Note from awate.com: Lt. Kidane is a pen name for a contributor who writes from Asmara ("belly of the beast.")  His articles are translated to English by awate.com.  

The Diaspora Eritreans here in the Belly of the Beast to attend the youth festival were told to report at the Club Shebab at 6:00 AM for the journey to Sawa. The buses waiting for them, claimed the organizers, would have bold banners to identify each group and organize them on the basis of their adopted homes or countries of residence. The eager Diaspora arrived earlier than 6:00 AM, but there were no signs: just old and scattered buses. They organized themselves for two hours.  At 8:00 AM, the buses started to move. The first one had its tire blown before it reached Aditekelezan; three others followed suit shortly.  They made it to their destination, Sawa, at 7:00 PM.  

Upon arrival, they were told to separate into groups of women, men, boys and girls. This was not to the liking of the Diaspora from America and Europe. They complained that the children could not support themselves in the harsh climatic conditions. They were, however, ruled out and did as they were told. Soon enough, problems of overcrowding made themselves manifest. There was not adequate water, toilet, ventilators or air conditioners.  There were mosquitoes--but not as bad as the travelers feared.

The next day a girl who came from Europe fainted and got intravenous help before she was shipped to Asmara. The shortage of water transformed the toilet to anything you would find in a shanty town. The government did not provide any food but, a kilometer away from the hangar, the dormitory of the trainees, there were local people who sold mada [grilled steak] and tea.  

By the way, while Sawa hosted the guests, its residents, the trainees, were forced to sleep outside until the festival ended. 

The Main Event   

To come to the main event, on Friday July 18^th, the people went to listen to, and be enlightened by, the speech of the Great Helmsman [President Isaias Afwerki.] Naturally, the Man started the program by praising Sawa which he considers his brainchild. A man who never once attended a single event at the University of Asmara was at Sawa giving diplomas. Then, he moved to the achievements of the students and their trainers. He also talked about the usual boring topics. The people were suffocated by the extreme heat, but the marching band and the troops suffered most. Three recruits fainted and were carried away for treatment. At the end, the Man was benevolent enough to allow something he has stopped doing: having a period for questions and answers.      

What a spectacular day! Three or four years ago nobody would have dared to talk in such an open manner. But now, things have gone too far that even those as timid as a hare have the audacity to speak their mind.  There were so many questions asked, and so many opinions presented to the dictator that the majority of the people were totally immersed in commotion. Everybody was whispering “zereba’yu, Aye seb’ay! Enghera Ezgi bila’e”.

There is no way at all that the entire question and answer will be televised by Eri-TV.  As usual, only those questions and comments praising the government will be shown.   

A Sample Q & A 

A priest, almost 80 years old, who was here on a visit from the Diaspora, made the following comment:

I have been in Asmara now for three months. I am here for the sole purpose of speaking.  What I have witnessed is so saddening. Who will absorb the losses for all the homes that are looking like birds’ nests? What I have seen in Edaga Hamus [an Asmara neighborhood] is mind-boggling. I have shed tears of blood because I witnessed the municipalities confiscate the kilo-or-two of potatoes that the wives of martyrs were trying to sell [to support themselves.] This is a pernicious act. Wherever I have gone, I have seen shortage: bread, kerosene, gasoline, everything. Whenever I see you on TV, Isaias, I see you roaming the country—without even asking for a necktie, the way leaders of other countries do. But the country is not heading the way you want it to. You have no colleagues. I have been all over the country, and things are bad, and the country is in dire straits. I hope the Lord finds you the right colleagues.

Isaias Afwerki:  I will do what should be done. And what is not to be done, will not be done.

An Unidentified woman: Instead of employing our countrymen, the government keeps hiring foreign teachers. The government has dominated everything. The country would develop and prosper faster if all our nationals pooled their monies and labor together! And because it fears that youth who leave the country will never return, it is not sending them to foreign countries to attend learning institutions. There is also shortage of fuel and everything. Why?

Isaias:  The cost of fuel has risen and we are trying to conserve what we have; other than that, there is no shortage of fuel.  As for teachers, I am not completely satisfied with the foreign teachers either. The youth who want to leave the country to pursue their education will be allowed to do so. This is what should be made clear: the intelligent ones will always think of their country [and will come back.] As for those who are demoralized, they want to be far from their country—and it is not a bad thing if once they leave, they do not come back.

An unidentified woman:  When you were giving an answer regarding Djibouti, you said that you have not moved in to a land that is not ours.  But you won’t let mediators to come and observe. If what you are claiming is correct, why won’t you let the mediators in?

Isaias Afwerki:  Whenever I see someone who is trying to attack me and reaching for his stick, I try to avoid confrontation. Djibouti is a useless country with two helicopters.

There were other questions asked, but I don’t remember the answers they were given. A woman from Saudi Arabia talked about the problem that Eritreans have in Saudi Arabia, how they cannot send their children to school and that the people will need the help of the government. A woman from Europe talked about the need that Eritreans in Europe have for government officials to help their children return back to their culture. A woman from Canada talked about what a well-known organizer she is and that her daughter, who finished her schooling in Canada, is now serving her country in Assab.

The next day, Yemane “monkey” [Yemane Gebreab, Director of PFDJ’s Political Department] held another seminar. There was one question I remember from a woman from Keren:

What I have learned from your address is that those who had left the country and returned have been given a good reception. But in contrast, our children who contemplated escape have been held in containers. This only shows your level of cruelty. If you are indifferent to those who escaped from your clutches, why do you treat those who did nothing in such a barbaric way? 

She was not given an answer.

But I have an answer for the lady, from my sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Eritrean youth who were sent by Egypt were part of a swap. The PFDJ had held Egyptian fisherman incommunicado for months and months. The issue was a thorny one between the two countries, but finally, thanks to Egypt’s opportunist character, it was solved in a very shameful way.

Of those who returned, those who publicly praised the government were the ones that were captured crossing into Egypt from the Sudan and from Egypt to Israel. Most or all of them left to the Sudan from Eritrea legally and were already exempted from military service.

The rest, the ones that had left to “avoid national service” have been sent to Meitir. I have already told awate.com readers what Meiter is like. A hell from which escape is impossible. What Yemane did not say, and what he could not say, is that their fate, the fate of the returnees, is no better than the fate of those who were “contemplating” escape. But I doubt that the lady from Keren would find this answer pleasing.