By Berhan Hagos
As much as we pounce on each other’s words within the opposition camp, it is equally important to address and refute propaganda emanating from PIA and PFDJ. The primary purpose of “opposition” is to counter every propaganda emanating from the regime. The opposition camp in general and opposition leadership specifically can’t simply ignore the propaganda emanating from PFDJ, assuming that the general public will automatically ignore it. The purpose of PFDJ propaganda isn’t to win converts overnight, but to slowly sow the seeds of doubt and erode the public’s convictions towards their own beliefs and views. PFDJ is intensely engaged in propagating its agenda, either by plastering the pictures of its leader or using every opportunity to promote its illusionary socio-economic growth.
Effective political campaigns are the ones that manage to leave their messages seared in people’s heads the longest. When PIA conducts an interview, there should be an avalanche of responses from the public refuting every statement made during the interview. The avalanche of responses should begin to flood within hours in order to ensure that the opposition has the last word. If such interviews aren’t addressed immediately, listeners could be more influenced by the last statements and arguments (made by PFDJ). To do nothing is to abdicate our responsibility.
Although many would dismiss the illusionary socio-economic successes, the subtle and sometimes open PFDJ propaganda is to link dictatorship as being requisite to forestall ethno-religious conflicts in Eritrea. During PIA’s latest interview with China Daily, PIA made such connection by alluding to ethno-religious strife, economic destitutions and unstable democracies in Africa.
Although most of our quarrels with PIA is his gross human rights violations of our own brothers and sisters, and beyond that our doubts with his political judgment and question of trust, we can’t outright dismiss his concerns, which might be shared by many, that democracy in an infant nation may encounter many challenges. But the questions are, “Is imprisoning, torturing, execution and exiling your small population the only way to develop a country? What are the experiences of other people and countries around the world, not just Africa? Etc…”
“It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” Sir Winston Churchill
PIA’s Interview
First of all it is interesting that PIA would address foreign issues with domestic audience, and domestic issues with foreign audience. I guess it is probably safe to discuss issues that you hope your audience isn’t that familiar. PIA refused to give answers regarding the mining sector with local media and thus Eritrean public, and yet addressed the mining sector and many other socio-economic issues with China Daily, which is primarily targeted at foreign audience.
That is to be expected! Imagine what would happen if PIA was to repeat his China Daily answers to Eritreans in local media that there are no bread line-ups and that Eritrea will be one of the richest in the world very soon as PIA alluded to or said during his interview. At the very least, people would throw out their radios and televisions out the window, and at the worst, you could have a riot on your hand.
The interview contains many inconsistencies that would take the size of an encyclopedia to address. But for this article purpose, I will point out some of PIA’s arguments and quick refutation,
1. PIA said, “When a small minority is benefiting from the resources available to a country and the bigger majority is living in destitution, how can we talk about democracy?”
There are differences among rights & freedoms, rule-of-law and democracy. One may have rights and freedoms or rule-of-law without democracy. Democracy is only one system for governance. Some may choose stable monarchial system such as Jordan or Morocco, and yet maintain rule-of-law and protect rights & freedoms. However, based on historical experience, democracy is the best system of government that offers the best possibility of maintaining the rule-of-law and rights & freedom, and thus the automatic association among these different terminologies.
The question to PIA shouldn’t be whether there is democracy in Eritrea or not, but why PFDJ is blatantly violating basic human rights and why it is engaged in severe breach of the rule-of-law. In other words, the issue isn’t necessarily democracy, which is the next level issue, but the rule-of-law and human rights.
Is PIA suggesting that imprisoning, torturing, executing and exiling Eritreans are the only ways to achieve economic success, which will then enable democracy?
2. PIA said, “The socio-economic transformation is very important. Unless you live at a higher level of assimilation, if you live in a tribal society, and you go for democracy in a tribal society, you get divided in to hundreds of political parties and vertical polarization is not good at all. So we need to have participation, when you have 80%, 90% of the population living below the poverty line, how can you talk about democracy?”
The stepping stone for democracy is the respect for rule-of-law. Although “modern” democracy is rooted in Greek philosophy, ‘limited form’ of form of democracy evolved and was practiced by Greeks, Romans and later by Anglo-Saxons. On the other hand, the rule-of-law has existed throughout history in various ‘tribal’, multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies. Eritrean society has lived under rule-of-law for centuries. PIA uses ‘tribal’ and not multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies. He uses a specific terminology, and it would be counterproductive in our search for answers to purposely confuse issues for propaganda purposes. There are ‘tribal’ issues in such countries as Somalia, Yemen and Afghanistan. The question is, ‘Is Eritrea primarily a ‘tribal’ society, as PIA is insinuating?’ Can higher level assimilation be achieved through Sawa? What are the side-effects of Sawa, with its worse adverse effects?
Although Eritrean economy is still in its infancy, its society is significantly more advanced than many nations in the world,
Ø The various Eritrean ethnic, religious and regional areas have interacted with each other for centuries. Each group had its own traditional laws that allowed non-members belonging to other groups to settle and live in peace as part of that society without requiring individuals or groups to convert religion or change costumes to assimilate. What makes Eritrean society unique is our centuries’ old respect for rule-of-law, which can be used as the springboard towards creating a democratic system of government.
Ø The second factor that allowed the Eritrean society to evolve is its thirty-year armed struggle for independence.
The Eritrean struggle did expose some of the challenges of multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-regional society. PIA and some of his ideological supporters might be partly influenced by the experiences of early Eritrean struggle, which may have accentuated some of the differences within Eritrean society. But for astute observers, one can derive more positive lessons than negative lessons from the early times of our struggle. When one examines the Eritrean political struggles of the forties and fifties, it was about how wise elders belonging to every segment of Eritrea came to an agreement on many issues and waged their united campaigns on this basis. The lesson of Eritrean armed struggle is also about how Eritreans quickly overcame regional structure to wage its liberation struggle. However, it would be fallacious to simplistically argue that the fact ELF was initially structured along ethnical/tribal basis is itself indication of Eritrean society still being ‘tribal’. Needless to say, starting an armed struggle is never easy, and thus requires “natural alliances” to ensure that the struggle for liberation gains tractions. PIA didn’t start the armed struggle. Had he started the armed struggle, and especially if he was from the regions (and not from Asmara), he would have sought his “natural and immediate allies” to form his organization. What is important is how an organization evolves with changing realities. ELF was quickly evolving, which eventually begat EPLF. By late seventies, there was even convergence of ideologies. At the level of rank-and-file of both movements, there was little difference in terms of ‘integration’ of various segments of Eritrean population. The Eritrean struggle is evidence of Eritrean people’s maturity.
Moreover, ‘tribal’ society puts its tribal interests ahead of national issues. By insinuating that Eritrea remains a ‘tribal’ society, he is negating the heroic acts of Eritrean struggle for independence. Over 120,000 Eritreans sacrificed their lives, and some 200,000 lost their limbs or other parts of their precious bodies for Eritrea, not for their tribes. If there are a couple of nations in the world with its population exhibiting fervent nationalism, it is Eritreans.
Just as PIA is probably extrapolating his experiences of the 1960’s and the experiences of some other ‘tribal’ societies in Africa and elsewhere, Diaspora opposition must be cautious of extrapolating their politics of Bay Area, Frankfurt or Jeddah into Eritrea. Just because one has reached certain conclusions on lab mice, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will or it won’t work on other animals or humans. One can only reach a conclusion once one has tested a system on actual or very similar conditions.
PIA is prescribing a medication for an illness that may not exist or is misdiagnosed. Worse is to prescribe heavy doses of medication that may endanger a healthy person’s life in anticipation that this person may protract a specific terminal non-communicable disease in the future because his distant cousin or his neighbor has that terminal disease.
3. Continuing with the quotation in part (2) above, the second part of PIA’s assault on democracy is that poor people can’t practice democracy. This raises a whole slew of questions,
Ø How is a country like India, with utter poverty, continues to practice democracy?
Ø How does a country with massive defections, imprisonments and other human rights violations able to embark on economic prosperity?
Ø Although democracy might be an evolving campaign, rule-of-law is directly experienced in one’s every day life. Isn’t PFDJ pulling the rug under Eritrean democracy by trampling the rule-of-law, which in turn worsens and perpetuates poverty in Eritrea, and then to claim that Eritrea isn’t ready for democracy? This is like creating a circular argument.
PIA’s convenient economic policy is based on using internal resources to build infrastructures, which they tell us is then used as springboard for more vigorous economic ventures in the future. But the most important “infrastructure” for domestic and foreign investors is the rule-of-law and stability. “Physical infrastructure” is just money – and the world is awash with it. The most precious commodity in the world today is the “intangible infrastructures”, which includes enthusiastic and skilled human resources, rule-of-law and stability, and vibrant domestic business sector.
PIA has been harping infrastructures for the last 15 years. Yet, cell phones and internet were introduced in “lawless” Somalia before Eritrea. One berth in Port of Massawa has been expanded in a decade and half, while Djibouti has built a dozen more berths during the same time by tying up its activities with Dubai Ports. A total of 300 Km of roads have been built over a decade a half, most of it over pre-existing Italian road structures. That is only 20 Km a year (or 50 meters a day). Examining all the other projects, the total investment is less than $15 per Eritrean per year. At this pace, we will be left in the dust by the rest of the world.
What is perplexing is when PIA stated that “natural resources” have been a curse to Africans. If poverty is a curse and if sudden wealth is also a curse, what type of economic path is PIA charting for Eritreans? In reality, the only curse for Africans has been self-serving and egotistical leaders who are turning their subjects into experimental guinea pigs while they live lavish lives.
What is even more perplexing is for PFDJ and its media to exhort ‘hard work’. How do you tell a purposely impoverished Eritrean to work harder while his ‘army superiors’ are living lavish life? In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, one has the Alphas, the Betas and the Deltas (if memory serves me right). Basically these are genetically engineered people, with the Alphas being basically the masters and the Deltas being the exploited workers. Everybody accepts their roles. PIA’s Brave New World doesn’t work in Eritrea.
In late 20th century and beginning 21st century, countries in Latin America and Asia are pursuing the same economic path as Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and other countries did over a half-century ago. Even China, the mother of all communist ideologists, has opened up all its doors for Western multi-national companies – the modern day imperialists. In his interview, PIA says that China’s products are gaining on quality, as if the Chinese themselves are achieving these successes. In reality, Western companies located in China and receiving supplies from China impose quality standards, and thus teaching the Chinese on quality. However, PIA makes his statements as if the Chinese have reached a critical stage of assuring quality on their own and to Western’s detriment.
As we are witnessing with Dubai’s meteoric economic rise, as long as there is stability and rule-of-law, infrastructure growth and foreign investments can grow simultaneously at the same pace – in fact, reinforcing each other.
4. Eritrea’s future is partially tied to the fate of its neighbors. Eritrea can’t become an island of super economic prosperity and super democratic nation while its neighbors remain bogged down with internal strife. One of PIA’s efforts to dominate the horn region might be to become the invisible hand that navigates the entire horn region into socio-economic prosperity. But Eritrea’s choice for its future isn’t about attaining either everything or nothing as PIA would like us to believe. ‘Everything’ being the entire horn region prospers together or ‘nothing’ being that Eritreans must suffer through repressive Eritrean regimes or unstable horn region. In-between is a world where 4/5 of the world nations and populations finds itself – evolving democracy anchored in rule-of-law and stability, and comfortably living in the world of uncertainties.
The history of leaders throughout the ages is rife with those who began their quests with good intentions but at the end only bringing the worst misery ever to their subjects. When wars weren’t fought for religion or land, it was then fought to bring ‘civilizations’ to barbarians. PIA’s current quest in the horn is to bring ‘civilization’ to barbarians (i.e. tribal societies), which will in the end meet its historical fate.
As mentioned above, PIA might view Eritrean society as still being ‘tribal’. But more likely, he believes that Eritreans are ready for democracy, but that without tackling ‘tribalism’ at regional level, Eritrea’s democracy will stumble. Barely a month after gaining our independence in 1991, PIA was publicly claiming that he would entertain confederation with Ethiopia, and soon after was actively involved in the Great Lakes area. [Note: At ideological level, I am not against some form of closer political and economic relationships with Ethiopia and other countries in the region.] PIA may believe that strong arm is needed in the horn region, i.e. in Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and beyond, to transform the ‘tribal’ societies in the horn region. For PIA, he is the modern day Roman Emperor or Genghis Khan that will conquer and transform the Horn region. Hitler dreamed of the day the ‘Arian’ race would rule the world – Hitler’s dream of transforming his society and beyond. Hitler embarked on conquering the world but only to lose after costing the lives of some 50 Million people. Stalin said that killing one person is a murder, and killing many is statistics. Stalin would proceed with social experimentation. Communism brought miseries and only to eventually fail by attempting to bring about revolutionary change through quick societal transformations. Similarly for PIA, his victims are only statistics in his futile attempt to transform the various societies in the horn region.
PIA needs to sacrifice Eritrean lives and finances to achieve this age old dream of all Emperors throughout history. In fact, the vast majority of these emperors or conquerors believed that they were chosen by God, gods or higher beings to carryout their murderous campaigns for the ‘good of man’ or ‘to civilize’ barbarians. Closer examination of history shows that they all ultimately failed. But there is a major difference between what PIA is doing and what other Emperors did. For instance, Roman Emperors pillaged ‘barbarians’ to benefit Rome. Similarly, the Spanish, the Portuguese and the British pillaged ‘barbarians’ to benefit their homelands. In contrast, PIA is pillaging Eritrea, a good prospect for working democracy, for the sake of his campaign in the horn region.
But unlike history where victors wrote their versions of events through their scribers, thus rationalizing or downplaying their atrocities, we live in an information age where every individual is empowered to put his/her thoughts on record and maintained for future generations. It is said that to date the Spanish Civil War is the only history extensively written by the losing side. But the losing side, the Republicans, would later find sympathy from the Allies because of the Nationalists’ opportunistic alliances with the Axis powers, which allowed the Republicans to publicize their cause through the Allies despite their loss. PFDJ will be judged by history through the voluminous documents that exist in the age of information.
Some 3,000 years ago Athenians had the law of ‘Ostracis’. Every number of years, some 6,000 Athenian citizens cast ballots naming the most influential person in their society. Instead of giving this most influential person a medal, this person was banished from Athens for ten years. Three thousand years later, for intellectual Eritreans to bow to the most influential person in Eritrea is to unlearn history.
5. PIA’s most fallacious reasoning is that economic prosperity is the only requisite component in a society to achieve democracy. It is already said that man can’t live with bread alone. As important or more important is a societal value system that ensures people are able to act in fair, compassionate and respectful manners. Some sub-Saharan African countries are gushing with oil money and have largely educated population, yet their societal values are so messed up that the prospect of democracy is slim.
Even countries like Pakistan which barely 50-years ago was largely free of corruption is now suffering from endemic and systematic corruption at all levels of government that it isn’t ‘tribalism’ or assimilation that is holding back full economic growth and democracy but erosion of values that will create obstacles for Pakistan’s future.
Of course, PIA’s beacon of hope is always China, which on the surface appears to be slowly and quietly fighting corruption. But China is now actively engaged in re-introducing Confucianism into its society to bring back social values. In fact, China is trying to export Confucianism to world by opening some 500 centers around the world. China is doing this despite the fact some 85% of its population still lives in utter poverty.
In Eritrea, PIA is waging his war against traditional Eritrean social values and replacing them with corrupt practices, cruelness and other destructive values. Sawa is the major vehicle for PIA’s social experiment and transformation. Emperors and conquerors throughout history have never succeeded to supplant traditional values with new values with success. In reality, they destroyed traditional values and unwittingly or conveniently replaced them with destructive values. PIA’s social experiment will surely meet the same fate, with Eritrea paying heavy sacrifice and even jeopardizing its long-term viability as a nation.
PFDJ-China-Sudan
In Mafia circles, it is called protection money. A business located on the territory of a certain mafia boss must pay protection money to the mafia group lest ‘intruders’ break his legs.
PIA’s resurfacing advocacy for China has many reasons. PIA doesn’t want to be a small fish in a big pond, but a big fish in small pond. PIA’s call for ‘partnership’ is similar to North Korea’s arm flexing with its nuclear program or Iran’s multiple approach to be treated as one of the big fish in its region.
PIA is fully aware that as what Somalia is to the US for its security reasons, Sudan is to the Chinese for economic reasons. America wants the Ethiopian regime or whoever to become the foreign security contractors for American security needs in the region, and especially Somalia. Similarly, China needs long-term stability in Sudan in order to fully exploit Sudanese oil. Once China becomes fully reliant on Sudanese oil, China can’t afford for Sudan to become unstable. If it did, China will be forced to intervene to maintain its oil flow. But if another country, such as Eritrea, offers to become the foreign security contractor for Chinese interests in the region, China would be more than willing to delegate that responsibility.
In return, Eritrea would be viewed as ‘partner’ with the Chinese government. Whenever the Chinese don’t deliver on Eritrean needs, suddenly some ‘Sudan Opposition Group’ never heard of before throws a couple of bombs at some Sudanese refineries shutting down oil deliver for a couple of days. The next day, the Chinese would capitulate. That is called partnership. Instead of swimming in the big pond, make sure the giants are forced to swim in your small pond.
Similarly, ‘partnership’ would have been created with the Americans by creating and then controlling UIC government in Somalia.
PFDJ-Israel-US
PFDJ is waging his campaign against the US with the hope that he has a backdoor to the US – Israel. Although he hasn’t been able to play this card as he would like, PIA is sure that the US will tolerate his antics, including hosting UIC in Asmara.
It is suffice to bring to attention to my readers the manner in which PIA responds whenever asked about Israel. In fact, if there are two nations PIA respects in the world, it is China and Israel. The rationale is simple.
Organizational Challenges
‘Hade Libi, Hade Hizbi’ would be ideal, but is it realistic to expect such unison in thoughts and actions? Or even, one may wonder its impact on creativity, innovativeness and individual initiatives.
In my view, the continuous call for mergers of various types of organizations, esp. political, is a misplaced effort. There is a major difference between armed and non-armed organizations. Naturally, armies must be commanded through central leadership and chain-of-command must be strictly adhered to. But even with military, there are different types of organizational structures. For instance, during the war between Nazi Germany and Red Russia, Nazi Panther units were only given a mission and the field commander was responsible for achieving that mission. This flexibility allowed German troops to advance quickly. In contrast, Russian army officers had to wait for Stalin for every military maneuver which slowed down response time in a very fluid battlefield. Russia would eventually only win due to severe Russian winter and Russian people’s determination.
Instead of calling for and over-exerting efforts to create mergers, it is more productive for us to learn to work in multi-organizational environment. In a way, merger is an attempt to internalize inter-organizational relationships. By internalizing relationships, leaders attempt to reduce ‘external’ accountability and to avoid the grueling task of arriving consensus or compromise through negotiations. For instance, when PFDJ says it has 600,000 [forced] members (about 50% of the adult population), this is an attempt to internalize relationships which become instruments of its political game.
Our call should be for unity in principles and shared values only.
If one is to examine religious organizations throughout history, the rigid centralized or monopolistic structures keep their followers inline through strong-arm tactics either through ex-communication or worldly punishments. For Orthodox and Catholic religions are facing stiff challenges to evolve or possibly face declining followers. Islam is facing its own challenges. The Protestant and evangelical branches are based on loose relationships between parishes and its hierarchy. This allows individual parishes to cater its approach suited for local conditions. On the other end of the spectrum are religious/philosophies of Buddha, Shinto, Hinduism and other similar religions that are totally decentralized.
For instance, if the only three political organizations in a political institution merge, power is suddenly usurped from the members to the merged organization’s leadership. The merged organization may perform better for short time, but will succumb to its own inherent rigidity leading to splinters. The existence of multiple political organizations with the same or very similar platforms is important because leadership should always be under pressure to address the concerns of its members lest the disgruntled members jump ship to the other similar political organization.
Moreover, as stated above, Eritreans must learn the art of negotiation. Negotiation forces negotiators to prioritize their needs and then to settle to everyone’s satisfactions. It would be naïve to think that in democratic societies all issues are settled through majority votes. Instead, probably some 95% of the issues would be settled through negotiations and 5% of the issues settled through majority vote. Thus it is critical we learn this important skill. Moreover, when we develop negotiation skills with each other, we would be able to deal with the world where every (99.99999%) political and economic dealings are settled through negotiations.
Leadership Performance
The ostensible reason for EDA’s breakup is due to a crisis in selecting leadership. Everybody alludes to or states that the incumbent leader didn’t deliver on results or questions his performance. Nobody wants to discuss what these criteria are for evaluating performance.
Both blocs’ reluctances for stating these criteria for evaluating performance are understandable. No one wants himself/herself to be judged by the same criteria set for one leader. It always remains up to the wider community of political activists to set those standards and criteria, and for the inner political players to refine them.
As a wise king once said, “nothing under the sun is new!”
Learn from history!
I would like to express my much appreciation to Asmarino.com, which is a textbook example of how political campaigns should be waged. I hope that your absence will be very brief.
Berhan Hagos
March 30, 2007
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
Temadag: yttrandefrihet
Onsdag 2 majkl 12.00-21.00
Temadag:Artikel 19 - Yttrandefrihet
var : världskultur musset
Tillsammans med Amnestys kulturgrupp i Göteborg bjuder vi in till en temadag om yttrandefrihet, med fokus på det skrivna ordet. Journalister och författare fängslas eller mördas världen över för det de skriver. Ett exempel är Dawit Isaak, den svensk-eritrianske journalisten som sedan flera år sitter fängslad i Eritrea utan rättegång.
Hur står det till med yttrandefriheten? Deltar under dagen gör, förutom Amnesty, Reportrar utan gränser, Författarcentrum Väst, Svenska Penklubben, G-P:s kulturredaktion, Esayas Isak och de eritreanska journalisterna Khaled Abdu och Semret Seyoum.
Dessutom blir det Poetry Slam och sist på dagen uppträder gruppen Treanti.
Fri entré
Temadag:Artikel 19 - Yttrandefrihet
var : världskultur musset
Tillsammans med Amnestys kulturgrupp i Göteborg bjuder vi in till en temadag om yttrandefrihet, med fokus på det skrivna ordet. Journalister och författare fängslas eller mördas världen över för det de skriver. Ett exempel är Dawit Isaak, den svensk-eritrianske journalisten som sedan flera år sitter fängslad i Eritrea utan rättegång.
Hur står det till med yttrandefriheten? Deltar under dagen gör, förutom Amnesty, Reportrar utan gränser, Författarcentrum Väst, Svenska Penklubben, G-P:s kulturredaktion, Esayas Isak och de eritreanska journalisterna Khaled Abdu och Semret Seyoum.
Dessutom blir det Poetry Slam och sist på dagen uppträder gruppen Treanti.
Fri entré
Eritreans risk death in the Sahara
by Martin Plaut Africa regional editor, BBC News
Every day, in the barren lands along the Sudanese border, young Eritreans risk their lives to flee from their country.
It is rugged terrain, tightly patrolled by Eritrean armed forces who have orders to shoot anyone trying to slip over to Sudan.
According to opposition sources, between 400 and 600 Eritreans a month make this dangerous journey.
Some flee poverty. Eritrea, which was already desperately poor, has poured money into weapons and its military since the war with Ethiopia that ended in 2000, but failed to resolve the border dispute between the two countries.
Others try to escape conscription - years spent in trenches facing Ethiopian forces dug-in across the border.
And many try to leave behind the routine political repression. Eritrea is a one-party state, with no free press of any kind. Amnesty International reports that anyone suspected of supporting the opposition faces indefinite detention and torture.
One man's story
Haile - not his real name - is one such refugee, who is now in Libya, having made the journey of over 5000 kilometres.
Haile was a translator for an international organisation, until he was arrested, accused of selling state secrets to an enemy. It is a charge frequently laid against translators working for foreign embassies, the United Nations and even aid agencies.
"We started the journey and it was very difficult... Nobody can cross the Sahara, it's too difficult" Haile, Eritrea refugee
"They asked me: 'Why are you talking to those people?'. I told them I'm translating. I told them several times to make them understand, but they couldn't understand me.
"They said: 'You're selling our country to another people. You are selling secrets of our country'. I don't know what they're talking about, what I've been arrested for - I don't know the reason. I was arrested for two years. Many many many people are just like me, they're arrested for nothing."
Haile says he was beaten - "until I was nearly dead" is how he put it.
Finally, as he was being transported from one prison to another, he saw his chance. A group of prisoners made a bid for freedom. Some were rounded up. But Haile, who had served in the Eritrean army for 10 years, managed to escape.
No safety in Sudan
Walking at night, he travelled west to the Sudanese border. Evading the patrols, he found a way across. There he was arrested by the Sudanese. They were looking for money.
"We had a problem - a Sudanese soldier caught us. I had no money. He asked: 'Do you have money? Bring money.'
"They hit us several times but they checked our pockets - everywhere we could hide money. They didn't get any, and then they released us. And then we entered."
Hitching a ride on a bus, Haile made it to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
Sudan is home to more than 120,000 Eritreans, most of whom left their country during the 30-year long war of independence from Ethiopia.
Haile had family in Khartoum, but even there he was not safe. Eritrean government agents came looking for him.
Fearing that he would be arrested or abducted, he got together with a group of seven others, and hired a truck to cross into Libya. At first it went well, but deep in the Sahara, the truck broke down.
Fatal journey
"We started the journey and it was very difficult and very bad. Nobody can cross the Sahara, it's too difficult. We had water but finished it. The car was spoiled (broke down).
"We stayed three nights and three days - we couldn't do anything. The driver had a phone. He tried to call, but the satellite communication was no good. We lost three friends there. But before that, we'd seen several dead bodies in the Sahara."
Burying his three companions, Haile's only option was to remain by the truck in the scorching sun. Finally, on the fourth day, another truck appeared.
Haile's driver arranged for a new vehicle to come to pick them up, and finally, after six days in the Sahara, the Eritreans made it to the oasis of Kufra in south eastern Libya.
Kufra was a welcome sight, but their problems have still not ended. Hundreds of Eritreans are detained in the town. Those lucky enough to leave will try to make it to the coast before boarding a rickety boat to cross the Mediterranean. Malta, which is already crowded with Eritreans, might be a destination. The other would be Italy.
Only then could refugees like Haile feel safe. But for now he is trapped in Kufra, waiting and hoping, but still longing for his own country:
"I feel very bad. I feel my country should be free. I feel very bad".
Story from BBC NEWS
:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/6492961.stmPublished: 2007/03/25 14:42:29 GMT
Eritreans risk death in the Sahara
by Martin Plaut Africa regional editor, BBC News
Every day, in the barren lands along the Sudanese border, young Eritreans risk their lives to flee from their country.
It is rugged terrain, tightly patrolled by Eritrean armed forces who have orders to shoot anyone trying to slip over to Sudan.
According to opposition sources, between 400 and 600 Eritreans a month make this dangerous journey.
Some flee poverty. Eritrea, which was already desperately poor, has poured money into weapons and its military since the war with Ethiopia that ended in 2000, but failed to resolve the border dispute between the two countries.
Others try to escape conscription - years spent in trenches facing Ethiopian forces dug-in across the border.
And many try to leave behind the routine political repression. Eritrea is a one-party state, with no free press of any kind. Amnesty International reports that anyone suspected of supporting the opposition faces indefinite detention and torture.
One man's story
Haile - not his real name - is one such refugee, who is now in Libya, having made the journey of over 5000 kilometres.
Haile was a translator for an international organisation, until he was arrested, accused of selling state secrets to an enemy. It is a charge frequently laid against translators working for foreign embassies, the United Nations and even aid agencies.
"We started the journey and it was very difficult... Nobody can cross the Sahara, it's too difficult" Haile, Eritrea refugee
"They asked me: 'Why are you talking to those people?'. I told them I'm translating. I told them several times to make them understand, but they couldn't understand me.
"They said: 'You're selling our country to another people. You are selling secrets of our country'. I don't know what they're talking about, what I've been arrested for - I don't know the reason. I was arrested for two years. Many many many people are just like me, they're arrested for nothing."
Haile says he was beaten - "until I was nearly dead" is how he put it.
Finally, as he was being transported from one prison to another, he saw his chance. A group of prisoners made a bid for freedom. Some were rounded up. But Haile, who had served in the Eritrean army for 10 years, managed to escape.
No safety in Sudan
Walking at night, he travelled west to the Sudanese border. Evading the patrols, he found a way across. There he was arrested by the Sudanese. They were looking for money.
"We had a problem - a Sudanese soldier caught us. I had no money. He asked: 'Do you have money? Bring money.'
"They hit us several times but they checked our pockets - everywhere we could hide money. They didn't get any, and then they released us. And then we entered."
Hitching a ride on a bus, Haile made it to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
Sudan is home to more than 120,000 Eritreans, most of whom left their country during the 30-year long war of independence from Ethiopia.
Haile had family in Khartoum, but even there he was not safe. Eritrean government agents came looking for him.
Fearing that he would be arrested or abducted, he got together with a group of seven others, and hired a truck to cross into Libya. At first it went well, but deep in the Sahara, the truck broke down.
Fatal journey
"We started the journey and it was very difficult and very bad. Nobody can cross the Sahara, it's too difficult. We had water but finished it. The car was spoiled (broke down).
"We stayed three nights and three days - we couldn't do anything. The driver had a phone. He tried to call, but the satellite communication was no good. We lost three friends there. But before that, we'd seen several dead bodies in the Sahara."
Burying his three companions, Haile's only option was to remain by the truck in the scorching sun. Finally, on the fourth day, another truck appeared.
Haile's driver arranged for a new vehicle to come to pick them up, and finally, after six days in the Sahara, the Eritreans made it to the oasis of Kufra in south eastern Libya.
Kufra was a welcome sight, but their problems have still not ended. Hundreds of Eritreans are detained in the town. Those lucky enough to leave will try to make it to the coast before boarding a rickety boat to cross the Mediterranean. Malta, which is already crowded with Eritreans, might be a destination. The other would be Italy.
Only then could refugees like Haile feel safe. But for now he is trapped in Kufra, waiting and hoping, but still longing for his own country:
"I feel very bad. I feel my country should be free. I feel very bad".
Story from BBC NEWS
:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/6492961.stmPublished: 2007/03/25 14:42:29 GMT
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Från mottagande till integration - förening för asylsökande fyller två år
AEASS – Association for Eritrean Asylum Seekers in Sweden – har existerat mer än två år.
Föreningen är en unik organisation där mera resursstarka eritreanska asylsökande arbetar med stöd och rådgivning till sina landsmän, men också med en alternativ organiserad verksamhet i samarbete med Studiefrämjandet i Sundbyberg (Stockholm).
Många av de eritreanska asylsökande som kom till Sverige för två-tre år sedan har nu, oftast efter överklaganden till Utlänningsnämnden, fått uppehållstillstånd. Under den långa väntetiden har många av föreningens omkring 200 medlemmar deltagit i en rad olika aktiviteter som anordnats av föreningen som ett alternativ och komplement till Migrationsverkets organiserade verksamhet. Föreningen kommer nu också att arbeta med den fortsatta introduktionen till svenskt samhälle och arbetsliv.
NTG-asyl anordnade i juni 2005 ett seminarium om AEASS verksamhet och avser att under 2006 fortsätta samarbetet för att utveckla insatser inom mottagande och introduktion för asylsökande och flyktingar.Juridisk rådgivning och socialt stöd…AEASS har av naturliga skäl starkt prioriterat stöd och rådgivning till sina medlemmar vad gäller asylprövningen. För NTG-asyls vidkommande är dock föreningens verksamhet med socialt stöd, aktiviteter och utbildning inom ramen för en alternativ och kompletterande organiserad verksamhet av störst intresse. Det fanns från medlemmarnas sida ett missnöje med den organiserade verksamhet (OV) som erbjöds, både vad gäller verksamhetens innehåll och begränsningar i tid. Genom kontakten med Studiefrämjandet i Sundbyberg fick föreningen tillgång till en lokal och viss utrustning som gav dem möjlighet att anordna utbildningar i svenska och datorkunskap, syverkstäder och fritids- och sociala aktiviteter.
…och alternativ organiserad verksamhetAktiviteterna är knappast i sig annorlunda än de som erbjuds i den ordinarie OV:n; det unika är snarare att de organiseras och beslutas av målgruppen själv och lärare/handledare också i stor utsträckning är redan etablerade eller mer resursstarka landsmän. Det innebar framförallt att relationen mellan lärare/handledare/rådgivare och de asylsökande kom att präglas av tillit och förtroende och att de redan etablerade, tidigare asylsökande kom att fungera som mediatörer/mentorer – mellan de asylsökande och det omgivande, nya samhället.
Integration, kulturskillnader och ITAEASS har haft stor betydelse för de asylsökande från Eritrea, som i allt större omfattning också får uppehållstillstånd i Sverige. Föreningen kommer nu att arbeta med att förbättra insatserna för den fortsatta introduktionen/integrationen i det svenska samhället och på arbetsmarknaden. Viktiga frågor, både vad gäller introduktion och mottagande är, enligt Khaled Abdu, en av grundarna till AEASS, hur man förklarar och hanterar kulturella skillnader, demokrati och det civila samhället samt förbättring och effektivisering av svenskundervisning och annan utbildning för asylsökande/flyktingar, bl a genom användande av e-learning/IT.
AEASS – en resurs för kommuner och Integrationsverk!Verksamheten som AEASS nu bedrivit i närmare två år, är ett gott exempel på målgruppsdrivet integrationsarbete. NTG-asyl har i Förslag till nationell politik framfört till Svenska ESF-rådet/berörda departement vikten av att ta tillvara erfarenheterna från sådan verksamhet. NTG-asyl kommer också att följa och stödja den fortsatta verksamheten. Berörda kommuner och Integrationsverket bör också följa verksamheten och ta tillvara den viktiga resurs som föreningen utgör. Verksamheten är ett gott exempel och en modell för ett förbättrat mottagande/introduktion där frivilligorganisationer och de berörda själva kan spela en allt större roll. Modellen är överförbar till andra grupper av asylsökande och flyktingar och därmed också ett intressant exempel på de empowerment-strategier som Equal-programmet skall utveckla.Khaled Abdu arbetar för närvarande på en bok om sina erfarenheter av mottagande och svensk asylpolitik. Även utvecklingen i Eritrea kommer att behandlas och den ofta mycket komplicerade situationen för eritreanska flyktingar i Sverige. De flyktingar som kommit till Sverige tidigare har ofta ekonomiska åtaganden och olika lojaliteter med det forna hemlandet.
Föreningen är en unik organisation där mera resursstarka eritreanska asylsökande arbetar med stöd och rådgivning till sina landsmän, men också med en alternativ organiserad verksamhet i samarbete med Studiefrämjandet i Sundbyberg (Stockholm).
Många av de eritreanska asylsökande som kom till Sverige för två-tre år sedan har nu, oftast efter överklaganden till Utlänningsnämnden, fått uppehållstillstånd. Under den långa väntetiden har många av föreningens omkring 200 medlemmar deltagit i en rad olika aktiviteter som anordnats av föreningen som ett alternativ och komplement till Migrationsverkets organiserade verksamhet. Föreningen kommer nu också att arbeta med den fortsatta introduktionen till svenskt samhälle och arbetsliv.
NTG-asyl anordnade i juni 2005 ett seminarium om AEASS verksamhet och avser att under 2006 fortsätta samarbetet för att utveckla insatser inom mottagande och introduktion för asylsökande och flyktingar.Juridisk rådgivning och socialt stöd…AEASS har av naturliga skäl starkt prioriterat stöd och rådgivning till sina medlemmar vad gäller asylprövningen. För NTG-asyls vidkommande är dock föreningens verksamhet med socialt stöd, aktiviteter och utbildning inom ramen för en alternativ och kompletterande organiserad verksamhet av störst intresse. Det fanns från medlemmarnas sida ett missnöje med den organiserade verksamhet (OV) som erbjöds, både vad gäller verksamhetens innehåll och begränsningar i tid. Genom kontakten med Studiefrämjandet i Sundbyberg fick föreningen tillgång till en lokal och viss utrustning som gav dem möjlighet att anordna utbildningar i svenska och datorkunskap, syverkstäder och fritids- och sociala aktiviteter.
…och alternativ organiserad verksamhetAktiviteterna är knappast i sig annorlunda än de som erbjuds i den ordinarie OV:n; det unika är snarare att de organiseras och beslutas av målgruppen själv och lärare/handledare också i stor utsträckning är redan etablerade eller mer resursstarka landsmän. Det innebar framförallt att relationen mellan lärare/handledare/rådgivare och de asylsökande kom att präglas av tillit och förtroende och att de redan etablerade, tidigare asylsökande kom att fungera som mediatörer/mentorer – mellan de asylsökande och det omgivande, nya samhället.
Integration, kulturskillnader och ITAEASS har haft stor betydelse för de asylsökande från Eritrea, som i allt större omfattning också får uppehållstillstånd i Sverige. Föreningen kommer nu att arbeta med att förbättra insatserna för den fortsatta introduktionen/integrationen i det svenska samhället och på arbetsmarknaden. Viktiga frågor, både vad gäller introduktion och mottagande är, enligt Khaled Abdu, en av grundarna till AEASS, hur man förklarar och hanterar kulturella skillnader, demokrati och det civila samhället samt förbättring och effektivisering av svenskundervisning och annan utbildning för asylsökande/flyktingar, bl a genom användande av e-learning/IT.
AEASS – en resurs för kommuner och Integrationsverk!Verksamheten som AEASS nu bedrivit i närmare två år, är ett gott exempel på målgruppsdrivet integrationsarbete. NTG-asyl har i Förslag till nationell politik framfört till Svenska ESF-rådet/berörda departement vikten av att ta tillvara erfarenheterna från sådan verksamhet. NTG-asyl kommer också att följa och stödja den fortsatta verksamheten. Berörda kommuner och Integrationsverket bör också följa verksamheten och ta tillvara den viktiga resurs som föreningen utgör. Verksamheten är ett gott exempel och en modell för ett förbättrat mottagande/introduktion där frivilligorganisationer och de berörda själva kan spela en allt större roll. Modellen är överförbar till andra grupper av asylsökande och flyktingar och därmed också ett intressant exempel på de empowerment-strategier som Equal-programmet skall utveckla.Khaled Abdu arbetar för närvarande på en bok om sina erfarenheter av mottagande och svensk asylpolitik. Även utvecklingen i Eritrea kommer att behandlas och den ofta mycket komplicerade situationen för eritreanska flyktingar i Sverige. De flyktingar som kommit till Sverige tidigare har ofta ekonomiska åtaganden och olika lojaliteter med det forna hemlandet.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Eritreansk införmation minister på besök i sverige
Eritreas Information minister Ali Abdu kommer att besöka Stockholm den4/2.Han har ett stort inflytande över median i Landet, Ali Abdu är också ansvarig för att svensk/eritreanske journalisten Dawit Isaaks arresterande.
Vi vill uppmana så många som möjligt att sluta upp till vår demonstration. Ali Abdu är inbjuden av eritreaner i Stockholm för att tala om Eritrea, som också kallas Afrikas största fängelse för journalister.
Detta möte kommer att äga rum på Åsa Gymnasiet, Skanstull kl. 14.00 .
Vi vill uppmana så många som möjligt att sluta upp till vår demonstration. Ali Abdu är inbjuden av eritreaner i Stockholm för att tala om Eritrea, som också kallas Afrikas största fängelse för journalister.
Detta möte kommer att äga rum på Åsa Gymnasiet, Skanstull kl. 14.00 .
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Eritrea – Afrikas största fängelse för journalister
Den 12 november i år fängslades minst nio journalister i Eritrea i ett tillslag som Reportrar utan gränser beskriver som motbjudande. Vågen av arresteringar har den här gången skett mot journalister anställda vid statliga medier. Arresteringarna kom efter att en rad äldre erfarnajournalister som arbetade vid informationsministeriet flytt utomlands. Sedan 2001 sitter redan minst 13 journalister fängslade i Eritrea. En av dem är den svenska journalisten Dawit Isaak.
Journalisten Khaled Abdu skriver för nyhetsbrevet om de nya händelserna och om hans tidigare kollega som arresterats.
Eritrea – Afrikas största fängelse för journalister
Det har gått mer än fem år sedan Dawit Isaak och hans journalistkollegor arresterades i Eritrea. Den fria pressens sammanbrott var en naturlig fortsättning i nedtystningsprocessen av reformrörelsen som startades 2001 av 15 ministrar i parlamentet. Vågen av arresteringar var en direkt attack av den fria pressens integritet, en attack från president Issaias Afeworki, Eritreas mycket aggressiva ledare.Jag är nu än mer oroad över mitt lands journalistiska integritet sedan den nya attacken mot den fria pressen, när minst 9 journalister greps i november. Den nya arresteringsvågen kom efter att ett antal journalister hade flytt landet och gjordes för att skrämma de som ännu är kvar. En av de som fängslades var min tidigare kollega Paulos Kidane, som brukadeskriva om sport i tidningen Admas. Han arbetade på senare tid för statliga medier och med ett radioprogram kring det amhariska språket som sändes av informationsministeriet. En av de som fängslades, Simon Zewdie, släpptes efter ett par dagar. Han arbetade med TV programmet Tigrinya och studerade också ekonomi vid universitetet i Asmara. De övriga journalisterna är fortfarande fängslade och sägs befinna sig i fånglägret Agip som inte ligger långt ifrån informationsministeriets kontor.
I november kom också en rapport som pekade på att tre av de journalister som tidigare fängslats har dött i Eiraerofängelset. Rapporten är inte bekräftad, och trots den internationella uppmärksamheten och frågorna kring vad som hänt de tre journalisterna har regimen i Asmara inte ens bevärdigat sig att ge ett svar.
Said Abdelkadir från Nya Admas tidning,
Medhanie Haile från Keste-debena tidningen och
Yesuf Mohammed Ali från tidningen Tsigenay
har enligt rapporten dött i fängelset efter att ha utsatts för tortyr och vanvård.Många säger att de fängslade journalisterna i Eritrea kommer att bli de journalister i Afrika som kommer att befinna sig längst i fängelse. Troligtvis lika länge som diktatorn Issaias Afeworki styr landet. Precis som de andra politiska fångarna som fängslats efter frihetskampen från Etiopien. Om dem vet man fortfarande inte var de befinner sig. Regimen iAsmara verkar tycka att det är normalt att fängsla människor på obestämd tid och låta dem dö i fängelser utan någon lagprocess. Det kan jag se som en röd tråd genom historien. Regimen i Asmara håller på att göra Afrikas horn till ett oroligt och instabilt område. Och rollen som Eritreas diktator spelar är bara till för att skapa konflikter som ska hjälpa honom att hålla kvar makten utan att behöva införa varken konstitution eller lagar. Jag ser en mörk bild av Eritreas framtid. Regimen i Eritreas enda prioritet är att behålla makten på ett olagligt sätt, och det kommer att försena införandet av en konstitution. Det finns inget hopp om att de kommer att böja sig inför några lagar. Freden och stabiliteten i regionenhar inte säkrats genom att regimen i Eritrea har spelat en negativ roll i olika delar av Afrikas horn. Frid vare med de hjältar som offrat sina liv för pressfriheten i Eritrea. Vi kommer alltid att minnas dem och fortsätta kämpa för att uppnå deras drömmar.
~Khaled Abdu~
Khaled Abdu var chefredaktör för Admas, en av de första oberoende tidningarna i Eritrea som startades 1999. 2000 tvingades han fly landet och sedan sommaren 2003lever han i Sverige och beviljades uppehållstillstånd. 2003 fick Khaled Abdu Human Rights Watchs pressfrihetspris The Hellman-Hammett Grant. ~
Friday, December 15, 2006
Eritrean journalist Semret Seyoum’s Personal Testimony
13 December
Semret Seyoum’sPersonal Testimony
at the East and Horn of Africa Journalists’ conference
held atEntebbe, Uganda
from 27/11/06 to 29/11/06
Dear fellow journalists and invited guests,
I would like to thank the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project and organisations that helped in funding this conference for providing me the opportunity to share a personal testimony with you.
Eritrea has a long history. This is probably not the time to go there. It is more convenient to focus on what happened in September 2001 – 10 days after September 11 or better known as 9/11 – and thereafter.
From my point of view and in relation to private press in Eritrea, the following is what happened in September 2001.
The closing down of 8 independent newspapers and the imprisonment of at least 16 journalists was the final act that strangled the hopeful aspirations for a better Eritrea. It marked the day Eritrean voices were silenced. September 2001 is perceived as the Black September in Eritrea now.
My own personal experience in this tragedy began when I joined the Eritrean liberation struggle in 1978. I was under-age then. After 13 years of service, I was one among those who happened to see the political independence of my country.
To this day, I have yet to see the freedom I was led to believe I would have – in a free and sovereign Eritrea.The first few years of post-independence period looked very promising and I looked forward to my higher education dream at the University of Asmara.After I completed my first year, the Government of Eritrea ordered all ex-fighters who were studying at the University to give up their studies and go back to their respective ministries or units.
There was no explanation.
I felt betrayed by the very leadership we trusted and helped to put in power. To be denied education by a liberation movement that prided itself for championing and providing education to its members and the public was beyond my comprehension.
That was a time in my life when I was attracted by the idea and ambition of setting up a private and independent newspaper. Those who were at the receiving end were unable to discuss or put up any tangible opposition. Had there been private papers at the time, government officials would not have dared take such a discriminatory and unjustifiable action. I still believe it is the case.
In 1996, we were given the permission to be demobilised.
After 4 wasted years, I resumed my university education in 1996.
That was the year we, two friends and myself, managed to set up the first private newspaper in independent Eritrea in accordance to Eritrean Press Law of 10th June 1996.
We called the paper ‘Setit’.
It was put on the market for the first time on the 21st of August 1997.
It was not always a smooth ride.
In the four years, till its final closure in 2001, there were many hostile blocks that tested its resolve. Seven other journalists and myself were arrested and detained for one week in October of 2000 without charge.At the time of our imprisonment, a group of educated Eritreans who later came to be known as group 13 or G-13 sent a document to the President of Eritrea. It was posted on the net. It expressed their disquiet and the concerns they had on what was going on in Eritrea.The rounding up of independent journalists was basically to prevent us from making the content of their letter accessible to the public. There was no doubt about it. Government authorities were trying to send a message of terror and warning. They were worried about the popularity of the private newspapers. Had it not been for the world community and international media campaign, the life of the private papers would have ended in October of 2000.The turbulence, dissatisfaction and disenchantment that began to rumble in October 2000 reached a boiling point in May of 2001. For the first time, high-ranking government officials and ministers, later to be known as Group 15 or G-15, were prepared to air their views and question the President of Eritrea.
As a private media, we felt it was our duty to present the public their side of the story.
In the days and weeks that followed, we interviewed some of the group members and we urged the government and the opponents to show the same commitment and responsibility to resolve their differences on a round table.
This continued for almost four months. Finally, the darkest day in the history of the young nation arrived. It was the day when its democratic and constitutional future was diverted from its natural course.
Our paper was already published on the Tuesday of the 18th of September 2001 when the group 15 members were arrested and all the private papers were closed.
A week later government security forces arrested most of the journalists of the private papers. Aaron who is hear today with us and myself went in hiding. After three months, on 6th of January 2002, we set a foot on a long journey of exile.
Our destination was to go to Sudan.We were not that far from crossing the border when we suddenly realised that we were in the vicinity of an Eritrean patrol unit. They started to shoot in our direction without waiting for our reply.
The distance between the trigger-happy guards and ourselves was so tight that we only had split seconds to react. We run in opposite directions and they chose to go for me. There were four guards and they shouted at me to stop. There was nothing I could do. I had nowhere to run or hide. I just gave myself up.
They asked me whether I had a weapon of any kind. I said “No!” They grabbed me and ordered me to take off my shoes. They then frisked me and took all the money and other things I had. They started their mindless beating. On that day, it all rained on me with kicks, punches, head-butting and all the rest. Barefoot and hands tied behind my back, they took me to a place called Girmayka on foot. There, they tied my feet and hands together until they touched my back and was thrown on bare ground under night stars with no protection from desert cold. I spent the night in extreme chill. At dawn, I was taken to an underground dungeon and was locked up with my hands still tied behind with a guard outside. Late in the evening, they took me to a notorious underground prison called Haddish Me’asker. Once there, the piece of rope that tied my hands was replaced by a proper shackle. Thereafter, the verbal abuse and incessant threats on my life became an endless daily intake.
I went through dreadful interrogations for a long time. They wanted to know how we started out as a private paper. Who was behind the initiative?Who we met when we started?All questions were punctuated by threats to my life. They were intended to imply that there was a foreign hand behind all private papers and that all the journalists were collaborators. I was locked in solitary confinement in a cell the size of a single bed for months. The room was always dark.My hand shackled behind my back and always bare-foot. When I am let out of my cell to use the toilet or to have something to eat, I was not allowed to get close to other prisoners. But those were the only moments my hands were unshackled and I see he light of the day. The food was watery lentil with a piece of bread. Given the prevalence of many contagious diseases like diarrhoea among the prisoners, the medical facility was negligible.
In Eritrea, prisoners do not have access to legal representation.They are not brought to a court of law.I didn’t expect that my case would be handled any different. No prisoner was allowed to write or receive a letter or send one to friends or loved ones. Paper and pen were strictly prohibited and there would be dire consequences for any prisoner if found with any.
No reading and no visits either. One is left with ones thoughts in the dark.
After 8 months in ‘Haddish-Me’asker’ prison, I was taken with one hundred others on a truck and transferred to another underground prison located on the western outskirts of the capital Asmara. It’s still known as Track – B.
The prison was a temporary stop from one prison to another.
They kept me there for 4 months and on the 9th January 2003, I was ordered to collect my belongings and was taken to `Discipline Control Office’. There, I was told that my punishment is over and was sent home.
Soon after my release, I was forcibly conscripted in the Eritrean Defence Force with no salary and no specific task to perform. I repeatedly requested the responsible government departments for my salary and be transferred to the Ministry of Justice – a work place compatible to my qualification.
I was a Law graduate from the University of Asmara.
It didn’t work. It was unrealistic. I knew I was still closely watched and followed by security officers.
I tried my best not to give them an excuse. I limited my movements and interactions with others, but I never stopped thinking of leaving the country for the second time round whatever the consequences.
I was just bidding my time until an opportunity presented itself.At the end of September 2004, I crossed the border and entered Sudan. Although it was not safe for me to stay in Sudan for a long time, I was able to breathe fresh air of freedom. From then on I was never alone.
Within a year and before I left for Sweden at the end of 2005 through the UNHCR resettlement program, I received a lot of support from Elsa Chyrum the Eritrean Human Rights Activist, Amnesty International, English PEN and lots of other friends.
Ever since I left prison and after months of solitary confinement, I suffer from traumatic nightmares. Images of torture and abuse at Haddish Me’asker are still vivid.
I sometimes feel like I am still in that god-forsaken prison. When I wake up, I realise I am no longer there and breath air of relief and gratitude.Having gone through all these, it is not difficult to imagine what the 16 imprisoned journalists in Eritrea are going through.
I admire fellow journalists in the Horn and East Africa and around the world. Your determination and bravery to raise public awareness in the face of repression despite the risks involved in carrying out your duties say more than you can imagine.
Thank you
Semret Seyoum
Entebee, Uganda
28 November 2006
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Eritrean journalist Ahmed Omer Sheikh released
The famous Arabic language journalist and poet Ahmed Omer Sheikh is released from jail on Saturday Dec 9 2006 after being kept in prison for a week.
Ahmed was released with out being told why he was arrested and he is the second journalist to be released after Simon Zewdie, who was released two weeks ago.
To read the news in arabic please refer http://www.adoulis.com/details.php?rsnType=1&id=974
Eritrean government: running out of propaganda tricks
By Gemeda Humnasa
December 11, 2006
The Eritrean government has been using a lot of propaganda and supporting various rebels in an attempt to destabilize East Africa. For the sake of peace and democracy for Ethiopians, Somalis, Sudanese and Eritreans; the government might be running out of its tricks.
We know how corrupt both the Eritrean and Ethiopian governments were when they got their share of the cake in the early 1990’s. Words around Ethiopia indicated that the leaders of these two countries, Isaias Afewerki and Meles Zenawi, were even in the gambling business and wasting a lot of their government’s money. This might be just a gossip but their dispute with money has been seen as the original reason of their animosity, instead of the border issue with Badme. No matter what happened before, we must focus on what is the reality today.
Currently, in an attempt to increase nationalism mood in Eritrea and to provoke Ethiopia one more time; the Eritrean government is sparking another war in southern Somalia. It is yet another war started by the young government of Eritrea which was ironically originally supported by the Ethiopian government. Anyway no one can deny that the Somalia Transitional government is weak but that is more the fault of the United Nation’s lack of support to the T.F.G. to get on its foot two years ago. When Kofi Annan gave his last address on Monday, Africans were hoping that he would accept his failure to assist the Somalia transitional government. The reality is the Union of Islamic Courts is threatening to take around 1/5th of Ethiopian land and around 1/4th of Kenyan land. And no one is putting this information in anyone’s mouth. This was publicly stated by the UIC and the jihadists many times. Eritrea claiming to help the radical Islamists to stabilize Somalia is a humorous claim that doesn’t appear funny to those serious about creating peace and democracy in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia.
Everybody knows Eritrea doesn’t have any independent or private media. But the world is not stressing this issue just for the sake of calling it “private.” We are stressing it because when a country has a private media, its dirt and mistakes would become public just like the dirt and mistakes of the Ethiopian government and then improvements can be made. Even more, when private media exists, most likely multi-party system will also exist and the chances of a one-party government supporting jihadists and Al-Qaeda members gets lower. Now we are not talking about chance anymore because the Eritrean government has already started supporting the terrorists and the secessionists. If an inside opposition party challenged the Eritrean government, this would have never happened. If we had all these things in Eritrea, we would have known how bad & often religious citizens are being persecuted. We would have known if there are hundreds more or thousands more that are being tortured and killed. Most of the time, we don’t know how bad things get until the persecuted leave the country secretly, some how, and reach the Ethiopian, Sudanese and other borders. The country is so closed that the whole country appears like a prison. As the result, the lone media that comes out of the nation is not about how different economic and other policies should be done in the country. It is usually propaganda news about countries that the government hates. Which are of course Ethiopia and Western nations. So it is common to hear about Eritrean news agencies talking dirt about Ethiopia, Israel, America and Great Briton. These Eritrean news sources might as well change their names to the regions they cover instead of calling themselves “Eritrean.” People might have to wait a whole year before they can hear about any Eritrean reporter discussing how to challenge the policies of the Eritrean government. For example you will never see an opposition party itself, let alone the opposition party like Ethiopia’s CUDP members shouting and criticizing the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. Most Ethiopians wonder when will they see such democratic change in Eritrea, not because they hate Eritreans, but only because they know that in order to live peacefully as neighbors we can not have a dictatorship unchallenged and the atrocities it commits concealed from the whole wide world. If this keeps going we will see the Eritrean government bombing more Ethiopian schools and financing more terrorist groups for many more decades. Ethiopia itself is not completely open, but it is a galaxy away compared to Eritrea. It is safe to say that those of us living in America will continue to see press conferences, parliament meetings, opposition member discussions and almost everything that is going on in Ethiopia.
December 11, 2006
The Eritrean government has been using a lot of propaganda and supporting various rebels in an attempt to destabilize East Africa. For the sake of peace and democracy for Ethiopians, Somalis, Sudanese and Eritreans; the government might be running out of its tricks.
We know how corrupt both the Eritrean and Ethiopian governments were when they got their share of the cake in the early 1990’s. Words around Ethiopia indicated that the leaders of these two countries, Isaias Afewerki and Meles Zenawi, were even in the gambling business and wasting a lot of their government’s money. This might be just a gossip but their dispute with money has been seen as the original reason of their animosity, instead of the border issue with Badme. No matter what happened before, we must focus on what is the reality today.
Currently, in an attempt to increase nationalism mood in Eritrea and to provoke Ethiopia one more time; the Eritrean government is sparking another war in southern Somalia. It is yet another war started by the young government of Eritrea which was ironically originally supported by the Ethiopian government. Anyway no one can deny that the Somalia Transitional government is weak but that is more the fault of the United Nation’s lack of support to the T.F.G. to get on its foot two years ago. When Kofi Annan gave his last address on Monday, Africans were hoping that he would accept his failure to assist the Somalia transitional government. The reality is the Union of Islamic Courts is threatening to take around 1/5th of Ethiopian land and around 1/4th of Kenyan land. And no one is putting this information in anyone’s mouth. This was publicly stated by the UIC and the jihadists many times. Eritrea claiming to help the radical Islamists to stabilize Somalia is a humorous claim that doesn’t appear funny to those serious about creating peace and democracy in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia.
Everybody knows Eritrea doesn’t have any independent or private media. But the world is not stressing this issue just for the sake of calling it “private.” We are stressing it because when a country has a private media, its dirt and mistakes would become public just like the dirt and mistakes of the Ethiopian government and then improvements can be made. Even more, when private media exists, most likely multi-party system will also exist and the chances of a one-party government supporting jihadists and Al-Qaeda members gets lower. Now we are not talking about chance anymore because the Eritrean government has already started supporting the terrorists and the secessionists. If an inside opposition party challenged the Eritrean government, this would have never happened. If we had all these things in Eritrea, we would have known how bad & often religious citizens are being persecuted. We would have known if there are hundreds more or thousands more that are being tortured and killed. Most of the time, we don’t know how bad things get until the persecuted leave the country secretly, some how, and reach the Ethiopian, Sudanese and other borders. The country is so closed that the whole country appears like a prison. As the result, the lone media that comes out of the nation is not about how different economic and other policies should be done in the country. It is usually propaganda news about countries that the government hates. Which are of course Ethiopia and Western nations. So it is common to hear about Eritrean news agencies talking dirt about Ethiopia, Israel, America and Great Briton. These Eritrean news sources might as well change their names to the regions they cover instead of calling themselves “Eritrean.” People might have to wait a whole year before they can hear about any Eritrean reporter discussing how to challenge the policies of the Eritrean government. For example you will never see an opposition party itself, let alone the opposition party like Ethiopia’s CUDP members shouting and criticizing the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. Most Ethiopians wonder when will they see such democratic change in Eritrea, not because they hate Eritreans, but only because they know that in order to live peacefully as neighbors we can not have a dictatorship unchallenged and the atrocities it commits concealed from the whole wide world. If this keeps going we will see the Eritrean government bombing more Ethiopian schools and financing more terrorist groups for many more decades. Ethiopia itself is not completely open, but it is a galaxy away compared to Eritrea. It is safe to say that those of us living in America will continue to see press conferences, parliament meetings, opposition member discussions and almost everything that is going on in Ethiopia.
If we want peace in East Africa, Eritrea will have to start to open up a little and stop attacking Ethiopians. When the Eritrean government laughably told the United Nations not to send foreign peacekeepers inside Somalia, the world was wondering what to call the thousands of Eritreans already training with the jihadists. Eritrean jihadists? Eritrean-jihadist-Somalis? Such hypocrisy by the Eritrean government would have never been tolerated by the Eritrean people if they were free. Last week, when we saw hundreds of Eritreans protesting in London against the Eritrean government, we did not see their political representation. We did not see their propaganda or political affiliation. What we saw was pure thirst for freedom in Eritrea.
Now the mess the Eritrean government has created in Somalia has to be cleaned out by the blood of thousands of people. Hopefully, when the war is over, Somalia would have a leadership that will be friendly with its neighbors. But not just Somalia, the secessionist rebels like OLF would have never been in such a position if they were not supported by the Eritrean government. OLF was dying. Kenya was also kicking it out. And Ethiopian Oromos were ignoring it and telling it to reform. What OLF did not understand was that the spirit of OLF for justice, freedom and equality will never die. The progressive spirit of Oromo Liberation Front will and should never die. No matter how small in number the fighters of OLF are, the membership of the progressive OLF will always be more than 25 million Ethiopians. But the membership of the backward OLF is getting smaller and smaller everyday. What OLF failed to see was that the struggle has been reformed. It has changed from armed to a peaceful struggle. The leadership of OLF failed to see that Oromos are developing and improving Oromia while peacefully dealing with discrimination. At this time, Oromos are not being persecuted for being Oromos. They are being persecuted for following the destructive & backward policies of OLF which are in fact backward enough to destabilize the whole of Ethiopia. At this time, Ethiopians do not see the current, unreformed OLF as standing for a better Ethiopia anymore. OLF now looks more like an Oromia supremacy organization. It was up to OLF to catch up with the reformation. But so far it has failed. Most importantly, compromising outlooks and reformations are usually fueled by desperation. When OLF started to lose members, its growing desperation was about to end the misery of all Ethiopians and we were going in the right direction. But all of the sudden, the Eritrean government came to the picture and by giving military aid to OLF rebels; it came to “the rescue” of the dying, backward OLF while blocking the progressive OLF.
If we want peace in East Africa, proxy wars & battles have to stop. The Ethiopian government must stop arming the Eritrean Islamists and the Eritrean government must stop arming Oromo Liberation Front, Ogaden National Liberation Front, UIC and many more alongside Libya. The Eritrean government should see that if it attempts to destabilize others, the nations around it are financially able to destabilize Eritrea back anytime they want. Particularly they are able to withstand such attempt by Eritrea because they are bigger and capable. Also, the trick Shabea uses when it says “the minority regime in Ethiopia” are an old, overused and useless method of propaganda. When Ethiopians see an article on any Internet news website and if the article’s heading starts with “minority regime,” they automatically know it is an Eritrean government’s propaganda article. It is the propaganda it has been using to fuel secessionist groups like OLF and ONLF. While the fact a minority is represented in the highest part of government should be the pride of Ethiopia, according to the Eritrean government it should be condemned. This is a sign of backwardness. When minorities like Ethiopian Afar, Gurage, Somali and Hadiyas hold high positions in Ethiopian government; this should applauded and be a sign of progress not a sign of minority regression or illegitimacy.
Various propaganda techniques used by the Eritrean government are overused and mostly comical than practical. It has randomly tried to accuse the Ethiopian government of killings. It has exploited ethnic conflicts in Ethiopia by saying they are some kind of genocide. It has tried everything in the textbook. Now it is trying to justify supporting terrorists. Instead of finding ways to provoke its neighbors and spread propaganda, it would have been helpful both for Ethiopians and Eritreans if the Eritrean government improved its country’s economy instead. When Eritreans are living in peace and when their country develops, Ethiopians will also live in peace and their country will prosper. Most of all, Eritrea would not have been forced to use millions of dollars for its military because it feels insecure. A country that has very limited fertile land and natural resources can not afford to waste so much money on military. What the Eritrean government does not know is that Eritreans will gain two things at the same time if their economy grows and their government stops provoking other nations. Because if this happens, its neighbors would also not find it necessary to stop and take over a mischievous Eritrea. The craving of opposition parties in Ethiopia to take back Eritrea would have been changed if Eritrea was not destabilizing the horn of Africa.
Maybe the last of the Eritrean government's tricks were drained out too late because, now, everyone is visiting Mogadishu and it is not to take a vacation. It is not to shop at the beautiful Bakara Market in Mogadishu. And anymore propaganda and tricks from the Eritrean government are only a burial insult to its remaining (if any) intelligence.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Eritrean authorities arrests Journalist Ahmed Omar Sheikh
The Eritrean authorities has arrested, last Monday, the known Eritrean journalist and broadcaster Ahmed Omar Sheikh and took him to an unknown destination, according to sources close to him. ECMS could not confirm the status of the news from a neutral source. However, informed sources did not rule out that for the fact that a large number of journalists working in the official media had been arrested in the last few weeks without giving any clear justification for that.
Ahmed Omer Sheikh
It is noteworthy that colleague Ahmed Omar Sheikh, had been working as editor and broadcaster in the Eritrean television and radio since 1993, and he published a number of literary publications in the field of poetry and novel.
The Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdou has denied the arrest of journalists indicating that it was routine investigation. However, Reporters without Borders organization challenged the minister of having listed the names of those detained in unknown places and one of whom was released.
Friday, December 08, 2006
KAMPALA: JOURNALISTS DECRY HARASSMENT AND ABUSES, COMMIT TO DEFENDING HUMAN RIGHTS
EAST AND HORN OF AFRICA HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS NETWORK
Press Statement
EHAHRDN Index: UGA 035/008/2006 (Public)
29th November 2006
A three day sub-regional Journalists’ Conference concluded today at the Windsor Lake Victoria Hotel in Entebbe, Uganda, with a call from journalists to their governments in the sub region to respect and uphold media freedom.
Press Statement
EHAHRDN Index: UGA 035/008/2006 (Public)
29th November 2006
A three day sub-regional Journalists’ Conference concluded today at the Windsor Lake Victoria Hotel in Entebbe, Uganda, with a call from journalists to their governments in the sub region to respect and uphold media freedom.
The Conference attracted 40 men and women journalists from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Somaliland, Sudan including South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. It was organized by the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP) and provided training and discussions about human rights reporting, and supporting each other as human rights defenders. It was facilitated by Amnesty International, Article 19, Frontline, Peace Brigade International, and the Human Rights House Foundation Network, among others.Journalists shared experiences and ideas on a wide range of human rights and security issues not only affecting them as individuals, but also the profession. They included among others: torture, threats to their lives, self censorship, laws aimed at restricting and deterring journalists’ work, detention, unfair trials and confiscation of publications.
Whereas the journalists commended the relative press freedom in Uganda, Tanzania and Somaliland, the situation of the press described in other countries was of great concern.
Eritrea has kept over 16 journalists behind bars since 2001, when the entire private press was banned, and nine more state-media journalists were very recently detained and held without charge. Ethiopia also has 16 journalists on trial on false charges of instigating violence, which could carry the death penalty. Dozens of Somali journalists have been arrested in the past two years, but all were freed after vigorous campaigning by local and international media groups.
At the end of the conference, participants committed themselves to increase their reporting on human rights issues and human rights violations, and to support and protect fellow men and women journalists in their defense of human rights.
They called upon the governments and authorities of East and Horn of Africa sub-region to respect and protect freedom of the press. The final conference resolution included the following:
• Express support for women journalists facing gender discrimination and encourage reporting on women’s rights issues
• Demand that the governments in the sub region release all detained journalists and end unlawful acts against freedom of press by law enforcement bodies.
• Request reform of all laws, which curtail freedom of opinion, information and the media.
• Appeal to the Eritrean government to accept a delegation of journalists from the sub-region to visit detained journalists “disappeared” for five years.
• Call upon the UN Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and the African Union Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression to conduct a fact-finding mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea; and to propose concrete actions against governments that decline to cooperate or decline to implement the international and regional instruments on freedom of expression which they have ratified, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
• Urge the international community and donors to support journalists and their associations and unions in the sub-region, and to strongly advocate for their media rights and freedoms, and civil rights and liberties.
• Appeal to the UN, African Union (AU), League of Arab States (LAS) and Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to restrain governments and authorities in the sub-region from their growing acts of intolerance of freedom of expression.For further information, please contact:
Tumusiime Kabwende DeoPress Officer
Mobile: +256-712-075721
Regional Coordination Office
EAST AND HORN OF AFRICA HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS PROJECT (EHAHRDP) Human Rights House, Plot 1853, Lulume Rd., Nsambya P.O. Box 11027 Kampala, Uganda Phone: +256-41-510263(general)/ext.112 +256-41-267118(direct) Fax: +256-41-267117 E-mail: ehahrdp@yahoo.ca, hshire@yorku.ca
Tumusiime Kabwende DeoPress Officer
Mobile: +256-712-075721
Regional Coordination Office
EAST AND HORN OF AFRICA HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS PROJECT (EHAHRDP) Human Rights House, Plot 1853, Lulume Rd., Nsambya P.O. Box 11027 Kampala, Uganda Phone: +256-41-510263(general)/ext.112 +256-41-267118(direct) Fax: +256-41-267117 E-mail: ehahrdp@yahoo.ca, hshire@yorku.ca
CPJ: Keeping the spotlight on Eritrea's jailed journalists
Written by Alexis Arieff
Wednesday, 04 October 2006
Slipping from Sight
Khaled Abdu, once the top editor of Admas, a private weekly in Eritrea, fled his homeland in 2000 after getting a series of threats from government agents. He was one of the lucky ones, as it turned out. In a massive crackdown in September 2001, the government rounded up and jailed many of Eritrea’s most prominent journalists and closed down all of the country’s private news outlets.
The fate of those jailed journalists has become ever more precarious as this nation along the Red Sea has grown increasingly isolated. Abdu and several colleagues, believing they might be the best way to draw international attention to their imprisoned colleagues, have launched an association of journalists in exile to report on the cases.At least 13 journalists are behind bars in Eritrea, with two more enduring prolonged forced labor euphemistically called “national service.” These grim statistics have made Eritrea one of the world’s five biggest jailers of journalists for five consecutive years, according to CPJ research. The imprisoned journalists have not been formally charged. Eritrean authorities have refused to discuss their whereabouts, the conditions of their imprisonment, or the precise nature of the allegations against them.In a CPJ interview, presidential spokesman Yemane Gebremeskel denied that the journalists were imprisoned because of what they wrote, saying only that they “were involved in acts against the national interest of the state.” He said “the substance of the case is clear to everybody” but declined to detail any supporting evidence.“We feel like they are being forgotten,” said Abdu, whose Admas colleague, Said Abdelkader, is among those imprisoned. “Unless we address what happened, the outside world cannot do more.”either the Red Cross nor family members are allowed to visit the jailed reporters, making it difficult to determine the journalists’ health and, in some cases, whether they are alive. What little information can be gleaned trickles out through members of the exile community. In 2002, for example, several journalists who escaped the country alerted CPJ that nine imprisoned journalists had been moved from police cells in the capital, Asmara, to secret detention facilities after they attempted a hunger strike.The newly inaugurated Association of Eritrean Journalists in Exile (AEJE) plans to disseminate information about the jailed journalists and other media-related issues affecting Eritrea. The association has launched a Web site, www.aeje.org, and its members stay connected through an e-mail listserv.“We want to advocate for our colleagues who are in jail,” said Aaron Berhane, a founding editor of a banned private newspaper, Setit, who now lives in Toronto.
Wednesday, 04 October 2006
Slipping from Sight
Their jailed colleagues vanishing in secret prisons, exiled Eritrean Journalists seek to bring attention.
By Alexis Arieff
Khaled Abdu, once the top editor of Admas, a private weekly in Eritrea, fled his homeland in 2000 after getting a series of threats from government agents. He was one of the lucky ones, as it turned out. In a massive crackdown in September 2001, the government rounded up and jailed many of Eritrea’s most prominent journalists and closed down all of the country’s private news outlets.
The fate of those jailed journalists has become ever more precarious as this nation along the Red Sea has grown increasingly isolated. Abdu and several colleagues, believing they might be the best way to draw international attention to their imprisoned colleagues, have launched an association of journalists in exile to report on the cases.At least 13 journalists are behind bars in Eritrea, with two more enduring prolonged forced labor euphemistically called “national service.” These grim statistics have made Eritrea one of the world’s five biggest jailers of journalists for five consecutive years, according to CPJ research. The imprisoned journalists have not been formally charged. Eritrean authorities have refused to discuss their whereabouts, the conditions of their imprisonment, or the precise nature of the allegations against them.In a CPJ interview, presidential spokesman Yemane Gebremeskel denied that the journalists were imprisoned because of what they wrote, saying only that they “were involved in acts against the national interest of the state.” He said “the substance of the case is clear to everybody” but declined to detail any supporting evidence.“We feel like they are being forgotten,” said Abdu, whose Admas colleague, Said Abdelkader, is among those imprisoned. “Unless we address what happened, the outside world cannot do more.”either the Red Cross nor family members are allowed to visit the jailed reporters, making it difficult to determine the journalists’ health and, in some cases, whether they are alive. What little information can be gleaned trickles out through members of the exile community. In 2002, for example, several journalists who escaped the country alerted CPJ that nine imprisoned journalists had been moved from police cells in the capital, Asmara, to secret detention facilities after they attempted a hunger strike.The newly inaugurated Association of Eritrean Journalists in Exile (AEJE) plans to disseminate information about the jailed journalists and other media-related issues affecting Eritrea. The association has launched a Web site, www.aeje.org, and its members stay connected through an e-mail listserv.“We want to advocate for our colleagues who are in jail,” said Aaron Berhane, a founding editor of a banned private newspaper, Setit, who now lives in Toronto.
“We want to record their history, the work that they have done, to bring their issue to the public.” Two of Berhane’s former co-workers are among those behind bars, including Fesshaye “Joshua” Yohannes, a 2002 recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award. Berhane escaped prison by going into hiding, then fleeing to Sudan.
Several exiled journalists told CPJ that they struggle with a sense of survivor’s guilt that they made it out of Eritrea, while others did not. They left behind not only those who were arrested, but also family members and friends who struggle with the daily hardship of living in one of the world’s poorest and most repressive countries.“Our major task is to address the human rights violations in Eritrea ... and to prepare ourselves for Eritrea to have a free and independent media,” Abdu said. AEJE’s two dozen members live around the world, primarily in Canada, the United States, and, like Abdu, in Sweden. They receive information from covert networks that include friendly government employees and security agents. AEJE’s membership counts former journalists from private newspapers, former state media employees, and diaspora Eritreans who have become involved in media in their adopted countries.ritrea gained full independence from Ethiopia in 1993, after Eritrean and Ethiopian guerrilla fighters overthrew a ruthless military regime that had ruled over both territories. Journalism enjoyed a brief heyday in the ensuing years. The nation’s first private newspapers were started in Asmara amid widespread optimism over the country’s future. “We never dreamt of going out of Eritrea,” recalled Abdu, who helped found Admas during that time.While initially supportive of the revolutionary government, Eritrea’s young journalists soon began to question increasingly autocratic government policies and to press for democratic reform. A backlash followed. Neil Skene, an American journalist who led U.S. State Department-backed training seminars for journalists in Asmara between 1999 and 2001, said a turning point came in 2000, when security forces briefly arrested several journalists, releasing them with warnings to tread carefully. “You could see the demise of democracy,” he told CPJ. “These guys without any history of democracy, suddenly they don’t have any idea how to handle dissent.”On September 18, 2001, with world attention focused on the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Eritrean government banned the private press for allegedly threatening state security and “jeopardizing national unity.” About a dozen independent journalists were rounded up by security forces, and, with the press out of business, the government canceled a general election. Hundreds of purported government opponents have since been jailed without due process.The irony of Eritrea’s bleak situation is that international media coverage has decreased as the political and humanitarian situation has worsened. While information flows more quickly and freely in much of Africa today, Eritrea has gone the other direction. It has expelled international aid organizations, United Nations-backed monitors, and a foreign journalist who worked for Reuters and the BBC.o succeed, the AEJE must overcome fear and division that have kept many members of the diaspora from criticizing the government. Tesfaldet A. Meharenna, an Eritrean living in the United States who founded the popular Web site Asmarino, said it has not been easy to mobilize an outcry on human rights issues, partly because some exiled Eritreans fear that family members back home could be targeted. “The government works hard to play on that fear,” he told CPJ.Others keep quiet out of pride and a sense of solidarity. There is “a kind of shared belief on the part of many that they’re a little country under siege from a hostile world, and they can never say anything that’s going to make it look bad,” said Dan Connell, a U.S. journalist who has written several books on Eritrea.The AEJE’s mission is made more difficult, too, by President Isaias Afewerki’s legendary capriciousness and disdain for international opinion. One heartrending scenario unfolded in November 2005, when the government briefly released Dawit Isaac of Setit, only to re-arrest him two days later, after he phoned his wife to tell her he’d been freed. Isaac holds dual Eritrean and Swedish citizenship, and his brief release came after behind-the-scenes lobbying by the Swedish government. Some observers speculated that Isaac’s re-arrest stemmed from the attention given his release.“We should have all kept quiet,” Meharenna said ruefully. Then, seeming to correct himself, he added: “See, that’s what they want you to do.”The AEJE’s struggle is, in many ways, a battle against hopelessness. Abdu said he understands the fear and conflicted sentiments among the exiled community. “But we must go beyond that,” he said. “We have to feel like every Eritrean is our family.”
Alexis Arieff is a freelance writer and former senior research associate for CPJ’s Africa program.
Source: : http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2006/DA_fall_06/prisoner/eritrea.html
Also posted: http://asmarino.com
Discussion Available At http://zete9.asmarino.com/index.php?itemid=643
Several exiled journalists told CPJ that they struggle with a sense of survivor’s guilt that they made it out of Eritrea, while others did not. They left behind not only those who were arrested, but also family members and friends who struggle with the daily hardship of living in one of the world’s poorest and most repressive countries.“Our major task is to address the human rights violations in Eritrea ... and to prepare ourselves for Eritrea to have a free and independent media,” Abdu said. AEJE’s two dozen members live around the world, primarily in Canada, the United States, and, like Abdu, in Sweden. They receive information from covert networks that include friendly government employees and security agents. AEJE’s membership counts former journalists from private newspapers, former state media employees, and diaspora Eritreans who have become involved in media in their adopted countries.ritrea gained full independence from Ethiopia in 1993, after Eritrean and Ethiopian guerrilla fighters overthrew a ruthless military regime that had ruled over both territories. Journalism enjoyed a brief heyday in the ensuing years. The nation’s first private newspapers were started in Asmara amid widespread optimism over the country’s future. “We never dreamt of going out of Eritrea,” recalled Abdu, who helped found Admas during that time.While initially supportive of the revolutionary government, Eritrea’s young journalists soon began to question increasingly autocratic government policies and to press for democratic reform. A backlash followed. Neil Skene, an American journalist who led U.S. State Department-backed training seminars for journalists in Asmara between 1999 and 2001, said a turning point came in 2000, when security forces briefly arrested several journalists, releasing them with warnings to tread carefully. “You could see the demise of democracy,” he told CPJ. “These guys without any history of democracy, suddenly they don’t have any idea how to handle dissent.”On September 18, 2001, with world attention focused on the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Eritrean government banned the private press for allegedly threatening state security and “jeopardizing national unity.” About a dozen independent journalists were rounded up by security forces, and, with the press out of business, the government canceled a general election. Hundreds of purported government opponents have since been jailed without due process.The irony of Eritrea’s bleak situation is that international media coverage has decreased as the political and humanitarian situation has worsened. While information flows more quickly and freely in much of Africa today, Eritrea has gone the other direction. It has expelled international aid organizations, United Nations-backed monitors, and a foreign journalist who worked for Reuters and the BBC.o succeed, the AEJE must overcome fear and division that have kept many members of the diaspora from criticizing the government. Tesfaldet A. Meharenna, an Eritrean living in the United States who founded the popular Web site Asmarino, said it has not been easy to mobilize an outcry on human rights issues, partly because some exiled Eritreans fear that family members back home could be targeted. “The government works hard to play on that fear,” he told CPJ.Others keep quiet out of pride and a sense of solidarity. There is “a kind of shared belief on the part of many that they’re a little country under siege from a hostile world, and they can never say anything that’s going to make it look bad,” said Dan Connell, a U.S. journalist who has written several books on Eritrea.The AEJE’s mission is made more difficult, too, by President Isaias Afewerki’s legendary capriciousness and disdain for international opinion. One heartrending scenario unfolded in November 2005, when the government briefly released Dawit Isaac of Setit, only to re-arrest him two days later, after he phoned his wife to tell her he’d been freed. Isaac holds dual Eritrean and Swedish citizenship, and his brief release came after behind-the-scenes lobbying by the Swedish government. Some observers speculated that Isaac’s re-arrest stemmed from the attention given his release.“We should have all kept quiet,” Meharenna said ruefully. Then, seeming to correct himself, he added: “See, that’s what they want you to do.”The AEJE’s struggle is, in many ways, a battle against hopelessness. Abdu said he understands the fear and conflicted sentiments among the exiled community. “But we must go beyond that,” he said. “We have to feel like every Eritrean is our family.”
Alexis Arieff is a freelance writer and former senior research associate for CPJ’s Africa program.
Source: : http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2006/DA_fall_06/prisoner/eritrea.html
Also posted: http://asmarino.com
Discussion Available At http://zete9.asmarino.com/index.php?itemid=643
As Eritrea suffers, the world looks away
Written by Neil Skene
Wednesday, 02 February 2005
St Petersburg, Jan 30, 2005 (St Petersburg Times) - 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.St Petersburg, Jan 30, 2005 (St Petersburg Times) - 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.
Wednesday, 02 February 2005
St Petersburg, Jan 30, 2005 (St Petersburg Times) - 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.St Petersburg, Jan 30, 2005 (St Petersburg Times) - 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.
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