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It is hoped that the reader will not feel cheated because this is not actually third part of an article. The first article under this title was posted in Awate.com on 7 August 2001 – i.e. one month and a half before Haile Wolde-Tinsae (Deru’e) was taken to PFDJ custody, or a year before Seyoum Ogbamichael became the Chairman of the ELF-RC. On 18 September 2002, I wrote two pages of introductory notes and annexed the old article for re-posting. With the tacit consent of the websites, it became part II. Today, I am writing a few more paragraphs on the same subject; parts one/two are attached for the benefit of those who did not have the convenience to read the material and also for those who would wish to compare fact with fiction about ‘comments’ regarding the old article. Today’s Part III is coinciding with the unhappy commemoration of the completion of second year in prison of Haile Deru’e and his friends who were stopped from taking the right step to join the Eritrean opposition against the dictatorship in Eritrea.
First, Why Interested in Seyoum and Deru’e?
During the past several months of 2003, my ‘detractors’ asked this question and probably suspected that I was projecting what I should have in mind: a grand ‘sectarian plan’ that would bring only Seyoum’s and Haile’s together. Against whom? I have no idea. The ‘detractors’ would have to fabricate the answer(s) of their imagination.
However, the response I can give regarding my interest in writing about Seyoum and Haile was already provided in a phrase in the first article of 2001 which read as follows: “Whatever the past had them do and think in separate [ELF-EPLF] camps, Seyoum and Haile are today speaking the same language and seeking the same destiny for the nation. And as it was the case in the long past [when they were student activists], they are again at the forefront agitating for change of mind among Eritreans urging them to wake up to receive a new Eritrea, different from the one of the yesteryears.”
In other words, I was very much pleased with what Seyoum had done mainly in the USA and Canada during 2001 in changing many distorted minds which until then were blindly rejecting the allied opposition the ELF-RC was grooming and leading. Likewise, I was happy with what Haile Deru’e had started to say as of July 2000 (refer his speech at PFDJ’s Frankfurt festival) and what he had done during 2000-2001 to the monolithic structure of the PFDJ. I was pleased that the two life-time strugglers at rival fronts were helping us in 2001 to narrow down the old divisions on ELF-EPLF camps. (The rest of the story is in the annex.)
The Other Quality
There was another quality that I highly valued and for which I thought Seyoum always deserved the word Agena’e, and Haile Deru’e the appellation Bravo. It was not mentioned in my parts one/two under this title. I will say it today: it is about the value that Eritrean patriots usually give to friends who share their concerns about the fearful divisions in our society and then try to do something to narrow them down. I will try to compare what they thought 40 years back and what they think today. Let me start with Haile Deru’e because he is away from us all in a gloomy dungeon - or he may no more be alive, we cannot tell.
Haile Deru’e:
In the summer and autumn of 1966 in Addis Ababa, Haile Wolde-Tinsae (we did not know him as Deru’e that time) and Martyr Mussie Tesfamichael started taking tobacco and finally spitting the ‘safa’ the way it is done in the Eritrean lowlands. Both were not yet smokers. One day, I asked Haile why he was taking ‘safa’ (tobacco). His innocent answer was something like this: “With this nationalist feelings we have we will one day find ourselves with the fighters in the Eritrean lowlands. I think I will have I will have some problem there at least in the initial period. Taking ‘safa’ and spitting it the way the other fighters do will make me look like everybody, and that should help.”
It was a simple gesture, yes, and today many could say ‘so what?’ but in reality the act reflected positive consciousness in him; it meant that Haile at that tender age already started to care about social sensitivities and divisions. It was also sometime in 1965-66 that Haile asked me to write for him a poem of sorts in Tigre about the Asmara Theatrical Association (Mat’ a) which was on visit to Addis Ababa. Haile read that poem for a large audience at what was called the Christmas Hall of Haile Selassie University where the Eritrean musicians sung highly patriotic songs of the day. His simple reasoning was: “We should not start and end such big Eritrean events only in Tigrinia. At least Tigre should come up in our social gatherings”.
Two decades later, this time speaking with some authority, Haile Deru’e started voicing the old concerns he was reflecting in his youth. In an interview with the Christian Science Monitor of Canada in the late 1980’s, I read an article in which Haile expressed his fears about an existing ethnic chauvinism in his organization, EPLF. Lionel Cliffe, a French writer and friend of the EPLF also wrote in the Third World Quarterly magazine of October 1989 (page 17) that Haile was much worried about “Tigrigna chauvinism in the EPLF”. According to the French writer, Haile considered the chauvinism promoted in and by his organization as a serious obstacle to nation-building in Eritrea after its liberation.
In a document released by the G-15 in mid-August 2001, which appeared to be mainly authored by him because of the similarity of words used in the text and his previous press interviews, Haile urged that the new Eritrean government (with or without Isayas) should:
· Accept Tigrinia and Arabic as the two official languages;
· Review the land ownership issue;
· Consider revision of the constitution prepared without the participation of the rest of Eritrea, and
· Stop passing judgment on people in the opposition before they are brought to a court of law.
You see, I had more than one reason to say Bravo Deru’e in August 2001. That demonstrated a strong inclination in Haile Deru’e to adopt all those lofty principles that Seyoum and his ELF-RC stood for since long time.
Seyoum Ogbamichael:
After all the demonization campaign unleashed against Seyoum Harestai during the past year, one would assume that there are some innocent readers whose opinion towards him had been adversely affected. Well, that is the aim of all campaigns: to distort truth to a large extent possible and create a new negative image for the targeted object. Based on the language of the campaign, I am sure the mention of the name ‘Seyoum’ could nowadays ring in the ears of some as ‘a sectarian person’, a ‘Kebessan chauvnism’ not different from Isayas, anti-unity, anti-Islam, anti-Arabic…. name it. And all these is said against someone who, to my knowledge, had a clear record in fighting chauvinism, and contributed more than a single person’s share in trying to play down forces of polarization in the society.
It is amazing how we forget or ignore important developments in the life of our struggle, say for instance the polarizing Falul phenomenon of the latter part of the 1970’s. But first, let me tell you something that Isayas and Seyoum do know and only the two could still remember. The time was in late August 1965 in a hideout inside Asmara where Seyoum and Woldedawit Temesghen (upon arrival from the field) were engaged in explaining issues to their visitors and recruiting cell members for the ELF in the city. In one of those sessions, Isayas Afeworki asked the two ELF envoys this question: “How possible is it going to be for us Christians to struggle and live among so many Moslems in this ELF? Did you find it possible?” The response was given by Seyoum who used many words to assuage the fears expressed in the question. Seyoum added something like this: “In the final analysis, we are not going to count how many Moslems or Christians are fighting for the just cause. Whoever feels fighting will fight and that is fine. No Christian or Moslem will be discriminated of his/her religious or regional identity as long as the national cause remains our common goal”. Isayas at that time appeared to have received the full message and officially became part of an ELF cell.
Now back to our Falul phenomenon of 1975-77 and Seyoum’s lasting lessons to the young generation through various means including through his messages broadcast over ELF’s radio programme from Omdurman in 1977. Those comments of sword-like sharpness against ethnic chauvinism and lawlessness within one’s organization were contained in the form of poems one of which was entitled: ‘Hahu bel Falulai, Nab Sri’etna Na’anai’. The poem underlined the importance of the following:
· The supremacy of law;
· The allegiance and commitment that had to be given to commonly agreed programmes and structures;
· The need for the new generation of fighters (mainly Kebessans) to avoid the wrong path trodden by Isayas and instead try to understand the nature of the struggle and give due respect to the achievements of the ELF for the common good of a united Eritrean nation.
The generation that might be interest to read what I am writing knows it all and I will not attempt to elaborate the message further. But I am convinced that, in a sane world, that message alone could characterize Seyoum as someone who fights for the Eritrea that all of us wish to build. In short, Seyoum, like everyone else, may have his shortcomings, but none of the allegations directed against him by all our internet chatterboxes can hold water. In the contrary, one can easily deduce that all those former ELF and none ELF members who felt reprimanded and scolded by Seyoum’s sharp and correct comments and viewpoints of 1977 still retained grudge against the man and joined the wrong chorus launched against him in recent months from an unlikely corner.
I am afraid citing more past examples will make the story long, but I beg reader’s pardon to be allowed to add the following: when the March 25 1982 incident took place at Rasai, Seyoum shared everybody’s shock about the illegitimate seizure of power by force in the ELF. I happened to talk to him and to Woldedawit at Rasai immediately after the coup d’etat. The hot issues under discussion at that point were mainly: 1) fear of polarization because of the coup makers’ appeal to region and religion, and 2) the violation by the coup d’etat of the agreed upon programme and established structures of the organization. It was difficult for many to make a decision although a decision had to be made on personal level. On his part, Seyoum rationalized: “Letting the coup makers go their way will cause a degree of polarization in the society and the ELF; however, unity in the organization, which in the first place was built on agreed upon laws, cannot be preserved by breaking established laws and structures, as was the path taken by the Falul”. It was on this reasoning that he opposed the coup d’etat and also parted company with his life-time friend Woldedawit who remained on the other side of the ELF. Seyoum went on rebuilding the ELF-RC as its foot-soldier until he was entrusted to the highest post in the organization only a year ago. ELF-RC and Seyoum are once again challenged by law-breakers. And they should better prevail once more – and for the third time - so that a law-abiding Eritrea could build trust in an organization that fights coup makers and law-breakers of all brands.
And Isayas Afeworki?
Before concluding, and only in passing, I must confess that I cannot recall seeing or observing in Isayas in the past four decades any of the qualities I saw in Haile and Seyoum. What I can remember about Isayas can only be utterances as ugly as those we have been used to hear from him in recent years. For instance, in the attachment below, I am telling in paragraph two about a certain event in Asmara (wall postings of agitation material in 1964). Isayas Afeworki was part of that team. Incidentally, and ironically too, he was assigned to distribute the material in the Kagnew Station zone of Asmara. He was sent with a Moslem classmate of ours (I prefer to withhold the name for sometime). Isayas sees a police car in the street and decides to paste the agitation material (Eritrean flag with a short patriotic poem prepared by Seyoum) on the police car. His reasoning was that no one would see the material stuck on the walls of far away Kagnew Station zone and that the police or the government must see the agitation material in order to be irritated. The friend stops Isayas from pasting the material on the police car by telling him this: “Listen Isayas! we have colleagues who are distribution this sensitive material deep inside the city. If we paste it on this police car, all the security agents in Asmara will soon go downtown and arrest our colleagues who by now may be only around Commissariato Hamassien”. Isayas felt angry to have been stopped and insulted the colleague in exactly the following ugly words: “Ms bojbaj aslamai sedidom mshetey abelashiyomley!” Two years later in Addis at an ELF cell meeting in April 1966 (as I have written about it in recent years) Isayas alleged that what was going on in Jebha was nothing but “jihad”. Did Isayas stop using that language?
To this day, Isayas has retained his old character and his old world outlook. I am also of the firm belief that Seyoum Ogbamichael and Haile Deru’e retained their childhood care and concern about the sensitivities that we would have to address in the Eritrean society. They indeed deserve commendation for this positive record.
In the meantime, I wish Haile Deru’e will survive his plight in prison and soon become a free man together with all Eritrean political prisoners, among them ELF-RC leaders Woldemariam Bahlibi and Teclebrahan G/Tsadiq (Wedi-Bashay) who have been in the dark dungeons of Isayas Afeworki since 26 April 1992.
Regards
W. Ammar
Agena’e Seyoum, Bravo Deru’e!!
(Part II)
18.09.2002
(On the occasion of today’s sad anniversary of the imprisonment of Haile Deru’e and his comrades by the cruel one-man regime in Asmara, I just wished to re-post an article I wrote six weeks before 18 September 2001 about the role of Haile and one of his old friends, Seyoum, in the national resistance and the ongoing arduous struggle for democratization. The intent of the writing was not to project personality profiles of the two but to show the gradual narrowing down of the old ELF/EPLF divide in Eritrean politics. This Part II of the article will add a few introductory paragraphs and then invite the reader to go over the old stuff as a tribute to Haile, the virtual leader of the reform movement within the PFDJ since July 2000, who was not only coming up to the forefront of this uphill struggle we conduct, but also declared his determination to pay the price with his life for Eritrea’s democratization, if it so demanded.)
…Haile Woldetensae (Deru’e) and Seyoum Ogbamichael (Harestai) were old friends since their high school days and [later became] prison mates. During one unforgettable evening in 1964 (may be it was 18 September, one can’t remember the exact date of that 38-year old event!) both these young men were among a group of students who were distributing ‘subversive material’ in the heart of Asmara while agitating against the Ethiopian occupation. The material pasted on the walls of the Eritrean capital in that particular night included a short Tigrinia poem with a drawing of the Blue Flag. Haile Deru’e and Mussie Tesfamichael (leader of the ‘Menka’e’ movement) were assigned in one team. Seyoum, who prepared the material, went with Wolde-Dawit Temesgen to cover Itieghe Menen Street. [Michael Ghaber and Woldeyesus Ammar were sent to the Campo Citato area, and Isayas Afeworki and.. xx to the Kagnew Station area]. Anyway, the important thing now wished to be told is the following: [the week Seyoum and Woldedawit left Asmara for the ELF in March 1965] Haile and Mussie came to school with mourning-bands on their chests as if both lost close relatives the previous night. Schoolmates started asking why they had to put on those black mourning-bands and the two were giving death of relatives as reasons. However, Haile and Mussie later on confided to close friends that they were mourning for Eritrea and that they were determined to wear those black pieces of cloth until the Eritrean people had attained full freedom. [I learned in later years that it was Seyoum who suggested that everybody should wear those mourning badges until Eritrea’s independence.]
One cannot be sure for how long Haile and Mussie physically carried the mourning-bands on them. Nevertheless, one can say with certitude that they indeed have carried to the end their determination to struggle for the full freedom of the Eritrean people - Mussie until his martyrdom together with his Menka’e comrades in the mi -1970s by orders from Isayas, and Haile until his incarceration by the same Isayas on 18 September 2001.
Today, as we remember with deep pain and anger the imprisonment of Haile Deru’e and other veteran Eritrean tegadelti for having stood against the actions and policies of the lawless PFDJ regime, and the clamp-down of the then burgeoning private press in Eritrea, we also remind ourselves that the only choice we have for achieving full freedom is to keep struggling in the footsteps of all those who had fallen or all those who still languish in prison cells for its sake.
In last year’s write-up, it was stated that Seyoum and Haile had been separated for decades on the Jebha/Shaebia categories of our political camps. However, Haile’s and Seyoum’s pronouncements during 2001 were manifestations of upcoming joint action to remove obstacles to our unity and democratize Eritrea before the worst befalls it. My summary on the narrowing down of the gap between Eritrea’s two political cultures during 2001 was gathered from Haile’s interviews with the private press, and Seyoum’s meetings with large Eritrean audiences in Europe and North America. The voice of Haile Deru’e, who, I believe, could have helped very much in further narrowing down the old Jebha/Shaebia differences, was brutally silenced together with the private press on that fateful 18 September of last year. On the other hand, Seyoum, who is now the Chairman of the mainstream Jebha, ELF-RC, and his comrades, continued the struggle for bringing about full freedom to our nation through joint action that can come by achieving the “Reunion of the Grand Eritrean Family” made of the two camps to which Seyoum and Haile belonged. It is the conviction of this writer that Haile Deru’e could have greatly assisted in the much needed reconciliation and unity of action that we badly need in today’s Eritrea.
Good reading/re-reading.
Menhot@awate.com
PS: The article below did not cover the “Open Paper to the Eritrean People” released by the G-15 in August 2001. Mainly authored by Haile Deru’e, the paper was a grand policy statement by the reform group, which at the end lacked a leadership to promote the ideals the paper pronounced. The key issues that the paper added to what Deru’e did not say in his interviews until that time included the following points:
That the question of land must be reviewed and a better solution introduced.
That Tigrinia and Arabic would have to be adopted as the two official languages.
That it was import to revise the constitution prepared in exclusion of others.
AgenaE Seyoum, Bravo DeruE !!
By Menhot Woldemariam, August 7, 2001
Among the interesting readings and utterances by Eritreans in the past few weeks that left me with a flicker of hope for better tidings in the near future included the voices of two steadfast fighters for the Eritrean cause: Seyoum Ogba-Michael and Haile Wolde-Tinsae. These two compatriots are veritable giants of the struggle, as awate.com would rightly call people of their stature in the Eritrean revolution. Yes, who else but Seyoum and Haile do count among our giants of the liberation era! As in the long days of the liberation struggle, they are again today proving that they will be second to none in the struggle for Eritrean democratization.
I am told that it was this two, among a few others of their generation, who 40 years ago turned a school they went together into a test lab for nationalist re-awakening in the very heart of Asmara. They knocked on every door (and heart) of a slumbering populace asking for change of mind regarding the future of Eritrea. They did it through their graffiti and by agitating in the streets of Asmara at a time when a big support was not there, and when the name 'Eritrea' spelled crime, rather, treason in those dark days. Our two 'subversive' teenagers believed that the Eritrean people should, and eventually would, follow their path. History has not proven them wrong.
For decades, Seyoum 'Harestai' and Haile 'DeruE' parted company, always faulting each other - the one thinking the other to be riding the wrong horse and holding wrong ideas. (In fact the last time they had long hours together was in March/February 1975 soon after the liberation of 1,000 prisoners by the ELF from the Sembel and Adi-Quala prisons; the two counted among the liberated thousand.)
But whatever the past had them do and think in separate camps, Seyoum and Haile are today speaking the same language and seeking the same destiny for the nation. And as it was the case in the long past, they are again at the forefront agitating for change of mind among Eritreans urging them to wake up to receive a new Eritrea, different from the one of the yesteryears. And supposing the two were teenagers today in Asmara of 2001, what do you think they would be doing? Judging from the character of their generation, I would expect them do what they used to do in a similar situation four decades ago: demonstrate in the heart of Asmara carrying placards reading, "Change Now!!" "Power to the People!!" "PIA Out!! In fact, that is what Seyoum and DeruE have been saying during the last few weeks - Seyoum talking to Eritrean audiences (and responding to Saleh Younis’ questions) in the United States of America, and Haile to the newly 'freed' private press in Asmara. You did not hear them shouting?
In part IV of the interview with Saleh Younis, Seyoum said in plain language all what is needed to explain the relations of ELF-RC with Ethiopia and the Ethiopians and to falsify the crude and fabricated lies churned out by the PFDJ regime against the ELF-RC and the Eritrean opposition forces in general. But Seyoum knows that the lies and wild allegations will finally be exposed for what they are and be rejected by the people. Seyoum aptly stated: “Anyone who has read our communiqués and properly read our position papers could see (the whole truth). But we don’t give much weight to the ears that didn’t want to listen and have decided not to listen”. At this point of his interview, Seyoum appeared to be recalling his memories in the early 1960’s when patriotic Eritreans suffered of acute shortage of “listening ears”.
Throughout his meetings with Eritrean audiences in the United States, Seyoum wanted every listening ear to know that he and his comrades-in-arms in the struggle for reconciliation, unity, democratization and social progress in Eritrea cannot, and should not, be called “traitors” and “fifth columnists” because of their refusal to kneel down to a dictatorship established since day-one of Eritrea’s liberation in 1991.
In the following paragraphs, I will try to summarize what Seyoum and Haile DeruE have been trying to tell every Eritrean patriot in order for us to collectively build a nation and a government that our struggling people deserve.
Legitimacy of GoE: Seyoum said the GoE was illegitimate from the start. DeruE said it has become illegitimate as of May 1997. (Only a slight difference.)
Unity: Both believed national unity is at stake and both warned that very urgent actions be taken to rebuild and strengthen Eritrea’s national unity.
Dictatorship: Both condemned the one-man rule in Eritrea.
Democracy: Both supported multi-party system in Eritrea.
Diplomacy: Both believed that GoE failed in its diplomacy and damaged the image of a hard-won name and fame for struggling Eritrea.
War and Peace: Both agreed that the war was avoidable, and both expressed fears that PFDJ, as it now stands, will not deliver justice, human rights, peace, good neighbourliness.
Transition to a New Eritrea: Haile hoped the transition period would be smooth. Seyoum agreed but expressed fear that the PFDJ regime, as is, will push the people to more bloodshed before its exit.
In short, both Seyoum and Haile, speaking in almost identical language, are urging PIA and his GoE to hand over power to the people without any condition and loss of time.
DeruE made more advances from the G-15 stand and called for opening of the closed gates so that Eritrea could reconcile with itself. Seyoum went a step further and charted a transition period through a national accord reached at a National Reconciliation Conference.
DerueE was asked 12 questions by the private press in Asmara; the 13th question gave him the opportunity of adding any other point he would wish to make. I will try to summarize in a few lines the long (29 pages in my print-out) interview DeruE held with the private newspapers.
1. Q: Why does the Open Letter call for meetings?
A: Why not call for meetings when the time was over due for regular sessions of the PFDJ Central Committee and the National Council ("parliament")? Why not an urgent call for collective decision making when the supremacy of the law is being undermined?
The National Council could have worked out long ago election procedures and laws on formation of parties. Depriving the people of their legitimate and constitutional right to free elections is unacceptable. There is a stand against formation of political parties. There is an intention to continue PFDJ's monopolistic hegemony in the politics of this nation. I am against it because this infringes upon the resolutions of the 1987 and 1994 EPLF congresses and the September 2000 decision of the National Council. We must answer 'yes' or 'no' to questions of tolerance and civil liberties. An overall review of the past is a must in order to plot the future on a sound basis. Such a review will lead the path to a PFDJ congress and the launching of a constitutional government. The review, in which the entire nation should participate, shall ask questions like the following:
Was it possible to avert the war or at least to minimize the cost, human/material?
How do we avert future wars with Ethiopia and the rest of our neighbours?
What can be done to redeem our damaged/blemished national image?
How do we work on transition to democracy [without excluding political and social segments of the nation]?
Wasn't martyrdom the pre-paid price by all for the rule of law, justice, peace and participatory democracy in Eritrea?
I do not see that it is to the interest of the people to turn the proposed elections into a comedy and ascertain PFDJ's unquestioned hold on power.
2. Q: Why did PIA refuse to hold meetings?
A: The refusal speaks for itself; in effect, he is placing himself above the law. But the failure is collective. We have failed collectively.
3. Q: What was the January 2001 paper prepared by PFDJ?
A shouldering responsibility for failures, the paper calls for a purge of [party] members. It pointed fingers at some senior cadres to tell them they were fifth columnists.
4. Q: Your views on outcome of the Open Letter?
A: I (DeruE) started telling the truth to our people by admitting our mistakes at the Frankfurt festival in July 2000. We as government suppressed freedom of expression. We were better off in that before independence. The people must not be reduced to the status of observers. The power must be handed over to the people. And sooner than later. They should be allowed to live under the rule of law and not under the [whims] of PFDJ. A constitutional government must grant freedom of organization and expression.
5. Q: Can there be election without electoral laws?
A: No. A neutral commission must be established. The talk about independent candidates is a farce, an open secret to establish PFDJ's monopolization of Eritrean politics for another 5 years. I acknowledge that groups and individuals that did not merge with EPLF have until now continued to serve their country and people with devotion. Who are we to give certificates on patriotism? Let the people freely elect their leaders and I bet they will not fail. But if one intimidates them by hoodwinking to irrelevant situations and incidents of the '40s and '50s, then they can say: 'let us delay party formations'. The people are wanted to say that. This is the PFDJ 'strategy', the big ploy.
Let PFDJ resources be used for the benefit of the war-wounded and families of martyrs.
Undue external influence in the affairs of local parties can be barred by law. Then, why use pretexts to obstruct the birth and growth multi-party system in Eritrea, which anyway had it in the past? This is not correct. In fact, transparent external support may help capacity building, as is the case with the support received by national associations for youth and women. I do not support the planned PFDJ's monopoly of power for the next 5 years.
6. Q: If parties are let to take part in elections, will it mean that those who were supported by the Woyane will participate?
A: Civil and national rights are there to be respected. The right to organize parties cannot be denied under any guise. There is no need [to fabricate pretexts] to trample upon inalienable rights of the people [and their political formations].
7. Q: Why do you say the National Council failed Eritrea?
A: It was a body that was entrusted to do the following: defend human and civil rights; promote the unity of the people; deliver justice, peace, and stability; improve people's standard of living by reconstructing a war-torn country; ensure the political participation of the people by promulgating elections and party laws and establishing the necessary democratic institutions. How many of these tasks have been achieved? Practically none. No constitutional government as yet. Human rights were not respected. Equality and participation of the people is under a big question mark. People are thirsty for peace and tranquility. No good neighbourliness. The country's image was blemished. At the end, all members of the National Council are collectively responsible for what had happened.
8. Q: How do you interpret the cabinet reshuffles in the past 10 years?
A: The National Council and the president were legitimate authorities only for the first four years. After May 1997, they lost all legitimacy. The reshuffles could be lived with only during the first four years. After that, even the president should have gone. On the other hand, political appointments in our mosaic [situation] needs special arrangement to reflect our diversity. Excessive trust in the president blinded many of us. Questions of law were never raised. The family-like work relationship [was not suitable when measured by a national yardstick].
9. Q: Your comments on the war with Woyane and its consequences?
A: Martyrdom, displacement and destruction; it is not quantifiable [loss]. Its catastrophic scars will last long. There should be ways of preventing future wars. Our weaknesses must be reviewed very seriously.
10. Q: Why are you avoiding talking to foreign agencies?
A: Because the issue is internal.
11. Q: How did the current movement start?
A: Just as a renewal of our self-criticism and commitment to the people's cause.
12. Q: How do you see the private press:
A: It must be supported, internally and externally, to stand on its feet. No pretexts can be acceptable in stifling it.
13. Q: Any other point you want to make?
A: The Eritrean people deserved a better situation. The current unease is unfortunate, and the president should not be allowed to quell the growing dissent by brute force. Our people should not remain observers. They must act, and act correctly.
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