PFDJ's message for 2003 is: " We lied to you: It turns out, dear Eritreans, you are an Arab.  Sorry, but women are not equal to men and too bad you are starving but at least you are not as hungry as the Ethiopians.  PS: If you don't like the way things are going, it is all the "Amiches" fault."

Happy New Year.

Open Wide and Say "Ahh..."

Every now and then, the PFDJ officers summons a few �patriotic� (read: gullible dupes) Eritreans to a private and secret meetings.   In the meetings, the PFDJ officers follow a patented three-punch step.  Step One: flattery.    Here's where they tell the poor saps ��your contributions are matchless, beyond compare, indescribable�we thank you on behalf of Eritrea��  This is then followed by Step 2: The Empty Promise, the PFDJ Anesthetic.   They will whisper ��you cannot tell anyone, understand, and this is off-the-record, but we are about to bring to court the G-15. after all, we are hurting, we care about them�.we will hold an organizational congress�.we will ratify the constitution�we will reform� we will transform Eritrea to Singapore�and regardless the pressure, we will not join the Arab League.�)  Having flattered and made the empty promises, then they move for the kill: Step 3: the request for support (��not that you need any reminding, but just be patient�give us a little time�give us a little money��). 

Infused with the unholy spirit of the PFDJ, the gullible dupes come to us speaking in tongues describing things that aren�t there (fast track to prosperity, Marshall Plan, full employment, elections, due process�), denying things that are there.

It really has all the characteristics of a spousal-abuse relationship, one of the hardest bonds to break off.    Sometimes this anesthesia is done one-on-one (as when Zemehret Yohannes met with select Eritrean �intellectuals� in the United States last fall and promised them all sorts of bogus pledges; or, more recently, when the �journalist� Mike Seium met with his hero, Isaias Afwerki, and wrote some fawning gibberish, befitting a white teenage girl who just came back from an Insync concert; sometimes it is done at an �intimate gatherings� as when Lij Girma Asmerom meets with a few high-donor club members and promises untold falsehoods); sometimes it is done at PFDJ �festivals,� as when Yemane Gebreab talks of elections that won�t happen.   Regardless of the venue, it is all the same: flattery, empty promises and demand for help. 

Sometimes, the candy and the anesthesia is given to the Hafash.

In late December, in a one-line announcement, the PFDJ proclaimed that it would demobilize women conscripts. This proclamation, this PFDJ Anasthesia, was like many of their awajs, empty of details, of time-lines, of explanations or any indication that it was the result of a work of an institution (a taskforce, a committee, anything.)  The vague-as-usual statement mentioned that women who fulfilled their obligation would be demobilized.

Of course, the �obligation� could mean anything they want it to mean.  It could mean women who grew beards while in service. It could mean women who got pregnant twice or those women who fulfilled five-years of slave labor; or those who signed forms forswearing they would not bring charges against their assailants.  It could mean anything. The strings are numerous and the fine print is tiny and the decision is prone to reversal without any explanation.  

How often have they promised to announce (�soon�) the names of those who were killed in the war? Over four years after the initiation of the hostilities, parents and families still await an official announcement while they continue to live in anxiety anticipating the worst news. They still do not know the fate of their loved ones.

Last summer, to deflate the criticism related to the Giffa (rounding up) practices, the government announced it would start (�soon�) the demobilization of conscripts. In an orchestrated play, they even set up registration centers where the soldiers were supposedly being registered to be demobilized. The PFDJ got some mileage from the ploy and to this date, no one has been demobilized.

This is Eritrea in 2003: apart from the few top echelon of the PFDJ, the rest of the population--anyone between 18 and 50--is carrying a gun or working for those who carry the gun. The whole nation became a nation of gun carriers with no one to take care of life outside the military life.

For all their lip service regarding the Hafash, we have a question.  If they so much trust the "Hafash," why don't they arm them and form a militia and see whether the Hafash would use the gun to protect himself from the "axis of belligerence" or from the government that comes to abduct his children?

The announcement for the demobilization of females is meant to divert attention from the exposing of the crimes being committed against women in all parts of Eritrea; mainly in Sawa and in the military services. We would like to believe the demobilization is true. We don't believe a word this government says.  Think of it: why is the PFDJ, which makes strong noises about the equality of men and women, demobilizing only the women and ALL the women?  Why?   When the opposition called for the demobilization of women, they were called jihadists, reactionaries, and backward people who don�t believe in the equality of men and women.  So why aren�t our �progressive�  friends raising questions about why only women are allegedly being demobilized?  

We have lost count of how many promises this government has broken and how many lies it has told.  What makes anyone believe their latest promise? Nothing.  It is probably just a token move to quiet the noisy demands of the donor nations.

You Are Starving & It Is All God's Fault

We have noticed that the PFDJ is qualifying Eritrea�s drought with the word �natural� or �nature-caused.�  By repeating �natural�, they aim to avoid any responsibility in its creation: don�t blame us; blame God.  The truth is that in our case hunger is a natural calamity but bad governance exasperated it. The cause for the current hunger can be traced to Mother Nature and to the PFDJ�s administration of human and environmental resources. We believe that this reoccurring misery has to be defeated by defeating its root cause.

An old Tigrigna song goes: �teKormiKa motye teTeliEka motye�� No human being deserves to go hungry even because of natural causes let alone man-made. The tragedy is that, largely, our problems are man made! The PFDJ type of man. Arrogant as ever, they are even being the cause for the elongation of the sufferings just to satisfy their already bruised ego.

Humanitarian organizations need enough funds from donor nations to combat the current hunger. Provided they are blessed with ample rainfall next rainy season, and hopefully a better government, the situation of Eritreans would improve by October of this year. Until then, it is estimated that Eritrea needs funding to the tune of US$ 80 million.

Africa is littered with hungry nations and NGOs have to compete to raise funds for Southern Africa and the Horn of Africa.  The truth of the matter is that donor nations�which, after all, are governments made up of human beings with memories--are reluctant to help Eritrea because most of them are upset with the Eritrean government.  In short, the Eritrean government is bad for the Eritrean people. For example, the UN�s WFP is facing difficulty in securing pledges for their Eritrean activities because of the bad record of the Eritrean government.  (You can check this for yourself by accessing the WFP website.)  Instead of recognizing this fact and pressuring for the improvement of the human rights record of their government, the �hzbawi mekete� mobs encourage it to continue on its damaging path. In other words, the �hzbawi mekete� mob is also bad for the Eritrean people.

The bad governance of the PFDJ has alienated it from its people inside and the international community. The only open support it has comes from the mobs who do not have any stake in the betterment of human right records in Eritrea. They are the vacation Eritreans who would appreciate a good supply of toy-girls when they visit occasionally. They are concerned with the availability of cheap beer made by the PFDJ concerns. They are interested in the tiny investments that they have in Eritrea facilitated through special favors, corruption and loyalty or as joint venture with the PFDJ conglomerate.   The Vacation Eritreans get excited when they raise Nackfa 100,000 at a fund raising party.  Then they console themselves by saying, "Eritreans are starving and dying but not as quickly and in greater numbers than the Ethiopians.  Victory to the masses!"

Still, we appeal to the donor nations and international NGO�s not to punish Eritreans because of a bad government which is not of their choice anyway. They are suffering under an authoritarian rule and they should not be made to pay for being oppressed. In fact, they should be helped to regain their strength and rid themselves of the repressive regime that is causing them so much agony.

You Are Not Arabs....We Are Just Observing Arabs

This did not even get a one-line in the PFDJ media but, as of last week, Salim Kurdi will represent Eritrea in the Arab league as an observer. (Observer is phase one to the next step, member.)  Yes, the same Arab League that Isaias Afwerki was rambling something about not joining because Eritreans are sure of their identity.  Why wasn�t this announced in the government media?  Well, because the PFDJ had promised it wouldn�t happen.  What will Salim Kurdi achieve in the Arab League?   The goal is some political maneuvering by the PFDJ to break loose from the diplomatic isolation that it is facing.

Isaias was fond of belittling and badmouthing the Arab league whenever he got an opportunity (meaning with whatever time he had left after badmouthing Africans, Americans, Europeans....) According to him, the Arab League is an impotent organization which would not benefit Eritrea. He said that the decision to join the Arab league will made based on Eritrea�s national interest: it will be a political decision and in search of an identity. The PFDJ has not explained why it took the decision to join the Arab League: is it in search of an Arab identity or for a political benefit?

We came to know that this decision was influenced by Isaias� cadres: the PFDJ�s vulgar ambassador to Cairo, Mohammed Omer; the King of the Skunis Club, Abdella Jabir and  the Red Sea Prison Warden, Yousif Saiq.  Their argument won over that of Dihli (in charge of the one-man operation known as the Eritrean Strategic Studies) and Alamin Mohammed Said (the PFDJ Secretary) who last told us that Arabic is used in Eritrea only to announce prayers.  The three argued for joining the Arab League because, they said, they can trump in the game of mischief and treachery and break the regional isolation Eritrea is facing by joining the Arab League. It is meant to out maneuver the opposition forces mainly the ENA, which is fully supported by Yemen, Sudan (both Arab League members) and Ethiopia. The PFDJ boss did his part by visiting high profile Egyptian personalities of the Coptic faith during his last trip to Egypt and making all sorts of promises he has absolutely no intention of keeping.

If the Arab League was an institution with basic democratic principle, it would have put conditions for giving the PFDJ an observer status. They would have at least pressured for the release of the unjustly jailed elders. But then, the jails of all Arab League members are not any better than the PFDJ jails. Maybe Isaias will find several rulers who resemble him; it might turn out to be a perfect club for him.

Efrem Tammeru: Wanted Dead or Alive

A few weeks ago, we mentioned in the Pencil that the PFDJ�s next victim would be the �Amiches�. First an explanation: AMICHE is an Italian abbreviation of the name of an Italo-Ethiopian truck assembling company.  An Italian product assembly in Ethiopia.  The word caught up quickly to explain an Eritrean raised in Ethipia: an AMICHE.  

During the last war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, over seventy thousand such persons were expelled from Ethiopia. Many were born in Ethiopia and are descendants of people who lived in Ethiopia for generations. Some are even descendants of decorated Ethiopian soldiers who fought alongside Haile Sellasie against the Italians occupation of Ethiopia during WW2. Others were new settlers in Ethiopia or Eritreans fleeing Sawa or on their way to migrate to third countries.

Ethiopians of Eritreans heritage and many Eritreans who lived in Ethiopia were well-established hard working people. The strong TPLF/EPLF alliance of 1980s to 1990s misled many Eritreans and they thought that the two countries were entering an everlasting peace and harmony. The issue of determining the citizenship of such persons was not discussed openly, though the two governments agreed on it privately. The persons concerned never were told what was being agreed on their fate. They were given a wrong impression that it was all right to have dual citizenship.

One of the over 25 secret agreements that the EPRDF and PFDJ signed was concerning the citizenship issue. When the war broke between Eritrea and Ethiopia in 1998, the EPRDF maintained that all those who voted for the referendum were Eritreans and started to deport them en masse. Many were caught in the confusion and were wrongly uprooted. Eritrea also started to expel Ethiopians. A humanitarian crisis followed, as people were being victimized and uprooted because the two governments decided to fight. That ugly war cost the two countries over 100,000 lives, millions displaced and millions of dollars worth of property wasted.

Understandably, many Amiches could not integrate into the Eritrean society easily. However, their industriousness made them indispensable to the suffering Eritrean economy. They could not behave similar to their peers who were raised in Eritrea; they were not used to the oppression of the PFDJ and started to rebel and break the laws they thought were unjust. They formed a segment of their own and they earned the enmity of the PFDJ.

As usual, the PFDJ has to have at least one enemy at any given time. The way a perceived enemy is picked as a current target is never clear; but an observer can easily understand who is targeted simply by reading or listening to the speech of the PFDJ mafia boss.

Usually, Isaias casually mentions the next �enemy� in one of his speeches or interviews. Then, the foot soldiers will take it from there and develop it. We came to know of this when the Amiches were being blamed for prostitution, HIV virus, forgery of documents, AWOL (absent without leave) and rebelling against the PFDJs�s oppression. Isaias mentioned �ezom ab baElege hager zAbeyu� in his speech. (Those who grew in the corrupt country) It was obvious who were those who grew in the �corrupt country�. That is how it begun and now we have a situation on our hands where the PFDJ would decide what songs we should listen to. Going by the PFDJ logic, maybe the songs are to blame for all the behaviors of the Amiche.

We believe that the Eritrean culture was overly militarized to the extent that romance, peace and love has disappeared from the Eritrean song writer�s mind. In addition, the PFDJ controls all production and distribution channels: theaters, recording studios, distribution systems, Radio and TV, etc. Any production that does not pass the PFDJ judge's taste and does not carry its militaristic message will not have a chance of succeeding. Artists� creativity was killed and artists were paralyzed. Even legendary singers like Alamin Abdulatif have to appear on stage wearing military camouflage to appease the system. Alamin is a singer who sung Fatna Zahra and aroused the patriotic sentiments of thousands while wearing a civilian cloth. That shows to what extent the Eritrean society has been militarized. Maybe we will hear of Amharic songs going underground and selling for exorbitant prices alongside Qhat and Hashish!

PFDJ Accepting Defeat; Time For A United Opposition

What all of the above tell us is that the PFDJ is admitting failure in combating the activities of the combined opposition. According to the new PFDJ talking points, the opposition is no longer a bunch of traitors or �empty barrels� who can be �counted with the fingers of two hands.�  They are not �irrelevant,�  they are not �hatela tarik.�   Not anymore.

Now the opposition is lethal, capable of transforming Eritrea to Somalia and �we should take extra caution when we perform our activities�. They have started to take the opposition seriously when they discovered that opposition is not a chosen mode of life to many; those in the opposition are struggling simply because they owe it to their people and they owe it to their conscience.

The level of discontent among Eritreans has reached its highest levels. With it, the level of opposition has intensified. Today, the military, the civil servants and other segments of our people are getting organized to rid themselves of tyranny and oppression. The unfortunate squabbles with some opposition groups is just a process that we have to go through. Soon, everything will take a proper shape.

Throughout the last two years, we have been urging Eritreans to associate wherever they are in whatever way they think they will be empowered. Forming groups should not be an objective unless it enables the grouped citizens to retain and reclaim their rights. With the limited resources that we have, it is better that we now aim at convergence.

Groups should identify each other and must unite or at least create a strong structure that enables them to coordinate their efforts more effectively. Resources should be pooled together. Communications should be streamlined and efficient and activities should be project oriented with a clearly set objectives with a time table for achieving them. The Key Word is Convergence. Converge. Converge for success. Converge to empower the Eritrean citizen with his civil, political and natural rights. Converge to empower the Eritrean citizen with his democratic rights.

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