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Listen to this audio before you read Last year Isaias promised to announce the names of those who were killed in the 19982000 border war. Then we heard an announcement regarding the demobilization of 5000 conscripts. Before that, we heard of thousands of ex-combatants being demobilized, right after independence; it never happened. Twelve years later, we are still being promised a life without war. Apart from the few top echelon of the PFDJ, the rest of the population, anyone between 18 and 50, is carrying a gun or working for those who carry the gun. The whole nation became a nation of gun carriers with no one to take care of life outside the military life. ...more on this later. Last year, again, there was an announcement for the demobilization of all female conscripts from the forced military life. We knew it was another lie. As usual, we prayed we were wrong, we werent. That is why we dont believe a word this government says. Lately, the sad situation of female combatants was widely exposed. Whisper news of yesteryear became todays open knowledge. Rape was rampant and Sawa was branded a rape camp by many observers. The criticism against the PFDJ was strongly leveled from many corners. As usual, the PFDJ took refuge in one if its clever maneuvers, what it proudly considers SheTara. True to its nature, it promised the demobilization of female draftees, the lie. What is our problem then? The PFDJ moves in stealth. Its plans are all veiled and secretive. The leaders dont accept anything as a measurement of their performance. They just bluff and gloat. To avoid criticism with the way females are being treated in Eritrea, they promised demobilization of the females. How would the world know if they kept their word? No one will. You just have to take their word for it, which is always a lie and playing with the emotions of the nation. How many times were the parents promised that the names of those killed during the 98-2000 wars would be announced? We lost count. They never announced the names. What makes anyone believe anything they promise? Nothing. Even if they did, there is no timetable, numbers and categories stated. What qualifies a draftee to be demobilized as per the now-forgotten promise? We only know of their announcement: those who fulfilled their obligation will be demobilized. We guessed the qualification for demobilization. For one, She certainly has to be a female! At least that is clear. Would that mean all females would be demobilized? They didnt say. They didnt say what the obligations were. It could turn out that one of the obligations was that a girl has to develop enough wrinkles on her face and enough callus in her hands before she would be left on her own. Or, when a woman is so psychologically and morally damaged that she wouldnt cope with life anymore. Third is, that wherever she came from, she will be in a mental state where if she came from the country side, she is no more willing to go back; instead she will prefer to live in the cities and live as per the dictates of the city. Jobs? None, unless they would assign one car-parking space per demobilized female: they tend to assign all females as parking ticket-girls. The streets, the cars and the parking spaces are not enough to accommodate a fraction of the would-be demobilized females. What to do? The Agonies Of Parents The agonies that Eritrean parents are going through shakes the most insensitive person. Only those who have reached the PFDJs level of cruelty would not be moved. Many of us watch how the feelings of American parents are taken care by their government. No sooner a soldier is killed in action, the government makes all arrangements to notify the parents. The body is rested in a very respectful manner that reflects the value of life and the respect of the government to its citizens. This is on top of the fact that the USA defense forces are staffed by volunteers. This would be too much to expect; the government sets the value of our lives and it set it to zero! We cant help but be jealous of the way the death of an American soldier is handled. We cant help but aspire to see Eritrean parents be treated the way American parents are treated when their loved ones are killed in action. Are we asking too much? Some would think we are asking way too much. They believe that an Eritrean's life is expandable at whim. They think the Eritrean mothers role is to breed children to be gun-carriers of dictators and warmongers. They set relative standards for how the people should be treated. They accept different standards for respecting human life. This can be evident with Dr. Weldai Futurs outrageous comment in his interview with IRIN on April 1, 2003. He callously said, I think this is important for the Europeans. Compare Ethiopia and Eritrea. There are people arrested here, put in jail. In Ethiopia, people demonstrated and were massacred. We bring this comment by one of the PFDJ operatives because we find it a representative sample of the way the government thinks. If Ethiopia kills 100 people, it would be all right for Eritrea to kill 50, we just killed fifty, talk to the Ethiopians who killed 100 and leave us alone. We are sure Weldai Futur understands the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But surely, he doesnt understand what Eritreans fought for. Maybe he thinks we just struggled for thirty years to change his old boss, Janhoi, and give him a new boss. Maybe he thinks the whole struggle was just about that. How else would someone who has been educated to the highest level and traveled enough around the world not set high standards for his people? Why would he want Eritreans to live under a low standard of human rights respect just to please the egos of a clique? Would self-interst blind people to such a low and despicable level of a new type, betrayal of the people? It is disgusting Dr. Weldai Futur is the presidents advisor on economic affairs. We just imagined this: ask Weldai Futur why Eritrea is poor and he would tell you, Ethiopia is poorer. No rationale, no sense of integrity and no loyalty to the people but to the system. Weldai Futur is the product of the Haile Sellasie regime and now he has the temerity to accuse people like Haile Derue, Sheriffo and Mesfin Hagos of treason. This is where Eritrea has been leveled to: on the hands of wimps who never were loyal to the people but to their own interest.
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