|
A few months ago, the PFDJs ambassador to the United States signed a contract with an American PR firm to improve his employers monstrous image. Shortly thereafter, a certain Joel Mowbray ***image2***(Americas answer to Alex Last) wrote a glowing report in National Review Online on the PFDJ and how Eritrea could be an American ally. The Ambassador, Mr. Girma Asmerom, gave an interview groveling for American presence in Eritrea (look, even our mountains look like those in Afghanistan, said he shamelessly.) With America on our side, the opposition is finished, bragged the always-misinformed PFDJ loyalists.
Heres what really happened. To begin with, America did not single out Eritrea for partnership: it went around asking everyone in the Horn of Africa/Indian Ocean: Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Sudan, Yemen, etc. In addition to the Dahlak Islands, the PFDJ was counting on leasing the newly inaugurated Massawa runway to the United States: that was what Girma Asmerom was offering the US. Not based on any anti-terrorism principle, mind you; the PFDJ would, for a fee, rent Eritrea to any bidder, regardless of the reason. This is, after all, a government that sells a commodity that generations of Eritreans paid their lives for, Eritrean citizenship, to Kuwaiti Beduns.
The much-touted Massawa Airport had to have its runway downgraded to a taxiway because the quality of the construction does not meet international standards. You didnt hear that at DimSi Hasot or Shaebia.org, did you? Not to worry, an upcoming Gedab Investigative Report will explain how Keannam, the Korean construction company and its Eritrean partner, Jedec, as well as several Eritrean ministries contributed to this fiasco.
Heres something that will keep the 50,000/month hired hands very busy for a while because, in the selection of allies against Iraq, the United States seems to have chosen Yemen over Eritrea. Yemen, in the estimation of the United States, is more stable and more serious in its democratization efforts. $50,000/month couldn't hide the fact that the tee totaling government of Isaias is despised by its terrorized people. It is, for all purposes, just another military junta living its last days by meeting the ever-increasing demands of its military officers. It is a fish rotting at the head.
Last week, American and French forces conducted war games with the Yemenis at the ports of Aden and Djibouti. The trigger-happy PFDJ felt it was left behind. After raising its bloody hands to be seen, which went unnoticed, the PFDJ conducted its own war games close to the Yemen border. In the process, the Eritrean forces held some Yemeni fishing boats and started a new diplomatic crisis out of thin air, thus provoking Yemen, which lodged a complaint against the Eritrean provocation and put its defense forces on alert.
Ah, fishes. When the PFDJ is out of ideas, it provokes a fishing crisis. Then, using the crisis, it stifles citizens rights to prolong its stay. Alamin Mohammed Said
Speaking of smelly things, the utterances of the foul-mouthed Alamin Mohammed Saeed have attacked again; this time in Saudi Arabia. Politicians who owe their office to the ballot box would never badmouth their people; those who lead un-elected have contempt for the people. The fetid PFDJ culture requires that officials stay loyal to it which requires them to have continuous rites of insults directed at their people. If you insult people with similar background as yours, then, in the corrupt PFDJ culture, you are proving your loyalty to the party.
In a recent public meeting in Saudi Arabia, Alamin insulted the public and went out of his way to prove his mettle in his partys policies of polarization and the destructive culture of division and exclusion. We dont mean to pick on the man; just what he does. After all, poor Alamin is another loner without constituency; his views do not matter much. His only strengths are the benefits and false prestige bestowed on him by the PFDJ. Unfortunately, if he is discarded like a used paper tissue, which he will, no one will shed any tears for him. Knowing this, he will be "loyal" to the end, even as The Boss ocassionally exercises his fist on his person.
The crude and indecent language of PFDJ officials like Alamin, which is applauded as candor by the supporters, has real and negative ramification in the real world. The vulgarity that is promoted by Alamin and his bosses manifests itself in action, which is why the PFDJ remains a dangerous warmonger, always on the verge or in the midst of a conflict. Consider, again, the issue fishing.
There are fishing rights disputes the world over. However, we seldom hear of commandeered boats and serious diplomatic row over fishing except in countries run by regimes similar to the PFDJ. The rest of the world has learned to solve such problems through diplomatic channels, dialogue and compromise. Why is it that at any given time since independence of Eritrea the PFDJ holds fishing boats from countries of the Red Sea Basin? Must a trespass by a poor fisherman into Eritrean Waters always degenerate into a diplomatic row that always endangers the security of Eritrea?
In 1991, weeks after Eritreas independence, an Eritrean happened to be in Cairo, en route to Asmara. At the time, the so-called Transitional Government of Eritrea (TGE)which is, eleven years later, still in transition-- had seized Egyptian fishing boats with dozens of seamen on board. The boats were commandeered to the Eritrean shores and detained, with the TGE showing its characteristic contempt to the world. Families of the Egyptian seamen flooded EPLFs Cairo office, then functioning as Eritreas embassy, and their cries and appeals for help were given the Eritrean governments now famous apathy.
The families of the Egyptian sailors could not get a visa to Eritrea. When they learned that an Eritrean citizen was traveling to Eritrea, the Egyptians pleaded that he appeal on their behalf to the Eritrean Government. Days after his arrival, the Eritrean citizen (one of the Awate Team) brought the message of the Egyptians to Alamin Mohammed Said, now the PFDJ Secretary. Mr. Alamin Mohammed Saids response, uttered with contemptuous smile, was Kusu-ummom, Khelihom! Son of bitches let them be!
It is this same irresponsible and childish behavior that earns Eritreas diplomats their credentials to be as rude and crude as they want to be in dealing with foreign governments, Eritrean citizens, NGOs, donor nations, OAU. The only place they learn to speak like a diplomat is at the UN: too bad, they are treated as a joke. And heres why. Ahmed Baduri
Another guy with no constituency, we dont mean to make fun of Mr. Ahmed Baduri. We are writing about what he said, or what his employer told him to say. Last week, Ahmed Baduri, the PFDJ's ambassador to the UN read another depressing statement at the UN. The statement, pulled right from the archives of Dehai message board and the kiddie web site, displays the sad intellectual and moral abyss of the PFDJ. The only difference is that, for the first time in its history, the PFDJ acknowledged the presence of the Alliance of Eritrean opposition Forces. The joke of the whole statement was that Baduri asked the international community to hand them over all Eritreans opposing the PFDJ. He didn't explain if they have built a jail for over a million people because that is, at minimum, the number of people opposing their misrule.
Baduris statement is proof, if any proof is needed, that the PFDJ brain is permanently gone fishing. Heres a system that has jailed hundreds of citizens without any reason, trampled over the human rights of the people, continues to be criticized by every human rights watchdog group, has reduced Eritrea to being even below the African standards for free press and the people's right to information. Yet, it asks for the cooperation of the whole world to help it throw more people to jail!
The PFDJ must think the whole world is as gullible as its supporters, who are on a special PFDJ hook and line diet. In his statement, Baduri quotes the pacifist A. J. Muste (There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.) PFDJ quoting a pacifist is a lot like Saddam Hussein quoting Gandhi. It is like P.W. Botha quoting Martin Luther King. PFDJ, give Eritreans one whole year without war or threat of war and your claims to believe that peace is the way may have a shred of credibility. Baduri also cited a quote by Carl Bard a quote which is used by many businesses recovering from bankruptcy: Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. True, Mr. Baduri, but remember what Lao-Tzu said: A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. A single step like releasing prisoners of conscience and telling us what you have done with the hundreds of our citizens youve disappeared may make us believe you are making a new start. Otherwise, we know your ending and it wont be brand new; it is the same ending that all governments who terrorize their citizens get: To be uprooted and to be treated harshly by history. Herui T Bairou
In 1974, when Herui T. Bairou was the de-facto chairman of the Eritrean Liberation Front, he wrote a book called The Strategy For Victory. In an interview with Awate.com (1/1/01), he explained the thesis of the book as follows: Our armed struggle will reach a point when it will be sufficiently developed to meet the Ethiopian force in Dien Piam Phu type of war. Taking into consideration, the justness of Eritrean case, the heroism of the Eritrean people, the preparation, Eritrea can win this type of war. Eritrea can establish a government. Since Ethiopia is not only a representative of African independence but a victim of the fascist axis and, as a result, the Emperor was regarded in line with people like Tito--people who survive nazi-fascist onslaught on civilization and small nations of the world. And so, in the new post-war international rearrangement as reflected in the UN, Haile selassie was an important personality. He was also a key player in the Cold War, especially because of Kagnew, etc, etc. "An independent Eritrea will not have a chance. It will be possible for the Ethiopian army to organize itself for a 2nd engagement. The question is raised: Can Eritrea win? Of course it can. But it cannot win endlessly taking [into consideration] the resource of Ethiopian demographics and international relations. Unless.... Unless Eritrea secures support from the region and full support from at least one nation. And what we had in mind was the Middle East supporting Eritrea and the full support coming from the Sudan. This was the strategy for victory. And it worked for us; and that is how the Eritrean people achieved Eritrean independence.
Does his trip to Addis Ababa upgrade The Strategy For Victory so that Ethiopia now replaces Sudan as the nation providing Eritreas new liberation movement full support? Is this a case of Herui, a disciple of the philosopher Carl Popper, practicing the dictum of Truth can be sought only by the process of falsification? Is this a case of Mr. Herui T Bairou confusing his famous Chinese chopstick of tactics and strategies? We dont know because Herui T Bairou is not talking. At least not to Eritrean media now. Mr. Herui T Bairou must know that the announcement by an Ethiopian newspaper of his presence in Addis Ababa would shock a substantial number of Eritreans, because he used to criticize the Alliance for just such a thing. On this issuemere presence in Addis Ababa, communicated via Ethiopian mediathe leaders of the Alliance and, now, Herui T Bairou, must know that they are contributing in de-legitimizing their cause by giving an impression that they are merely championing a cause favored by the Ethiopian government which, to many Eritreans, including Eritreans who are opposed to the PFDJ, is unacceptable. Intellectually, it may make perfect sense for Ethiopia, a neighboring country that shares a long border with Eritrea and hosts hundreds of thousands of Eritreans, to be the ideal venue for political conferences. But in politics, emotional arguments sway more than intellectual arguments and, on this score, the leaders of the Alliance, and now Herui T Bairou, are choosing to be tone-deaf and irresponsive to the needs of Eritrean citizens. We already have one political party, PFDJ, which has excelled in ignoring the Eritrean people; we dont need two or three. Eritreans must hold the opposition accountable, now: before they get too big and make a habit of taking us for granted. Get to the lizard before it grows to be a snake. The Opposition, and now Herui T Bairou, are perfectly within their rights to meet anywhere they want and to discuss anything on any subject. Of course, we the Eritrean citizens are perfectly within our rights to make judgments of that. They may have judged that Eritrea is, after all, in Africa and power counts more than popular approval. They may be right. But, if they get to power without popular support, they will still be no better than the system they hope to replace. And you cannot begin to garner popular support unless you at least attempt to explain why you are doing what you are doingbefore you do it. Spare the Eritrean people surprises; they already have a government that does that on a daily basis. |
