Law of the Jungle

A society can survive only when members of a society are equally governed by universally accepted rule-of-law. No one should be above the law. Failure to respect and enforce a universally accepted rule-of-law will surely entail the breakdown of that society.

Among the few laws of the jungle are:

Possession is nine-tenth of the law,
The powerful make laws as they see it fit.

Sophia Tesfamariam has adopted the ‘law of the jungle’ as her sole slogan. In her latest article “US Congressional Hearing on Eritrea” she regurgitates the same themes that she and her fellow PFDJ sympathizers have been throwing at us for months.

1. Possession is nine-tenth of the law

I agree with Sophia in that the Ethiopian regime is playing ‘possession is nine-tenth of the law’ in its dealing over the border issue. The Ethiopian government signed a ‘final and binding’ agreement to resolve the border issue. I am sure any rational person would concur that Ethiopian backpedaling creates dangerous situation with Eritrea and creates yet another dangerous precedence in international politics.

Sophia should, however, consistently apply her slogan. Sovereign power is always vested in the people. Unfortunately, in today’s Eritrea, power is concentrated in the hands of very few PFDJ cadres. PFDJ has refused to return sovereign power to its rightful owners – the people. In other words, PFDJ believes that possessing power is nine-tenth of the law – typical law of the jungle.

2. The powerful make laws as they see it fit.

In any functional society, laws are never absolute and can change over a period of time. The most critical factor is that these laws be promulgated based on universally accepted rules. When one or few individuals usurp the process of promulgating laws, one is practicing the law of the jungle. In other words, a handful of powerful PFDJ individuals are making their own ‘laws’ as they see it fit. The general public has no idea how, when, and who promulgates those laws. The general public has no recourse to challenge or reverse those laws. The so-called ‘elected representatives’, who in reality are or should be vested with the power to promulgate laws, have no power to question PFDJ laws. In fact, these representatives can’t even call (the so-called) ‘National Assembly’ meetings, nor expect semi-annual regular ‘National Assembly’ meetings.

Free Press in Eritrea

Sophia tells us that ‘What is absent in Eritrea is not freedom of the press, but externally financed, externally directed ‘journalists’, …’

One can’t say whether the ‘journalists’ breached any laws or not. But what one can definitely say is that the ‘journalists’ rights to due process of the law has been violated. The onus is on the government to bring these journalists to court of law, to present facts/evidences, and to argue its positions telling us exactly which laws these journalists breached. No one should be detained for more than 48 hours, and to the maximum of 28 days with court order. These innocent (until proven guilty) individuals have been locked up for nearly 4 years. We would have to weigh the facts – and unfortunately there appears to be none.

Unfortunately, due process of the law is not how PFDJ’s Eritrea works. In today’s Eritrea, we are simply told that these journalists committed some unsubstantiated illegal acts and then we are simply expected to believe our leaders and their accusations. Unfortunately without respecting the due process of the law, societies will surely collapse – and that is where Eritrea headed if the law of the jungle is not abandoned soon.

It is a fallacy to think that only private individuals commit illegal acts. Governments or those acting on behalf of the government also commit illegal acts on pretext of ‘National Security’ and other lame excuses. Anyone that acts above the law is endangering and subverting the survival of a nation. By violating individuals rights to due process of law, the government [as represented by those members who hold themselves as the government] itself is committing illegal acts and answerable to the victims directly, and to the people in general. In today’s world, crimes against humanity can be pursued by the more powerful countries on behalf of those citizens of other nations who don’t have the means to assert their rights.

Sophia tells us that our heroic journalists are political instruments to foreign interests such as Dave Peterson and others. During the Eritrean struggle for independence, Eritrean heroes were portrayed by the Dergue regime as political instruments and stooges of the Arab world. We have heard it all. But that kind of labeling didn’t faze us, but only galvanized us. We knew who we were; and we knew where we were headed – as we do today.

Elections in Eritrea

Sophia tells us, ‘In Eritrea, the government and people of Eritrea are working hard to create sustainable, democratic institutions that can address the needs of Eritrea’s diverse ethnic and religious groups … Elections have been held all over Eritrea for various posts … which are prelude to national elections’

Sophia’s argument doesn’t seem to be well-grounded. How can one create sustainable and democratic institutions without implementing the Constitution first, and respecting the due process of the law? It is not just Constitution that is needed, but also ‘Election Laws’ and ‘Multi-party Laws’ are needed. Budgets, at national and sub-national level, must be prepared and made public. In addition, other institutions are needed to support ‘free and fair’ elections – such as a functioning judiciary system, and allowing Civil Societies and private press to function without any impediment. My question to Sophia is, are there any free and independent civil societies in Eritrea? Are there any [independent] private media in Eritrea?

My question to Sophia is what can these regional assembly members do? Can they appropriate budgets? Can they make or change or propose laws? What exactly are their functions?

Sophia stated that “Eritreans understand and acknowledge that they are masters of their own destiny and realize the importance of electing their representatives without external interference and pressure.” In September 2000, the Eritrean ‘National Assembly’ voted to hold a national election at the end of 2001. At least 76 members out of the 150 members must have voted for it. Why should we believe that a handful of people have the interest of Eritrea at heart more than the majority of the National Assembly members who voted for national elections? One can only conclude that the over 76 members of the National Assembly believed that Eritreans are ready for elections while the handful members who eventually prevailed didn’t. The majority members said that they have confidence in the brave people of Eritrea who matured over 30-years of struggle. By Sophia’s own admission, “Elections are not new for Eritreans who have successfully conducted many grassroots, democratic elections before independence in the EPLF liberated areas, and after independence”. The question to Sophia is what trigged the sudden lack of confidence in (general public) Eritreans after the September 2000 National Assembly meeting? If handful of ‘so-called traitors’ were the spoilers, why not arrest them [as has been done] and then continue our faith in the Eritrean people by proceeding with the national election? Or is it that the majority of the Eritrean population, who has experienced 30-years of maturity, suspiciously sides with those ‘so-called traitors’? I hope Sophia, with her infinite wisdom, will clarify this for us.

Sophia tells us that the regional elections are prelude to national elections. But what we know is what PIA told us on [Australian] ABC’s ‘Death of an African Star’. PIA told us he would never think of retiring from power again. Without presidential elections, what kind of elections, and what kind of democratic institution is PFDJ proposing to create? I await Sophia’s interesting explanations or fictions.

National Service Program

PIA has dropped the National Service Campaign from his public vocabulary. One wonders why Sophia wants to carry on a torch abandoned by the creator of the program. But Sophia’s national service program is conveniently framed by one old diver’s passing on his diving skills to half-a-dozen kids in Assab. But as someone who often travels to Eritrea, it doesn’t escape her that the vast majority are wasting away their precious years idling in no-man’s land.

Nation building starts by respecting the rule-of-law, by fostering and developing properly functioning economy, and by offering hope to the young. In the modern world, equipping youth for the future requires more than just every youth carrying and passing bricks and hollow blocks in some housing project. The future of Eritrea needs qualified engineers, doctors, accountants, lawyers, computer experts, lab technicians, management experts, etc.... One just wonders how the Warsai-Yekaalo Campaign can produce these professionals when higher institutions of learning are being closed down.

NUEW

One surmises that Sophia travels to attend NUEW meetings in Eritrea. Anyone with an ounce of compassion and humanity would have questioned why the six innocent mothers, among thousands of others, of Eritrea are jailed. They are mothers like Sophia who want to come home, to cook, and to tuck their children in their beds. What all these mothers want is for their children to grow up in front of their eyes. Like every other mother, that is why Aster Yohannes returned to Eritrea despite the risks. They were taken away from their family for unknown reasons, and which we can only speculate. Why does Beyene Russom have more rights than Senait Debessai? Or are women like Senait dispensable? Is any law-abiding Eritrean dispensable? As members of NUEW, shouldn’t you be defending the rights of wives against abusive husbands? The only true Eritreans are those with compassion, humanity, and principles.

Why isn’t NUEW defending those young sisters/daughters who are being fed to the Sawa wolves? These sisters are being harassed mentally and physically. These are the future mothers of Eritrea. Mother is the backbone of a household, and by extension the backbone of society. A healthy Eritrea can only be created if we treat everyone of these young sisters, without exception, with all the respect and proper treatment they need.

It is very interesting that Sophia associates ownership of a Land Cruiser to some kind of public fund misappropriation. If Land Cruiser is regarded as such, not just NUEW but also the entire Eritrean government and army are engaged in a massive misappropriation of public funds.

Hingoogoo Politics

We parents normally utter the ‘hingoogoo’ word to discipline our children. We are practicing ‘fear’ over ‘reason’ to discipline our children.

PFDJ cadres have substituted their ‘hingoogoo’ with ‘Woyane’. PIA once said that when an Arab student fails in school, every Arab blames the Israelis. PFDJ’s Eritrea has come to frame everyone of its problems on the ‘Woyanes’ and ‘Woyane-sympathizers’ to cover up its own failures.

Of course, no one practices this ‘hingoogoo’ politics more than Sophia’s mentor in DC. Instead of representing Eritrea’s interest in the world’s most powerful nation, he is actively feeding Sophia with all unsupported accusations and innuendos. Instead of engaging in acts becoming of a diplomat of a great nation-in-the-making, he is actively engaged in belittling Eritrea’s war heroes, whose bravery he can’t match in any category. In the end, those who engage in belittling others end up revealing their lack of self-respect [for themselves]. Nothing more, nothing less! An honorable person can’t bring himself/herself to belittling others.

The nagging question about this Eritrean diplomat is, what was he doing when the Ethiopian regime was conspiring to nudge Eritrea into unfortunate hostile conflict. For someone who thought he belonged to the City of Addis Ababa more than the rulers themselves, he should have had his ears to the ground. Unlike his predecessor who told fellow Eritreans in Ethiopia that it is always wiser to put one of their feet in their native country, what kind of wise words did this diplomat lend to his fellow countrymen – nothing! It is now up to everyone to see what his failure to diligently perform his critical mission in Ethiopia has cost Eritrea in terms of destruction of lives and properties. His boss is now left to clean up this diplomat’s mess.

In today’s Eritrea where incompetence is rewarded with promotion, this diplomat now finds himself in an even greater position to inflict disaster to our young nation. Instead of knocking on the doorsteps of the highest echelon of the US government tirelessly from sunrise to sunset 24X7, and ensuring that the $300,000 annual lobbying effort is well spent, he would rather spend time concocting and feeding fiction and hingoogoo politics to people like Sophia. What we know is that this diplomat’s failure to persuade and convince the American government to see the border issue from the Eritrean perspective is, once again, his absolute failure to our nation. Because of his failure, PIA is now compelled to make unfortunate comments about the US as during the May 24^th speech.

As a fellow countryperson, my only advice to Sophia is that we, as ordinary citizens, are pawns in the dirty game of politics, where today’s comrades are tomorrow’s enemies. The only way we can make sure we are on the right side is to defend our universally accepted principles and values. Even if our physical world is to crumble, we remain solid within. Our principles, ethics, and values should be the only beacon that guide us. No one man, group of people, or party can ever be our beacon. That beacon only lives inside all of us.

On other thoughts

It is with great dismay that we read former President Jimmy Carter’s report “Ethiopia Trip Report: May 11-17, 2005”. With all due respect to the former president, his report contains biases including the followings:

· “After Meles prevailed in 1991 and despite my concerns about Eritrean leadership, he granted Eritrea complete independence …” [emphasis added]

No one granted Eritrean independence. The heroic Eritrean people earned their right to independence. No one can take away their heroism from them.

· “The promise of Eritrean democracy has not been realized, … “

It is given that most Eritreans never dreamed the transition from struggle for independence to a fully democratic country would be full of obstacles. But none of the third world countries have come nearly to realizing democracy [as generally defined, which is beyond holding public elections, and more importantly creating democratic institutions with proper checks and balances]. Achieving or realizing democracy is an evolutionary process that may take different forms. In some twisted way, Eritreans are learning that complacency breeds oppression – a lesson that escapes most parts of the world. By most standards, in Eritrea, the culture remains free of corruption and crime – which are the most important foundation of democracy. I am still willing to bet my bottom dollars on Eritrea’s painful but eventual emergence as a prime example of democracy in the third world. The current lawlessness is an aberration in our long and proud history, tradition, and culture.

· “… and Eritrea has been involved in the Sudan conflict since 1994, invaded Yemeni islands in 1995 …” [emphasis added]

The conflict with the Sudan was instigated in 1994 by the Sudanese regime with specific regional agendas. Eritrea fell victim to that unrealistic agenda. Since then, the regime has cleansed itself of the extreme elements and has genuinely sought rapprochement with the Eritrean government.

Eritrea did not invade Yemeni islands in 1995. Eritrea asserted its rights over its sovereign territory. The fact that the islands were later awarded to Yemen on flimsy arguments doesn’t retroactively label Eritrea as the invader. If such arguments are used, Ethiopia’s occupation of Badme until 1998 (and then after 1999) would be retroactively labeled as invasion after the awarding of Badme to Eritrea in 2002. That is not an acceptable definition.

Although each of the neighboring countries needled/provoked Eritrea into disastrous political and physical conflicts, our strong complaints and disagreements are over PFDJ’s handling of the different situations. We should not confuse these two different issues, i.e. who provoked these conflicts vs. how we handled the situations. The Eritrean government should have pursued public and international legal avenues, not just behind-the-scene negotiations, before even remotely entertaining the possibility of escalating the conflicts. Not only the public, but also the PFDJ Central Committee were never consulted before the regime pursued its sole decision. No viable nation can survive without engaging in wide consultations before taking actions with great consequences.

One can safely say that most Eritreans appreciate the elections taking place in Ethiopia. Most Eritreans don’t have the ‘hingoogoo’ mentality. Economically strong and democratic Ethiopia, and for that matter all other regional neighbors, is the only way to ensure peace and stability in this turbulent region of the world. As Eritreans, as neighbors, and as fellow Africans, we wish Ethiopians all the best in their endeavor to create a strong, viable, and democratic nation. With our limited resources, or at least by providing moral support, we should encourage Ethiopians to democratize their country. In the long run, it is in our own best interest..

French Vote on EU Constitution

All the political parties supported the EU Constitution. The French bureaucrats, the media and other establishments supported the EU Constitution. However, the French public appears to have rejected the EU Constitution.

The best lesson is that the wisdom of the political, bureaucratic, and other establishments may not necessarily reflect the public sentiments and views. Eritrean political and bureaucratic elites should always heed to public’s views. We are not interested in politicians’ self-righteousness.

Berhan Hagos

May 29, 2005