Our Martyrs / ስዉኣትና

Thursday, 19 July 2018 19:35

Isaias out of character: Why Eritreans are getting nervous

Written by Abraham T. Zere

By Abraham T. Zere

In barely the blink of an eye, Eritrea’s unpredictable president has completely reversed his rhetoric of the past two decades.

Ethiopia’s PM Abiy Ahmed and Eritrea’s President Isaias Afewerki at an official dinner in Asmara. Credit: Yemane Gebremeskel, Minister of Information, Eritrea.

In just a few weeks, relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea have not just shifted dramatically but – in many ways – turned upside down.

For two decades, President Isaias Afwerki had demonised Ethiopia, seeing it as an existential threat. He used the supposed Ethiopian menace as a pretext to establish one of the world’s most repressive regimes, ban widespread freedoms, and impose indefinite military conscription. Some of the only bits of music to get official approval from Asmara were toxic war songs that reinforced this all-encompassing enmity on which the nation’s identity was based.

Now, this could not have flipped more completely. In the past month, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Isaias have embraced warmly in both Asmara and Addis Ababa, greeted by huge doting crowds. Eritrean praise-singers have literally changed their tunes to praise peace in Amharic and Tigrinya. Today, the first flight between the two countries in 20 years landed in Asmara, carrying a fully-booked plane that included Ethiopia’s former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

In barely the blink of an eye, full-throated enmity seems to have turned into whole-hearted love – to the extent that hopeful Eritreans, whose lives have long been determined by the mood of one man, are starting to worry.

Given the opaque way in which the regime governs, Eritreans are used to following Isaias’ words and actions carefully in search of any hints. But for even those unaccustomed to observing him, his recent performance in Ethiopia was startlingly. He appeared out of character, praising the leader of his long-time foe excessively, and proclaiming that the two nation’s populations are “one people”. He then remarkably told Abiy “you are our leader” and announced happily to the crowd: “I’ve given him all responsibility of leadership and power”.

It was not long ago that it was almost unthinkable that Isaias – a man who played a leading role in Eritrea’s battle for independence and based his leadership on the need to protect against Ethiopia – might one day shake hands with his counterpart in Addis. But now, some Eritreans are afraid that the president might be about to declare Eritrea reunited with Ethiopia.

Petitions have reportedly been started and demonstrations called. There are claims being circulated on social media that certain army commanders have said that Isaias has compromised Eritrea’s national interest and should not be allowed home.

[Ethiopia-Eritrea peace: Some unanswered questions]

[Resolving the Ethiopia-Eritrea border: What actually needs to be done?]

[Ethiopia and Eritrea: Turning the promise of peace into the real thing]

The unthinkable

Amidst all this uncertainty, one thing that is clear is that the former status quo has been broken. So many of the regime’s actions were justified by referring to Ethiopian hostility, but this pretext no longer exists.

If we are to follow the logic previously laid out by Isaias, Eritrea should now be able to undergo a dramatic and rapid transformation. There have already been some swift changes, such as the opening up of telecommunications and flight routes, but there ought to be much more to come.

There should, in theory, no longer be the need for such a large army and the oppressive system of indefinite military service. Political prisoners and jailed journalists should be freed now they no longer pose a national security threat as the government had claimed. The border should be opened up and trade resumed. And people should be allowed to move freely both within and out of the country.

Eritreans are eagerly listening out for any signs that these moves may be coming, but the government is remaining characteristically quiet on these fronts. If it were to try to resume normal life in the country, however, it would take quite some time. Thanks to the government’s short-sighted and reclusive policies for two decades, the state has been reduced to a mere shell. Institutions have been dismantled over the years and power has been concentrated into the hands of a few. Those with authority are old and incapable of overseeing dynamic change, while the country loses thousands of young people every month as they flee across the border.

If Isaias is genuine in his desire for change, he could use the justification that “new blood” is needed – as he did in 1994 – to overhaul the government, removing senior officials and go after those accused of corruption. He might also place the blame for abuses and mistakes on military commanders and dispose of them. He could try to transfer power to the next generation. But he would face the problem that there is huge gap between the old and young, while decades of alienation have made most people feel like mere observers in their own affairs.

Finally, even with all these changes, the elephant in the room would remain: the same capricious individual responsible for creating one of the world’s most repressive regimes – involving systemic torture, the imprisonment of opponents and much more – would still reign supreme.

In reality, the only way that Eritrea can meaningfully move forwards now is for President Isaias to step down after a quarter of a century in control. If he did take such a courageous step, he might be remembered for playing a positive role in Eritrea’s history. Both of these things seem unthinkable. But recently, the unthinkable has been happening.

Source=http://africanarguments.org/2018/07/18/why-eritrea-nervous-isaias-abiy-ethiopia/

Thursday, 19 July 2018 10:38

ኣቶ ሬድዋን ሑሴን ኣብ ኤርትራ ኣምባሳደር ኢትዮጵያ ኾይኑ ተሸይሙ

Written by BBC

ሬድዋን ሑሴን

ኣቶ ሬድዋን ሑሴን ኣብ ኤርትራ ኣምባሳደር ኢትዮጵያ ኾይኑ ከገልግል ከምዝተሸመ፡ ወሃቢ ቃል ሚኒስትር ጉዳያት ወፃኢ ሎሚ ኣማስዩ ኣፍሊጡ።

ቅድም ኢሉ ኣብ ኣየርላንድ ኣምባሳደር ኢትዮጵያ ኮይኑ ከገልግል ዝፀንሐ ኣቶ ሬድዋን ሑሴን ድሕሪ ዒስራ ዓመት እዩ ናብ ኤርትራ በዓል ሙሉእ ስልጣን ኣምባሳደር ኮይኑ ይኸይድ ዘሎ።

ኣብ 1971 ዓ.ም ኣብ ዞባ ስልጤ ዝተወለደ ኣቶ ሬድዋን ሑሴን፡ ቅድም ክብል ሚኒስትር መናእሰይን ስፖርትን ከምኡ ድማ ብመዓርግ ሚኒስተር ሓላፊ ቤትፅሕፈት ጉዳያት ኮሚዩኒኬሽን መንግስቲ ኮይኑ ሰሪሑ'ዩ።

ዝሓለፈ ሰኑይ ድሕሪ 20 ዓመት ኣብ ኣዲስ ኣበባ ዝነበረ ኤምባሲ ኤርትራ፡ ፕረዚደንት ኢሳይያስ ኣፈወርቂ ኣብ ዝተረኸበሉ እዋን'ኳ እንተተኸፈተ፡ ኤርትራ ክሳብ ሕዚ ኣምባሳደራ ብወግዒ ኣይሸመትን።

ቅድሚ ኩናት ኢትዮ ኤርትራ ንነዊሕ ዓመታት ኣምባሳደር ኢትዮጵያ ኣብ ኤርትራ ኮይኑ ዘገልገለ ኣቶ ኣውዓሎም ወልዱ ምንባሩ ይፍለጥ።

Source=https://www.bbc.com/tigrinya/news-44879888

Thursday, 19 July 2018 10:09

Eritrea-Ethiopia Peace Deal Offers Hope for Reform – Human Rights Watch

Written by Martin Plaut

Maria Burnett

Director, East Africa and the Horn@MariaHRWAfrica

Eritrea and Ethiopia resumed diplomatic and commercial ties after a 20-year-stand off last week. The countries’ leaders signed a declaration that “[a] new era of peace and friendship has . . . opened.”

Now, families long separated by the stalemate can once again speak to one another by phone. These steps received broad international approval, including from the United Nations Security Council, and created optimism in both countries for better times.

Relations between the countries have been frozen since Eritrea attacked Ethiopian troops in the border town of Badme in 1998, launching a two-year border war. Despite a 2002 international boundary commission demarcation that determined Badme was Eritrean territory, Ethiopia refused to implement the decision or cede Badme.

Last weekend’s joint visit between Ethiopian Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy and Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki did not raise any key human rights issues. Hopefully the end of the stand-off will lead to meaningful reforms that will address human rights abuses in both countries.

Eritrea has no constitution, legislature, or independent judiciary. Elections have not been held since independence in 1993. Independent media is outlawed, as are non-governmental organizations. Many political prisoners remain behind bars, including journalists and government officials arrested in 2001 who remain incommunicado. The government interferes in some religious institutions, even arresting their members.

Eritreans are conscripted into indefinite “national service”for military or civil duties – often serving for a decade or more – even though a decree limits service to 18 months. Torture and other abuse during service is common. A UN commission of inquirydescribed Eritrea’s service system as “enslavement.” Afewerki has used what he called “no war, no peace” as justification for indefinite national service and other repression. Now, with peace declared, that illegitimate justification is even more inexcusable.

Though Ethiopia’s new prime minister has announced many reformsand has freed political prisonersin recent months, he has yet to commit to investigations into serious human rights abuses such as the torture of detaineesor extrajudicial killing of protestorsin recent years. Country-wide, entrenched impunity remains the norm among Ethiopian security services. Many laws, including the anti-terrorism law and the Charities and Societies proclamation, should be repealed or significantly amended to protect free expression and critical opinions and eliminate the threat of possible criminal charges.

Both countries should move forward to address these abuses. Now that Eritrea and Ethiopia have finally made peace with each other, it’s high time they each worked to protect the basic rights of their citizens.

Thursday, 19 July 2018 10:00

EPDP Australia Addressed by EC Members; Joins Party Renewal Passion

Written by EPDP Stringer in Australia

Following a chain of meetings with regional and local EPDP chapters in recent weeks, the EPDP leadership took time on 15 July 2018 to address party members in Down Under (Australia) to brief them on latest developments in the political and organizational spheres relevant to Eritrea and the party.

Reaching EPDP members in five urban centres in Australia via electronic media, party chairman, Menghesteab Asmerom, and the head of organizational office, Tesfai Woldemichael (Degiga), made extensive presentations on current affairs and responded to various questions raised during the meeting.

One of the key issues raised and discussed at the meeting was the urgency of strengthening the EPDP to enable it to effectively play its much expected role in the struggle for change in Eritrea and the subsequent hard work in build a state of reliable democratic institutions.

The immediate response was a fund-raising drive started with pledges of six colleagues for $3,500 and the commitment to continue the drive throughout Australia.

It is to be recalled that, during the past three months, substantial amounts were collected in EPDP North America and Europe following the project of funding a successful mission to Israel, and the plan of expanding such missions to regions where Eritreans reside in big numbers.