On September 18, a week after 9-11, the government of Eritrea took what it considered a calculated risk to arrest eleven critical government officials and a dozen independent reporters.  Commenting on this fateful day, the Pencil (9/24/01) said �September 18 will be remembered as the turning point in Eritrean history.�    We said this because we believed that, as of that date, the government had forever abandoned even the pretense of abiding by the rule of law or justice; of being any different from the countless Third World dictators.  By its action, it demonstrated that it is more interested in its own political future than it is about the future of the country; that it would do whatever it took to stay in power. 

The PFDJ Reformers had anticipated this.  In response to the preliminary ground work that was being conducted by the ruling party through its Secretary, Alamin Mohammed Seid, the PFDJ Reformers had warned, a month before their arrest, �if anyone, including the president, is culpable, his crime and his accuser should be presented openly; he should have access to a lawyer, his rights should be respected and the case brought to an independent court.  Any steps taken outside this context is illegal and will have repercussion.�  (In Lieu of Defamation, Better To Argue With Facts, 8/11/01)

Since September 18, the Eritrean president and his clique has been engaged in oppressive measures to head off the anticipated �repercussion.� It has arrested all citizens it suspects of having any sympathies towards the PFDJ Reformers and their cause�inluding reporters, embassy employees, students, elder citizens, and family members. It has exiled citizens.  It has closed churches. It has frozen and demoted government officials.  It has frozen the ratified constitution; worse, it is in the process of amending it to bring it in line with its vision of restricting rights of citizens.  It has expelled the ambassador of a nation, which is the largest donor nation to Eritrea.  It has sealed off the border with The Sudan.  It will not grant exit visits to anyone but those who have a vested interest in coming back.   It has refused to demobilize tens of thousands of Eritrea�s conscripted army and is rounding up even more.     

But the repercussions the PFDJ Reformers warned of continue to come.  This is evident to all but the most faithful PFDJ loyalists. (� We walk by faith, not by sight.�) Signs abound that the government has completely lost the confidence of the people.  Mothers begin their daily prayers by asking God to rid them of the PFDJ.  Grenade (F-1) bombs have exploded in the capital city of Asmara.  Government officials are defecting; citizens are risking being shot at sight to leave the country. Students on scholarship attending schools in foreign lands are refusing to return.   There is no investment and the economy is in a free-fall.  Its image across the world is that of cruelty and abuse.

The arrest of the PFDJ Reformers and their �supporters� has given renewed credibility to the claims of government critics that there is nothing new to the regime�s behavior.  Consequently (and thankfully) issues that the government had managed to hide from the Eritrean people have begun to surface.  Names of victims that appeared in �opposition� publications have now been reported by esteemed human rights organizations like Amnesty International.  Yes, they are saying, we believe the claims made by the �fringe opposition) that there are Eritreans who have been disappeared at the hands of the ruling party for over a decade now.  And by validating the claims of the opposition, they are telling the government that they do not believe its stories.

Today comes news that an international advocacy group for reporters, RSF, is calling for sanctions against the government of Eritrea.  We agree and, in fact, The Pencil goes one step further: as we wrote in our August 12, 2002 issue, not only should the world sanction the government of Eritrea, it should not grant the plane of the President of Eritrea any landing rights at any airport.  Our legal experts should use the Pinochet precedent and build a case against him to be tried in an international court. 

On top of every other crime inflicted by the government, the Eritrean people are facing famine.  Donor nations and organizations who are experienced in this matters should find a way to assist the Eritrean people without subsidizing the government�s enslaving projects.  

However admirable the role of the human rights groups and donor nations is, ultimately, the future of Eritrea remains in the hands of Eritreans.  

The Diaspora Eritrean

If you are a Diaspora Eritrean and you are still supporting the government because you believe it is your patriotic duty to so, we invite you to assess the meaning of �patriotism.�  When the government declares war on the people, it is your patriotic duty to stand on the side of the people and not the government.   If you question that the government has declared war on the people, we invite you to speak to Eritreans in Eritrea; speak to Eritreans who returned from a visit to Eritrea.  Answer yourself one question: why does the government refuse to bring to a court of law Eritrean citizens who are alleged to have committed crimes?  How long is a reasonable time to wait?  One month? One year? One decade?

If you condemn the actions of the government but have chosen to remain silent because you don�t know how the contest between right and might will turn out, please consider this: it is better to be right and fail than to be wrong and win by relying on might alone.   Please remember that the Eritrean people who cannot speak and cannot rise up and cannot leave are expecting you to speak on their behalf.  If you remain silent because you don�t like the organized opposition, form your own.   Reach out to like-minded Eritreans.

The history of the world is full of government officials who remained loyal to a tyrant until his power came tumbling down.  Some do it for a misguided sense of loyalty; some do it because they feel trapped; others do it because they don�t know what else to do.  As of September 18, the Isaias Era is over and it is time for government officials to side with the Eritrean people.

It is doubly shameful for Eritrean government officials who spent their youth trying to liberate the Eritrean people to now be equally determined, in the twilight of their years, in the efforts to enslave the same people they liberated.   We implore you to refuse to participate in making a mockery out of your youthful sacrifices.