Conclusion

To day, the political situation of our country is found at a cross-road. All Eritreans and the international community are very disappointed with the existing political chaos in our country. Here there are several questions to be asked and the most important once are: what is the main cause of the problem? Who is responsible to the problem? Who, how and when is our problem to be solved?  In my personal viewpoint, every Eritrean, as active citizen, has the right and responsibility to assess the existing situation very critically in a rational and responsible way. 

First and foremost, it should be clear that the role of the PFDJ in heading the armed struggle for national independence was tremendous. In spite of the fact, the people of Eritrea has a great respect and appreciation to our martyrs, veteran fighters and overall the leadership. Even after independence the leadership has done a great job in establishing a government and its institutions. However, we are living in a dynamic world. To day is quite different from yesterday. Of course we must preserve history and values of our national struggle and overall to remember and work hard to materialize promises of our martyrs. As we all agree, the ultimate goal of the struggle for national independence was not only to have a �free Eritrea�, but also to establish a �constitutional and democratic state of Eritrea�. Therefore, as human beings we are now looking beyond having a free state, to have a constitutional and democratic government.

Based on the objective reality, the PFDJ�s government is absolutely a totalitarian leadership and is responsible for the existing political chaos. I understand that supporters of the PFDJ will be irritated when the leadership is described as �dictatorship�, but they should face the reality. Unfortunately, the leadership is repeating the shameful history of the well-known dictators of our modern world. I wonder why the elite group could not able to learn from the history of dictators. The PFDJ�s leadership has broken its promise to build up a constitutional and a democratic system. The elite group has betrayed the people of Eritrea. 

In 1994, as the regime took power of the transitional government, the PFDJ�s elite group has plighted in front of the people of Eritrea and the international community to establish all the necessary democratic institutions which are required for creating a stable and strong constitutional and democratic government in Eritrea. However, even after nine years, the PFDJ�s regime has failed to take practical and successful actions to materialise its promises.  As a result the regime has placed the political situation into jeopardy and the issue of building a constitutional and democratic system is still remained in dilemma.

Literary speaking, the PFDJ�s elite group has deliberately delayed the transformation of the transitional government to a permanent constitutional government in a peaceful and democratic way. It must be clear that no one can expect the PFDJ�s government to do a miracle in establishing a perfect democratic system with in a short period of time. The leadership is basically criticised for completely ignoring the introduction of all the necessary democratic institutions and delaying implementation of national constitution, which was ratified in April 1997 by the National Assembly. Overall, the PFDJ�s leadership is condemned due to its unconstitutional and unlawful violations of fundamental human rights of citizens.  Repression of dissents, journalists, etc  by terror, intimidation and detention is typical instruments of the dictatorial leadership. 

Generally speaking, under the leadership of the PFDJ democracy is not more than a slogan. It is non-sense to argue on various theories or concepts of democracy, because each theory has its own advantages and shortcomings. We should recognise that even those well-known democratic states have no absolute or perfect democracy. On the other hand, it is obvious that it no one is expecting the government to adopt or import western democratic system into our country. We agree that home-grown or indigenous democracy is more appropriate for building a stable and strong democratic system in our country.  Having saying so, our politicians must be pragmatic and very objective. The essence of home-grown democracy must be seen in conjunction with the internationally accepted general parameters of democratic systems and in context of the actual political situation of our country. In our modern world there is a general consensus on the universal indicators of a democratic system such as �respect and protection of fundamental human rights; freedom of expression and belief, formation of political parties; periodic, open and competitive electoral system; freedom and fairness of the justice system; rule of law; distribution of authority or power with the government; process of decision making; transparency and accountability of the ruling body to the public or its representatives, etc.

Therefore, the PFDJ�s elite group is not expected to reinvent the wheel of democracy or to discover new theory of democracy of the people of Eritrea. As the President of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln said, democracy encompasses three fundamental concepts: government of the people (government on behalf of the people), government by the people (representative government) and government for the people (the government should be carried on by persons of high principle). Of the three ideas, the last one suggests that those who are trusted with the government are not politicians who seek to make themselves powerful at the expense of those whom they are supposed to serve.

It is acceptable that the PFDJ like any party can have its own political vision, policy and programme and can rule the country. The problem arises when the PFDJ has tried to monopolize the power and has denied to establish a constitutional and a democratic government. This means the political model or formula, which is adopted by the PFDJ�s elite group, is overwhelmed by totalitarian way of thinking. The totalitarian style of leadership is very dangerous to existing political situation of the country and so has a destructive effect on the long run. The intention of the PFDJ�s leadership is to introduce totalitarian democracy like all the old socialist leaderships.  Today the regime is criticized not only monopolizing the existing government in power, but also due to its intentions to establish a one-party dominance democratic system.

Like all nationalist parties, the leadership seems more concerned with �national unity�; �national integrity and sovereignty�; patriotism and values of armed struggle for national independence. However it is very sad to see the leadership to raise these sensitive issues to strengthen its power and deceiving the general pubic. In reality the leadership is observed in putting national unity and integrity into danger. The PFDJ�s elite group must recognize that it is possible to deceive the general public for some time, but not forever. Terror, intimidation and harassment may be used to repress dissents, but never repress their ideas, visions and movements.

Once again the PFDJ�s leadership has legal, historical and moral obligations to establish all the necessary democratic institutions and to promote democratic culture within the general public which are pre-conditions for the building up a stable and strong democratic system in the country. The leadership must urgently implement the constitution that was ratified in 1997.

Side by side, all political prisoners must be freed or trailed in an independent and a fair justice system urgently and unconditionally. Furthermore, the leadership must commit itself to guarantee and protect univeral human rights of citizens.

The leadership must also play a leading role in initiating and supporting positive and progressive actions to resolve or minimize the existing political difference between PFDJ and other opposition groups through peaceful and democratic ways. It should be recognized that political differences could be solved only through dialogue, discussions and reconciliation � i.e. through peaceful and democratic way. In addition, the PFDJ�s elite group must show political willingness and readiness to work with opposition groups as partners in the nation building process. Overall, the PFDJ�s politicians must show commitment, courage, open-mindedness, flexibility and tolerance to overcome the exiting political unstablitiy.

To sum up, the people of Eritrea is now desperately seeking peace, unity, justice, equality, stability and prosperity. To day is the right time to establish a constitutional and democratic system for our future generations. Democracy is not only a system, but is also a culture. The people of Ertirea must get the opportunity to develop a democratic culture which is paramount in developing a democratic system in the future. Therefore, the people of Eritrea must struggle to challenge and thereby to abolish the PFDJ�s one-party system or dominance through a PEACFUL AND DEMOCRATIC WAY. ONE PEOPLE AND ONE HEART NOT ONLY IN WAR, BUT ALSO IN THE STRUGGLE FOR ESTABLISHING A CONSTITUTIONAL AND A DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT.  

ALL ERITREAN FOR DEMOCRACY AND DEMOCRACY FOR ALL ERITREAN. VITORY TO THE PEACE LOVING PEOPLE OF ERITREA.