A town hall meeting chaired by Mr. Ghirmay �Santim�, Ghebremariam, Eritrea�s new ambassador to the United States, was held on October 29^th in the Washington, DC area. 

As is customary, the meeting started an hour later (it commenced at 3:00 PM instead of the scheduled 2:00 PM.)  Accompanying the ambassador were Mr. Berhane, chair of PFDJ-North America (the ruling party�s representative in North America) and Mr. Tsehaye Fasil, First Secretary at the Eritrean Embassy in Washington, DC.

The address focused on four subjects: the border issue; the economy, social affairs and regional affairs.

On the issue of the border dispute with Ethiopia, the ambassador indicated that Eritrea considers the issue of paramount importance and that the border will be demarcated, one way or another.  He indicated that Ethiopia under the rule of Haile Selasse, Mengistu Hailemariam and now the Weyane has been the cause of much suffering in Eritrea; that Eritrea is not willing to make continuous concessions asked of it for the sake of avoiding Ethiopian disintegration and that, as far as Eritrea is concerned, the border issue is closed and no longer subject to negotiation.  In keeping with the announcements of President Isaias Afwerki, the ambassador pinned the responsibility of the problems Eritrea is encountering on the United States since, according to him, Ethiopia would not have gotten away with such flagrant violation without the protection of the United States.

The zonal or regional affairs centered on Somalia and Sudan.

Regarding Sudan, the talk centered on the recent Eritrea-brokered peace agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Eastern Front, which was signed in Asmara.  The ambassador described the efforts of his government as one governed by principle and one that will be pursued �regardless of who likes it or not." [Ire yTAmom meAar yTamom, as he put it.]

While providing an update on social and economic progress in Eritrea, the ambassador shifted between describing the economic progress as unprecedented and praiseworthy while at the same time acknowledging that there are problems and shortages but �we are not hiding them.�          

Once the ambassador was done with his presentation, the floor was opened to Q & A:

A questioner asked for comments on published reports that some of the parliamentarians who have been arrested since September 18, 2001 have died while in detention.   After giving the obligatory, �we respect them; they are our colleagues��, the ambassador responded that he had heard the same reports while he was stationed as ambassador to the United Kingdom; but when he went to Eritrea, he was assured that that was not the case.   He did not elaborate when he received this information or who provided it to him.[In a manner that defies common sense, the PFDJ and its supporters are fond of explaining that they have arrested the G-15 and denied them due process and family visitation rights because they love them too much to bring them to court.] 

Regarding Somalia, the Ambassador explained that Eritrea feels indebted to Somalians for their long service in facilitating Eritrea�s armed struggle and now see an opportunity to repay the favor.  He dismissed reports that Eritrea is arming the Somali Islamists and indicated that �even our foes now admit that the load of weapons that were reportedly on Ukranian plane were not from Eritrea� and added, to the amusement of the audience, �that it is only Eritreans who are mad with us that continue to make this charge.�  This narrative was meant to dismiss the confidential UN report that indicated that there are 2000 heavily armed Eritreans in Somalia, a charge denied by the PFDJ.

The ambassador went on to explain that if there are 8 or 9 terrorists in Somalia, the United States is perfectly capable of picking them up and the Somalis should not be punished for the crimes of 8 or 9 terrorists and that there is no need to confuse issues of terrorism and people�s legitimate rights to form a united nation.

A question was raised regarding the government�s policy of requiring Diaspora Eritreans to provide their income tax returns as proof of income to determine the money they owe to the Eritrean government.  (In the past, the method used was an �honor system�: Eritreans disclosed their income and the 2% Eriteran income tax assessment was based on their self-declared income.)

The head of PFDJ-North America, Berhane, responded that he does not understand the question: it was simply a matter of a new directive which had to be followed.

In conclusion, the town hall meeting followed the usual format practiced by the PFDJ: a presentation on select topics, explained in the same manner and using the same metaphors and vocabulary that has been used by President Isaias Afwerki in his public addresses; a Q & A session; and answers provided by the panelists according to a prescribed formula�matters dealing with the presentation are addressed by the ambassador; those dealing with �national security� matters are addressed by the First Secretary.  The PFDJ representative addresses issues of money. All problems that Eritrea faces were assigned to Weyane [the Ethiopian governmet] and, since Weyane is too weak to be in power for even one extra day, according to the government, anyway, the blame fell squarely on its "sponsor", the United States of America.

Since all of the questions were addressed to the ambassador, some of the individuals asking the questions were confused as to why Tsehaie Fassil or Berhane were answering them.  The answer to this question was: we are all colleagues who work closely together.

Some Eritreans who were scheduled to attend the October 30 demonstration organized by opposition and civic groups also attended the Townhall meeting.  A few handed the ambassador the demonstration leaflets; the ambassador politely thanked them and inserted the leaflets in his pocket.  In a subsequent interview with Voice of America, the ambassador was asked about the demonstration and he responded that he was not aware that a demonstration was held in Washington, DC.