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Gedab News

Eritrean Officials: Hedging Bets On The West?

By Gedab News
Aug 13, 2006, 14:50 PST

Dr. Amare Tekle and Mr. Andeberhan Woldegiorigis have been telling Eritrean officials in Asmara that they will soon return home but seem to be hedging their bets in the West. 

Dr. Amare Tekle, who functions as the foreign affairs advisor in the all-powerful presidential office, has not returned to Eritrea since the UN’s last general assembly.  Gedab News has also learned that Mr. Andeberhan Woldegiorgis is actively seeking employment in European NGOs.  Contacted by Gedab News, a friend of Andeberhan told us that our report is idle talk with no basis and that Andeberhan will soon return to Eritrea.

Meanwhile, the American government continues to deny visas to senior PFDJ functionaries and Eritrea-based “cultural troupes.”  In contrast to previous years, the keynote speaker for this year’s Eritrean festival in Washington, DC was Mr. Saleh Meki, Eritrea’s Minister of Health.  

Background

Dr. Amare Tekle holds dual citizenship—he is an Eritrean and an American.  His background suggests that of an individual who has argued for and against Eritrean independence from Ethiopia.  In his 1964*, PhD dissertation “The Creation of The Ethio-Eritrean Federation: A Case Study In Post-War International Relations (1945-1950 (University of Denver)) Amare argued that Eritrea is an inseparable part of Ethiopia.  Later on, he joined the EPLF and, after independence, functioned as Commissioner of the Referendum Commission of Eritrea (RCE) beginning in 1992.  While RCE was credited for ensuring that a free and fair election was held on the issue of formalizing Eritrea’s independence in 1993, a critical decision in using party-issued cards to verify eligibility to vote would have two disastrous consequences:

(1)   many members of Eritrean opposition groups refused to participate in the Referendum, if Eritrean identity and eligibility to vote could only be secured by applying for party-issued IDs from EPLF offices;

(2)   The Ethiopian government used acquisition of the ID as a basis to deport tens of thousands of Ethiopians of Eritrean origin

Dr. Amare Tekle, who had authored a book in 1994, Eritrea and Ethiopia: Conflict to Coperation, accused the Ethiopian government of practicing “ethno-racism” in 1999. Dr. Amare has represented Eritrean diplomatic missions to various UN committees where he was the designated apologist for Eritrea’s persecution of religious minorities.

Mr. Saleh Meki, who also holds an American citizenship and a degree in nursing from American educational institutions, is a long-time resident of the San Francisco Bay area where he was an activist for the EPLF.  After Eritrea’s independence, he moved to Eritrea where he has been serving as a Minister within the Ministry of Health.  In July 2005, when the Eritrean government started arresting thousands of parents because they couldn't account for their missing children, Mr. Saleh Meki was one of the officials who addressed parents to express the government's puzzelement for the en-masse escape of thousands of Eritrean youth to Ethiopia. 

Mr. Saleh Meki has no conscription-age children in Eritrea.

Mr. Andeberhan Woldegiorgis, who also holds an American citizenship, has served in various capacities within the EPLF/PFDJ including as Governor of the Bank of Eritrea, head of Eritrea’s mission to UNMEE and President of the University of Eritrea where he was instrumental in hallowing out of the institution from independent academicians in the early 1990s.

* Corrected

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