Last night, I received a message from what I call a caring compatriot. His email and my response are attached below for your review. His questions pertained to a short article I posted yesterday. If you have better answers, please send them  to me, and I'll make sure I pass them along to the inquirer. Thank you.

Brother Dr. Taddesse,

     I have been following your articles published in the Eritrean Web sites for a while. I tend to agree with the solutions you are proposing. However, I would like to comment and/or ask a question on your very current article. In doing so I will start by quoting you.
     You wrote, " In 1991, Isaias Afewerki came to Asmara with a hidden agenda, not a roadmap that was widely commented on and accepted by our people. That Isaias came with a hidden agenda to destroy Eritrea is
not the issue. Much like what the snake said to the little girl that he bit to death, "Hey little girl, you knew I was a poisonous snake when you picked me up," many people knew Isaias' nature has always been to destroy, not to build. The real issue, however, is why did we fall prey to Isaias Afewerki's evil agenda?

The root cause of our problem, as a people, is that we are trusting."
       Here is my question to you:
        1) Why didn't you and the rest of the Eritrean people support those people who knew that Isaias' nature has always been to destroy and not to build?
        2) If some body waits until he/she gets a kick from Isaias and refuses to at least feel sorry for his/her brother/sister Eritrean, who is a victim of Isaias, does that make a person a trusting one?
        3) In your opinion, how many years and/or decades does it take for a normal human being to understand that Isaias is a selfish and sick creature?
         For now, I will stop asking here; and I would like to comment that Eritreans are generally very narrow minded (like any other people), always
suspicious and only trusting our close ...
          I hope I will receive a reply from you. I believe that you have the moral obligation to listen  to me, teach me whatever you can or learn from me. A.K.

As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.

My response:

Zekeberka Hawey  A.K.,

To begin with, I would like to thank you for your insightful email. Your questions are right on the money! Allow me to answer them right away, to the best of my ability. If I fail to see a dimension of a question that is actually clear to you, please feel free to educate me on it. It sounds like you probably know more about Isaias than I do. My knowledge of Isaias is based on my direct interaction with him over a span of five years, from 1988 to 1992. So, let me attempt to respond to your queries on a question-by-question basis:

Why didn't you and the rest of the Eritrean people support those people who knew that  Isaias' nature has always been to destroy and not to build? 

 I have always maintained the opinion that the people that have the most respect or affection for Isaias are the ones that know him the least. In my maiden trip to Liberated Eritrea in 1988, I had to go via Khartoum. I stayed at the then EPLF Guest House in Khartoum (a large four or five story building). The place was full of tegadelti and gebar who performed different functions to maintain the Guest House. They would tell me myths about the man that sounded ludicrous. Stories like Isaias doesn't carry money in his pocket - he hates money and thinks it is corrupting, when he shoots at a rock from a distance, he would write his name with the dots or impacts of the bullets, etc. They talked to me in small groups and as individuals. These were lower ranking regular tegadeltis and gebars. Almost each one of them told me Isaias was a God given gift to Eritrea. My observation was that everybody worshiped the man. Maybe our people were dying to get a hero and the "virtual Isaias" fit the bill. On my way back from meeting Isaias in the liberated areas, I showed them many pictures Of Isaias in a group setting. None of them could identify Isaias in the pictures.

Upon my return to the United States, I told a couple of very trusted friends how terrible and mentally sick Isaias was. I remember telling this same message to two close friends at a dinner table in the Washington, D.C., area. Their reaction was: You must be paranoid - that can't be true! We have not talked nor seen each other ever since. And I made sure I did not repeat the same mistake with others. So, the real question here is, why do people who have the least bit of information about Isaias adore him the most? I say the answer can only be found in his intense propaganda of self promotion and myth making. Whatever anybody else said to the contrary fell on the floor. Remember the theory of imprinting and newly hatched chicks?

Why am I telling you this? Before I had any interaction with Isaias, I may as well have  reacted in the same manner as these good Eritreans did. They were simply victims of his cultism propaganda. Once I met and sized up Isaias, I really said to myself, "Boy, Eritrea is in deep trouble with this man at the helm!" Consequently, I tried my best to influence him in the direction of democracy and the rule of law over a span of five years, to no avail. The man is a dunce!! 

To come back to the kernel of your question, it took me quiet a long time to meet such people. If I did, we did not really focus on your issue or I did not have the right radar system to pick up the concerns about the man. The problem with us human beings is that we learn best from our personal experiences. My direct experience with the man and the discussions that have been propagated over the Internet were very valuable for me. Thanks to the Internet, the whole propaganda of Isaias being promoted as being a genuine Eritrean patriot became a total fiasco once the details were exposed, once we started comparing notes. Also, the last war with Ethiopia and its attendant ramifications exposed the man beyond redemption.

If some body waits until he/she gets a kick from Isaias and refuses to at least feel sorry for his/her brother/sister Eritrean, who is a victim of Isaias, does that make a person a trusting one?

I hear you, you seem to imply that if a man is a serial offender, serial killer and serial criminal, how come people refused to empathize with the predicament of the MenkaEs, falouls, educated Eritreans, etc.? There is a an Eritrean friend I adore as a patriot in our war for democracy. She is my heroine! By now, you may have surmised; her name is Ambassador Hebret Berhe. I will never forget the way she came to the democratic bandwagon, roaring like a lioness. The images are cast in my mind forever. She was asked the same question. Let me give you a paraphrased form of her reply: We knew the man for what he was; we thought he would change with time!

I believe the key word in this question is the word TRUST. What makes each one of us feel secure enough to place our confidence in the hands of other people? Sometimes, in the absence of other alternative, we even end up trusting complete strangers. Haven't you asked a complete stranger to look after your property at the airport, a train station or a bus depot, when you needed to make that critical phone call? Most of the time, however, we tend to place our trust in people we think they have strong reasons to act in our best interest. The Eritreans I met in the Sudan definitely gave me the impression that when it comes to safeguarding the interest of Eritrea and Eritreans, Isaias is the ultimate. What a hoax! These Eritreans definitely belong to the first kind.

You see, like integrity, trust is what you do when no one is watching; in fact, trust is what you do within the confines of your being. This virtue involves a belief that people, the objects of your trust, will do the right thing without you looking over their shoulder. There is no monitoring in trust. A trusting person has to believe that his/her hero (Isaias) will watch out for them even when they are not around. They also have to believe that what their hero (Isaias) says or promises is what will be done. Again, what a hoax! To anyone who knows him, Isaias doesn't give a damn about anybody else - I am willing to bet even to his family members! Do you think he would leave such a horrendous legacy behind if he loved and cared about them? So, the direct answer to your question is: for people who trust Isaias and are under his spell, there is no such thing as empathy for Isaias' victims; it is not in their line of sight!

In your opinion, how many years and/or decades does it take for a normal human being to understand that Isaias is a selfish and sick creature?

You have to really know Isaias to understand him - so the answer to your question could be one minute or a lifetime, depending on who the victim is. I know there are lifetime victims of Isaias. A friend asked me, "when do you think people like Sophia Tesfamariam will come back to their senses?" I responded, "I will not say never; but, if I were you I wouldn't hold my breath!" Sophia Tesfamariam is a living and a breathing example of such a victim. There is another genuine and respectable compatriot that is completely dedicated to Isaias no matter what. The initials of the name are S.C. I want this person to remain anonymous. I can't help thinking why such an intelligent compatriot accords such a misplaced devotion to this man. Why S.C. - why??

with best regards,

taddesse