Tkur: The Second offensive ended miserably for Eritrea. However, the fact is, prior to the offensive the President was saying, �To think that the Woyanes will reoccupy Badme, it means the sun will never rise again,� Strangely enough, they overrun Badme by operation sunset? How do you explain this?

Ans: I did not hear our president say this. In spite of what he said, I know that he usually speaks prophetically. Of course, Badme is now under woyane occupation but we will eventually destroy them and retake it.

Tkur: After the second Offensive, The president was reiterating that there is a short cut way to the border (Badme) problem. Unfortunately, Eritrea did not fare better in the third offensive. Any comment on this?   

Ans: As I told you before, when he says so, it does not mean after a month or two months or three or four years. Our great leader always speaks historically, and he is always right. Don�t you remember that he said, �Our struggle is long and bitter but our victorious is certain?�  Didn�t we achieve our liberation?

Tkur: I understood your point. Let us now pass to other issue that may be of interest to our readers.

Ans: It is high time that we do so.

Tkur: Is it true that the president shut the University for Good because he has an inferiority complex since he is an undergraduate. People also say that he is allergic to persons with BA degrees not to mention MA or PhD holders. Could that be the reason why he never goes to the University of Asmara during graduation ceremonies?

Ans: This is baseless and it is a lie circulated by opportunist intellectuals who crave for government positions but could not get it. They always judge someone by his academic level only. After all, these people have been learning at prestigious western Universities while we have been fighting the enemy. What right do they have to make us accountable now? This is absurd and makes one nervous. I tell them to throw their PhD�s in the wastebasket and come to Sawa to learn from the Warsays. As the president said, the squad leaders of the warsay Yikealo campaign are far more accomplished than your armchair intellectuals wherever they may be. Anyhow, to make matters clear, our president is an ardent believer in education and that is why elementary and junior schools are flourishing in every corner of the country. For example, enrollment of students has increase tenfold than it had been in Dergue�s time. In addition, to those who say he is an undergraduate I tell them that he started an MBA course in 1996, unfortunately, to his deep shock, he was compelled to suspend it indefinitely because of the woyane aggression.

Tkur: Don�t you think that he belittles higher and specialized education?

Ans: What do you mean by this?

Tkur: I mean the country does not lack daily laborers, mechanics, welders, clerks etc. Nevertheless, more than anything else it needs engineers, physicists, chemists etc. However, we are witnessing the accumulation of mediocre people with minor capability and insufficient knowledge of basic professions�

Ans: Enough! Enough! I am fed up with this imperialist dogma. They always say someone should learn and learn and learn. This is just like saying, if you do not have a certificate you do not know anything. For E.g., I learned only up to 10th grade, but thanks to PFDJ I am doing what a master�s holder can do. Had I been in America they would tell me that I am fit to be a door attendant only. This happened because of my precious experience in Sahel. Therefore, do not be tantalized by academic documents, (Bajella nay zehazka aykonen).      

Tkur: How is the Warsay Yikealo Campaign going on?

Ans: The Warsay are doing a miraculous job. Don�t you read the Hadas Eritra? You would wonder if you see the hospitals, bridges and dams built by them. We have also electrified the villages around Asmara. There is no African government that has done such immense projects single handedly.

Tkur: But I heard that all the projects that were done by the warsay are shabby and below the accepted safety standard. People say this happened due to lack of technical experts and absence of careful study.

Ans: I have seen some of the projects and I think they are fine. Anyhow, since I am not an engineer I cannot assess their quality fully. Nevertheless, I know that they cannot be like those I saw in Italy but they are adequate for our purpose.

Tkur: It is a fact that almost all of the projects you enumerated are believed to have been financed and organized by the UN and NGO�s. The government is also blamed for taking the credit of doing the job. To give you a simple example, the ICRC inoculated more than 15 thousand cattle about two months ago and in the mass media, it was reported that the ministry of Agriculture did the project. There are also cases of wells drilled, dams built by humanitarian agencies but the credit is always hijacked by the Government. Is this not a sort of media piracy?

Ans: There is one thing that you should know. Once the NGO�s give us the material as a gift it is ours. We have the right to do whatever we like with it. After all, unlike other African nations we do not embezzle NGO money or property. As long as the people are the beneficiaries of the project, I think there is no harm done. In addition, what is the benefit of reporting in the media that so and so has done so. This is simply were miqibibal kem anisti.

Tkur: After the government expelled numerous NGO�s, people are queuing for bread as a result and people in remote areas are facing serious malnutrition if not starvation. However, the mass media, instead of raising concrete domestic issues, is feeding the people with the Somali, Darfur, Oromo and Qinijit issues. Are these issues really important for the people?

Ans: You have been taught while you were in the military that this is of strategic importance, in the sense that Eritrea, as a small nation cannot live in harmony if its big neighbors are in tranquility. Therefore, we should fan the flames in our neighbors so that we live safely. Until 1995, the horn was peaceful, and as a result, the Yemenis occupied our Hanish Islands. Soon after this, tiny Djibouti created some disturbance and the problem was solved after we made a show of force. Later the Sudan meddled in our internal affairs by bolstering the Jihadists and fifth columnists. Finally, The Woyanes attacked us. Nevertheless, thanks to our supreme leader�s astuteness we invented the magic bullet. By creating havoc in your powerful neighbor, you kill three birds with one stone. I.e. firstly, he will not attack you, secondly he will beg for your arbitration. The third advantage is, you become recognized as the originator of the formula, African solutions for African problems. I think we have refined the formula so finely that every Eritrean should be proud of it. For your surprise, the Americans want to purchase it and they are searching for an intermediary who can bargain with us. They definitely want to use it in Afghanistan Iraq and Palestine. Therefore, the formula is a lifeline for us, it is more important than bread and water.      

Tkur: I understood your point but we have learned from history that today�s friend can be tomorrow�s enemy. Do we have any guarantee that the Oromo or Qinijit would not like the woyanes be our bitter enemies in the future? Again, the Qinijit never recognize Eritrea�s borders.

Ans: this is politics after all. I cannot promise you that the UN will guarantee us. If these organizations betray us any time meaning we should for others. However, we trust the intuition of our venerated leader. Has not he like Moses, delivered us out of all the conspiracies of the ELF, Ethiopian colonialism, American imperialism and Zionist interference and finally Woyane aggression. Therefore, you do not have to panic.

Tkur: We have become the laughing stock of the world. People are comparing our president with Mugabe and Haileselassie. Any news about the constitution?

Ans: The constitution will not create a miracle after all. It is our internal unity and sovereignty that matters. Before everything else people should have food and shelter. All this nonsense is always asked by the petty bourgeoisie and so called intellectuals.

Tkur: But don�t you think that if we have said �Men kemzi Hzbizi� we should not give the people at least a limited democracy?

Ans: I do not understand where you are heading. You people just chew this word so much that it lost its meaning. Tell me, which nationality is asking for democracy? As far as I am concerned, the people are blessing their government and wishing the president a long life.

Tkur: The truth is; the people can only talk their mind if they have the right to form associations, the right to demonstrate, the right to a free speech etc. After all, the people never asked a permit from Haileselassie to start the liberation movement. Yet Haileselassie was saying it is a bunch of bandits.    

Ans: But you should be aware that the two issues are quite different in the sense we are now a sovereign nation. No alien power is governing Eritrea. It is our great hero the president.

Tkur: Did we not learn in the field that, EPLF�s aim is to free the people not only from foreign oppression but also from domestic oppression and create a democratic and just society?

Ans: Yes, you are right. There may be some problems in this area. However, I am quite sure our president is keen on the issue and is doing his best to solve all problems that concern our people.

Tkur: Before we move to another topic, I would like to add something to what we have been talking. After the restriction of importation, cost of basic goods skyrocketed while the standard of living plunged. How did this come to happen?

Ans: Well, even if I do not have the data I can only say that when the proclamation came into effect, almost all traders hoarded their goods. As a result, it was logical that the price of goods will increase temporarily.

Tkur: this could be a temporary phenomenon, but the point is three years after the proclamation, government enterprises are selling basic goods at triple their former price. Let us talk in concrete terms:

Commodity                                       2004                                       2006   

1. Cooking oil                     50 Nkf per gallon                         90 Nkf 
2. Cement                         120 Nkf per quintal                      255
3. Sugar                           5 Nkf per kilo                              10
4. Wheat flour                    500 Nkf per quintal                       1,500
5. Taff                             1,200 Nkf per Quintal                   1,550

Is this not creating destabilization on the livelihood of the masses?

Ans: This is too much for me. I am a consumer myself and I hear my wife say that the price of sugar has doubled and Wheat flour has become too costly etc. I am not an economist and really do not know how this happened. I am quite sure the president is doing something serious on this issue. The other day someone told me that he is too busy because he is working on some perfect formula for the New Year. I am sure he is absorbed with this problem and will solve everything in January 2007.

Tkur: If you would allow me, there was a workshop concerning human rights about eight months ago, I am not sure about the date and venue. The security head, The Minister of Justice, PFDJ economic head, Minister of Economic Planning and Professor Asmerom were present�

Ans: As its name implies the PFDJ is a democratic organization. Feel free to ask any question.

Tkur: Many people living inside as well as outside of the country claim that there are human rights abuses, detention without trial, disappearances, torture, incarceration in containers, killing by firing squad, shoot to kill etc. Does this go parallel with EPLF�s ideals?

Ans: As far as I know, no such things exist in this land. In the military, I know deserters are court marshaled. Other than this, I do not think there are any illegal detentions. Yes I remember, there are also some traitors and fifth columnists that have been denied their rights. Otherwise any law abiding Eritrean could never be detained without due process of law.

Tkur: But there are many people that I know who are still in detention without trial. On the other hand, these people are no danger to the country, because they have served it with great devotion and�.

Ans: You do not have to continue. You are so na�ve to ask such questions. First, you do not know the crime perpetrated by the people you have been mentioning. Secondly, it is the national security and above all our president that is responsible about the safety of these people.

Tkur: There is a question frequently asked by many people. Why does the PFDJ not change its name to PFDJ? Because...

Ans: (Laughter) Man! Are you joking or you are tired? How can it change from PFDJ to PFDJ? Sometimes you journalists act funnily.

Tkur: Let me finish. They say, since the PFDJ is not practicing its (principle) its name should have read, PERRENIAL FORCE OF DUNGEONS and JAILS.

Ans: (Laughter until his tears poured down his cheek.) I wonder how you people invent such anecdotes. I remember while we were in Sahel an Amice told me that the Dergue was an abbreviation for DEBDIB, REGHET, GHIZA. I laughed a lot then. Anyhow, to come to my point, the PFDJ is like a mother to the Eritrean people. You see the Eritrean people are like infants. If you give them the freedom to say whatever they like to say, some elements will mislead them. Their political conscience is still at a low level. Therefore, until they mature politically it becomes the burden of PFDJ to do everything at its disposal to lead them in the right direction. 

Tkur: There is a historical fact that contradicts with your statement.

Ans: You can challenge me.

Tkur: If you remember, we learned in history that during the fifties, I quote, �the western powers denied Eritrea on the baseless argument that its people can�t govern themselves and that Eritrea should be split between the Sudan and Ethiopia..�  How can you expect, after the experience of the liberation struggle the Eritrean people backslide?

Ans: The problem is people usually misbehave if they do not have an enemy. It is true that due to the endeavor of our esteemed leader the people have gained a lot of Experience. However, I am apprehensive that if due to a miscalculation, an unfortunate incident, or a calamity we loose him, Eritrea may fall into a conflagration and�.

Tkur: Let me interrupt you a second. I hope you remember very well that, prior to the coup; people in Ethiopia, including our mothers were saying, �This king is sacred, if he is deposed Ethiopia will be in turmoil etc.� After he was deposed the same people were saying, �He was a bad and cruel king; thank God that he is deposed etc.� And now I am afraid, after Issayas falls down, everyone including his generals will say, �He is the perpetrator of evil, the butcher of Adi Abieto and the disabled of Maihabar, the exterminator of innocent warsays, the adversary of every Eritrean etc, etc. If you have any comment.

Ans: Well you are making me nostalgic for the good olden times. It never came to my mind that the PFDJ has collapsed to such an extent that even its own cadres disowned it. To tell you frankly everyone except a few diehards ever accept the status quo. We fighters are living a life of sycophants and bootlickers. Hypocrisy and duplicity has become the order of the day. I feel sad and gloomy when I remember all my fallen comrades. My dear, we lost our conscience for the sake of a single man. We are murdering the youth who can work miracles. The enemy is having it the easy way because we are doing his homework for him. His aim was the destruction of our valued social dignity, but it is being destroyed for the simple lack of a just leader. A brother is murdering and torturing a brother. People are suffering in Wenjel Mermera, underground cellars of track B and Mai Temenai, not to mention the mysterious Era Ero and the containers of Mai Serwa. 

He became melancholic and the tears started falling profusely.  I thought that we had better take a break and locked my recorder and we went to a near by caf�. He became somewhat les tense and we talked about the weather, Christmas, and children.