The PFDJ�s war-mongering nature is so established that no one (friend or foe of the government) would be surprised if they were to learn tomorrow that it is fighting Djibouti.  In fact, no one would be surprised if it picked a fight with Nigeria, shortly after its president concluded a two-day visit to Eritrea....[T]here is no shortage of enemies�the government  employs Eni-mini-maini-mo to pick them - The Pencil, October 15, 2002

The President's Calendar

October 11:  Find new �internal enemies." The current list of �Muslim Exremists," Jehovah�s Witnesses, Jeberti, evangelical Christians, �remnants" of ELF, �remnants" of G-13, �remnants" of G-15, intellectuals, civil servants employed in the government, defected ambassadors, businessmen, journalists, university students and their parents, youth who refuse to work for free, and elderly citizens is clearly not comprehensive.   Add Eritreans deported from Ethiopia to the list for introducing new evangelical Christianity, new cultures of corruption and desertion.

October 12:  Find new �external enemies."  The current list of Ethiopia, Sudan, the BBC, AFP, the UN, the AU, Antonio Bandini, the EU, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and the Arab League, is not enough.   Add Yemen to the list.

October 18: List of �external enemies" still incomplete.   Add the previous administration of the United States Government, as well as the mediators, and the CIA and, if they don�t repent, the Bush Administration to the list.

The above is a dramatization of the calendar of Isaias Afwerki.  The last entry was in response to a mild and belated criticism by the United States Department of State noting the obvious: Eritrea�s �troubling" and full-fledged decline into dictatorship.  Said the US:  "We also note that last fall the government of Eritrea arrested and began holding incommunicado and without charge prominent Eritreans who had called for greater democracy in Eritrea. And so we've called upon the government of Eritrea to respect fundamental human rights enshrined in the universal declaration of human rights."

The PFDJ Overkill

A year ago, the arrest of the two US Embassy employees came a day after the Bush Administration had criticized the government of Eritrea�s arrest of the PFDJ Reformers.  Their arrest was �not related" to the criticism, said the Isias regime, back then. 

So, why exactly were they arrested? 

This required two press releases by the Isaias Regime.   Coming within hours of the State Department�s mild criticism, it can be assumed that there was no consultation, no deliberation, no meeting of the cabinet of ministers.  It was just the work of a hothead firing off letters, damn the consequences.   The United States Government now has clear and first hand evidence of what the people of Eritrea are being subjected to. We take this opportunity to appreciate the public announcement of the state department and its clear stand on violation of human rights and in opposition to the rule of jungle applied by the PFDJ.   It is about time.

No Mo' Mr Nice Guy, Says MoFA

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) issued a release accusing officials within the Clinton Administration of employing the CIA who, with the help of senior Eritrean government officials, conspired to overthrow the Isaias government and then, by funding the private media and taking advantage of the �political process that was interrupted by the war," attempted to �induce" religious and regional divisions.  Seeking remedy, the government of Eritrea communicated these �complications" to the �highest authorities" in the Bush Administration, discreetly.  But now you�ve forced our hand to go public, damn you.  We call on you to stop from your �unwarranted intervention," concluded the MoFa.   The statement did not disclose if it welcomes warranted interventions.

For good measure, the MoFA threatened the USA because, apparently, it has more ammunition that it will disclose in due time, if the USA does not behave. Who knows, the PFDJ might invade the USA to teach the Bush Administration a lesson because in the folklore of the PFDJ, it had defeated the United States AND the Soviet Union.  Eenie, meenie, minie, mo: it is the turn of the US.   No wonder the Bush administration has trembled at this development and hasn�t responded yet, in the new folklore of the PFDJ.

Questions: What does any of the MoFA rant have anything to do with the call of the United States to respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the Isaias Regime claims it is a signatory to?  Unlike Amnesty International, the US is not calling for the immediate and unconditional release of its employees (although it should, because they are prisoners of conscience.)  It is calling that they be �freed, or at least granted the opportunity to defend themselves in an open or fair trial."   Furthermore, if the �prominent" Eritreans were conspiring with the CIA to overthrow the government, why did the party chief, Alamin Mohammed Said, claim that the party was willing to accept �self-criticism" and move on?  Is treason (of that magnitude) forgivable with a simple �I am so sorry?"   Is the Isaias Regime claiming that all of the eleven dissidents are guilty of conspiring with the CIA?  If not, why are they being arrested? Why is the Isaias Regime telling the United States government of the alleged crimes of Eritreans without telling the accused themselves and/or their family members?

AgeneE, Atta boy! from PFDJ

Within minutes of the intemperate press release from MoFA, the PFDJ, through its website, Shaebia.org, issued its own press release supporting the statement of the government.  Of course, there is no distinction between the party and the government, much less an independently functioning �Ministry of Foreign Affairs" within a hypothetically independent government that operates independent of the party.    In other words, the two press releases are most likely written by one individual with two titles: for example, PFDJ Political Director (Party) and Presidential Advisor (Government.) This would be hilarious if we were talking about, say, a website where people use various pen names to have a debate with themselves.  But it is tragic when it involves a country.   Any time now, we are expecting this meta-politics to go on indefinitely: with the government thanking the party for supporting the government.  Then the party can thank the mass organizations for supporting the party who were supporting the government.

We wouldn�t be surprised in the least if the PFDJ expels the USA ambassador to Asmara.  It turns out that not only is the PFDJ evil, it is not too smart either.

When Your Adversary Is Committing Suicide?

A political truism says, �When your adversary is committing suicide, get out of his way."  By picking a fight with the United States, the PFDJ is committing political suicide and we should get out of the way.  But we can only shake our heads for so long.  Besides there are still perceptions that must be corrected.   Just in case you think there is an iota of truth to the latest peddling by the lie-about-everything government of Eritrea, consider the following:

Richard Boucher of the State Department Faces The Media:

QUESTION: Last week, Richard, you put out a statement about human rights abuses in Eritrea and the arrests and continued detention without charges of two of your FSNs at the Embassy in Asmara. I don't know if you saw the Eritrean Foreign Ministry response on Friday, which was quite unusual, in which they accused the previous administration of using CIA operatives to try and overthrow the government and how they had hoped that they would have a new relationship with the new relationship here in Washington. And then he said that your statement from last week was just a sign that there was no goodwill, there was only ill will coming from Washington towards Asmara.

Do you have any comment on that reaction?

MR. BOUCHER: I'm afraid I didn't see the statement so I have no pithy comment for you. But I think we stand on solid ground in saying that you shouldn't arrest people like this and keep them for a year without trial or without any charges or without any justification. And second of all, it sadly fits the pattern that we noted last week that Eritrea has been arresting people around the country for -- with little reason.

QUESTION: So you're not aware of any attempt to overthrow the Government of Eritrea?

MR. BOUCHER: We have called on the government to change its ways, but no, we're not trying to overthrow it.

QUESTION: Well, it's a slow/fast pitch. We weren't trying to throw the Eritrean Government?

MR. BOUCHER: I said that.

QUESTION: All right. Thank you.

MR. BOUCHER: Thank you.

No, no, thank you, Mr. Boucher. The irrational leadership of the PFDJ had effectively convinced some naieve and gullible Eritreans to imagine a non-existent cordial relationship with the USA.   In reality, the PFDJ has been living off a great deal of good will and alleged affinity for �good governance" that it falsely cultivated with easy-to-impress Europeans used to corruption on an African scale.  Now, its lies and claims of warm relations are fully exposed: naked to the skin and bone. Finally, the State Department publicly identified the PFDJ as a regime that jails, disappears and condemns the very people it is supposed to administer to untold miseries.

The PFDJ has been insinuating that it is in the international anti-terrorism alliance, a campaign that is being led by the USA.   Its ambassador has been describing Eritrean landscape in �Afghanese"; a new youth-enslavement project has been baptized cynically as an �Eritrean Marshall Plan" and its UN representative has been railing against �Jihad." In what can only be a spoof, the website of the ruling party has even begun to borrow the language of Bushism calling Sudan, Yemen and Ethiopia, �the axis of belligerence."  

Meanwhile, the State Department looks at Isaias and sees a Saddam without the oil and the potential for nuclear reactors.  In other words, just another petty African tyrant in charge of one of the least free nations on the face of the earth.  This must come as a shock to those poor folks who were alarmed that the �opposition" was being given an ear at the State Department when they �should have been arrested on the spot" after holding demonstrations in different parts of the world, including London, Stockholm, San Francisco, Toronto, Rome, Washington DC and other cities, we hope things are clearer now.   Of course, now with the switch turned by the government, we expect the commited zombies to turn and fan out their anti-America propaganda on full force.   Meanwhile, the pro-democracy Eritreans have one message to the United States: the PFDJ is a regime that terrorizes its people, rules without mandate, shuns democracy and tramples over the human and civil rights of its citizens, holds people incommunicado, and tortures the arrested. It is not qualified to fight an anti-terrorism war and it should be placed in the list of terrorist governments.

The Eritrean people are not timid; they are patient.   But the Isaias regime is determined to try every Eritrean�s patience. They are surely misreading silence for obedience and patience for weakness. A united voice of the people demanding accountability does not come in a fortnight. It simmers and boils before the demand is thrown to the illegal government. However, when it does, it is much louder than the press release issued by the USA�s state department.   

Two Borders Closed; Tension In The Red Sea

One of the problems we Eritreans have is that our country is much too small a nation to challenge the intelligence of Africa�s smartest and bravest son, Isaias Afwerki.

His Excellency never liked the idea of the USA �meddling" in the affairs of the Sudan because the would-be Horn of Africa superpower, Isaias and his yes-men, consider themselves the kingmakers and life-sustainers of all the systems in the Horn of Africa and beyond, to the land of the Diamonds, Congo.

Unfortunately for us, the latest round of peace treaty has left the PFDJ out of the limelight, sending the boss into fits of rage.  Similar to Mengistu, Isaias has personally invested nine years on John Garang to twist the Sudan. The OAU delegation arrived in Khartoum to investigate the Sudanese accusation that regular Eritrean military units participated in the clashes between the Sudanese forces and its opposition.  According to the Sudan, the attackers came from the Eritrean side of the border. We do not have to debate that any attacker to Northeastern Sudan has to come from Eritrea because 1) it is the only country that borders Sudan on that side 2) The Sudanese opposition maintains training camps inside Eritrea (Sawa, Tukumbia, etc.) The Sudanese authorities have said that they have arrested some Eritreans and that they will present them in due time. We will await the findings of the AU mission and the evidence that the Sudan presents. In the meantime, lets see what the effect is.

The border between the Sudan and Eritrea is closed. ***image1***This border is a vital one, specially after trade to Ethiopia was halted in 1998. Eritreans were relieved to have that border with the Sudan open.  In fact, the PFDJ used to tell concerned Eritreans that they shouldn�t worry about the Ethiopian border being closed because we can always trade with Sudan.  Now that border is closed.  Shortages created by the closure of the border with Ethiopia were substituted by imports from the Sudan. The prices of food staples have skyrocketed to a point that no Eritrean without foreign aid (from donor agencies or Diaspora Eritreans) can afford them.

Trade with Sudan has stopped. For the Sudanese, this means no whisky and no cigarettes, certainly things that can be substituted.  For Eritrea, the closure means no affordable sugar, onions and basic necessities.  Eritrea does not trade with Sudan or Ethiopia and its relations with Yemen are at its worst.  Moreover, instead of taking measures to reverse that, the PFDJ is doing all it can to make matters even worse. The PFDJ seems resolute in its mad drive to make Eritrea the reincarnation of Albania.  Under these circumstances, is talk of �salvation" and Eritreans meeting in Addis Ababa an extreme reaction?

The Alliance

The position of the Pencil is that, of all political organizations, the PFDJ�formerly the EPLF�has absolutely no moral authority to lecture the Alliance when or where they should meet, particularly when it involves the TPLF.  Among many reasons for this is because the PFDJ has denied the Alliance the political space to hold their meetings in their land of birth, Eritrea.  Notwithstanding the PFDJ, we understand that some Eritreans may have a problem with the Alliance�s choice of venue.  While we respect that, our criticism was of a different nature: meet and do whatever you want to do but tell the Eritrean people in advance: no more secrets.

With that out of the way (for the third time), we expect the Alliance to come out of the meeting stronger, unified, restructured and reorganized to present itself as a credible alternative to the government.   The PFDJ cannot be allowed to continue with its reign of terror.  If the Eritrean people are to rise up in protest, they must believe that there are alternative political organizations that can bring about change without instability and democracy without disintegration.    So far, we are very encouraged by some of the information that has been filtering out of Addis Abeba and we hope to hear messages that will find resonance with the Eritrean people.