moderatorThe clock has now past 14:00 and close the chat. We thank all participants.
Yohannes
I beg to differ to your claim "only the elit have access to mobil". You can visit any village in Eritrea to find people with mobil phones, let alone people in the cities. Speakning of Internet have you read FAIR agreement with the Ministry of Education in Eritrea initiating large-scale ICT project between Eritrea and Norway that it's been going on since 2004? UNESCO report it as success story.
Michela WrongThanks for the correction. I have not been to Eritrea for three years now, so my impressions get out of date - that's the problem when you cannot get into a country! When I was last there the mobile phone network itself looked likely to collapse because of problems the company concerned was experiencing repatriating its profits. That's good to know.
Sarah
Thank You Michela You are Ambassador of Eritrea. The ignorance in the west of why Africa is the way it is and the manipulation that still goes is astounding. What ever African's say does not seem to be listened. I always recommend your book to people. Thanks again
Michela WrongThank you. I hope what comes across in my book is that while I certainly have criticisms of the current Eritrean administration - much more so now, in fact, than when I finished the book -- I have huge sympathy for the Eritrean people, and feel their amazing story and current predicament have been sorely neglected by the rest of the world and deserve to be more widely known.
True Eeritrean
Hi why is the international comunity quite when it comes to the border problem with Ethiopia, don't you think that is the bigest problem in the horn, what happen to the role off law. Then do you have any prove when you say that eritrea is helping the al shebab in Somalia because Eritrea was accused to have 2000 trops in somalia before the invation of the ethiopian army into somalia but they could not find any eritrean except to jornalists who are in preson in ethiopia and no one talks about them.
Michela WrongThe international community does not connect up the dots, sadly. As a journalist writing about these issues, I always try and point out the links between the border ruling and the situation in Somalia, where Ethiopia and Eritrea continued their quarrel in the form of a proxy war. Few listen, sadly. But Eritrea has done itself no favours. It should meet emissaries from the West, not matter how ignorant they seem, not insult them on its websites and refuse to talk to them. And this game of supporting the opposition groups of neighbouring regimes is a stupid one to play. It sows anarchy in the region, and simply confirms the stereotype of Eritrea as being a pariah nation. I do not believe for a moment there were 2,000 Eritreans fighting in Somalia but it seems pretty clear Isaias has been generous with his support to the fundamentalist dissident factions of Somalia. And all that did was confirm Washington in its view that he is a leader the States cannot do business with and that Eritrea has chosen the other side in the War on Terror. In my view, that was a really dangerous strategic mistake on Isaias' part.
Adulis
DN is the first papper to tell that your book is "excommunicated" or "baned" in Eritrea. The same way Iran did with The Satanic Verses of Rushdie. This is a big news for me as an Eritrean. Infact I did read your book on my way to Eritrea in July 2008. I read it on the plane, had it in my hand in the Airport, read it in Asmara and Massawa ( i admit I am a slow reader :-). When did Eritrea ban your book? How is the public in Eritrea and outside the country informed that it is prohibit to read/have your book? This is very important for many to know as it the first book ever to be banned in Eritrea - as far as I'm concerned. Michela WrongWhen the book first came out, it was openly circulating in Asmara and I know that even government ministers were spotted with it on their desks. Then, as the presidency, became ever more sensitive to criticism of any kind, the attitude changed. I heard it had been "reviewed" live on Eritrean television for several nights running, and that the review was basically one long, angry denunciation. I know for a fact that not a single bookshop in Asmara sells it now. I'm sure people in the diaspora take it in with them - please carry on doing that - but you can't get it locally. Does all this count as an official "ban"? I would say an unofficial ban. And the last time I applied for a visa, I was not granted one. I hope this is a temporary state of affairs, but I'm not counting on it. When I first visited Eritrea, the government was confident enough, and wise enough, to tolerate criticism, as it knew that alongside the criticism went friendly concern. As a journalist, you would be told where you had got it wrong, but you were allowed in. Now I don't believe it's possible for British journalists to even get into the country. And there is no one left to criticise the regime, not the university, not the Orthodox Church or the Imams, not the intellectuals, not the press.
Sara
Hi! What do you think would be the best way to sole the situation in Eritrea? Is there any hope at all?
Michela WrongToo big a question! I think the international community should do what it can to sort out the stalemate over the border with Ethiopia, because, firstly, that is the right thing to do and because, secondly, that is an area in which it has some influence. But I think it's likely that change in Eritrea will come from within, and it can only come, I believe, with a new president. At 63, Isaias is too old to change his ways.
PetterNor
I want to excuse the regime, I believe illiteracy and famine are problems in desperate need of being adressed. But how wise is it to openly and offensively make demands on internal affairs - how wrong we may beieve an imprisonment to be - when it is highly probable the response will be an ill-serving attitude of ignorance? I could of course be wrong, how do you think the regime reads the protest?
Michela WrongI fear the regime may simply brush off the protest. That's what it has done in the past. One of the problems is that if this particular journalist is freed, questions will then be asked about all the other members of the G15 who were rounded up at the same time. And I'm sure the regime does not intend to free those former political players. Erik AHow is it possible for Afewerki and his government to keep Eritrea so closed, in spite of the openness of the modern world?
Michela WrongIt's only possible because Eritrea is such a small country. I'm sure Meles Zenawi would like to be able to control Ethiopia in the same way, but it's just too big to attempt such a thing. Very few Westerners are now based in Asmara, so anyone who arrives at that tiny airport is immediately noticed and easy to track. The communications are terrible - I'm convinced the government has deliberately kept them so - so the internet world is very difficult for ordinary Eritreans to access. Last time I was there, only the elite owned mobile phones, so once again a form of free speech that is common in most African countries now is not available to the locals. Given all these things, you really can cut a country off from the world.
Martin
What was most difficult when writing the book? Whar are you going to do next?
Michela WrongI went to Moscow to research the book and found it very difficult to work there, as I don't speak Russian and it was a country I didn't know.
Simon
Michela Don't you agree all this false concern for human rights etc, when the very supposed democratic countries are the cause for not closing the wound of the border are more interested in the effect than the cause. What is Eritrea meant to do when UN, US, EU,AU are abrogating their duties and allow illegal things like invasion , arms purchase from north Korea etc. ? When it comes to religion, what is your outlook of mass conversion with the bribe of money ? I suggest people have a look at this aggressive American evangelist and what he thinks of other religions, and tell me Eritrea is doing wrong. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUCbHFOmBHQ
Michela Wrong I have no sympathy with American missionaries who go to Africa and try and convert the locals. However, I think Eritreans would not have flocked to these evangelical churches had there not been a growing despair and frustration in the society as a whole. I totally agree that the international community has failed in its duties on the border issue - the UN is happy to lecture Eritrea about its behaviour over Djibouti, but doesn't seem to apply the same attitude to Ethiopia over border demarcation - and the AU's indulgent stance on Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia was extraordinary. However, none of this changes the fact that Eritrea today is a country thousands of its young people are desperate to leave. They are risking their lives every day in their determination to get out. And that is a terrible indictment of the regime, not the West. When your own young people turn your back on you, you have failed as an administration.
Fredrik K, London
HI Michaela, in light of the present situation - a corrupt dictatorship with an army numbering more than 300,000 men, scant popular support, and severe abuse of human rights - what do you believe is the best course of action from here? Clearly, the government is all but immune to external criticism and does not seem to care about the plight of the Eritrean population. Thanks
Michela WrongThe regime does not seem to respond to outside criticism or pressure, as you say. But I think the West has to hold out its hand, and try to keep talking. Western governments can be very dismissive and arrogant in their dealings with Eritrea. They have a tendency to conveniently forget the past. They also have a tendency to ignore legitimate Eritrean complaints, like the fact that an international boundary commission's "final and binding" ruling on the border with Ethiopia has been ignored and violated, and the West has never really applied serious pressure on Addis Ababa to respect that ruling. This lack of balance sends a signal to the government in Eritrea that there is one rule for Eritrea, and another for Ethiopia. If the West behaved in a more obviously even-handed way, and demanded from Ethiopia that it meet its international obligations - which included marking its border and not invading its neighbours -- then Eritrea might be more likely to feel that the diplomatic game was worth playing. As it is, the Eritrea leadership notes the international community's hypocrisy and withdraws into its preferred isolationist position, telling itself there is clearly no point engaging in diplomacy of any kind.
Adulis
Are aware that your book is today introduced inte the Swedish media as a critique while the truth, as I read it, is more than 90% of the content deal with how the west betryed Eritrea and it's people? Do you feel it is fair?
Michela Wrong
You're right, the book's main aim is certainly to explain how Western and Soviet interference in the Horn of Africa helped to make Eritrea what it is today. And yes, that is a story of betrayal, cynically perpetrated by outsiders. But the last chapter, I think, makes clear that there has been a last betrayal, in my view, of the Eritrean people, and that is the one perpetrated by the current regime.
Anna Bengtsson
Hi Michaela, I recently read your book which I found so well researched and interesting. I am hoping and wondering - do you have any plans to write a similar book about Somalia as well? In any case - can you recommend any particular book about the politico-history / international relations of Somalia that you know about and find well-written? That would be super interesting as well. Keep up the good work!
Michela Wrong
Thank you. I've never been to Somalia, so I'm not the right person to write this book. And it's difficult to see anyone writing this at the moment because it is so dangerous for journalists to work in Somalia at the moment. So many have been killed, both Somali journalists and Western journalists. I can point you to a very interesting book by Gerard Hanley - "Warriors" - which was written back in the 1950s. It captures a great deal about the Somali character and beautifully conveys that harsh landscape. But of course, it is not up to date.
Simon S
Hi! I wonder, what is the possibility of Dawit Isaak getting out? and why? love from Simon
Michela Wrong
The problem is that President Isaias Afwerki appears to regard concession and compromise as a form of weakness. It's a very Eritrean characteristic, the need to show a hard, implacable face to the world all the time. Whereas sometimes the canny, wise and mature thing to do is to indicate flexibility. Eritrea's implacability has not served it well, so far. Being regarded by the international community as a pariah state is not in the interests of the Eritrean people.
Petter
To what extent would you agree that it is obtuse and western centricic to focus on Eritrea as merely a cruel imprisoning dictatorship, given the country's history? The freedom people in Eritrea has fought for is freedom from British colonialism and Italian fascism - the very same countries that along with Sweden and Europe now claim to know again what is best.
Michela WrongI think it's terribly important to understand the history of African countries with colonial pasts. That's why I wrote "I didn't do it for you", to remind my own British population, and the Italians, and the Americans, and the Soviets, of what they got up to in Eritrea and what damage they did. But that doesn't let the current leadership of Eritrea off the hook. This is an independent nation now, and the ruling regime is responsible for the welfare of its people. To understand is not necessarily to excuse. GhebreDo you know there is more than 2000 Christian i the prisen, just because of their believe
Michela WrongI'm not sure what the exact figure is - I think it varies all the time as people are released from detention - but there is certainly a huge amount of state repression of Christian churches in Eritrea.
Mosit
Jag vill också att Dawit Isaac ska frias,men jag fattar inte varför ni skriver så dumma saker om Isaias Afwerki. Kan du motivera varfö ni tycker att han är en så dålig ledare för Eritrea? moderatorDu måste skriva dina frågor på engelska för att kunna få svar.
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