First, we welcome Shabait to the Eritrean info superhighway.  If one believes that more information means more freedom, one cannot do anything but welcome a new source of information�even if the purpose of the new information provider is to confuse and not inform.  The new website has the distinction of being the mouthpiece of the mouthpiece:  Shaebia is the party�s website and Shabait is the government�s website.  So what if the party is the government and the government is the party?  We still need different hues and shades of gray.  This is the sort of "responsible" media competition that Eritrea is �mature� for: Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. 

And now, the real reason why Shabait exists:  A magician won't do; an illusionist is needed. The naked emperor first sent Yemane Gebreab to tell us that he�s got clothes.  Yemane Gebreab wrestled control of Dehai.org and then, still not satisfied, gave us Shaebia.org, a menu of feel-good �journalism.�  But the people still said, �the emperor has no clothes.�  Being the �official website� of the PFDJ, Shaebia.org had to maintain respectability, but playing politics often means playing dirty.  The assignment of playing dirty was given to the other websites�the kiddies with their crayon; the neo-crusaders with their little tempers who, between odes to unity and diversity, fanned the flames of ethnic hatred, toyed with sectarianism, exclusion and chauvinism.  Their extremism is manifest in one simple fact: while Eritreans consider Arabic either an official or working language, you cannot find a single article written in Arabic in these websites�

Still, the emperor remained naked.  So he needs another magician, an illusionist...

So the emperor has sent us yet another messenger, Ali Abdu�s �Shabait.com� to put imaginary clothes on the emperor and shout, �the Emperor has clothes!�  Shabait is Tigre for �Glimpser� (teqelqalit in Tigrigna): a peeker.  In military parlance, it is a scouting location.  The first fort at the edge.   Well, there is a Tigre saying that goes, �mn jeqan dib mgrdeE� meaning, �From one who sips to one who gulps.� Yemane�s websites were sipping from the PFDJ coffers; Ali Abdu�s website will probably gulp from the Eritrean resources to convince Eritreans they are not oppressed and everything is rosy.  Unless the new child Shabiat is equipped with truth, which we doubt, it will never be promoted to a bold face-to-face meeting and will remain Shabait, always peeking, never out in the open.   

The minister of information has gone on record to state that in Eritrea freedom of expression exists.  He was unable to demonstrate diversity of opinion in the State radio, State TV, State newspaper, so now we are calling on him to start anew and show it on the State website.  We now hope he will be able to prove it to the world: we would like to see an article or two or three (we won�t ask for 50%; we will settle for 5%)�articles that are critical of a government policy.  Since its inauguration, the Peeker has published 40 articles and reportages: 100% of them reflect government and pro-government thinking.  Where is the freedom of expression? People are free to praise the government, right?  Even Walta sometimes runs news reports that are critical of the Ethiopian government; surely, the Eritrean government cannot be less bold than the Ethiopian government, can it? 

Meanwhile, the emperor is still naked. 

The Emperor�s Address 

Are you a student?  Do you remember when you used to be one? What grade would you give yourself if you were permitted to grade your own homework, assignments, tests and exams?  Of course, you would give yourself straight As.  You don�t want it to be too obvious so some of them would be A Plus and others A Minus but they would all be As.  Even if the class is on ethics and you are obviously cheating, you would give yourself an A.  Why?  Because you are a cheat.  Because you have gagged and arrested all the teachers and administrators and your parents.  There is nobody to find out�besides, �right� and �wrong� are all �relative� terms, to you anyway.  You are only cheating on your exam; it is not like you have killed the administrators; you have only gagged them and threw them in the broom closet...

Every year, on every Independence Anniversary date, President Isaias Afwerki gives himself a report card and, every year, they are straight A�s with a few minuses, of course.  Politically speaking, there is nothing unusual about this: every year, at every State of the Union, state of the State or Parliament Report, heads of states the world over tell their people about how well they are doing.  The difference with authoritarian states like Eritrea, of course, is that there are no institutions available, no civil society, no opposition, no free press to challenge the claims, assertions and omissions of the Head of State. 

President Isaias Afwerki uses a formulaic approach to reports and it has four parts: (1) The enemy vs the Blameless Eritrean; (2) a chronicle of accomplishments; (3) promises and pledges and (4) glaring omissions. 

Part One: The Enemy.  The enemy could be Sudan (as in 1994-98 when Eritrea's conflict with Sudan was being mediated by Yemen); the enemy could be Sudan and Yemen (as in 1996 when Eritrea�s conflict with Yemen was being mediated by Ethiopia); the enemy could be Ethiopia (1998-present, with the whole world moderating); Jihad and terrorists (2002, no mediation required because it is only Eritrean blood); the enemy could be back to Sudan and Yemen in addition to Ethiopia as well as unnamed internal and external enemies including Anthony Lake and the CIA (2003, when nobody is mediating; they are too busy shaking their heads in amazement.)    The lieutenants and Isaias-groupies who feel no hesitation in naming countless associations, media organizations and human rights groups as enemies are only mimicking the ease with which the head of state creates and sustains enemies.  Enemies, enemies, everywhere with nary a friend in sight.  A small nation, Eritrea has not only managed to accumulate enemies everywhere but it has managed to alienate so many of its own citizens.     

Part Two: The Accomplishments.  Here, every ministry and every economic sector is reported as showing phenomenal and impressive accomplishments.    Roads and airports were built, ports rehabilitated, power plants installed, dams mounted, hospitals inaugurated.  Those are all the A+, because they seem to easily impress the average Diaspora Eritrean who has no clue about what they cost, how they were managed or mismanaged.   Does it matter that roads and airports are being built by the slave labor of Warsay?  Does it matter that the contractors are always PFDJ controlled businesses who get the contract without competitive bids?  Does it matter then the projects have huge cost overruns and make no economic sense? No. No. No. What matters is their symbolic value. Then there are those the Head of State gives himself an A- for: marine resources, housing, tourism, telecommunications and agriculture and the vitality of the private sector.   But the only reason they are not A+ is because of part one, The Enemy: greedy merchants, corrupt administrators, war-mongering TPLF and lack of resources.    What is important about the accomplishments is they are always anecdotal; you will never get reports in the form of comparison of actual to planned; in forms of budget, in language macroeconomists understand.  When they come from third parties (UN, WFP), they are based on the honor system: they report information based on data provided by the PFDJ (an organization that has been saying Eritrea's population is 3.5 million for 12 years.) 

Part Three: The Promises.  Here�s where promises with no deadline are made: the grieving mothers will be told of the status of their children; the youth will be demobilized; we will soon achieve food security; we will soon have elections; we will soon implement social welfare programs; we will soon have a pension plan. It does not matter that not a single one of these promises is met; what matters is that they are made.  

Part Four: Glaring Omissions:  the state of the constitution, of elections, of justice, of people thrown to dungeons, of promises made, of mistakes committed are all deliberately excluded.  This year was no exception.  The transcript of the President�s speech has over 3500 words.  While it mentions the TPLF 21 times, it mentions justice three times, constitution 0 times and election 0 times.   With respect to the �political process�, all we are told is that it will take place in the �appropriate� level.   Being accountable to no one except his moods, and being completely devoid of any decency, the head of state feels absolutely no urgency and no qualms about the disappeared and the arrested and the suspended constitution.   In fact, in his interview with the BBC, he actually laughs when the subject of the arrested politicians and journalists is raised.   

What he and his fans forget is that, in the absence of political pluralism and respect for civil liberties, economic progress no matter how fantastic the claims of its progress, is like building sand castles.  As long as there are people who feel excluded; as long as there are people who are made to feel they are irrelevant and they are not stakeholders; as long as the Eritrean people live in fear and terror, as long as Eritreans are thrown to dungeons and they and their families are in pain, it is all construction without foundation.  Despite the efforts of all the Shabait and Shaebia; the $50,000/month consultants and makeup artists cannot stabilize something that shaky: it will crumble with sufficient pressure from within and without.          

Eritrea�s Real State of The Union 

Ten years after formal statehood, twelve years after independence, the State of Eritrea is well on its way to establishing an entrenched police state that may take decades of years, untold suffering and sacrifices to reverse.   Tens of thousands of Eritreans, spanning three generations have died and been maimed and exiled to achieve two goals: to expel colonizing powers AND to enable the Eritrean people to govern themselves in an environment of sustained peace.  As has happened in most of Africa, in Eritrea, as well, those who were victorious in expelling the colonizing forces are now denying the Eritrean people the right to govern themselves. As has happened in most of Africa, in Eritrea, as well, the liberators have become enslavers.  The PFDJ is attempting to consolidate the creation of a one party state and has refused to surrender power to the people: 

�         The PFDJ and its leader have pursued policies that have entangled the people in continuous conflict with one nation or another since 1994;

�         The PFDJ and its leader have pursued policies that have estranged hundreds of thousands of their own citizens;

�         The PFDJ and its leader have strangled the free press and placed a chill over the people�s right to freely express themselves;

�         The PFDJ and its leader have denied the people the right to freely assemble and form associations and groups that promote their interests and values;

�         The PFDJ and its leader have abducted thousands of citizens and has denied them due process and justice in an open court;

�         The PFDJ and its leader have denied the people the right to practice the religion of their choice;

�         The PFDJ and its leader have created a corrupt economic system that rewards political cronyism and punishes enterprise;

�         The PFDJ and its leader have isolated Eritrea from its neighbors and the world to the extent that its drought-stricken population is denied humanitarian assistance; 

These are all claims that could be made by individuals and political associations in a free ideological market place whereby the people can compare the claims and counterclaims of the ruling party and the opposition and make choices.   

Over the last couple of years, when given a choice to empower the Eritrean people or the PFDJ, it has chosen to empower the PFDJ.   When given a choice to empower the PFDJ or the leader of the PFDJ, it has chosen to empower the leader of the PFDJ.  These can, perhaps, be explained away as dynamics of organizations.  However, what is most unforgivable and most dangerous of all is that the PFDJ has deliberately taken measures to arrogantly close off all venues for peaceful and legitimate methods to bring about change.  This is because nobody has lost an argument with the PFDJ or its leader and remained a free citizen.  The message is that a citizen can retain his life and liberty, and a citizen can criticize Isaias but a citizen cannot criticize Isaias and retain his life and liberty.  A dissident has to choose one or the other: to live a lie or to not live at all. Or to flee the nation,

Right now, because of the Eritrean people�s aversion to (and exhaustion from) war, because they do not see a credible and organized and unified opposition, the people have chosen to patiently wait for a peaceful change.  The date and place is now unknown and unknowable but, at some point, a critical mass of the oppressed people will see violence as not only legitimate but the only way to free themselves.  If and when that date comes about, the long-suffering Eritreans will suffer some more for the sake of ending their suffering.  And if and when that happens, the PFDJ and its leader will be solely responsible for the suffering of the people.

Comments? Feedback?  Send it to: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it