Eritrea Does Not Sponsor Terrorism...But Its Ruling Regime Does
When America's angst of 9/11 was at its peak, there were many quacks and fakes who knocked on America's doors to sell their fake kinship. They hustled and bustled to get a front row seating at the Global War On Terror bus. They knew they couldn't convince America that they are anything like it, so they devised on a plan: "you, America, and us, your new friends, have one thing in common: we have the same enemy: Terrorists. The same people who have attacked you have been attacking us for a long time. Let's destroy them together!" America's newest fake kins thus embarked on a plan to dress-up their own opposition groups in terrorist outfits.
One of America's newest fake kins were the Eritrean regime and its supporters. They made many shameful attempts to cash-in on America's angst and to subject their own compatriots who have nothing to do with terrorism to its wrath. The ones we will never forget and likely never forgive are many--because they were really hoping and praying that the United States would scoop us all and throw us to Guantanemo. But the worst one was the one delivered by Mr. Ahmed Baduri, the Eritrean regime's then representative to the UN who made the following statement in his September 20, 2002 address to the General Assembly:
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"The Eritrean Islamic Jihad Movement and the so-called Eritrean Popular Islamic Conference who have been created and sponsored by Al-Qaeda and other regional and international Islamic groups…. The Eritrean Jihad terrorist movements, which are members of the Al-Qaeda network, are now part of the so-called Alliance of Eritrean National Forces." [You can read his entire address here.]
What the regime and its supporters were telling the US was: "We terrorize and run the lives of our people but there are many Eritreans who do not live within our jurisdiction; could you help us in having them join their compatriots in our dungeons?" They were willing to tarnish the image of Eritrea by presenting it as a hub of terrorists just to get at people who disagreed with them politically. If you want to understand why we have nothing but utter contempt for the "Eritrean intellectuals" it is because, by their silence or their participation in the campaign, they were complicit in the regime's efforts to criminalize dissent.
The Eritrean regime’s kinship with America was fake because it categorically rejects the values enshrined in America's greatest contribution to the world: its constitution. It rejects its veneration of civil liberties; it denounces its bill of rights, individual freedom, and property rights. And when one of the loudest advocates of slavery and loudest cheerleader of the regime tells America "we [the PFDJ] are just like you!",it is only another embarrassment to a long list of embarrassments.
They almost got away with it. And they could have gotten away with that because, regretfully, America's declaration of who is an ally and who is a foe is not primarily determined by the answer to "who shares our values and who hates them?" but by the less demanding "who helps our enemies and who hates our enemies?" There is a reason why there are now only four nations which America considers "state sponsors of terror": the test is not whether a state government practices terror on its own citizens; the test is whether a state practices or sponsors international terrorism.
Bad For Eritreans
Most Americans probably heard of Eritrea for the first time in their lives on August 17th when their media told them that the US is considering placing Eritrea on one of the world's shortest lists: "state sponsors of terror." If this actually occurs, it will be a catastrophic event to the average Eritrean. Once again, the cost of Isaias' crazed recklessness and hyper-adventurism will be borne by the people of Eritrea.
We strongly object to the effort to equate Eritrea with Isaias Afwerki. It is objectionable when his supporters do it; and it is objectionable when his adversaries do it.
Eritrea does not sponsor terrorism; its unelected president-for-life and his clique do. Contrary to the constant propaganda poured by his disciples, this crazed adventurer is neither elected, nor loved, nor held in high esteem by the people of Eritrea. Are there any people in the world who love or agree with their jailer, torturer and abuser?
The shoe is now on the other foot: should the Eritrean opposition now, as our irresponsible compatriots did, try to accuse all supporters of the Eritrean regime of being terrorists? How would that make us any better than them, then? Yes, they sustain the regime with their money; yes, they empower it with their words; yes, they follow its instructions without question—but they are not terrorists. Let us not pretend that they actually have a say in what the regime does. No Eritrean has a say on what Isaias and his clique do: our problem with its supporters is that they continue to obey its orders even as they see it taking Eritrea to the abyss.
The United States would never have threatened to list Eritrea as a state sponsor of terror if Isaias Afwerki had limited his hobby to terrorizing Eritreans only. For practitioners of within-the-border-terror, the United States has less severe appellations like "countries of concern" and "outposts of tyranny." And when Ms. Jendayi Frazer says "We are not looking to go down this route..", she is telling Isaias Afwerki that the threat would vaporize if Isaias would promise, as his friend Muammer Khaddafi did, that he would give up international terrorism in favor of being a plain ol' tyrant.
Doing the sensible thing has never been Isaias' forte and we do not expect him to choose wisely. Given his aversion to learning or to advice, he is unlikely to learn the lesson in time to avoid the designation. And given the sheepish nature of the regime’s support base, we do not expect them to give any advice, anyway.
The questions is: what will the regime’s supporters who live in the US do? The only thing they know: to applaud.
In his two-hour rambling interview with his controlled media which aired over the weekend, Isaias did more than just snicker and give tasteless jokes about how he calls 9-11 Kudus Yohannes because the two dates are coincidental in Eritrea. He expressed his mockery of the world order and the measurements used to categorize nations and governments as failing or succeeding--standards that don't meet his approval, which should be the world standard. He justified his contempt for multi-party democracy: Why is there no party representing “the Blacks” [sic], or “Red Indians” [sic] in America, he wondered. As far as the instructions for his supporters are concerned, he had it embedded in his long interview where he lectured about the historical wrongdoings of America vis-à-vis the Eritrean struggle. He doesn’t want to tell Eritreans in America what to do, he said, but they should protest the steps that America is taking against Eritrea and that those very steps are the confirmation to their steadfastness.
As usual, if the regime orders them to protest, the supporters of the regime will protest in front of the State Department; if they are ordered to generate an e-mail campaign, they will. If, by some miracle, they disagree with the path the regime is taking, they will not dare to express them to their president: they will retreat to their shells and then will expect a merit of bravery for their silence which is to be interpreted as dissent!
The Accused
If Isaias Afwerki promises to stop funding, training the extremists in Somalia, it may be enough to spare him from further isolation from the US and the international community. But that alone will not improve the livelihood of the average Eritrean. For that, the regime needs to take a series of steps, beginning with its resignation, that will transform Eritrea into a nation of laws—one where the Eritrean people actually decide who will write, execute and interpret their laws and policies—including a foreign policy vis-à-vis America, Somalia, Ethiopia or any other nation.
But this is unlikely to happen and the man, whose favorite game is one-up-manship, is likely to work extra hard to designate Eritrea as a “sponsor of terror.” Thus we the citizens who have nothing to do with his policies or their execution need to separate Eritrea from Isaias and his cronies. We need to tell the world that it is not Eritrea or Eritreans that are sponsoring or supporting terrorism, but Isaias Afwerki and a small cabal of his appointees. Now that the world has learned of the crimes of Eritrea's rulers in Somalia, we have two other responsibilities: first, the world must know that it is not all of Eritrea and not even all of PFDJ that are the criminals. Second, the world must know that the crimes of Isaias and his cronies are not limited to Somalia but are perfected inside Eritrea on Eritrean citizens.
We are calling Isaias Afwerki and his small cabal of criminals The Accused. We are calling the Eritreans who have been subjected to their crimes and who, in a country of laws, would have a claim against them, The Accusers. In a few days time, we will tell you about The Accused, The Crimes and The Accusers. We will disclose crimes never published before. But first we will begin by identifying The Accused: Isaias and his cabal of cronies.
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