September 2001 � September 2002: 
80 News Items Reported.  Accuracy Rating: 93% 

Ever since the launch of Gedab News, Awate.com�s news service, there have been attempts to downplay its relevance and credibility.  How can one believe information where the sources always talk on background and the news is always unflattering towards the PFDJ?  In some cases, the questions (and the rejections) were understandable:  to believe Gedab News, one has to believe that there are Eritreans who are able and willing to share information the government considers secret or doesn�t want publicized.   And to believe this is to accept that the PFDJ is not invincible, that its approval rating is not at 99.99% and that there are Eritreans who take calculated risks to expose its secrets.  But, goes the logic, (1) the PFDJ is invincible (halenga sewra, etc); (2) it has the support of all Eritreans and, (3) the tiny few that oppose it, are too fearful to do anything about it.  Therefore, whatever Gedab News reports is lies.

The above assessment is wrong on all counts.  The PFDJ is far from invincible; it is a political party desperately clinging to its corrupt and outdated infrastructure of ethnic coalition politics.  There is no evidence that it has the support of even a majority of Eritreans; there is plenty of evidence that the people�the common people, the Hafash-- either hate it or fear it or both.  It is only natural to hate an entity that abducts and disappears your loved ones.  All the festivals prove is that the PFDJ can still throw a great party�nothing more.  Furthermore, those who oppose it are not tiny: not in numbers, not in spirit, not in momentum.  Thus, Gedab News and its impressive accuracy. 

As far as the government is concerned�at least the informed elite of the government�they know it to be the truth. They first obsessed in trying to get to the source of the leaks and when the nature of the reports told them that it the source is the entire Eritrean people, they went on a concerted campaign to shut down this website in Eritrea.  Failing that, they have labeled it �Fifth Columnist�, their final label to every forbidden fruit. 

Gedab News is by no means comprehensive, which is why we won�t, for now at least, accept the compliment of a writer who called this website the �BBC of Eritrean news.�  This is because we do not publish news if it has already been published elsewhere.  We don�t believe there is any value added to duplicating news: we don�t provide redundancy whether it is hallelujah messages circulated in government and pro-government websites or bad news posted in opposition websites.   Eritreans cruise the websites searching for new information and we don�t think they should be subjected to the same wire services and government releases from all Eritrean websites. 

There is, of course, no better answer than to refer you back to the source documents and prove, once again, why Gedab News is, the leading source for hidden news about Eritrea and why its ugly truth continues to be the source of annoyance to many.    The best compliment paid us is the imitation of others.  

Dear readers, we now present you the report card on Gedab News, on the news items that appeared between September 2001 and 2002.  Warning: Those who follow our writings religiously (but secretly) may experience severe chest pains.   Those whose idea of writing is to type exclamation marks and find two hundred words to sandwich in between the marks will require brown bags as they may hyperventilate reading the ugly truth, in its naked beauty, below.  We highly recommend adult supervision.

August 2002:  

(1) the Eritrean government�s security forces have stationed Rangers and military guards at all ministry offices, banks and PFDJ-owned companies.   (2) The government has, until further notice, declared void all exit visas, going to the extent of returning people from Asmara Airport even after they had secured the necessary documentation from various ministries. (3) 31 Eritreans--22 men and 9 women--have been arrested allegedly because they facilitated the forging of documents to slip their spouses out of the country. (4) Seyoum Ogbamichael has replaced Ahmed Nasser as chairman of the Eritrean Liberation Front-Revolutionary Council (ELF-RC.) Ahmed Nasser is now in charge of a newly created office called the Unity Affairs Office. (5) Awate.com has received information that hundreds of young Eritreans are fleeing to The Sudan; four of those Eritreans fled to Sudan on 8 August have contacted awate.com.  The young Eritreans identify themselves as coming from the Asmara neighborhoods of Setanta Otto, Tera Emni and Akhria and ask Awate.com to withhold the names of all but one for fear of government reprisals against their family. (6) Two more F-1 (grenade) bombs exploded in the Asmara neighborhoods of Radio Marinayo and Bahti Meskerem. In Keren, there was an unsuccessful attempt to blow up the weapon arsenal. (7) An F-1 bomb was launched at the PFDJ headquarters in Asmara.  There are no reports of any casualties. (8) The Office of Local Government, which has been vacant since Mr. Mahmoud Sheriffo was fired in February 2001, is slated to receive a new minister.  Topping the list of prospective candidates is reported to be the current defense minister, General Sebhat Ephrem.  Replacing General Sebhat Ephrem at the Ministry of Defense will be the current Foreign Minister, Ali Said.   Ms. Askalu Menkorius is reportedly being considered for the position of Foreign Minister. Meanwhile, Major General Teklay Habteselassie, has been named as the permanent replacement for Brigadier General Habtesion Hadgu, who was demoted from his rank as the commander of Eritrea�s Air Force. (9) Clashes between the Eritrean army dispatched to conduct the roundups of the youth and the parents of the children being rounded up have resulted in twelve deaths. (10) The government has declared all military release (�menkesakesi�) forms null and void, as many Eritreans had begun to forge the document to avoid the compulsory service.  The sub-zonal administrative (�neous zoba�) offices have been ordered closed. (11) Virtually entire divisions of the Eritrean defense forces have been dispatched throughout the towns and villages of Eritrea to round up citizens for the so-called �Maetot.�   Sources in Asmara tell Gedab News �you cannot move 10 meters without �menkesakesi� (an identification card.) even to buy bread in your neighborhood shop.�   The roundup is particularly worrisome for the parents of the young girls who have heard gruesome stories of abuse and rape by military officers in whose care they are entrusted their daughters.  The offenses have become so common place that some sources refer to Sawa, the military training centers as a �rape camp.�  

AUGUST REPORT CARD: Eleven news items.  Ten accurate; one inaccurate.  Accuracy rating: 91% .  Further evidence that we are beholden to no one: We did not wait for the ELF-RC to find the right time to announce the results of the elections.  We reported it before they did.  As for the inaccurate report, we were had by one practical joker submitting a bogus news report on four Eritreans fleeing to Sudan.   Of course, only the names and numbers are wrong: the youth who have fled to the Sudan number in the hundreds, not four.  Still, we made an error in judgment.    

JULY 2002:

Tekheste Habtu, a veteran of the armed struggle who joined the EPLF in 1974, has applied for political asylum in Australia. After the independence of Eritrea, Tekheste indicated that he �cannot tolerate the tyrannical and dictatorial nature of PFDJ anymore. (2) The commander of the Eritrean Air Force, Brigadier General Habtesion Hadgu, has been demoted from his position and replaced by his deputy, Colonel Abraham Ogbaselasse.  (3) Gedab has learned of unconfirmed and disturbing information that one of the so-called G-15, the dissidents who were arrested in mid-September, has died in the custody of the government.  (4) The Italian government is detaining about five hundred Eritreans, including 150 military conscripts who fled Eritrea, in a detention centers in Reggio Calabria, southern Italy.  The military conscripts were detained when Italian authorities intercepted their vessel while crossing the Mediterranean Sea, on the southern coast of Italy.   (5) The Eritrean government has notified the conscripted members of its army that unmarried soldiers will not be demobilized.  To avoid enlistment, many members of the "Warsai" generation are scrambling to get married.

JULY REPORT CARD: Five news items.  Four accurate.  One, news item (3) still unverified. We promised we would give you additional information as soon as we get it.  Todate, the only additional information we have is that there are other high ranking officials detained in Dongolo with the G-15. One is dead. We still can�t give a name.   Assuming the news is wrong: accuracy Rating: 80% 

JUNE 2002:

A division of Eritrea's armed forces, "Kifleserawit 32" has been deployed  in the Hambok area.   (2) Under light spell of rain, a rally was held today, June 9, 2002 at Downing Street. Gedab News reported witnessed various placards and flags. (3) Mr. Mesfin Hagos, a veteran fighter, ex-government official, who is persecuted by the PFDJ government for suggesting reforms, is on tour of Europe to lay down the foundation for the newly formed party - Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front - Democratic Party (EPLF-DP).  Gebad News caught up with Mr. Mesfin Hagos in London where he is �holding talks with various groups and individuals in order to set up the necessary groundwork in major European cities before the actual operation starts�.  (4) The government of Ireland has granted political asylum to Berhane Tewelde, an eight-year veteran of ERI-TV, the government television station in Eritrea.  Mr. Berhane Tewelde had accompanied an Eritrean sports delegation to Ireland in March.  (5) Awate.com has not confirmed whether the request for asylum from three athletes has been approved by the government of Ireland. (6) Meanwhile, Mesfin (no last name given), the head of Eritrean News Agency (ERINA), has been transferred to the Demobilization Commission.  He is replaced by Paulos Netabai, formerly head of the Tigre language division within the government owned radio station, Dimtsi Hafash.  (7) An important and successful conference on reconciliation was held in Stockholm, Sweden, over the weekend.  (8) Last week, nearly forty University of Asmara students who had refused to participate in last year�s �voluntary summer program� were called to an �important meeting� by the government and have been taken to an undisclosed location.    

JUNE REPORT CARD:  Eight news items.  All eight are accurate.  100% accuracy rating.

May 2002:

29 MPs from Britain have signed Early Day Motion under 1139 tabled by Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn alerting other MPs of the human rights abuses that are taking place in Eritrea.   Mr Jeremy Corbyn who put forward the Early Day Motion in the House of Commons is British Member of Parliament (MP) for a north London constituency and the vice-chair of the Parliamentary Human Rights.  (2)In further escalation of its clampdown, the Government of Eritrea is targeting religious institutions who have less than 40-year presence in Eritrea. Thus far, over a dozen �liberal� churches have been banned from operating in the provinces of Debub (South), Anseba, and Gash Barka. (3) In yet another unprecedented move, the Government of Eritrea�s Telecommunication Authority has collected customers� data from the various Internet Service Providers (ISP) in Eritrea.    Because the data gathered includes user name, password as well as the name and address of the subscriber, the government now has the power to check and follow up on all incoming and outgoing e-mails of Eritreans who use Outlook Express or Eudora as their e-mail software.  The Telecommunication Authority is seeking ways to break into web-based e-mail (such as yahoo or hotmail) which are considerably harder to trace.

MAY REPORT CARD:  Three news items.  All three are accurate.  100% accuracy rating.

APRIL 2002:

Following the detained journalists� announcement of a hunger strike, the security apparatus of the government of Eritrea engaged in a round-up campaign known as  �gfa.�  Unlike previous round-up campaigns, which targeted members of the Eritrean army, the current drive is indiscriminate focusing on students, farmers and soldiers alike. (2) On 8 April, Amnesty International (AI) issued a Fear For Safety Bulletin on the ten detained journalists who have been held incommunicado after announcing their hunger strike.  The human rights group asked its members to appeal to the president, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Information and Culture. (3) Mr. Ali Mohamed Saleh Shum who disappeared last Thursday has been arrested by the PFDJ special security forces from his office and was taken to undisclosed location. The 63 year old Ali is a veteran of the Eritrean independence struggle which he joined in the fifties. Ali was a member of the ELF-UO when the leadership of the organization decided to disband the organization and join the EPLF government in 1991. Ali Mohammed Saleh Shum is the father of Ms. Amal Ali, the Eritrean TV Broadcaster who fled Eritrea few months ago and currently resides in England. (4) Thirteen members of �Warsai�, the collective name for young Eritrean enlistee, were killed in a traffic accident.  The details of the accident are sketchy but witnesses report that they were crushed under debris of cement and steel.     The death of the youth was not reported in the government-owned media, prompting outraged parents to demand answers.   In a community meeting organized by the Political Director of the ruling party, PFDJ, Mr. Yemane Gebreab was unable to provide answers to repeated questions as to why the accident was not reported.    Sources inform Awate.com that the youth were en route to Tera Emni to help in the construction of a villa for one of generals, Eritrea�s newest nouveau riche, to whom President Isaias Afwerki has increasingly relied on to maintain his hold to power.   (5) Meanwhile, in a practice reminiscent of last year�s �loyalty tests�, the ruling party is conducting �seminars� within the military and the party mass organizations to disclose the contents of the sixty four-page �evidence� that was presented to the Eritrean National Assembly in January, in the government�s case against the �G-15�, the party reformists who have been arrested or exiled since 18 September.    The recent waves of arrests are partially due to the cold reception given by some to the �flimsy� evidence.   (6) One of the better known detainees is an  Eritrean (name withheld by request) who works for German Agro Action (GAA), a German relief agency providing food, drinking water, supplementary nutrients and medical supplies in Eritrea. (7) One of the arrested is Mr. Tesfaldet Seyoum, the brother of Brigader General Estifanos Seyoum, a member of the G-15.   (8) The government has also arrested �Wodi Itai�, the Solicitor General for the Supreme Court; Mr. Neamin Teweldemedhin, a recent resettler from Germany.  (9) There are also unconfirmed reports that two Administors (no names given) of two sub-zones within the South Province, the region of Mai Dima and Tserona have been arrested.  (10) Awate.com has confirmed the arrest of �Wedi Redi�,the Deputy Administor of Dekemhare, who was nabbed in the wave of arrests.  All are alleged to have been sympathetic to the former governor of the province, Mr. Mesfin Hagos, a member of the G-15, now in exile.  (11) Nine Eritrean journalists who had informed friends and family members that they would go on hunger strike effective 31 March, followed through on their pledge last Sunday.  The journalists are protesting their arrest without charge for over six months.

APRIL REPORT CARD:  Eleven news items.  All eleven accurate.  100% accuracy rating. 

March 2002:

Five members of Eritrea�s Air Force have sought asylum in Germany.   The crew had been sent for training to the Ukraine and had stopped over in Germany on route to Eritrea. In November 1998, Ukraine is believed to have sold Eritrea six MIG-29 interceptors, at an estimated price tag of 120 million USD.  Two were reportedly shot down in Ethiopia�s offensive of February 1999. (2) Faced with hard-currency shortages, the government of Eritrea is appealing to one of its most loyal constituencies, Eritreans residing in Italy, to donate funds to the embattled ruling party, the PFDJ.   The �suggested� amount is 500 Euros, the equivalent of 1 million Italian Lires per person.

MARCH REPORT CARD:  Two news items.  Six months later, there has been no additional information received about the defection of members of the Airforce.  Does this mean it is untrue?  There has been no information on the athletes who defected to Ireland, either.  The jury is still out.   Assuming the news is wrong: accuracy rating 50%.  

FEBRUARY 2002:

Mr. Hamid Mohamed Said, 39, a veteran international news and sports correspondent who joined ERI-TV in 1992, was one of the detained.   (2) Also arrested was another TV reporter, Saidia, one of the youngest reporters for Eritrea�s only TV station.   (3) Additionally, Mr. Saleh Aljezaeeri, a reporter for the government radio, Voice of the Broad Masses and the government paper, Hadas , was picked up by security officers several weeks ago.   The three reporters were assigned to the Arabic section of the government media.  (4) Mr. Suleiman Musa Haj, an influential resident and businessman in Keren (Central Eritrea), has been jailed by security agents for refusing to co-operate with a government official�s demand to publicly endorse its call that the �treacherous� G-15 should be tried for treason. After rebuffing the official�s demand by saying that he �knows nothing about their case�, Mr. Suleiman Musa Haj, a former member of the Eritrean Liberation Front�s leadership, is reported to have raised a �taboo� issue: inquiring the whereabouts of about a dozen teachers of �Bejuk School� who have been arrested by the government, without charge, since 1994. (5) Eritrea�s Defense Minister, Mr. Sebhat Ephrem, has been on a visit to the United States since late January.  The minister, who is also a member of Eritrea�s National Assembly, did not attend the session of the parliament when it convened in one of its rare meetings.  Sources inform Awate.com that Mr. Sebhat Ephrem had often equivocated when he was approached to sign the May 2001 Open Letter that was authored by fifteen members of the national assembly, who later came to be known as �G-15.�  It is not known whether the trip to the United States was scheduled to avoid the session, which ended up condemning the group of �defeatism� and �treason.�  The Eritrean government has jailed eleven members of �G-15� without charge since September 18. (6)  Ambassador Fissehazion Petros, Eritrea�s former ambassador to Italy has been promoted to the position of Director of the USA/Europe Desk within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Ambassador [Tsegay Mogos, who replaced Ambassador Fessehazion] was expelled by Italy on October 3, 2001 in retaliation for Eritrea�s expulsion of Italy and EU�s ambassador to Eritrea, Ambassador Antonio Bandini. (7) The former Director of the USA/Europe Desk, Ambassador Semere Russom, has not been given an official assignment yet.   (8) Awate.com has confirmed that the multi-talented writer, journalist, playwright and veteran of the armed struggle, Fesseha Yohannes (Joshua) is in jail. It is not known exactly when Joshua was arrested but awate.com has been trying to confirm his arrest since September 18, 2001. 

DECEMBER REPORT CARD:  Eight news items.  Seven accurate, one inaccurate.  Accuracy rating: 87.5%.  The one we were inaccurate about, the designation of Semere Russom, is the type of misreporting that embarrassed our supporters and got pro-government Eritreans to have a nano-second of gleeful celebration.  We apologize to one of our favorite PFDJistas, Semere Russom, for not reporting accurately his new, decidedly non-glamorous post.  As for the Defense Minister, he was in the US and he did miss part of the meeting AND we still maintain that he was a G-15 sympathizer who changed his mind after he was given an ultimatum.

JANUARY 2002:

An extensive consultation is underway between various Eritrean opposition groups in the Diaspora.   Sources indicate that the dialogues are accelerated by pressure from opposition elements inside Eritrea who have gone underground since the government clampdown of September 2001. (2) Mr. Seyoum Ogbamichael, the head of the foreign relations office of the Eritrean Liberation Front-Revolutionary Council (ELF-RC) is on a visit to the USA and Canada.  (3) A long-simmering conflict amongst the top brass of the PFDJ (Eritrea�s ruling party) and the Government of Eritrea regarding disbursement of funds has blown over resulting in a possible �freezing� of two long-time PFDJ veterans, Tekie Beyene and  Alamin Mohammed Seid. 

JANUARY REPORT CARD: Three news items.  2 �  accurate; �  Still unverified.  Tekie Beyene is certainly �frozen� but there is no confirmation that Alamin Mohammed Seid is frozen.  Assuming the report about Alamin is wrong, accuracy rating: 83.3%. 

DECEMBER 2001:

One more Eritrean journalist has reportedly reached safely The Sudan. Dawit Gebreab, editor in chief of Wintana private press has arrived in Sudan after fleeing from Eritrea. Almost all reporters and editors of Eritrean Free press have either fled Eritrea or are in jail. (2) Justice Teame, who was fired after criticizing the intrusion of the President�s Office in the judicial branch, has been replaced by Mr. Menkorios, who is believed to be less assertive than Justice Teame.  (3) Meanwhile, Gedab News has confirmed the arrest of Kidane �wedi Keshi.�  Kidane was a member of the paramilitary security unit, Brigade 72,(�sebAn klten�) which used to be headed by Mr. Petros Solomon, one of the detained reformers. Kidane had been appointed as chief of Intelligence and Security only a year ago. His arrest is reported to be related to his refusal to arrest the reformers because he believed that the detention was �illegal�. (4) The Ruling party in Eritrea, the PFDJ is preparing a sixty-page case paper against the private press. The accusation is mainly a copy of the private papers� interviews, editorial opinions and letters to the editor beginning with General Oqbe Abraha�s interview with Keste Debena newspaper and includes all the subsequent issues of the other banned papers including Admas, Meqaleh, and tSigenai. 

DECEMBER REPORT CARD: Four News Items.  All Four Accurate.  100% Accuracy Rating.

NOVEMBER 2001:

Gedab News has learned that one of the most colorful ex-combatants, Mr Tesfai Ghebreab, whose nom de guerre is Gomorra, has been picked up by Eritrean government security forces last month. Mr Tesfai Ghebreab, a high ranking official at the Foreign Office, was allegedly accused of echoing the sentiments of the reformers, the so called G-15.  (2) Another well known veteran fighter by the name of Alazar Mesfin was also arrested on the same day. (3) In a telephone conversation with awate.com, an Eritrean government official ridiculed the "Deki Alula" report by saying; "There are 4200 UN members in the area with their satellites and their helicopters.  Remember, this website is the same one that had reported about Melles security chief fleeing.  They hate Melles and they really do want a conflict to flare up." The Website quoting another newspaper has reported, �Eritrea invaded Ethiopia�. (4) Eritrea�s General Consul to Holland, Mr. Endrias Habtegierghis, has resigned from his position.  In a phone interview with our reporter, Mr. Endrias said that he did not want to be on a side of a government and a party that imprisons those who wish to reform it.  In a press release he issued, Mr. Endrias Habtegierghis accused the government and the ruling party of being �authoritarian� and incapable of bringing about a nation that is democratic, respectful of human rights.  (5) The European Union is still of the position that Mr. Antonio Bandini, its former representative to Eritrea, should return to his post.  Reached by telephone, Mr. Bandini told our reporter that he �could not comment, for understandable reasons� the ongoing discussions but described his current status as being �on standby.� Repeated attempts to reach the spokesperson of Italy�s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Valensise, were not successful. (6) Mr. Hedad Kerar who had been prevented from leaving Eritrea on early October 6, 2000, has been arrested.  Mr. Hedad Kerar, who is in his mid-70s, was one of the elderly citizens who had attempted to mediate the conflict between the two factions of the sole party in Eritrea, the governing PFDJ.

NOVEMBER REPORT CARD: Six news reports.  All six accurate.  100% Accuracy rating.  There was some confusion on whether Mr. Hedad Kerar was arrested.  He was, for one day; then, due to health reasons, given house arrest.  The �government official� who commented about the Deki Alula report no longer talks to us: we asked him why a position announcing an opening at IGAD which was posted at other Eritrean websites was not submitted to Awate.com.  He replied that that was because we are not Eritreans and Awate.com is not an Eritrean website.

OCTOBER 2001:

Terrorists associated to the ruling Eritrean ruling party, the PFDJ, disrupted a meeting organized by Eritreans in the United Kingdom. A terror cell consisting of about a dozen members started to shout, scream and throw chairs the moment Mr. Mesfin Hagos, the guest speaker, a leading member of the Eritrean Reform Movement , stood up to greet the audience and deliver his speech. Security personnel present at the hall couldn�t control the crowd and the meeting was called off. (2) The well-respected elder, Sunabera Mohammed Demmena, was arrested from his house on Monday. Ato Sunabera who is seventy-nine years old was one of the group of elders who tried to mediate between President Isaias and the leaders of the reform movement. Ato Sunabera, who lived in the Sudan as a refugee until the independence of Eritrea, is most known for his success in building the SETAO Transportation company, one of the most successful share companies in the business history of Eritrea. (3) Milikias Mehretab and Semere Teazaz, the two reporters who fled from Eritrea to the Sudan on September 18, have departed Khartoum to Addis Ababa. Our sources indicated, "They are on their way to a third country." (4) Eritrean military build-up in the Gash area with concentration around the town of Guluj and Gergef where news about a shootout between Eritrean forces was reported five days ago.  Large number of regular and draftee units of the Eritrean government forces are also present in the area from Tessenei to Guluj, a town less than 80 Kilometers from the Ethiopian border on the Setit/Tekeszze river. Sources from the Sudan reported of Eritrean soldiers fleeing to the Sudan through Shukria villages. On the day of the incident in the area, the Ethiopian government had accused the Eritrean government of mobilizing troops in the DMZ, a zone established after the cessation of hostilities between Eritrea and Ethiopia. (5) Meanwhile, the Eritrean president, Isaias Afwerki is on a state visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where he met with commanders of the Hares AlWeteni Al Saoudi, the Saudi National Guard. (6) Two more elderly citizens were among scores jailed yesterday;  Mr. Abdulrahman Ahmed Younis and Mr. Hedad Kerrar, both in their mid-seventies, were arrested from their homes without charge.

October Report Card: Six News Items.  All Six Accurate.  100% Accuracy Rating.  One more confirmation that Gedab News takes no sides: we reported about the brief stoppage of Milkias and Semere in Addis even though we like and admire the two reporters and even as we knew that this would not help their cause which is our cause.   When we reported the arrest of Abdulrahman Ahmed Younis, one of the PFDJ plants wrote us and demanded that we offer an apology to our readers for misleading them because the writer just knew that the report was not true.  It was, and is, still true.

September 2001:. 

(1) In anticipation of a visit by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Mattewos Habteab, the editor-in-chief of Meqaleh, an independent Eritrean weekly, who had been abducted by security forces on 25 July, was released.   (2)  Dr. Weldeab, Asmara University President, visited Asmara University students in Wi�A; he was given less than a rousing welcome.   (3) The PFDJ Reformers were arrested by �hagerawi dehn�net� security forces.  (4) They were taken to a prison in Dongolo. (5) Three members of the PFDJ reform movement, Mesfin Hagos, Adhanom Ghebremariam and Haile Menkorios had their diplomatic passports revoked prompting our source to conclude: "the liberators of the state are now stateless!". (6) The Eritrean Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Girma Asmerom, held a meeting on Tuesday, 25 September, with about a dozen members of PFDJ organizers soon after it was announced that Ambassadors Haile Menkerios, Hibret Berhe and Adhanom Ghebremarim, leaders of the Reform movement, would attend a meeting organized by a group of concerned Eritreans in the Washington, DC area.    The PFDJ organizers went on to disrupt the meeting resulting in the cancellation of the meeting about half an hour after it commenced.    (7) The private papers were closed and all free press journalists (including Mattewos Habteab) arrested.  (8) Only two journalists escaped arrest by fleeing to the Sudan:  Milkias Mihretab and Semere Tazaz. Ibrahim Bekhit, a refugee in the Sudan since 1968 said of the exodus to the Sudan: �It reminds me of the seventies when young Eritreans overwhelmed Sudanese towns.� (9) Hassen Kekya, an elderly Eritrean and long-time PFDJ benefactor, who was attempting to mediate the conflict between the two disputing sides of PFDJ, was arrested. Hassen Kekia was arrested shortly after he confronted the journalist Abdulkader Hamdan and accused him of "selling out." (10) The Eritrean Government gave the Italian Ambassador to Eritrea a seventy-two hours ultimatum to leave the country.   The Italian Ambassador represents the European Union (EU) in Asmara.  Awate.com has learned that the EU has earlier given a diplomatic 'demarche' to the Eritrean government to retract from its �unpopular, undemocratic and unjust decisions�.  (11) Mufti of Eritrea has been fired by the PFDJ.

September Report Card:  Eleven news items.  Ten accurate; one inaccurate.  Accuracy rating: 91%.  We reported inaccurately that the Eritrean Mufti had been fired.  Technically speaking, he still holds the post; in reality, all Muftis and Bishops and Abunes are virtually powerless�reporting for duty to the ruling party�s liaiason for religious affairs.

Yes, the source who informed us about the revocation of the diplomatic passports did say, �The liberators of the state are now stateless!� Contemplate that one.