TO THE POINT

Vision, Values and Courage, Necessary Ingredients in Political Leadership

Actions Taken by the Chairman of ELF-RC

Facts and Fiction

The Nharnet Team

A Short Note to ELF-RC Members and Supporters

The Nharnet Team

ELF-RC Leadership

The Nharnet Team:

The First Anniversary of Nharnet.com

The Nharnet Team

Changing Times - Changing Roles 

The Nharnet Team: 01-05-03

Isayas’s PFDJ resorts to its “Wahyo” days' strategy on 

The Nharnet Team

“Zekeruna Ab Guday Hager”

A Response To A Question From Our Youth in Asmara

The Nharnet Team

What Is the Positive Side of PFDJ?  Isn’t your main motive revenge against the EPLF?  

The Nharnet Team

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 ]DM}p§ …mk …ªï] …kl'D÷?

The Nharnet Team

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The Nharnet Team

Why ELF-RC Office in Addis?  

A Country on Edge, A Desperate Dictator, and

Indifferent Intellectuals

Our people celebrated the 16^th Independence Day anniversary as they have for the last 16 years.  As The Nharnet Team indicated on its editorial on that day the Eritrean people have a lot to be proud of and a lot of heroes, with out whose ultimate sacrifice Eritrea could not have achieved its independence, to commemorate.  Eritreans at every corner of the world celebrated in ways they could.  Of course, the celebration in Asmara was colorful with all the attention and cameras focused on the dictator.  That is a typical trade mark of a dictator – all eyes on me.  By now, every one knows that the resources of the country are spent on security apparatus, state media outlet, and other items necessary to keep Isayas in power.  Even the huge military man power is devoted to building private houses for the chosen generals and colonels so that they remain loyal to the dictator and his circle.  Every thing else is done by the people’s contributions and labor.    PFDJ is the biggest merchant and the sole distributor as well as the country’s only ruling party.  Even PFDJ’s role has been reduced to propaganda and money collection – period.  There are no formal meetings.  There are no formal reports.  There are no formal policies adopted that can be attributed to PFDJ as a party.  The youth are flowing to where ever they can get out fully aware of the risk they await them.  It is under this state of confusion and mood of desperation that the people celebrated the 16^th independence anniversary.  Now, let us look at some of the big issues that our people are concerned about and the educated as well as those who did not have higher education alike in the Diaspora have closed their eyes and plugged their ears out of sheer opportunism. 

·         Isayas’ Warning of a War:  In his address on Independence Day, Isayas stated that the people of Eritrea cannot wait for ever while 25 kilometers of Eritrean territory is under occupation and/or DTMZ (de-militarized zone) and declared the peace keeping mission of the UN is useless.    What is he hinting?  Whose kids does he want to sacrifice now? How many thousands more names does he want to read on village “baytos”?  He has been doing every thing wrong when it comes to the diplomatic handling of the border issue and now he wants to do the only thing knows how to do well – manipulate the people with the only state owned media and send our youth to another disaster or keep the people in suspense of fear as he has done so for the last eight years.  That has been the biggest defense of not making any changes or a response to any question. We will spell out very few of the diplomatic blunders for his loyalists:

·         As it is spelled out by Dan Connell on his interview with some of the G-15 prisoners’ interview, the dictator could have accepted the proposed solution which asked Eritrean forces to leave Badme and return to their original place and the border to be demarcated based on territory of the Colonial Era before the 1998 war.  According to the book, he unilaterally rejected the agreement.  What ever clashes which had started by then would have stopped if it was not for his arrogance and pure recklessness. Our precious youth would have been saved and the destruction and misery that followed would have been prevented.

·         Making UNMEE operations so difficult to the extent that there was a threat to leave the DTMZ.  Eritrea was labeled aggressive and un-cooperative.

·         Almost all NGOs were expelled and the families of the country whose productive and able members are on the trenches are living under miserable economic conditions.  There is not any single rational reason for that other than Isayas’ paranoia.  Every government in the world except Isayas’ PFDJ tries hard to get more NGOs to its country.  NGOs are good consumers and local employers and for immediate relief during emergencies and hard times.  They spend their own funds on the local markets and so the host country does not have any thing to lose except gain.  But, who cares about the country and the people? – the only concern Isayas has is that they may expose his human right violations and abuse and that his definition of a “spy”.

·         The dictator refused to let the special envoy of the then United Nations General Secretary into the country instead of sitting down with him and making the case for the country and urge him to work for the implementation of the border ruling.  The refusal became the talk of the world as it is contrary to the diplomatic handling norm.  Sitting down and talking with the envoy cannot be mistaken by any one as revisiting the contents of the ruling.  The man does not know the difference of ignorant rigidity from skill full firmness. It is based on this irrationality that many question his desire to resolve the border dispute and believe he is using it to keep the Eritrean people at bay as well as in fear.  The sad fact is that no one in his yes men circle would dare to tell him the difference.

·         He denied State Department representative a visit to the country to discuss about the border ruling.  Their excuse was of course un-official that Yemane (Monkey) met with her in Washington DC and so she does not need to travel to Eritrea.  In normal diplomatic circumstances, it is Eritrea which should invite important influential figures from powerful influential countries to pay a visit and ask for bilateral discussion so that it can make its case and call for the implementation of the border ruling. 

·         Eritrea refused to allow head of African Desk, highest ranking diplomat in African matters, of the State Department of the USA, visit the disputed border.  As one of their followers put it - what did Eritrea have to lose should they allow her to visit and explain to her how the people in that area are negatively impacted?  No fool believes that her visit would change the border ruling except those intellectuals who purposely chose to be deaf and blind.

Despite all of these and many other blunders and reckless diplomatic steps by the dictator, TV-ERE has been propagating non-stop to blame the rest of the world - every one else but Isayas.  It has been daily feeding the Eritrean people both inside and in the Diaspora (through subscribed satellite dishes) that it was some other countries and specifically the United States behind the stalemate of the implementation of the border ruling.  It has openly issued statements via the internet echoing the same blame.  It has made the countries which voiced against PFDJ abuse of human right, lack of justice, lack of freedom of speech, interference in the religious internal matters, and an overall lack of democratic right to be the enemies of the people and the country.  The truth of the matter is that their concern makes them the friends and allies of the Eritrean people and Eritrea as a country.   A good example of this is the statement by the departing Ambassador of the USA to Eritrea.  He made it clear to the world that the stand of his government on the implementation of the border ruling and the respect he has for the Eritrean people.  The following two paragraphs say it all as the concern of the United States is about the dictatorship and has nothing to do with its stand of the border demarcation:

…You should know that despite increasing government violations of human rights, civil liberties, economic freedom, and democratic principles, the Government of the United States remains hopeful that one day the Eritrean people will enjoy the rewards of their heroic struggle for independence. The values of that struggle offer a foundation for a productive relationship between the United States and Eritrea based on a mutual regard for peace, freedom, and prosperity.

I also want to take this occasion to reemphasize the Government of the United States' commitment to the implementation of the final and binding ruling of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission. No matter the assertions that appear in the press or in government statements, the United States believes that the ruling must be respected by both parties, must be implemented fully and without conditions, and that the parties must engage each other responsibly in addressing the impact of demarcation on their citizens.

Look with whom the dictator has befriended: As Isayas has done through out the history of the struggle for independence and there after.  Political expediency for his benefit and personal revenge are what derive his actions.  Continuing the same path of thinking and behavior, he is supporting Ethiopian groups which not only do not accept Eritrea as an independent state but claim that Red Sea is their border.  Of course, the cowards around him and the apologists afar will tell you that it is okay as long as “The Woyane” is weaken.  What about if “The Woyane” is weaken enough and the groups which claim that Eritrea is still part of Ethiopia come to power?  How does it help the implementation of the border or will there be a border to demarcate since they do not accept the Eritrea as a country?  What then?  Isayas will be living somewhere with the stashed millions.  What will the country and its people be left with?  This is the question for the silent, indifferent and apologetic educated Eritreans. Isn’t it the same “Woyane” with whom Isayas was going to work to make the border between the two countries meaning less? The irony is that the same people who are shouting now will change and try to tell us how important it is to maintain good relationship with the same “Woyane” should Isayas say so.

Some ask the opposition what their stand is with different aspects of their relationship with the neighboring countries.  The stand of the opposition did not start the Hanish fiasco with Yemen in which PFDJ got out politically defeated.  The opposition stand had nothing to do with the meddling in the internal conflict of the Sudan where many Eritreans gave their lives and handicapped documented well by some of the wounded eye witnesses who are in the west.  At that moment he had a revenge to settle against the government of the Sudan.  The stand of the opposition has nothing to do with the tension that almost exploded with Gibouti.  The position of the opposition certainly did not have anything to do with the senseless war which claimed tens of thousands of our youth against a “Woyane” with whom Isayas vowed to make the border between the two countries meaningless.  Those who ask the opposition should join the opposition to reverse the destructive internal and diplomatic path.  They also need to understand that the army as it stands now is serving at the whim of Isayas and being used as a tool for his personal revenges.  There is no functioning parliament let alone a democratic one.  There is no constitution which guarantees that the army serves the will of the people based on a democratic process.  Our sons, daughters, brothers and sisters are being sacrificed to serve the reckless arbitrary wars of Isayas.  The opposition should work hard to reach out to them and help them find ways of organizing against Isayas not supporting the destructive wars he wages. 

Conclusion:  The country and the political affairs of our people is not the task of ELF-RC or the opposition as a whole alone.  It is the task and responsibility of the people.  The people cannot afford and should not be bystanders on their own and their country’s affair.  Above all, those who live in the Diaspora should know and do better than blindly following the dictator while knowing very well where the country is heading under his leadership.  The houses they have built are with the money earned from their sweat.  The visit to Eritrea should be a given right without question or paying two percent.  The country does not belong to PFDJ or Isayas.   The so called educated Eritreans should show that they have learned from what other educated individuals did for their countries or their oppressed people.  They need to choose between either becoming part of the problem and the solution.  Standing on the fence does not alleviate them from their historical responsibility. They need and should start standing up for what they believe in.  Start saying publicly what they say privately.  Stop blaming the opposition and the army for not doing something – show that you can do anything at all. 

Thank you for reading,

The Nharnet Team

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