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Eritrean Ruling Party Chief Yemane Gebreab Addresses Festival Audience in Oakland
By Halaw Gedam
Aug 20, 2003, 15:15 PST
As I pulled up in the parking lot of Richmond Civic Center Plaza on August 17, 2003, I saw many people heading towards the huge hall that lay ahead. I learned almost immediately that I couldn't get through without paying the gate fee of $30. The hall was decorated with Eritrean flags, colorful balloons and murals. I met one guy I knew on the hallway and asked him about the events for the evening. He informed me that Mr. Yemane Gebreab, Political Advisor to the Eritrean President and Head of Political Affairs of the ruling PFDJ party and Mr. Hagos Gebrehiwet, Head of Economic Affairs of the same party were to address the audience. I have not seen these men speaking before so I seated myself as close as I can get to the elevated podium.
The first one to speak was Mr. Yemane Gebreab. The speaker laid down a laundry list of national problems and their causes. He said that during the last five years Eritrea has been challenged by (a) threat to its sovereignty, (b) economic devastation caused by war and (c) drought and famine. He then went on to say that the Woyanes, the foreign powers siding with them, and internal conspirators are the major causes for the crisis in Eritrea. He dubbed the last five years as a period of "TsinAt, Mekete, and MeGote". He said, "Our enemies always look down at our achievements, institutions and programs. By doing so, they overlook the fact that our strategies and programs have served our purposes well not only during the 30-year struggle for independence but also during the seven-eight years post independence era and will continue to be useful in the future as well." He said, "The institutional capacities we built up during our armed struggle helped to frustrate and abort the evil intentions and designs of our enemies."
Mr. Yemane continued by saying, "the dreams of our enemies have been crushed and we have started to witness social and economic recovery. Our burdens and the cloud hovering over us have disappeared. We have reached a period where we are reaping the fruits of our strength and perseverance. The Woyanes are not willing to make peace with Eritrea. Their dream is to see a poor and chaotic Eritrea. In a recent policy statement, the Woyanes have clearly branded Eritrea as a dangerous country. They consider a prosperous and strong Eritrea as a threat to their existence. They boldly assert that as long as the present Eritrean government is in power, Ethiopians will not be able to live in peace. The Ethiopians are building up their military prowess. They are planning to exert military and economic pressures on Eritrea. The Ethiopians have said that the decision on the demarcation of the border is wrong. They are doing their best to prevent the demarcation from happening. Under the circumstances we Eritreans should continue to enhance our preparedness to defend our sovereignty. Our primary objective is to be strong politically and economically. Should the Woyanes invade our county in the future we should be able to defend ourselves effectively and with minimum loss. Secondly, we have to appeal to the international community to exert pressure on Ethiopia. So far, the major world bodies have not enforced any sanction on Ethiopia in spite of its intransigence of the Hague border ruling. On the contrary Eritrea is suffering from unjust foreign pressure. Some major international donors have cancelled their development assistance and direct economic aid to Eritrea." Mr. Yemane recapitulated Eritrea's priorities by saying, "The order of our priorities are as follows: to challenge foreign invasion, to have our borders demarcated, to rebuild what has been destroyed during the war, economic recovery, to rehabilitate the war displaced, to make our people live in peace, to provide educational and employment opportunities for the veterans that defended our country, to make effective campaigns to fight corruption."
Finally Mr. Yemane appealed to Eritreans in the Diaspora to play a good role in the country's rehabilitation and development. He said, "Continued efforts should be made to connect the youth in the Diaspora to their country. It is also very important to encourage them to get good education and to acquire vital skills for career development."
During a Question and Answer session several people lined up in the middle aisle to ask questions. People who ask questions were instructed to say their names before speaking. They were also taped on video camera as they speak. One gentleman raised the following question: "In any political struggle conflicts among people in the leadership could occur. In view of this when are the former government officials who are in custody going to have their day in court? Also what action is our government taking with regards to the Woyane's fallout on the implementation of the border ruling?"
Mr. Yemane was speaking in a bitter tone all way through. And he did not realize that he was making some disparaging remarks about the jailed government officials with whom he has dined and wined in the good old days. In any case he said, "Some of the detainees we are talking about were high ranking government officials. Some of them were also high-ranking military commanders responsible for military operations during the border war. During the armed struggle, some of them used to preside in military tribunals. At the present moment some of their compatriots are involved in subversive political activities abroad. We need to know with whom these agitators are collaborating. Also the crime they are accused of touches upon our national security. We are not going to rush the case in order to satisfy those international bodies that accuse our government for human rights violations. Because these bodies do not see anything good in whatever our government does. Some opposition groups were telling us that the referendum was redundant because Eritrea has by default become a free country when it won the war. We were accused for not releasing the names of the fallen heroes and when we did these pressure groups have something negative to say about that too. The only competent body that has the authority to dispose off the case of the imprisoned former officials is the National Council (Assembly). The case needs to be seen by a Military Court in accordance with the directives of the National Council. Due to these reasons their case has become very complicated and needs careful review and deliberation." In answering the second part of the above question, Mr. Yemane said, "The American government has issued a statement saying that sanctions could be imposed on the country that defaults on the border ruling. The United Nations has also objected to Ethiopia's recent stand on the border ruling. Although these are encouraging developments neither the United States nor the United Nations have so far singled out Ethiopia as the country that is breaching the border ruling. So far no sanctions have been imposed on Ethiopia. As a result we should not rely heavily on international pressures and sanctions. We should have our own contingency plans."
Another question that popped up relates to the implementation of the ratified constitution. Mr. Yemane was very abrupt when answering this question. He said, "During the armed struggle the EPLF had a charter that is similar to the ratified constitution. So, the terms and spirit of the ratified constitution have been with us since the armed struggle era. So we have never worked outside the terms and spirit of the ratified constitution."
In general it is indeed very elucidating to see Eritreans converge from all over the world to meet in a festival. As far as I am concerned, the festival was a success story thanks to the dedication and experience of the Bay Area Eritrean community. It was very gratifying to see many Eritreans born abroad having a glimpse of their cultural roots and participating in several events vigorously. I conclude by saying BRAVO to the sponsors of the Festival.
Disclaimer: The quotations in this article are a near-verbatim translation of what Mr. Yemane said in the meeting. They are not word-to-word transcription of Mr. Yemane's words. The author stands to be corrected for any mistakes/and or misquotes.
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