Between The Lines...

Virtual Prisoner

Did you ever ask what President Issias might go through if he sits in his Asmara office like any other leader you know devoting much of his time to the job? They say he just cannot stand his office any more. Even his gullible supporters, in a tone of admiration, comment, “Sebay fitsum abTa officu kof aybln” – meaning the man never sits in his office. He looks like it.

But why should he sit in his office? For the virtual president, There are no legislations and national plan whatsoever that he needs to execute. Neither are there any bills he needs to sign. He doesn’t receive any calls from any important world leader. No dignified leader, no matter how humble, is interested to consult with him. He has no correspondence with any regional or international organization for any positive deliberation. If there are any, then their nature must certainly be calling on his government to release prisoner of conscience and improve human rights condition. With all this, he keeps losing sympathy faster than a drug addict does. These days, he does not even appeal to guerrilla leaders who intend to use Eritrea as a base in their desire to wage armed struggle on their respective governments. He cannot even impress Solomon Tekalign, the Ethiopian who made a big deal about visiting the Ethiopian opposition in Eritrea, for a little longer.

Domestically, no minister exists worth the strong man’s time to sit down with and discuss issues. When he calls them to Massawa to read his “working papers” to them, none of them attempts to comment critically. When he walks into the room, all, except the Generals and Mustofa Nurhussien, smile as if doing so is mandatory. Sometimes their encounters on the camera look as if he is a judge and they are in a contest to outsmile and outshine the rest. As much as the Generals' stern look is understandable, Mustofa’s grim face makes you wonder about human nature. After time, dictators naturally develop the tendency of disrespecting those who serve them with complete submission as the very behavior of their subordinates reminds them of their wicked nature. Deep inside their souls, they know that those who submit to them do so out of fear, not love and admiration.  

If Issias sits in his office for longer than a couple of hours, then he does it to reminisce about the good old days when he was all over the US and European universities as a dignitary. He must be sitting in that empty office nostalgic about the yearly trip he used to have to the US and the wild reception he used to enjoy from the Diaspora Eritreans. That was the era when everybody treated him as a powerful, charismatic, prophet-like leader. Do you remember his prophesy that the days of the Khartoum regime, which he used to call the NIF, are numbered? Do you also recall his line that he will shorten the war with Ethiopia after Badme was captured by the latter? How about the prediction that the TPLF is at 11:59 pm and that it is a vehicle without break?

If he sits in his office, memories of him standing in national holidays flunked by his influential ministers, whom he turned into prisoners of conscience, must haunt him. Many have died now and when he sits in that office, he must see their blood in his hands and the very thought that this is real scares him to death. Mentally, the man is locked inside his scalp, tormenting himself between sweet memories, guilt, uncertainty and fear. 

A president who brought us virtual demarcation is now a virtual prisoner of his own creation. The Prison is Eritrea and the cells in which he had the luxury to live alternately are called Asmara and Massawa. Gash Barka and Debub are the outdoor sport facilities in which he bathes in the sunshine and relaxes with some activities so that he relieves his mind of the guilt.

Virtual Actor

The sport which DIA loves to play these days so as to relax himself is similar to Survivor, the CBS show where contestants go through a tough challenge of survival in selected remote areas.  In Eri-TV’s language, it is called “Visit of the President to Development Project.” The locals, however, refer to the President as “Dubale” and the TV report of his visits as “Qya Dubale”. Dubale was a notorious Ethiopian military battlefield spy famous for his adventurous acts such as mixing up with EPLF combatants as fellow fighter, and leaving his feces inside their cooking utensils.  In short, he was a reckless adventurer from which many exaggerated, legend-like, fascinating stories evolved.

Despite the long title which makes it like a lousy headline, “Visit of the President to Development Project” is virtually a show you watch over and over again. In the report, you often watch clips with frames where the camera crew's car runs past the President’s vehicle for a mile and then awaits the President's entourage to arrive. Then you see scenes with DIA inside his Land Cruiser, in a baseball hat and dark sunglasses. Accompanied by a couple of Generals, a dozen colonels and security officers as well as a regional administer, he visits dams, bridges and farms. The more he visits them, the more the projects look like Hollywood scenes such as the Red Sea and the Jurassic Park inside the world famous Universal Studios. DIA acts well except that he is the script writer, actor and director which create the situation that he cannot fire any to make the story more fascinating. 

Gash-Barka is really becoming bigger than Universal Studio in both size and ambition. It is also there that movies which show “Ethiopian rebel forces” attacking TPLF positions are filmed. Divided into two, half dressed with Ethiopian military uniform and the other half as EPLF-style shorts, they are filmed in what looks like real battle to near imitation of Hollywood Vietnam War movies. The virtual films are then broadcasted to Ethiopia on Eritrean TV. Coming Soon: The Battle of Mogadishu.

Hopefully, the film will be completed soon before a technical problem halts its production. For now the only fear that can possibly impede its production is the fear Issias is feeling and the Dutch Diplomat’s visit to Asmara.

When a Fearless fears

Nothing is worse than when a person who tirelessly worked to create an impression on a nation that he is fearless struggles to contain his fears. DIA is now virtually fearful. Rather, he is actually fearful.  It is the only emotion that is real in Eritrea: that DIA is actually fearful.  According to Jendayi Frazier, the last attempt of the US to avoid an embarrassing debacle with Issias is to mellow him down through the only nation that was able to tame the “Lion of Nakfa” so far. That diplomat was in Asmara last week probably with the message.

After returning from a film shooting in Gash-Barka, the President, dressed properly with a suit and tie, received the diplomat with a faint smile at Denden Hall.

The diplomat most probably told the President the following: “Mr. President, you are wise for not putting your eggs in one basket. However, it is not wise to put your eggs everywhere in all baskets you imagine to exist. Please take your eggs out of at least Somalia and Darfur – the Americans did not like you doing that.

President Issias: “Fine. If the international community takes a punitive measure against Ethiopia to resolve the virtually closed border problem, then we will lead the same international community to Somalia to help the Somalians resolve their problem. Do you think this sounds less offending to the Americans?” 

President Issias indeed said that if you read between the lines. Here is the source: http://www.shabait.com/staging/publish/article_007981.html. Doesn’t this sound like borrowing from a richer friend and then acting rich on the poor one with the borrowed money?  But for a man who confuses the virtual with the actual, it is all the same.