It is a fact that the government raided houses of people whose children are not in their respective units. In the environs of Asmara people were rounded and detained by the relentless Army of Development and Reconstruction. But this has been going on for more than a year in the southern zone and specifically in the surrounding villages of Dekemhare and Segeneitti. The problem of our people is they do not learn from the lesson of their compatriots. It is a sort of holocaust being repeated. During the holocaust everyone thought that he will not be the one to die. And people in the central zone thought that for many reasons they were not connected with the 50,000.00 fine. They never knew Isaias’s tactic.
In the central zone this started a week ago and is still continuing by way of the zonal administrators. As usual, people are asked to pay 50,000.00 or present someone who owns more than the amount noted as a guarantee. Of course, the administrators are not following a uniform regulation. Some are only asking the people where they children are and that they should bring them at the soonest possible time. Some also say we were not ordered to make the parents pay but only to bring a guarantor etc. Some demand immediate payment, and it is here you see the big differences.
I heard a rich woman tell a poor woman in show of solidarity, “we will all go to jail together!” But this is the exception, because those who have youngsters in America, Europe or Gulf countries, write checks for 50,000.00, 100,000.00, 150,000.00 depending on the number of missing youngsters. But those who eat lunch but skip dinner [the poor] prepare themselves for prison. This is how the EPLF treats the Hafash! What is bad is it is adding another more division between the people, the rich and the poor. But there are no rich people, just poor people who happen to have youngsters in America, Europe or Gulf countries!
When you go to the Administration, they ask you, did your child disappear ‘from our hands or your hands.’ Then they tell you that they will take time kisab zixare [while we investigate.] There are stories of low-paid soldiers, the ones they call Yekalo, whose sons, the ones they call Warsay, have not reported to their garrisons. So to these Yekalo, who earn 300, they make them pay the 50,000 by installment, half their salary is kept [wage garnishment.] This means the father will be paying for 30 years! There are your mothers of Eritreans youngsters who live in America, who pay their 2% and visit Eritrea every summer, who have been arrested kisab zixare.
People in Asmara have joke about Shaebia’s policy of kisab zixare. It goes like this.
A hare was running as fast as the wind when a gazelle stopped her, by asking "why are you running so fast?" The hare replied that there is a government directive that says, all carnivorous animals should be killed. Then the gazelle said, "If so, you and me have nothing to worry about since we only eat grass." The hare retorted by saying, "ksab zixare ente aseruni ke?"[what if they arrest me while they are sorting that out?] and kept running. Then the gazelle followed suit.
This is the Shaebia way of running country, unstudied policies, implemented arbitrarily, with those connected,and have money faring better than those who are not.
Anyone you find or talk to is saying for how long is this going to continue? People in Asmara these days are terrorized of being imprisoned and they are talking openly about the unjust rounding up that is going on. Not only this, there is too much poverty that people are migrating to the Sudan and Ethiopia. In Asmara itself seeing beggars and mentally deranged people in every corner and street has become an order of the day. The masses need a leader that could start a fire. Yet no one dares to kindle that fire. God have mercy on us.
