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EDITORIAL
EDA Embarks on
Broadcasting Intensive Propaganda
“Tsemam hanti derfu”
“The deaf sings one song only”
A Tigrina saying
Introduction
The Eritrean people are treated as deaf or mute and perceived as
sub-humans by the dictatorial system. As if physically programmed as dry
cells in computers, to “listen only”, they have to listen devoid of
uttering any word in response. Hence, the above quoted Tigrinya saying.
All rights and freedoms are defiantly violated with impunity. “Sink or
swim” is the order of the day. One has to oblige to what he listens to
keep his head above water, if otherwise, he has to face brutal treatment
often times in solitary confinement under ground. Those journalists who
had dared to break the silence by exposing the true nature of the
obnoxious system are enduring that brutal fate. In this Essay, by
“media”, print or electronic, we mean PFDJ’s, mandated to fables and
lies similar to that of Nazi Germany under Goebells, Minister of
Information and Propaganda, rebuffed by Ulam as “bogus and the greatest
lier minister in the world.”
And as such the Eritrean people are not only isolated from the benefits
of the bounties of information technology in general but also denied the
rights to know the truth in particular. Hitler’s dogmatic axiom that “if
lies are persistently repeated in relaying propaganda, people will
perceive them as true and irrevocable over time". That ill-fated
rhetoric served Hitler for a while. But it was one of the causes for
the enormous destruction and unfading shame of the German nation.
Mengistu, Idi Amin, Bokassa and other tyrants followed Hitler’s steps
that culminated in their fast downfall. Nonetheless, President Isayas
and his cronies have not as yet learned from the history of their fellow
dictators.
The PFDJ system had done its very best to deceive the Eritrean people
and the world community by inflated fake and phony propaganda. Its
machination did not pay off however. Its devious propaganda machine has
with the progress of time demonstrated to the world that it is
catastrophic. All its policies are founded on unrealistic premises; and
as a consequence it has since its inception as a sole party in power by
the barrel of the gun, has nonetheless been and still remain to be anti
economic development and social progress. It is unconstitutional and
governs by the rule of the thumb and at will. That is the fallacious
base for its “immaginative” propaganda, a mechanism it deplorably
deploys to camouflage and conceal its sinister motives from the Eritrean
people and the world at large.
EDA has of recently embarked on broadcasting intensive propaganda. Its
broadcasting will not be limited to disqualifying and nullifying the
unfounded, unrealistic and fictitious news and information being
broadcast by the system, which for many years has divorced itself from
reality. It is also gravely concerned that the illusioned people are
deprived of the right of knowing the truth they deserve. It will
vigorously engage itself in brad-casting to their full satisfaction, an
unavoidable and inescapable task which it has to perform. Likewise, its
propaganda is geared towards uplifting the political consciousness of
the subjugated people who are forcibly made “deaf” and therefore,
considered as “robots” or ignorant by the tyrannical system. It is to
persistently convey the idea that they are the masters of their own
country.
EDA’s position as
regards propaganda is straightforward and crystal clear. It is against
violence and anarchy. It condemns any form of terrorism inside or
outside Eritrea. It is aware that the ferocious regime would foment
ill-conceived designs to procrastinate the genuine propaganda work by
EDA, with malicious intrigues and vigilante crimes to deliberately deny
the people from listening and knowing the truth or to cut short, their
positive response to its calls.
EDA however, will
strictly adhere to civilized codes of propaganda. It abhors bloodshed
since incalculable, but priceless blood had been shed both before and
soon after PFDJ’s grip on power.
Radio broadcasting is the most effective means of communication with
high potential of reaching as many people as possible with the power of
imparting strong impact on changing people’s ideas, attitudes and
beliefs and particularly so in developing nations. Nevertheless, it
should also be supported by print media, give away pamphlets, news and
information bulletins, posters ...etc. the scope of this Essay is
however, limited to radio broadcasting and propaganda.
The Essay is organized in two parts. Part one will attempt at explaining
to our readers the initiative, the rationale and substantiation that
justifies EDA’s motives of launching regular dissemination of news and
information and intensive propaganda.
Part two of the Essay will focus on the strategies of propaganda. Their
intended goals will briefly be highlighted at every stage of their
planned implementation.
PART ONE
Eritrea: A Colorful Mosaic of
Cultures and Languages
The Eritrean society is a mosaic of colorful diversities featuring
various languages, cultures, traditions and communal and societal
organizations. It is the diversity and complexity of these bountiful
historical indigenous heritages that make up what we call the state of
Eritrea. The inter- and intra boundaries of the nations and
nationalities combined solidly warrant and materialize the national
integrity and sovereignty of the Eritrean state. Hence, as self
contained entities and as divergent identities they collectively and in
unison are part and parcel of an integrated whole of the state of
Eritrea.
Likewise, EDA is a replica of unity in diversity. It is a conglomerate
of sixteen national parties as diversified as the Eritrean people
themselves. Its broad based formation as a central organization explains
its strong position to safeguard and respect what Eritreans posses as a
matter of their birthright so that they could make full use of their
rights in deciding the direction of their destiny.
It is not solely for the sake for the conceptual frame work of democracy
that EDA formally and aggressively vows to detrimentally respond to the
demands of the suffering people to peace, justine and tranquility, but
crucially because of the contextual analogy that lays bare, and in
concrete terms, their devotion to their nation and their passion to
national pride with their diversified languages cultures and traditions
intact as ever.
PART TWO
Broad casting strategies and
envisaged goals
It is in light of
these realities that EDA has since April 2004 began intensive radio
broad castling. Its justified, substantiated and qualified premises to
utilize radio-broadcasting is envisaged to focus on three sequential but
inseparable strategies.
First
Strategy: Confidence Building
v
To
build a bridge to walk over and communicate with the oppressed people so
as to facilitate conducive ground for building common understanding and
a sense of belongingness between the people and EDA.
v
To
enlighten the perplexed people about the distorted and fabricated news
and information and the destructive economic, social, political and
national defense policies being propagated by the media of the
scandalous system, in order to enable them to be conscious enough and
reject in earnest, the machinations it deploys to prolong its life on
power.
v
To
disseminate general political education to inculcate the virtues of
peace, justice, equality, all forms of freedom and human rights on the
subjugated people so that they could fully realize the unbearable
conditions they are enduring under the terrorist system and;
v
To
initiate the war ravaged and poverty-ridden people to revive and
revitalize the high value they attach to resolving their internal
conflicts and to managing their local or communal affairs in order for
them to sustain their common bond, mutual respect and peaceful
co-existence denied to them by the “divide and rule” doctrines of the
irresponsible system.
Once these fundamentals are perceived as having been deeply felt by the
majority of the unprivileged people it would be possible to assume:
·
That they have come to realize that their lofty aspirations to peace,
justice, freedom and equality are being aggressively obliterated by the
tyrannical system;
·
That they have come to believe that the rogue system is not only
dictatorial but also provocative and war mongering, lavishly spending
million of hard currency on militarism devouring the meager resources of
the poor country at the cost of the lives of many thousands of youth in
particular and of a two thirds of the destitute and starving people in
general;
·
That they have come to observe in concrete terms that the reckless
system's sinister designs are aimed at disintegrating the country into
pieces by creating divisive means of perpetrating suspicions and hatred
among a cross section of the Eritrean population and under that pretext
fomenting havoc and destruction deliberatly rejecting the high need of
nation building and socio-economic progress and,
·
That they have come to feel it to the bones that the system is
tyrannical by nature, devoid of the rule of law, ferociously
intimidating, humiliating, cajoling, torturing, maiming and killing many
thousands of innocent citizens with impunity and hence a cause and
factor for bad governance, moral decadence, family disintegration and
unprecedented migration.
Considering that these fundamental objectives were accomplished as
initially anticipated, EDA would launch its second strategy, a
continuation of the first and part and parcel of the third, though the
ultimate goal of the strategies is the same. Nevertheless, the second
strategy of broadcasting would be intensive and extensive in terms of
scope and magnitude of transmission and articulated substance of
propaganda.
All propaganda work will be geared towards achieving national
consensus of the majority of the people targeted at mass mobilization
for a broad national outlook. At this stage of broadcasting, EDA should
have acquired plenty of know-how and practical experience in
broadcasting tantamount to rendering the fables and lies of the
propaganda machine of the disgracing system void and fraudulent so as to
be able to rally the people behind its genuine and sacred missions.
Second
Strategy: Motivational
-
Persistently
motivate the unprivileged people to condemn the criminal system for
its indiscriminate detention, humiliation, torture, maiming and
killing of innocent citizens and to demand that it stops its law less
ness and to set free all those under its brutal custody.
-
Continuously
motivate the suffering people to condemn the reckless system’s
impoverishing socio-economic; destructive defense and security and
arrogant foreign policies and demand that they are replaced by
pragmatic political, economic and social policies so that the
ever-worsening socio-economic degeneration: poverty, famine and
starvation: unemployment and migration are alleviated by self
governing society. Vigorously motivate the desperate people to condemn
the despotic system for triggering the bloody border-war with Ethiopia
which has been the cause for 19,000 Eritrean youth to perish and
demand that the dispute be resolved by a civilized means.
-
Tirelessly
motivate the demoralized people to condemn the irresponsible system
for its war-mongering nature and demand that it stops the crimes and
atrocities it violently commits against neighboring countries so that
Eritrea could focus on good neighborliness, peaceful co-existence,
smooth trade and commercial ties and there by do away with
backwardness.
-
Relentlessly
motivate the disenchanted people to condemn the system for its mad
passion for power without giving any heed to pluralistic grass roots
participatory elections by strictly prohibiting and scaring the
opposition forces from operating inside Eritrean, depriving the people
of their rights to democratically chose from among many who could
represent them in the decision making process of their future destiny.
Parents and families of the deceased whose beloved members had perished
during the boarder war and those who have been driven to jails or who
have been heavily fined because their sons and daughters have evaded or
escaped military training will be mobilized to express their distress
and agony demanding the system to stop and without any pre-condition
militarism and military regimentation. Orphans, custodians of orphans,
the helpless elderly, the wounded, the maimed and the incapacitated who
have been directly or indirectly victimized by the unexpected borer-war
would be motivated to do the same.
Youth and students associations will be motivated to demonstrate their
frustration over the system’s heinous educational policy demanding that
it re-opens schools, colleges and the university of Asmara which it has
shut off for the sake of asserting its grip on power by military means
and to deliberately procrastinate future development prospects of the
country in general and to perpetrate irreversible disaster over youth
and students in particular, denying them the right to education and
national rehabilitation and re-construction in which they could have
contributed a priceless human capital, expert ice and labor.
Village elders,
community leaders, representatives of cultural, religious and civic
associations will be motivated to demonstrate their opposition to the
unconstitutionality of the dictatorial system demanding pluralistic and
broad based democratic elections in which all opposition forces against
the regime could full-fledgedly and fairly be represented as contenders.
It is envisaged that these segments of the population would be
instrumental in exposing its reckless desighns of oppressing all forms
of freedom –intellectual, professional, religious, cultural...etc
including rights to free press, rallies and demonstrations informal
social and communal gatherings travel and visit to other places as well
as laying bare its injustice and appalling practices of governance.
Meanwhile EDA
will further strength its diplomatic contacts with the rest of the world
to attain full support for its envisaged goals of establishing a
democratic state.
Third
Strategy: Mass Mobilization and Demonstrations
Mobilization will
be intensified reinforced by frequent mass demonstrations. Mobilization
will carefully be planned to avoid violence and anarchy. Demonstrations
will be staged peacefully to avoid skirmishes or physical confrontations
with the army, the police and the security forces unless the blood
shedding system resorts to the muzzle of the gun to disperse
demonstrators as it usually does.
Nevertheless,
cognizant that such eventualities could occur any time and every where
perpetrated by the cursed regime, EDA would take utmost pre-cautionary
measures a head of time. One of its primary and distinct measures will
be to diligently and seriously convince the army, the police and the
security forces to show their solidarity by demonstrating with the
masses and set a living example to the “scared-to-death” obsessed
people, or at least to remain neutral during peaceful rallies and
demonstrations and work stoppages.
Artisans,
laborers and labor union associations will be mobilized to demonstrate
their bitterness by pin pointing the hyper-inflationary exchange rate of
the Nakfa and of the soaring prices of locally produced grains and
manufactured commodities by undertaking wild-eat strikes until such time
that the depletating system is shaken from within and without.
Industrial commercial, construction, banking, insurance and business
white collar workers will be mobilized to show their dissatisfaction
with the “economic policy of poverty” and the decaying national economy
of the regime by undertaking frequent work stoppages. They will demand
that it privatize all banks, insurance, construction, industrial and
commercial corporations which it confiscated without due process of law
so that free market economy could be encouraged through local and
foreighn investment to save the economy of the country which is on the
verge of collapse.
COMMENTARY
PEACE FAVORS A TABLE NOT A GUN!!
The PFDJ’s political and socio-economic chaos has completely milled the
people of Eritrea against which no legal parameters could measure. PFDJ,
the heir of the Dergue regime, has socked-in the entire country in
inexplicable and growing circles of political and socio-economic
turmoil. The people of Eritrea has been denied of natural rights of all
sorts. Citizens have been dehumanized, their personality and dignity
squashed over, and their existence compromised.
The peoples of
the planet are confronted with a task of fundamental importance: to
learn to live in a civilized way i.e., in the conditions of proper
international communication and cooperation. Eritrea and its people also
have the right to enjoy the same and unconditional mental rationality.
The presumed task and responsibility of the ruling party was its
patriotic service to the people, the commitment and devotion for
unconditional and full equality, respect for one another, flexible and
diverse cooperation, and a strict observance of the principles of
peaceful co-existence by all. This is what the practice of
“citizen-state” internationalism rests on. The war-charged mind
of the regime in Eritrea can only be entertained by war and its havoc.
More often that not, excelling in war and poverty is what the regime
dreams and hopes best. Issayas Afeworki, the captain of the PFDJ
decrepit regime, in his well celebrated crooked linear thinking
maintains the philosophy that Eritrea’s comparative advantage has been
“only and only” war. The tragedy of the situation lies in the
fact that, while possessing human and material potential which is quite
sufficient to practically solve the problems facing Eritrea and its
people, the regime has been using this potential not for the benefit of
citizens’ welfare and national development but for the material
preparation of its own destruction. Peace and freedom is not an option
or a privilege for any society. It is a heavenly and earthly right that
should be decently possessed and maintained without any limit and/or
partition. The people of Eritrea lust for peace and freedom. The young
and the old courageously fought to break the shackles of colonial
repression and its legacy. The people restored independence and dignity
after heavy and monumental sacrifice of human and material resources.
However, the people of Eritrea has been so unlucky to sustain it. It has
been impossible for the regime to divorce itself from the mentality of
war and its attachments. The regime has not taken too long to engage the
people of Eritrea into another lingering war with all its neighboring
countries. The PFDJ clique launched a large scale war with Ethiopia in
the pretext of border grievances to serve its egoistic interests. The
war with Ethiopia inflicted enormous losses. It has deserted and torn
families apart. The entire socio-economic and political immunity of the
country collapsed as a consequence of the regime’s war policy. The
regime has been processing the failure of Eritrea by perpetuating war
and poverty. Border issues can draw the attention of the two conflicting
parties for wise legal solutions not for further massive destructions.
Border conflicts are universal. Likewise, there are many and varied
mechanisms for their resolutions. The regime’s roaring that the cause
of the war has been border unrest is not far from white insult and
sarcasm to the people of Eritrea and the world community. If the regime
honestly believed that the root cause of the war has been border
dispute, why would it choose to solve it through the use of force
instead of legal and peaceful means? The truth is that, the regime has
continuously been elongating its unfaithful and predatory hands to all
directions and machineries of its neighboring countries. The regime also
elongates its nose and tongue whenever it is asked for the contractions
of its hands. The regime’s walking ground has always been slippery. And
when it falls, it never stands again. The use of force triggers for the
employment of force by the other party. Consequently, the use of force
demands the procurement and deployment of precious national (human and
material) resources. Many workable peaceful resolutions that are vital
for mediating and de-activating the war between the two countries have
been suggested by many peace loving countries. In particular, the regime
in Eritrea has continuously been requested for the total compensation of
its troops from Badme and others to its pre-war zone. The regime’s
response to the world community’s peace effort has only been its usual
chauvinistic reaction and rejection. The regime was heard to undermine
and treat all peaceful recommendations forwarded by all concerned and
peace-loving bodies as immaterial and lifeless. And to its shame and
disgrace, the regime extravagantly bragged it would control the law of
nature. Leaving Badme was equated to the ever-absence of the sun from
the planet. The regime confirmed that it would never accept any peaceful
or legal arrangements. The primary choice of the regime has been war.
The war was executed with the absence of the consensus of the Eritrean
people to entertain the sole choice of the regime. Badme and its
environs have been restored by force by the government of Ethiopia. The
regime immediately accepted the pre-suggested frameworks for peace when
it was wrecked in the battle field. The regime was told to withdraw from
other areas to where it was before 1998. The regime’s arrogant and
chauvinist stance also called for another round of bloody war. The
regime was forcedly made to retract beyond where it was before 1998 and
settled to sign a peace agreement that undermines the sovereignty and
dignity of Eritrea and its people. Sequentially, the regime was forced
to sign all the peace initiatives that it once said were dead and
buried. The PFDJ regime has seen the product of its interventionist
policy even though the negative externalities have been to the Eritrean
people. Albeit unjust, the Algiers peace accord is believed to be final
and binding. Accordingly, the two parties have the mandate and
obligation to respect and abide by it. The PFDJ regime has been burying
its head in sand in pretensions that the peace process between Eritrea
and Ethiopia has been stalled by Ethiopia’s rejection to the Algiers
peace agreement. Although the decision of the border commission is
unjust, the government of Ethiopia has accepted the decision in
principle. Accepting the Algiers peace agreement in principle means that
the government of Ethiopia strongly asserts it has accepted the border
commission’s decision. In the process of its practical implementation
(delimitation and demarcation) however, it is natural for certain
anomalies to occur. In such cases it becomes evident and a decent option
for the two parties to talk and solve it only and only through peaceful
means. The government of Ethiopia has been of the belief that
sustainable peace could only be achieved if wise and peaceful mechanisms
are deployed to the matter. Why is then the PFDJ turning its back to
peace when it is called for peace? It has been a usual habit of the
regime in Eritrea to decelerate anti-clockwise when everyone else is
rational and regular. Naturally, the PFDJ clique has never been
proponent or in favor of peace. The regime sounds a risk-free and
innocent actor that secures and guards the sovereignty and welfare of
Eritrea and its people. In actual terms, the regime is a great risk to
the sovereignty and welfare of Eritrea and its people. It doesn’t see
tomorrow today. If it really does, why is the regime saying the decision
has been favorable to Eritrea? Why is it claiming only Badme? Only the
village of Badme has been decided to be in the territorial integrity of
Eritrea. What is Badme without its agricultural fields and grazing
lands? It is only a bone without flesh. What about the rest of the
Eritrean villages together with the people that are now decided to be
the belongings of Ethiopia? According to the regime’s nil head and
clumsy stance, the people of these villages are no more Eritreans. This
is the reflection of the regime’s linear and shallow thinking in
handling things and itself. The rational question pertinent to the
matter is that whether Eritrea has been advantaged or disadvantaged by
the decision of the border ruling. The answer is that Eritrea hasn’t
gained from the decision. The rationale is that the decision has
limitations and anomalies that have susceptible effect on the future
coexistence of the peoples of Eritrea and Ethiopia if it is implemented
right away. It will bring huge misplacement of people and land that will
always call for further dispute. Thus, the only road to sustainable
peace is to undertake peaceful means of settling the conflict.
Equally important, peace favors a table not a gun!!! Peace is
now deferred by the PFDJ regime because peace has always been
unfavorable for the regime. It is equated to retardation if there are
still who hope and believe that Issayas and his insane associates will
bring about or stands for peace. The only good reason is that
because Issayas and his disciples are vegetarians of peace. The
veracity of this peace vegetarianism dogma is verified by the
continuation of the regime’s entire insane calculations.
The Critical question is that, can Eritrea and its people get out of
this PFDJ-born plight? The answer depends in the reaction of the
Eritrean people to the painful and agonizing regime. The regime has
darkened the future of the Eritrean people in the face of this modern
era. Worst of all, the current unpleasant signal is that the regime is
once again preparing for another round of disastrous war to inflict more
human and material losses. The only way of preventing and aborting any
unwanted loss is uprooting the regime. The regime’s dusty mentality
towards Eritrea’s total decadence and destruction will never cease
unless the regime is stopped and weeded-out by any timely possible
means. The sooner we begin, the less painful the necessary changes will
be.
NEWS BRIEFS
Hussein Khalifa
meets Eritreans in Eastern Sudan
Brother Hussein Kahifa, Chairman of
the Democratic Alliance (EDA), has according to Gulf information center
(04/06/2005) made a visit to Eastern Sudan as an extension of his
itinerary to meet Eritrean community leaders and representatives of a
cross section of the Eritrean population there. The primary purpose of
his visit was, according to the same source, to familiarize and promote
the lofty objectives of EDA so that Eritreans in the Diaspora could be
well versed on the current progressive development of the opposition
forces. He oriented his compatriots on the coordinated position of the
Senna’a round-table. Furthermore, the source of our information stated,
he also briefed them about the relative ship of EDA Executive
Secretariat with Sudanese and Ethiopian government authorities and the
contribution these countries are making to facilitate safely, stability
and peace in Eritrea.
He called upon his compatriots to
revitalize the vigilance they had demonstrated to the world during the
war for independence . He appealed to them to stand alert in the current
struggle, which is being made fore peace, freedom and democracy in
Eritrea. On their part the people pledged that they would rally behind
EDA and give it full support until the dictatorial system is dismantled
from power and democracy and justice prevails instead.
EDA:
Strengthening Foreign Relations
A delegation composed of Tewelde G/Sellasie
and Haj Ibrahim Abubakar has initiated executing foreign relations as
enshrined in EDA’s charter. From 25/06/2005 to 15/06/2005 the delegation
has made contacts with eight embassies including the European Union.
In its meetings with the various
embassies, the delegation had the opportunity of explaining the 30 year
struggle the Eritrean people had fought for independence from colonial
rule and the insurmountable sacrifices they had paid to that end. They
briefed the Embassies on the appalling political, economic and social
conditions in Eritrea under the harsh rule of the dictatorial system
since independence.
It dwelt at length to explain the
formation of various Eritrean national parties determined to emancipate
the disentanched people from the yokes of subjugation and oppression,
which the dictatorial system is committing in violation of international
law. The delegation did its level best to bring to the attention of the
embassies that the war-mongering rouge system is persistently intending
to foment instability and destruction in the region. It reminded the
embassies to fully realize the plight the Eritrean people are bearing
under duress and that they ought to give them support in their struggle
to do away with the irresponsible system. They also called upon the
embassies to recognize EDA; a brood based central political organization
made up of divergent sisterly parties, committed to set free the
enslaved people form the tyrannical regime.
PFDJ: With
Disgrace, a Slap in the Face
For no less than a decade the
dictatorial system has intentionally resorted to meddling in the
internal affairs of the Sudan. In the recent resumption of peace talks
between Sudanese government and the opposition, aimed at breaking the
stalemate that has lasted for about six months, the self-indulgent
system has not ceased form – injecting venom into the process of the
negotiations. According to sources following the peace talks, Salem
Ahmed Salem, chief mediator on behalf of the African Union (AU), doesn’t
welcome Eritrea’s interference in the negotiations, since it politically
and militarily supports the opposition forces against the Sudanese
Government.
Sudan foreign affairs minister, Dr.
Mustafa Osama reiterated that President Omar Albeshir has in the
presence of Presidents Hosni Mubarek of Egypt and Moamar Gadafi of
Libya, accused the Asmara regime of disseminating malice in the solution
searching process to in order for the negations to terminally end –up
without any trace of fruition.
Dr. Mustafa condemned the
destructive indulgence of the PFDJ regime in the peace talks. He
complained that there is no any conceivable reason for the rouge system
to claim a negotiating or mediating role in the peace talks. He added
that unlike Egypt, Libya or Chad whose territories border with the
Sudan, Eritrea can not justify a single reason for its meddling in the
conflict. Elaborating his statement on the same issue, he emphatically
stressed that the AU has not invited the government of Eritrea to join
the peace negotiations because of its provocative and war-mongering
nature in the Horn. Though a slap in the face, the belligerent regime
wouldn’t treat that sort of harsh condemnation with diplomatic grace.
Sudanese Parliament Urges
Government to Issue New Policy on Eritrea
According to the Sudanese Media
Center, the Parliament of Sudan is urging the government to issue a new
policy regarding Eritrea. Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for
Legal Affairs and Justice, Dr. Ismail Alhaj Musa recommends that the new
policy should not limit itself to defensive but ought to include
offensive aspects as well.
Another member of parliament, Mr.
Omar Abdalla on his part told Sudan Media Center that since the Asmara
system is bent on endangering peace in the Sudan, the Sudanese
government ought review its projected intentions to improve relations
with the Eritrean government. Meanwhile, parliamentarians, representing
Eastern Sudan have condemned Eritrean intervention in the internal
affairs of the country.
Joint Declaration in Full
Support of EDA
Members of sisterly parties
converged under EDA have in Riad city, Saudi Arabia, in 13/04/2005,
jointly declared their full support to the newly formed central
organization.
In a communiqué they relayed via
internet, they declared that EDA is following the right path in its
efforts to embrace a broad based charter in which most parties with
divergent political orientation are represented.
Elaborating their position, they
acknowledged: “In order to do away with all ferocious crimes being
committed by the dictatorial system on our people and our country and to
set them free from heinous oppression and destitute livelihood we stand
and determined to struggle alongside EDA”.
In concluding their joint
declaration, they stated: “In 16/04/2005 we convened a meeting in which
our focal agenda was the prospect of the future of our country and
security of our people. After a tireless impact assessment of the issue,
we, by consensus unequivocally concluded that the formation of EDA is
the right measure to effectuate future peace and democracy in Eritrea,
and the correct path for the transference of power.”
Before dispersing, participants of
the sisterly parties formed a committee that would organize a platform
to design a work plan that would serve to implement various projected
programs.
Eritrean Students
in the Sudan Visit Compatriot Refugees
According to news received from the office of Eritrean Students
Associations in the Sudan. Eritrean studying in various universities
have from 23 to 10,2005 visited their compatriots in refugee camps. The
visit was organized to facilitate fertile ground for smooth relation
between the students and refugees. Among the major refugee camps visited
were Amgurguro, Kurkuru, Kilostawo Ishirn, Girban and Wedisherifei,
where the visitors distributed medicine to the refugees and taught them
about HIV/AIDS. In their extended programme they will enlighten their
compatriots of the adverse effects of female genital mutilation and
circumcision. Additional programs will include sports, exhibitions and
cultural shows.
FAO on Famine and
Poor Harvest in Eritrea
FAO (the United Nations Food and
Agricultural Organization), has in May 9, 2005 disclosed that Eritrea is
one of the African countries facing acute shortage of food. According to
the news release, more than two-thirds of its population depends on
humanitarian aid. It stated that the country’s agricultural production
of 2004 has fallen far short of the average production of previous
successive twelve years. This implies that as a result of poor harvest,
the demand for grain will cover for only 15% of the total population.
According to the organization, those prone to starvation and famine are
children and infants who comprise 40% and mothers 41% of the population
respectively.
The British and US pledged large
sums of money in food aid to Eritrea. But many observers believe any
amount provided in food aid to the country will have little bearing to
improve the live hood of the war stricken and poverty-ridden people in
the long-term, so long as the dictatorial system extracts power by the
rule of the thumb.
Presently, about 300 thousand
Eritrean youth who should have been the bulk of harnessing agricultural
production are forcibly undergoing military service. Compounded by
shortage of seasonal rains and consecutive drought, agricultural
production to diminishing with the progress of time.
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