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By During the Dergue era, a joke had Mengistu expressing astonishment at the increasing number of people leaving the country. To one of his lieutenants, the former Ethiopian dictator is said to have confided, You know, comrade, the way people are exiting, it looks as if only two people are going to be left around here. I know that one of them is you, the lieutenant is said to have replied. But who do you think is the second one? And so it isas far as the Eritrean people are concerned, the trail of tears goes on and on, even today. Eritreans continue to leave their country in droves, by land by sea and by whatever means necessary. Deprived of outlets to get away, they decided to die trying. Some served as food to the sharks of the Red sea, others baked in the desert sun, asking for water. They were buried in the sand. At least with the Dergue, you could always disappear into the countryside, a recent survivor said. With this [PFDJ] government, you cant live anywhere in the country. The escapee, who has currently sought asylum in the US, had to leave home for the second time in two decades. The hemorrhaging of Eritrean envoys from their diplomatic posts continued unabated as well, lending credence to widely held beliefs in the country that those who were able to flee were doing just that. For the beleaguered government in Asmara, it might have been easy to stomach the leaving of a diplomat here and a reporter there, but sometimes those abandoning the ship were the same people who could have helped avert danger in the turbulent political waters of the nation. In one of the most lethal blows ever, Mr. Abdela Adem, Eritreas ambassador to The Sudan, resigned from his post, bidding farewell to a government due to what he said was a ceaseless abuse of human rights at home and the senseless arrest of the nations heroes. The government seems to break every glass it holds on its hands. Observers in the know said that Abdela Adem was indeed a big enchilada, and that his departure was symptomatic of a regime that has effectively isolated itself not only from the international community, but from its core constituencies as well. The number of people beginning to wake up to the realities at home kept on multiplying. The most horrified were those who had defied wide spread campaign against the PFDJ and decided to visit Eritrea anyway. Now many are not sure they were going back soon, or they should have gone there in the first place. One confessed that she didnt think it was this appalling. Her brother, who had also visited with her, is now speechless at the whole thing, refusing to mention the name of his country. She said that government soldiers had asked him for a pass more times than he could remember, at times even when he was resting at home. According to the sister, who asked that she remain anonymous, the young man felt that he was treated like a foreigner in his own country. Ironically, she added, her brother used to brag that he could always go back to Eritrea if America proved too hostile for him. So much for returning to the homeland! A couple, who also spoke on the condition of unanimity, recently returned from a vacation and, strangely enough, they seemed to have visited two different Eritreas. The husband, a charismatic and rather imposing man well into his seventies, seemed baffled by what he termed was a brouhaha over the government in Eritrea and its policies. He was in accord with everything the government has done so far, from its incarceration of the reformers and the reporters to the shutting down of the press, to the current dire economic conditions in the nation. The wife, a reserved though just as distinguished Eritrean matriarch, seemed attentive to the musings of the husband. Although the visitor wished she had spoken just as much, she was not about to interrupt the man of the house. Only after he started talking about the youth and how the government was doing right by them did she break her silence. The madam was not about to accept his version of the way things were of the same place she had seen with her own eyes. And as he opened his mouth wide at her sudden assertiveness, she angrily stated that the way the nations young men and women were being treated was unconscionable. They [the government soldiers] dont even wait for the youth to get their pass from the pocketsuch beatings and cruelties. I dont know about that; I dont think thats right. Still, the government appeared to make believe that things were back to normal. In fact, a few individuals were seen coming to America for various governmental assignments, but only those deemed the least likely to seek asylum abroad. The wife and children are left behind as collateral. In the good news department, ELF and ELF-RC decided to talk merger. Its a small step for the two fronts, but a giant step for the Eritrean people. Just as encouraging was the fact that from one end of the world to the other, Eritreans conducted dialogue in forums and established civic organizations. All aspired to address the tenuous situation at home, fearing that their nation would disintegrate otherwise. One such endeavor was the meeting of minds by the Citizens Initiative for the Salvation of Eritrea (CISE) in The Netherlands. That a group of Eritreans got together so spontaneously is perhaps an indication, among other things, of a void in leadership. Its a pointed message, especially to the opposition, that the Eritrean people might be getting a bit impatient and desperately looking for someone, anyone, to step in and help set them free from one of the most vicious tyrannies in the world today. |
