ ተማሃሮ ይኹን ሰራሕተኛታት እቲ ምውዳብ ከምዝዓብን ዘስፋሕፍሕን ኮይኑ::ኣነ ምኽትል ናይ ስዩም ስለ ዝነበርኩ ከም ፖለቲካዊ ኮሚሺነር ናይ ሳልሰይቲ ክፍሊ ኮይነ ስለ ዝቐጸልኩ ነቲ ብሓባር ዝሓንጸጽናዮን ዘበገስናዮን መደባት ከይተኾልፈ ንሓቦኦምን ተፈዋይነቶምን ከምመምርሕን ኣብነትን ብምውሳድ ብጽንዓት ክንቃለስ ኣኽኢሉና እዩ::
ካብታ ዝተኣሰሩላ መወዳእታ ናይ ወርሒ ነሓሰ 1965: ተጋድሎ ሓርነት ኤረትራ ኣብ መላእ ሃገር ብተግባር ህላውነታን ዕብየታን ናይ ምርግጋጽ ምልክት ኣብ 1975 ተጋድሎ ሓርነት ኤረትራ ካብ ቀንዲ መደበራት ጸላኢ ካብ ኣብያተ ማእሰርቲ ኣስመራን ዓዲዃላን ብቐትሪ ብኣሻሓት ዝቑጸሩ ፖለትካዊያን እሱራት ከተውጹእ ምኽኣላ ብቑዕ ምስክር እዩ::
ስዩምን ወልደዳዊትን ኣብ ማእከሎም ኮይኖም ኣሎናልኪ ኤርትራ እናበሎ ምስ ዓቢ ሞራሎም ምስቶም ብመንፈስ ዘይኮነስ ብኣካል ንኣስታት ዓሰርተ ዓመት ተፈልየሞም ዝነበሩ ተጋደልቲ ብጾቶም ተጸንበሩ::
ኣነን ብጻይ ሕሩይ ተላባይሩን ኣባላት ሰውራዊ ባይቶ ተጋድሎ ሓርነት ኤረትራ ስለ ዝነበርና ብመሪሕነት ደረጃ ኣብ ከባቢ ዓዲ ንኣምን ክንቅብሎም ከለና ናይታ ሰዓት እቲኣ ተረኽቦ ኣብ ኣእምሮይን ህዋሳተይን እንዳዘንበየ ክሳብ ሕጂ ኣይክወለንን::
ስዩም ድሕሪ ናይ 41 ዓመት ዘካየዶ ዕቱብ ቃልሲ ክስዋእ ከሎ ኣነ ኣብ ስነ ስርዓት ቀብሩ ኣብ መንጎ ክብርቲ በዓልቲ ቤቱን ሽድሽተ ደቁን ካለኦት ገዳይም ተጋደልቲ ብጾተይ ብዓሚቕ ሓዘን ከነፋንዉ ከለና ንሰውራዊ ተዘክሮታተይ ኣበራበሮ::
ስዩም ምስቶም ብኣማእታት ኣሻሓት ዝኸፈልናዮም ጀጋኑ ስውኣትና:ሓንትን ናይ ዘልኣለም ትምኒቶምን ሕድሮምን ልኡላውነት ኤርትራ ተረጋጊጹ ኣብ ኤርትራ ሓቀኛ ደሞክራሲን ማሕበራዊ ፍትሕን: ህዝቢ ብድልየቱ ዝተቐበሎ ብቅዋማዊ ስርዓት እትማሓደር ሓዳሽ ኢርትራ ንምትካል እዩ ኔሩ::ካብዚ ሓቅታት ዚ ብምብጋስ ነዚ ንሃገርና ዘንጸላልዋ ዘሎ ናይ ምፍትታን ሓደጋ ግምት ብምሃብ ታሪኻዊ ሓላፍነትና ፈሊጥና ንድሕነት ሃገር ክንሰርሕ ይጽውዕ::
ዘልኣለማዊ ክብርን ዝኽርን ንሰማእታትና:
ደሞክራሲያዉን ቅዋማዉን ስርዓት ንምትካል:
ከይታሓለልና ክንቃልስ ኢና::
Friday, January 13, 2006
As Eritrea suffers, the world looks away By Neil Skene
Matthewos sensed the danger. When last I saw him, in April 2001, he handed me his photograph. "Just in case," he said.
I dismissed the concern. It was a cheery spring day in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. Matthewos Habteab was the editor of Meqaleh, one of nearly a dozen newspapers that had sprung up over the previous four years. The young country had passed a constitution and elected as president the guerrilla hero who had won Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia. Even U.S. first lady Hillary Clinton had come to visit. The people, including the journalists, were loyal and hopeful when I first visited in October 1999.
But the promising future didn't happen.
Today Matthewos and 13 other journalists are in their fourth year in prison somewhere in Eritrea - the location undisclosed, charges unfiled, hearings unheld, families unwelcome. The journalists were rounded up and their papers shut down on Sept. 18, 2001, just a week after the 9/11 attacks in the United States. The warrior-president, Isaias Afewerki, embraced tyranny while the world was looking elsewhere.
The arrests of others followed within weeks: 11 prominent Eritreans who had drafted a protest of the government's failure to implement the country's constitution; two Eritreans employed by the U.S. Embassy; and about 200 Christians, many of them members of Jehovah's Witnesses, in a crackdown on those practicing outside the four sanctioned faiths. Some of the Christians arrested "reportedly have been subjected to severe torture and pressured to renounce their faith," says John Hanford, U.S. ambassador for international religious freedom. They're all still in prison.
"It is not only the arrest of 14 (journalists). It is the complete arrest of public expression and ideas," says Haileab Kidane, a founder of the newspaper Admas, who left the country in time and now lives in Pretoria, South Africa.
So why don't we do anything? Because President Isaias plays to U.S. priorities. Eritrea is important "to stem the presence and influence of terrorism in the Horn of Africa," says the State Department.
The department has issued a grand total of one news release specifically about Eritrea in the last three years. It said this: "Eritrea is committed to fighting global terrorism, and it has been a solid partner with the United States in that battle in the past. Eritrea was one of the first nations to sign on as part of the Coalition of the Willing (in Iraq)."
While our government says it has warned Eritrea of possible cuts in U.S. aid because of the oppression, nothing has happened.
So tyranny and brutality in out-of-the-way places are as ignored today as the genocide in Rwanda was so famously ignored by the Clinton administration a decade ago.
The film Hotel Rwanda, now in theaters, tells the story of a gentle manager of an elegant hotel whose courage saved hundreds of Tutsis from massacre by Hutus in Rwanda. But individual acts of courage happen all over Africa. Visit the now-empty political prison off the coast of Cape Town in South Africa where Nelson Mandela was in prison. It was filled with people, many of them just unheralded foot soldiers in the struggle against apartheid. In all directions from Rwanda - from South Africa to Liberia, from Sudan to the Ivory Coast - everywhere are stories of individuals who risked their lives for the cause of freedom.
But America remains on the periphery.
Even today in Sudan's genocide, American aid consists of supplies and peace talks. No American is standing guard on behalf of those under attack, the role that the heroic Rwandan hotel manager, Paul Rusesabagina, so desperately and unsuccessfully sought from the U.N. commander in Rwanda. It is startling, in the Rwanda film, that the one person outside Rwanda who seems to care enough to do something is the president of Belgium's Sabena Airlines, who uses his influence to get the French to stop the machete assault on the people at Sabena's Hotel Mille Collines.
As for Eritrea, thousands are trying to leave every day, Haileab tells me in an e-mail. But not every country welcomes them. Despite a plea from the U.N. Human Rights Commission that countries not deport Eritreans even if asylum is denied, Libya put 76 Eritrean exiles on a cargo plane home last August. Desperate, the Eritreans used knives to hijack the plane - to Sudan, of all places, where they turned themselves over to authorities and sought asylum. Sudan, according to Amnesty International, has already tried and convicted 15 of them and sentenced them to five years in prison, followed by deportation.
Press freedom organizations have appealed unsuccessfully for the journalists' release. The ejection of a BBC and Reuters correspondent three months ago prompted the activist group Reporters Without Borders in Paris to brand Eritrea "Africa's biggest prison for journalists."
On Dec. 7, the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum in Paris sought the release of Dawit Isaac, who returned to Eritrea from Sweden in 1996 to establish the Setit newspaper. Setit may have inspired the crackdown with its call for democracy in the fall of 2000.
The Eritrean journalists came from other jobs to start their newspapers in the late 1990s. They had little experience but a lot of enthusiasm. Many of them came to a series of seminars I taught in Asmara starting in 1999 on the basics of journalism: finding story ideas, interviewing, writing well and developing critical editorials.
On a Friday night at the end of the first session, four of the editors took me to dinner. They chose their favorite spicy national dishes, such as lamb, and we drank and laughed and told stories.
Matthewos was one of them. Another was Yousef Mohamed Ali, once a fighter for Eritrean freedom and later chief editor of Tsigenay, who was part of a roundup of eight journalists in October 2000. Yousef was tortured, but he returned to his newspaper and was in my last seminar in April 2001. He is in prison with the others now.
Two others who were at that dinner escaped before the 2001 roundup.
One, Milkias Mihretab, editor of Keste Debena, had also been detained in that first roundup. This time he escaped through Sudan, made his way to the United States, gained asylum and started a paper in Tigrinya, the native language.
Khaled Abdu, editor of Admas, also escaped and is in Sweden, still seeking asylum. He and Aaron Berhane of Setit, another seminar participant who escaped, have received Hellman/Hammitt awards from Human Rights Watch, given to persecuted writers around the world.
Others from my seminars are among those in prison: Amanuel Asrat, chief editor of Zemen; Temesgen Gebreyesus of Keste Debena; Said Abdulkadir of Admas; Semret Seyum of Setit; and Dawit Habtemichael of Meqaleh.
Matthewos was not the only one who had sensed danger. But the journalists kept doing their work. They sacrificed their own freedom in a desire to tell the truth and make their country a real democracy. The rest of the world has barely noticed.
Neil Skene, a lawyer and writer living in Tallahassee and former editor of Congressional Quarterly in Washington, taught journalism programs in Eritrea on three trips from 1999-2001 on grants from the U.S. State Department. He taught similar programs in Swaziland and South Africa last year.
NB: This article was written last year on January 2005 since then Journalist Khaled Abdu has been granted refugee status in Sweden.
I dismissed the concern. It was a cheery spring day in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. Matthewos Habteab was the editor of Meqaleh, one of nearly a dozen newspapers that had sprung up over the previous four years. The young country had passed a constitution and elected as president the guerrilla hero who had won Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia. Even U.S. first lady Hillary Clinton had come to visit. The people, including the journalists, were loyal and hopeful when I first visited in October 1999.
But the promising future didn't happen.
Today Matthewos and 13 other journalists are in their fourth year in prison somewhere in Eritrea - the location undisclosed, charges unfiled, hearings unheld, families unwelcome. The journalists were rounded up and their papers shut down on Sept. 18, 2001, just a week after the 9/11 attacks in the United States. The warrior-president, Isaias Afewerki, embraced tyranny while the world was looking elsewhere.
The arrests of others followed within weeks: 11 prominent Eritreans who had drafted a protest of the government's failure to implement the country's constitution; two Eritreans employed by the U.S. Embassy; and about 200 Christians, many of them members of Jehovah's Witnesses, in a crackdown on those practicing outside the four sanctioned faiths. Some of the Christians arrested "reportedly have been subjected to severe torture and pressured to renounce their faith," says John Hanford, U.S. ambassador for international religious freedom. They're all still in prison.
"It is not only the arrest of 14 (journalists). It is the complete arrest of public expression and ideas," says Haileab Kidane, a founder of the newspaper Admas, who left the country in time and now lives in Pretoria, South Africa.
So why don't we do anything? Because President Isaias plays to U.S. priorities. Eritrea is important "to stem the presence and influence of terrorism in the Horn of Africa," says the State Department.
The department has issued a grand total of one news release specifically about Eritrea in the last three years. It said this: "Eritrea is committed to fighting global terrorism, and it has been a solid partner with the United States in that battle in the past. Eritrea was one of the first nations to sign on as part of the Coalition of the Willing (in Iraq)."
While our government says it has warned Eritrea of possible cuts in U.S. aid because of the oppression, nothing has happened.
So tyranny and brutality in out-of-the-way places are as ignored today as the genocide in Rwanda was so famously ignored by the Clinton administration a decade ago.
The film Hotel Rwanda, now in theaters, tells the story of a gentle manager of an elegant hotel whose courage saved hundreds of Tutsis from massacre by Hutus in Rwanda. But individual acts of courage happen all over Africa. Visit the now-empty political prison off the coast of Cape Town in South Africa where Nelson Mandela was in prison. It was filled with people, many of them just unheralded foot soldiers in the struggle against apartheid. In all directions from Rwanda - from South Africa to Liberia, from Sudan to the Ivory Coast - everywhere are stories of individuals who risked their lives for the cause of freedom.
But America remains on the periphery.
Even today in Sudan's genocide, American aid consists of supplies and peace talks. No American is standing guard on behalf of those under attack, the role that the heroic Rwandan hotel manager, Paul Rusesabagina, so desperately and unsuccessfully sought from the U.N. commander in Rwanda. It is startling, in the Rwanda film, that the one person outside Rwanda who seems to care enough to do something is the president of Belgium's Sabena Airlines, who uses his influence to get the French to stop the machete assault on the people at Sabena's Hotel Mille Collines.
As for Eritrea, thousands are trying to leave every day, Haileab tells me in an e-mail. But not every country welcomes them. Despite a plea from the U.N. Human Rights Commission that countries not deport Eritreans even if asylum is denied, Libya put 76 Eritrean exiles on a cargo plane home last August. Desperate, the Eritreans used knives to hijack the plane - to Sudan, of all places, where they turned themselves over to authorities and sought asylum. Sudan, according to Amnesty International, has already tried and convicted 15 of them and sentenced them to five years in prison, followed by deportation.
Press freedom organizations have appealed unsuccessfully for the journalists' release. The ejection of a BBC and Reuters correspondent three months ago prompted the activist group Reporters Without Borders in Paris to brand Eritrea "Africa's biggest prison for journalists."
On Dec. 7, the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum in Paris sought the release of Dawit Isaac, who returned to Eritrea from Sweden in 1996 to establish the Setit newspaper. Setit may have inspired the crackdown with its call for democracy in the fall of 2000.
The Eritrean journalists came from other jobs to start their newspapers in the late 1990s. They had little experience but a lot of enthusiasm. Many of them came to a series of seminars I taught in Asmara starting in 1999 on the basics of journalism: finding story ideas, interviewing, writing well and developing critical editorials.
On a Friday night at the end of the first session, four of the editors took me to dinner. They chose their favorite spicy national dishes, such as lamb, and we drank and laughed and told stories.
Matthewos was one of them. Another was Yousef Mohamed Ali, once a fighter for Eritrean freedom and later chief editor of Tsigenay, who was part of a roundup of eight journalists in October 2000. Yousef was tortured, but he returned to his newspaper and was in my last seminar in April 2001. He is in prison with the others now.
Two others who were at that dinner escaped before the 2001 roundup.
One, Milkias Mihretab, editor of Keste Debena, had also been detained in that first roundup. This time he escaped through Sudan, made his way to the United States, gained asylum and started a paper in Tigrinya, the native language.
Khaled Abdu, editor of Admas, also escaped and is in Sweden, still seeking asylum. He and Aaron Berhane of Setit, another seminar participant who escaped, have received Hellman/Hammitt awards from Human Rights Watch, given to persecuted writers around the world.
Others from my seminars are among those in prison: Amanuel Asrat, chief editor of Zemen; Temesgen Gebreyesus of Keste Debena; Said Abdulkadir of Admas; Semret Seyum of Setit; and Dawit Habtemichael of Meqaleh.
Matthewos was not the only one who had sensed danger. But the journalists kept doing their work. They sacrificed their own freedom in a desire to tell the truth and make their country a real democracy. The rest of the world has barely noticed.
Neil Skene, a lawyer and writer living in Tallahassee and former editor of Congressional Quarterly in Washington, taught journalism programs in Eritrea on three trips from 1999-2001 on grants from the U.S. State Department. He taught similar programs in Swaziland and South Africa last year.
NB: This article was written last year on January 2005 since then Journalist Khaled Abdu has been granted refugee status in Sweden.
Nordiskt uttalande om Etiopien och Eritrea
UttalandeUtrikesdepartementet 13 januari 2006
Laila Freivalds, Utrikesminister
I samband med det pågående nordisk-afrikanska utrikesministermötet i Benin 12-14 januari 2006, har de nordiska länderna gjort ett gemensamt uttalande om gränskonflikten mellan Etiopien och Eritrea (på engelska).
Statement by the Nordic Countries on the Ethiopia/Eritrea Border Conflict
In conjunction with the ongoing Nordic-African Foreign Ministers meeting in Cotonou, Benin, the Nordic countries make the following statement on the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea.The Nordic countries are deeply concerned with the current stalemate and the increased tensions in the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which continues to hamper the potential for peace and security, development and poverty reduction in the two countries.
We urge Ethiopia and Eritrea to engage constructively in finding a sustainable solution to the conflict.The Nordic countries welcome the ongoing discussions in the UN Security Council as well as the Security Council resolution 1640, which calls on both parties to work, without preconditions, to break the current stalemate through diplomatic efforts.In particular we demand that Ethiopia accept fully and without further delay the final and binding decision of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission and take immediate steps to enable, without preconditions, the Commission to demarcate the border completely. At the same time we demand Eritrea to withdraw, without delay, its restrictions on UNMEE.
The Nordic countries urged Ethiopia and Eritrea to take full advantage of the active involvement of the international community to defuse tensions.
The Nordic countries - with its long history of close friendship with Eritrea and Ethiopia - express its commitment to continue to stay engaged with both countries.
Cotonou, Benin, 12 January 2006
Laila Freivalds, Utrikesminister
I samband med det pågående nordisk-afrikanska utrikesministermötet i Benin 12-14 januari 2006, har de nordiska länderna gjort ett gemensamt uttalande om gränskonflikten mellan Etiopien och Eritrea (på engelska).
Statement by the Nordic Countries on the Ethiopia/Eritrea Border Conflict
In conjunction with the ongoing Nordic-African Foreign Ministers meeting in Cotonou, Benin, the Nordic countries make the following statement on the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea.The Nordic countries are deeply concerned with the current stalemate and the increased tensions in the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which continues to hamper the potential for peace and security, development and poverty reduction in the two countries.
We urge Ethiopia and Eritrea to engage constructively in finding a sustainable solution to the conflict.The Nordic countries welcome the ongoing discussions in the UN Security Council as well as the Security Council resolution 1640, which calls on both parties to work, without preconditions, to break the current stalemate through diplomatic efforts.In particular we demand that Ethiopia accept fully and without further delay the final and binding decision of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission and take immediate steps to enable, without preconditions, the Commission to demarcate the border completely. At the same time we demand Eritrea to withdraw, without delay, its restrictions on UNMEE.
The Nordic countries urged Ethiopia and Eritrea to take full advantage of the active involvement of the international community to defuse tensions.
The Nordic countries - with its long history of close friendship with Eritrea and Ethiopia - express its commitment to continue to stay engaged with both countries.
Cotonou, Benin, 12 January 2006
Eritrea grumbles about 'legality' of US mission
Nairobi, Kenya
12 January 2006 01:31
Eritrea on Thursday said it doubted the "legality and political relevance" of a United States diplomatic mission being sent by Washington to ease simmering border tensions between it and Ethiopia.
In a statement published on the information ministry website, Asmara said it would only welcome initiatives that force its arch-rival neighbour to accept a binding 2002 border demarcation that resulted from a peace deal that ended their bloody 1998-2000 war.
"Now, when almost four years have elapsed, the government of Eritrea cannot countenance... other 'diplomatic' efforts or 'mechanisms' that will substitute legality, the respect of the rule of law and the implementation of final and binding decisions," it said.
"The government of Eritrea reaffirms again that such endeavours will only entail further delay and suffering and will not consequently have any legality and political relevance," the statement said.
The ministry maintained that Eritrea would recognise initiatives "focused at bringing about an appropriate resolution to the fundamental issue" but gave no indication that that upcoming US mission would meet that criteria.
Eritrea has repeatedly warned that new conflict is looming because of the stalemate and has harshly criticised the United Nations and major world powers for allowing Ethiopia to maintain its stance.
The United States said this week that Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer and retired marine general Carlton Fulford would visit Addis Ababa and Asmara by mid-January in a bid to jumpstart efforts on implementing the border demarcation.
The US announcement came as the United Nations Security Council weighs options for the future of its peacekeeping mission on the border which has been severely hampered by restrictions slapped on it by Eritrea.
Asmara has not responded to council threats to impose sanctions on it unless the restrictions are lifted.Asmara imposed the restrictions on the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), which include a ban on helicopter flights and the expulsion of UNMEE's North American and European personnel, in response to what it believes is the world body's refusal to force Addis Ababa to accept the delineation.
Ethiopia has demanded revisions to the border ruling from an international panel despite agreeing to accept its decision when it signed the peace accord that ended the 1998-2000 war that claimed about 80 000 lives.
In recent months, tensions have soared along the border with UNMEE reporting troop movements on both sides, although on Wednesday it said the situation had calmed slightly. - Sapa-AFP
12 January 2006 01:31
Eritrea on Thursday said it doubted the "legality and political relevance" of a United States diplomatic mission being sent by Washington to ease simmering border tensions between it and Ethiopia.
In a statement published on the information ministry website, Asmara said it would only welcome initiatives that force its arch-rival neighbour to accept a binding 2002 border demarcation that resulted from a peace deal that ended their bloody 1998-2000 war.
"Now, when almost four years have elapsed, the government of Eritrea cannot countenance... other 'diplomatic' efforts or 'mechanisms' that will substitute legality, the respect of the rule of law and the implementation of final and binding decisions," it said.
"The government of Eritrea reaffirms again that such endeavours will only entail further delay and suffering and will not consequently have any legality and political relevance," the statement said.
The ministry maintained that Eritrea would recognise initiatives "focused at bringing about an appropriate resolution to the fundamental issue" but gave no indication that that upcoming US mission would meet that criteria.
Eritrea has repeatedly warned that new conflict is looming because of the stalemate and has harshly criticised the United Nations and major world powers for allowing Ethiopia to maintain its stance.
The United States said this week that Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer and retired marine general Carlton Fulford would visit Addis Ababa and Asmara by mid-January in a bid to jumpstart efforts on implementing the border demarcation.
The US announcement came as the United Nations Security Council weighs options for the future of its peacekeeping mission on the border which has been severely hampered by restrictions slapped on it by Eritrea.
Asmara has not responded to council threats to impose sanctions on it unless the restrictions are lifted.Asmara imposed the restrictions on the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), which include a ban on helicopter flights and the expulsion of UNMEE's North American and European personnel, in response to what it believes is the world body's refusal to force Addis Ababa to accept the delineation.
Ethiopia has demanded revisions to the border ruling from an international panel despite agreeing to accept its decision when it signed the peace accord that ended the 1998-2000 war that claimed about 80 000 lives.
In recent months, tensions have soared along the border with UNMEE reporting troop movements on both sides, although on Wednesday it said the situation had calmed slightly. - Sapa-AFP
Thursday, January 12, 2006
ETHIOPIA-ERITREA: Less tension on disputed border, says UNMEE
ADDIS ABABA, 11 January (IRIN) - Tension along the disputed Ethiopia-Eritrea border has eased following the withdrawal of eight Ethiopian troop divisions from the frontier, a senior United Nations official said on Wednesday.
"We have had some reduction in tension because the force levels on the border have reduced," said Maj-Gen Rajender Singh, troop commander for the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).
"I am not saying that there are no tensions," he told a news conference. "[But] there was not a formation of military build-ups, no tanks or heavy artillery movement observed in the previous days."
On Monday, the United States launched a diplomatic initiative to encourage the two neighbours to demarcate their contested border, where both countries have massed troops.
John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, said Washington was sending a team to try and resolve the current standoff, which had reached a "critical point".
He said Jendayi Frazer, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, and retired Marine Gen Carlton Fulford, director of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, would lead the team. However, no date was announced for their travel.
UNMEE welcomed the US initiative. "I believe it [the US mission] is a chance for peace, and I expect the parties to contribute to that," said Azouz Ennifar, deputy head of the UN peacekeeping force.
Demarcation of the Ethiopia-Eritrea border was a key element of the December 2000 peace deal that ended their two-year conflict. Ethiopia has refused to implement certain conditions that would involve handing over the border town of Badme - where the war flared up - to Eritrea.
The Security Council on Monday discussed options for UNMEE in the face of the restrictions by Eritrea, which is angered by what it says is the reluctance of the international community to compel Ethiopia to comply with the stalled April 2002 border ruling.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan last week laid out six options to the Council, including the complete withdrawal of UNMEE from the demilitarised zone between the two countries.
Eritrea criticised Annan's report. "The sad truth is all this commotion could have been avoided and prevented had Ethiopia honoured its treaty obligations and had the UN Security Council shouldered its responsibilities," its foreign affairs ministry said in a statement.
Ethiopian authorities were not immediately available for comment.
"We have had some reduction in tension because the force levels on the border have reduced," said Maj-Gen Rajender Singh, troop commander for the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).
"I am not saying that there are no tensions," he told a news conference. "[But] there was not a formation of military build-ups, no tanks or heavy artillery movement observed in the previous days."
On Monday, the United States launched a diplomatic initiative to encourage the two neighbours to demarcate their contested border, where both countries have massed troops.
John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, said Washington was sending a team to try and resolve the current standoff, which had reached a "critical point".
He said Jendayi Frazer, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, and retired Marine Gen Carlton Fulford, director of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, would lead the team. However, no date was announced for their travel.
UNMEE welcomed the US initiative. "I believe it [the US mission] is a chance for peace, and I expect the parties to contribute to that," said Azouz Ennifar, deputy head of the UN peacekeeping force.
Demarcation of the Ethiopia-Eritrea border was a key element of the December 2000 peace deal that ended their two-year conflict. Ethiopia has refused to implement certain conditions that would involve handing over the border town of Badme - where the war flared up - to Eritrea.
The Security Council on Monday discussed options for UNMEE in the face of the restrictions by Eritrea, which is angered by what it says is the reluctance of the international community to compel Ethiopia to comply with the stalled April 2002 border ruling.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan last week laid out six options to the Council, including the complete withdrawal of UNMEE from the demilitarised zone between the two countries.
Eritrea criticised Annan's report. "The sad truth is all this commotion could have been avoided and prevented had Ethiopia honoured its treaty obligations and had the UN Security Council shouldered its responsibilities," its foreign affairs ministry said in a statement.
Ethiopian authorities were not immediately available for comment.
ERITREA: ITALIAN OFFICIAL SLAMS SITUATION
Rome, 11 Jan. (AKI) - Italian foreign affairs undersecretary, Alfredo Mantica, has denounced the policies of the government of Eritrea, but says Italy will oppose moves to isolate the East African nation internationally. Mantica, in an interview published on Wednesday by the Catholic daily, Avvenire, said that Italy "cannot pretend not to see" what is happening in Eritrea, where the "choices made by the president, Isaias Afewerki, are impoverishing half of the country to below subsistence levels.""Objectively, since 1998, the situation [in Eritrea] has worsened from an institutional perspective, in human rights and democratic and religious freedoms," Mantica was quoted as saying."We are concerned that those subjected to [the Eritrean government's] choices, are the Eritrean people, but the government will pay the consequences," said the Rome official who in December met Afewerki.Besides its worsening internal situation, Eritrea is still locked in a territorial dispute with neighbouring Ethiopia, which in 1997 erupted into a bloody three year long war that killed tens of thousands of people on both sides. Tensions between Asmara and Addis Abeba have intensified in recent months, raising fears of a renewed outbreak of fighting. According to Manitica, Italy annually spends some 50 million euros in aid destined for development, agriculture, health and education in Eritrea, a former Italian colony."After the Palestinian territories, it is the largest amount of pro-capita aid that Italy delivers, our highest in Africa" said Mantica, explaining that the level of assistance had, despite Afewerki's poor track record, remained stable over recent years."We have tried to favour investment projects, but we haven't succeeded in kick-starting a single one," he said.While Mantica said that a "positive signal" came from neighbouring Sudan - where last year's peace agreement ending a decades long civil war in the country's south seems to be holding out - the tensions between Eritrea and Ethiopia remained "dangerous".On Monday, the United States announced it was making a last-ditch attempt to end the Eritrean-Ethiopian border dispute. John Bolton, the US ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council that a team of diplomats and military officers is being sent to the region with orders to spend 30 days bringing the two countries together.Eritrea won its independence from Ethiopia in 1991 after a 30-year fight. After the 1997-2000 war, the two countries agreed to accept the border drawn by an international commission, but Ethiopia has refused to withdraw from Badme, a town awarded to Eritrea.Late last year, Eritrea ordered UN peacekeepers to leave the buffer zone along the border
في ختام فعاليات المؤتمر التأسيسي حزب النهضه يؤكد ان الجبرتا قوميه قائمة بذاتها
رصد- مركز الخليج للدراسات الإعلامية بالقرت الافريقي
10/01/2006
اختتمت يوم الاحد الموافق 8/1/2006 فعاليات المؤتمر التاسيسي لحزب النهضة الارتري وسط حضور لفيف من ممثلي المعارضة
وقد افتتح الجلسه الاستاذ / اول خير محمد امام الذي قال في كلمته ان حزب النهضة جاء نتيجة جهود شريحة من الشعب اثرت الانعزال السياسي منذ الحرب الاهلية في الثمانينات ورأينا نحن وفق ما نملكه من معرفه واستقراء للواقع من تفعيل هذه الشريحه لتساهم في بناء الوطن وترقيته واضاف قائلا ان جهودنا تنصب في تحقيق العدل والمساوة بين جميع فئات الشعب ارتري
بعدها القيت كلمة المؤتمرين الذين تحدث عنهم الاستاذ/ صالح مؤكدا علي ان الوئام والنظام ساد جميع جلسات المؤتمر ثم اعرب عن شكره العميق لحكومات السودان واليمن واثيوبيا علي ما قدموه من دعم للشعب الآرتري
كما تحدث اكبر الحضور سنا من ممثلي المعارضة الارترية الاستاذ / حروي تلي باريو في كلمة مقتضبه حياا فيها الحزب ووصف تجربته بالد يمقراطيه العميقه واضاف قائلا انه من الجميل ان نري مسلموا المرتفعات وهم ينظمون انفسهم في فعاليات سياسة كفيلة بتطوير المجتمع
ومن ثم افسح المجال للسلطه الرابعة او الاعلاميين علي وجة الخصوص الذين مثلهم الاعلامي المعروف الاستاذ محمد طة توكل الذي استهل كلمته بتهنئة المجلس الثوري علي قيادتة الجديدة وماأ سماه بالانتقال السلس للسطة تم حيا الحزب علي افساحه المجال لمشاركه المرءاة كما دعا بقية قوي المعارضة وخاصة التحالف لي أفساح المجال للمراءة ووجهات المجتمع المدني وخاصة فئات الشباب والمثقفين وانه لا يمكن تحقيق نصر مالم نشارك المرأءة بصور فعالة
وختم حديثه بقوله انه يري من حق أي جماعة لم تستطيع الانصهار قي كيانات اخري تكوين كيان خاص بها
دول تعاون صنعاء كانت حضور اذ شدد ممثلها علي ضرورة ان تأخذ التوصيات التي خرج بها المؤتمر حيز التنفيذ واضاف قائلا نأمل ان ياخذ حزب النهضة طريقه نحو التحالف دون تعقيدات
تم تحدثت الدكنوره / بدريه سليمان ممثلة عن المراءة اذ أكدت علي ان الحزب منح المراءة جمبع حقوقها وقالت نرجو ان نكون عند حسن ظن المؤتمرين بنا
تم اختتمت فعاليات الجلسه الختامية بكلمة رئيس الحزب الاستاذ /النور ادريس النور الذي اكد عي ان الممارسه الديمقراطية سادت جميع جلسات الموتمر وانة خرج بعدد من التوصيات والقررات التي من اهمها
اعتماد الديمقراطيه والانتخاب المباشر اساس في العملية التنظيميه والحزبية
اقرار مبدء تحديد دورة رئيس المكتب التنفيذي لدورتين
الاعتراف بالتنوع الثقافي والاثني
اعتماد الجبرتا قومية قائمة بذاتها لها عاداتها وتقاليدها وخصائصها المميزه
دعم التحالف والمضي قدما في تطويره
اقرار مبدء التعايش السلمي مع دول الجور
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Frige Dawit Isaak
Bakgrund
Dawit Isaak är journalist, författare och dramatiker. Han är född i det som i dag är Eritrea och kom till Sverige som flykting från kriget 1987. Han blev svensk medborgare 1992.
När Eritrea blev självständigt flyttade Dawit Isaak tillbaka, bildade familj och blev delägare i landets första oberoende tidning Setit. Men kriget blossade upp igen. Han tog sin familj till Sverige och Göteborg, för att efter ett år ensam återvända.
Flera politiker och journalister, däribland Dawit Isaak, kritiserade under våren 2001 regeringen och krävde demokratiska reformer. Men reformerna uteblev. I stället arresterades kritkerna. Den 21 september, bara en vecka efter att hustrun och de tre barnen kommit på besök, arresterades Dawit. Arresteringsvågen av journalister och oppositionella genomfördes utan att omvärlden la sig i – all uppmärksamhet ägnades följderna av terrordåden mot USA.
I november 2005 kom plötsligt beskedet att Dawit Isaak släppts. Men efter någon vecka stod det klart att han åter fängslats, fortfarande utan åtal och utan dom. Han är den ende svensk som Amnesty International adopterat som samvetsfånge.
Via Argumentera.se kan du e-posta direkt till Eritreas ambassad i Stockholm och vädja om Dawit Isaaks frigivning.
Mer information om fallet finns på stödsajten för Dawit Isaak, där du också kan skriva på en protestlista.
Artiklar och kommentarer kring Dawit Isaak kan du läsa på Johan Karlssons webbplats Mothugg.
Mer läsning finns hos Liberala studenter i Linköping, där det också går att beställa kampanjmaterial.
Dawit Isaak är journalist, författare och dramatiker. Han är född i det som i dag är Eritrea och kom till Sverige som flykting från kriget 1987. Han blev svensk medborgare 1992.
När Eritrea blev självständigt flyttade Dawit Isaak tillbaka, bildade familj och blev delägare i landets första oberoende tidning Setit. Men kriget blossade upp igen. Han tog sin familj till Sverige och Göteborg, för att efter ett år ensam återvända.
Flera politiker och journalister, däribland Dawit Isaak, kritiserade under våren 2001 regeringen och krävde demokratiska reformer. Men reformerna uteblev. I stället arresterades kritkerna. Den 21 september, bara en vecka efter att hustrun och de tre barnen kommit på besök, arresterades Dawit. Arresteringsvågen av journalister och oppositionella genomfördes utan att omvärlden la sig i – all uppmärksamhet ägnades följderna av terrordåden mot USA.
I november 2005 kom plötsligt beskedet att Dawit Isaak släppts. Men efter någon vecka stod det klart att han åter fängslats, fortfarande utan åtal och utan dom. Han är den ende svensk som Amnesty International adopterat som samvetsfånge.
Via Argumentera.se kan du e-posta direkt till Eritreas ambassad i Stockholm och vädja om Dawit Isaaks frigivning.
Mer information om fallet finns på stödsajten för Dawit Isaak, där du också kan skriva på en protestlista.
Artiklar och kommentarer kring Dawit Isaak kan du läsa på Johan Karlssons webbplats Mothugg.
Mer läsning finns hos Liberala studenter i Linköping, där det också går att beställa kampanjmaterial.
Friday, January 06, 2006
NEWS FROM ASMARA
All university graduates working in ministries have been ordered to report in Sawa. This is being done under the pretext of "reshuffling".
Government of Eritrea Announced all military trained person from round 1st – 18th found in ministries and administrative Zobas including the demobilized soldiers to go to sawa immediately starting from Monday 09/01/2006 with out any reason.
Government of Eritrea Announced all military trained person from round 1st – 18th found in ministries and administrative Zobas including the demobilized soldiers to go to sawa immediately starting from Monday 09/01/2006 with out any reason.
Editorial: Predicting the unpredictable for 2006
Source : www.thelocal.se
Published: 6th January 2006 14:49 CET
"You can only predict things after they have happened," said Romanian-French playwright Eugen Ionescu. The old fellow was no doubt right that prediction is a futile exercise, but then he almost certainly never had to write a column in a Swedish website when the entire Swedish establishment, rather than generating news for hacks to comment on, was on its seemingly never-ending Christmas break.So, if only to provide Local readers a year from now with a chance to fill the discussion boards with examples of how this column got it wrong, we've done a little crystal ball gazing of our own.The first part of the year will be dominated for most people by two heavyweights battling in what could be one of the most hotly contested votes in recent Swedish history.The heavyweight veteran contender will compete against the ever-youthful choice of conservative-minded voters for the privilege of being Sweden's most visible representative on the international stage. Yes, that's right, it's back to the future for Melodifestivalen, with Kikki Danielsson taking on fellow chanteuse Carola.Carola has to be the favourite, bringing back fond memories of her victory in Europe in 1991, and her still well-remembered debut in the contest in 1983. But as her own website admits, while half of Sweden loves her, the other half can't stand her. So will the anti-Carola votes go to Kikki or to an upstart? The whole of Sweden will be sitting on the edge of its klippan sofas.And that's where they'll stay throughout the summer, as Sweden rampages towards World Cup misery. With the best Swedish team in a generation, expectations are high and in international football that usually means one thing: disappointment. Everyone agrees that Sweden will probably qualify from their group, and probably behind England. That probably means a meeting with hosts Germany. And that probably means defeat.The more observant news junkies among readers will be aware that there is an election this year, in September, with the cosy kitchen-table Alliance of Moderates, Liberals, Christian Democrats and the Centre Party currently sailing ahead in the polls.But are there rockier waters ahead for Reinfeldt and chums? Recent signs have been ominous, particularly when they appeared unable to unite over whether to have a vote of confidence in the government following the hugely critical tsunami report. On balance, it looks like the four leaders will realise that unity is everything if they are to beat the Social Democrats and get into government. Certainly, if they achieve this, there is everything to play for. But will the smaller parties of the Alliance get nervous about their individual poll scores, and try scoring points off the others? If they do, it could be another four years of Persson.The prime minister himself is set to swing the formidable Social Democratic apparatus into action, able to call not only on his party but all its client organisations in the trade union movement, desperate to keep the privileged status they enjoy in Sweden under Social Democratic governments.Persson can also call into play the relatively good state of the Swedish economy, something that has almost gone unnoticed in the political debate. Expect to see more talk of Sweden's relatively decent growth rate compared to many of its European neighbours and its low unemployment, and yet more talk of how the Moderates are trying to victimise the poor and unemployed in Sweden.Reinfeldt will continue to drive home the argument that many more Swedes are unemployed than the official figures suggest, and that it needs to be made cheaper to employ people. Expect too more arguments about education, with the egalitarian Social Democrats resisting Alliance attempts to restore more traditional values into education, with more grading and attempts to make schools more selective.One issue that could damage the Social Democrats is their continued dependence on the Left Party. So far, Persson has managed to avoid sustaining damage from his association with the discredited self-confessed Communist Lars Ohly, but how much longer before he has to answer some uncomfortable questions? As the election approaches, the focus is bound to shift onto how he will continue to govern with the Left Party, particularly as Ohly is likely to demand a more prominent role in government. If Persson mishandles this, could it push centrist Social Democrats towards the Alliance?An unknown quantity is the Stockholm congestion charge trial. With the trial due to end in the summer, the future of charging will be decided in a referendum. With 80 percent of Stockholmers currently against it, there is a real risk that the government and its Social Democratic colleagues on Stockholm council will lose, meaning billions of kronor spent on equipment will have been wasted. Here, though, I'm going to stick my neck out and say that Stockholmers will vote in favour of the charge. Not a rebellious bunch, they will swallow the arguments of political leaders and reluctantly allow charging to continue, thus averting another crisis for Social Democracy.One more relationship set to come under renewed scrutiny will be Crown Princess Victoria's romance with gym owner Daniel Westling. The will-they, won't-they saga of their relationship has to be resolved some time soon. A fierce guardian of her privacy, the princess is certain to deny any plans until the official announcement it made. But Victoria is 29 this year, and has been with 32-year old Westling for some years now. Maybe this will be the year, but if it is the couple will have to overcome concerns that small-town boy Daniel is not prince material.So the safe money is on a Carola victory, defeat for Sweden in the second round of the World Cup at the feet of Germany and election victory for the Moderates - with perhaps a cheeky outside bet on a royal wedding.Of course, Ionescu was right. The only certainty is that the news in 2006, just as in 2005 and every year before, will be dominated by the unpredictable.But whatever this year holds in store, all of us at The Local wish you a very happy 2006!
Published: 6th January 2006 14:49 CET
"You can only predict things after they have happened," said Romanian-French playwright Eugen Ionescu. The old fellow was no doubt right that prediction is a futile exercise, but then he almost certainly never had to write a column in a Swedish website when the entire Swedish establishment, rather than generating news for hacks to comment on, was on its seemingly never-ending Christmas break.So, if only to provide Local readers a year from now with a chance to fill the discussion boards with examples of how this column got it wrong, we've done a little crystal ball gazing of our own.The first part of the year will be dominated for most people by two heavyweights battling in what could be one of the most hotly contested votes in recent Swedish history.The heavyweight veteran contender will compete against the ever-youthful choice of conservative-minded voters for the privilege of being Sweden's most visible representative on the international stage. Yes, that's right, it's back to the future for Melodifestivalen, with Kikki Danielsson taking on fellow chanteuse Carola.Carola has to be the favourite, bringing back fond memories of her victory in Europe in 1991, and her still well-remembered debut in the contest in 1983. But as her own website admits, while half of Sweden loves her, the other half can't stand her. So will the anti-Carola votes go to Kikki or to an upstart? The whole of Sweden will be sitting on the edge of its klippan sofas.And that's where they'll stay throughout the summer, as Sweden rampages towards World Cup misery. With the best Swedish team in a generation, expectations are high and in international football that usually means one thing: disappointment. Everyone agrees that Sweden will probably qualify from their group, and probably behind England. That probably means a meeting with hosts Germany. And that probably means defeat.The more observant news junkies among readers will be aware that there is an election this year, in September, with the cosy kitchen-table Alliance of Moderates, Liberals, Christian Democrats and the Centre Party currently sailing ahead in the polls.But are there rockier waters ahead for Reinfeldt and chums? Recent signs have been ominous, particularly when they appeared unable to unite over whether to have a vote of confidence in the government following the hugely critical tsunami report. On balance, it looks like the four leaders will realise that unity is everything if they are to beat the Social Democrats and get into government. Certainly, if they achieve this, there is everything to play for. But will the smaller parties of the Alliance get nervous about their individual poll scores, and try scoring points off the others? If they do, it could be another four years of Persson.The prime minister himself is set to swing the formidable Social Democratic apparatus into action, able to call not only on his party but all its client organisations in the trade union movement, desperate to keep the privileged status they enjoy in Sweden under Social Democratic governments.Persson can also call into play the relatively good state of the Swedish economy, something that has almost gone unnoticed in the political debate. Expect to see more talk of Sweden's relatively decent growth rate compared to many of its European neighbours and its low unemployment, and yet more talk of how the Moderates are trying to victimise the poor and unemployed in Sweden.Reinfeldt will continue to drive home the argument that many more Swedes are unemployed than the official figures suggest, and that it needs to be made cheaper to employ people. Expect too more arguments about education, with the egalitarian Social Democrats resisting Alliance attempts to restore more traditional values into education, with more grading and attempts to make schools more selective.One issue that could damage the Social Democrats is their continued dependence on the Left Party. So far, Persson has managed to avoid sustaining damage from his association with the discredited self-confessed Communist Lars Ohly, but how much longer before he has to answer some uncomfortable questions? As the election approaches, the focus is bound to shift onto how he will continue to govern with the Left Party, particularly as Ohly is likely to demand a more prominent role in government. If Persson mishandles this, could it push centrist Social Democrats towards the Alliance?An unknown quantity is the Stockholm congestion charge trial. With the trial due to end in the summer, the future of charging will be decided in a referendum. With 80 percent of Stockholmers currently against it, there is a real risk that the government and its Social Democratic colleagues on Stockholm council will lose, meaning billions of kronor spent on equipment will have been wasted. Here, though, I'm going to stick my neck out and say that Stockholmers will vote in favour of the charge. Not a rebellious bunch, they will swallow the arguments of political leaders and reluctantly allow charging to continue, thus averting another crisis for Social Democracy.One more relationship set to come under renewed scrutiny will be Crown Princess Victoria's romance with gym owner Daniel Westling. The will-they, won't-they saga of their relationship has to be resolved some time soon. A fierce guardian of her privacy, the princess is certain to deny any plans until the official announcement it made. But Victoria is 29 this year, and has been with 32-year old Westling for some years now. Maybe this will be the year, but if it is the couple will have to overcome concerns that small-town boy Daniel is not prince material.So the safe money is on a Carola victory, defeat for Sweden in the second round of the World Cup at the feet of Germany and election victory for the Moderates - with perhaps a cheeky outside bet on a royal wedding.Of course, Ionescu was right. The only certainty is that the news in 2006, just as in 2005 and every year before, will be dominated by the unpredictable.But whatever this year holds in store, all of us at The Local wish you a very happy 2006!
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Who is responsible for Henok's death?
Henok TesfayHenok Tesfay was an asylum seeker in Sweden since 2003 and recently he got negative decision from the concerned authorities in Sweden and this caused him life threatening risks that he couldn't tolerate the fear he was subjected to if sent back to Eritrea.For Henok that decision to send him back was a death sentence and hence he couldn't accept that and as a result of that he preffered dying here in Sweden than be killed by the merciless dictator in Eritrea.
But,
who is responsible for his death?
Does those who sign such death sentences feel the severiety of the consequences of their signatures?
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