Source: NU

Ethiopia has extradited a 38-year-old Eritrean to the Netherlands who allegedly smuggled Eritreans from Africa to the Netherlands on a large scale between 2014 and 2020. According to the Public Prosecution Service, the suspect played a leading role in an international people smuggling organization.

According to a reliable source, he is Tewelde Goitom, who arrived at Schiphol on Wednesday morning. He will be arraigned on Thursday before the examining magistrate.

On the way, migrants in Libya were mistreated, tortured and raped, the Public Prosecution Service reports. This happened while the migrants were locked up in camps by the hundreds.

According to the Public Prosecution, several migrants died during the trip to Europe. Family members in the Netherlands would also have been extorted. They had to pay large sums of money to allow an imprisoned relative to continue their journey.

The smugglers then let the migrants cross the Mediterranean to Europe on “crowded and barely seaworthy boats”. Countless people did not survive the sea voyage, according to the Public Prosecution Service.

The Eritrean was arrested in Ethiopia in 2020 and sentenced to 18 years in prison. Because the man partly worked in the Netherlands, the Public Prosecution Service wants to bring him to court here. The Public Prosecution Service also wants to do the same with another human smuggler who was sentenced to life in Ethiopia.


Background – From the Guardian

‘Cruel’ trafficker accused of torturing refugees found guilty in Ethiopia

This article is more than 1 year old

Tewelde Goitom reportedly ran a brutal and lucrative trade extorting migrants desperate to reach Europe from Libya

Witnesses 1
 
Witnesses gather following a hearing in the smuggling trials in Addis Ababa’s federal court in October. Photograph: Sally Hayden
Supported by
guardian.org

About this content

By Kaleab Girma and  in Ethiopia
Fri 30 Apr 2021 06.00 BST
One of north Africa’s most notorious human traffickers, accused of extorting and torturing thousands of refugees and migrants in Libya, has been found guilty on five counts of smuggling and trafficking in Ethiopia.

Tewelde Goitom, known as “Welid”, operated in Libya between roughly 2014 and 2018 and is thought to have been at the heart of a highly lucrative and brutal trade trafficking desperate migrants trying to reach Europe.

Tewelde Goitom
 
 Tewelde Goitom, known as ‘Welid’, is thought to have been at the heart of a highly lucrative trade in people trafficking. Photograph: Handout

Goitom was arrested in Ethiopia in March 2020, one month after one of his co-conspirators, another well-known trafficker, Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam, was also arrested. They are both originally from Eritrea.

The two men shared a compound in Bani Walid, a Libyan town nicknamed the “ghost city” by migrants, because of its lawlessness and the large number of people who disappeared there.

According to dozens of victims, the two traffickers held thousands of migrants captive for ransom.

Habtemariam was detained after an Ethiopian victim, who had returned to Addis Ababa from Libya through a UN repatriation programme, recognised him on the street in early 2020. He was put on trial, but escaped detention in mid-February 2021 before a verdict had been passed. The police officer who was guarding him has been arrested, and Ethiopia’s attorney general’s office said an investigation is ongoing. Habtemariam was later found guilty on eight charges in absentia.

Meron Estefanos, an Eritrean journalist and activist, said the verdict against Goitom should have attracted more attention. “Welid is one of the cruellest human traffickers [and] committed unimaginable crimes against Eritrean refugees. This verdict is significant in sending an unequivocal message to other traffickers that they can’t hide from being apprehended.”

Kidane
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam escaped detention in mid-February. Photograph: Handout

Despite this, she said she has no confidence in the Ethiopian justice system. “I fear that Welid will be able to bribe [them] and run away from prison, like Kidane.”

“It is better if the court transferred him to Europe,” said an Eritrean victim, who said he was held captive by Goitom for six months and forced to pay $3,600 (£2,600) in ransoms. “Since he owns [a] huge amount of money it is simple [for him] to pay [his way out]. That’s why most of us are afraid. He can flee from Ethiopia.”

The witnesses who did testify were all Ethiopian. Some said they were scared for their lives, but desperately wanted justice to be done. Many said they had travelled to Libya because they were promised that they would reach Europe quickly for an agreed fee. Once they got to the north African country, the prices were increased and they realised there was no guarantee they would even be put in a boat to try to cross the Mediterranean Sea.

SOS Méditerranée rescuers
A mayday call, a dash across the Mediterranean … and 130 souls lost at sea
Read more

Instead, they were held in warehouses for as long as 18 months. Each day, they were forced to call their families, who transferred thousands of pounds to Goitom or Habtemariam in order to save their lives. The longer it took to pay, the more they were abused and beaten. Some said their friends were killed or died from medical neglect.

“I was close to losing my sanity,” said one man who testified in court. “My friend attempted to hang himself. We were hopeless and surrounded by concrete and snipers.”

In court, victims said the two traffickers forced captives to play football matches against each other and shot at players who missed goals.

5760
 
 
 
 
 A victim shows a scar from his time with smugglers in Libya. Photograph: Sally Hayden

Witnesses in both trials said they were offered bribes not to testify. A musician and alleged associate of Habtemariam’s, Ethiopian singer-songwriter Tarekegn Mulu, has since been arrested and accused of attempting to pressure witnesses.

The Guardian requested an interview with Goitom but the request was declined.

Goitom was convicted under the name Amanuel Yirga Damte, which victims say is a false identity. He will be sentenced on 21 May.

 

 

Martin Plaut

Oct 5

Talks mediated by Olusegun Obasanjo, Uhuru Kenyatta and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka are scheduled for the 8th of October. Only the Ethiopians and Tigrayans invited - not Eritrea. [See below with letter]

The background

Remember that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde agreed to appoint three African Union mediators to end the war when it erupted in November 2020 - nearly two years ago. They appointed former President of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano, former President of Liberia Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, and former President of South Africa Kgalema Motlanthe as special envoys of the AU entrusted to facilitate negotiations between parties to end the conflict in Ethiopia.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed immediately rejected the agreement. The result? Two years of war in which over 250,000 have died.

Source: Reuters

African Union invites Ethiopia's warring parties to peace talks -letter

By Giulia Paravicini

A satellite image shows the mobilization of military forces in the town of Shiraro, Tigray region, Ethiopia, September 26, 2022. Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS.

NAIROBI, Oct 5 (Reuters) - The African Union has invited Ethiopia's government and rival Tigray forces to peace talks in South Africa this weekend aimed at ending a two-year conflict, in a letter seen by Reuters.

Three diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed the authenticity of the Oct. 1 letter, written by AU Commission Chair Moussa Faki to Debretsion Gebremichael, who leads Tigray's ruling political party.

One of the sources said neither side had yet confirmed its participation.

Contacted by Reuters, Getachew Reda, a spokesman for Debretsion Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) said he was not aware of imminent talks.

There were no immediate responses to requests for comment from Ethiopian government spokesperson Legesse Tulu, the prime minister's national security adviser, Redwan Hussein, and the prime minister's spokesperson, Billene Seyoum.

The beginning of the end for the PFDJ in Norway

Friday, 09 September 2022 11:35 Written by

300 Norwegian Eritreans are happy and proud to be part of an historic event. They believe that this victory is the beginning of the end of PFDJ.

For 20 years, Eritreans have been blackmailed for money by the dictator in Eritrea via associations that collaborate with the regime.
There are close to 30,000 Eritreans living in Norway today. The report “Pressure and Control” by Norwegian the government shows that the Norwegian-Eritreans have been controlled and divided via regime-friendly churches and associations.
“The Eritrean association in Oslo and the surrounding areas” is a good example of this.
They rented Ekeberghallen and invited a so-called cultural Eritrean Festival on 3 September. But the Festival was canceled by the Oslo Eritrean Association after protests from angry Eritrean youth.
The Eritrean Festival has been cancelled by angry youths in all 7 cities the organisation has visited in Europe!
Their festival has been labelled a “HateFestival” because they talk and sing political propaganda in favour of the dictatorship in Eritrea; for Putin’s war in Ukraine, and also make hateful statements against Tigray and against regime-critical Eritreans!
“Enough is Enough”, is what young people are now chanting. They managed to flee across the Mediterranean with their lives at stake. But In the EU and Norway, they were found by associations and churches praising the dictator they had fled from and and a festival and that pays tribute to Putin for the war in Ukraine. This must end!
MP Ola Elvestuen (Liberal) met about 300 Eritrean young people from Tromsø, Bodø, Trondheim, Ålesund, Bergen, Stavanger, Southern Norway and Eastern Norway!
In a passionate speech to the young Eritreans he explained that he had sent written questions to Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl. But the answer he received was that the Minister of Justice could do no more than ask Eritreans who had problems to ask to the police for help.  He thought this was a weak reply and Elvestuen says he will follow up the matter in the Storting (Parlement) in the autumn.
Then there was a victory rally on the stairs at Jernbanetorget!
Ole Elvestuen believed that this expulsion of a Hatfestival in Norway and the EU marks a “time difference and is only the beginning to a better future for the Eritreans in Norway and the EU”. Eritreans applauded and many know they have made a new friend in the Parliament.
In the evening, the whole group celebrated for this historic event with Eritrean music food and dance! “This is the beginning of the end,” they say.
Now Pfdj – the dictator’s long arm into Norway will be crushed with the help of the power of the Storting (parliament), say the 300 victorious Eritrean youths.
The case of Eritrea shows that totalitarian systems are inherently toxic, and that no amount of “engagement” will change them.

Totalitarianism Is Still With Us

The case of Eritrea shows that totalitarian systems are inherently toxic, and that no amount of “engagement” will change them.

Source The Atlantic       

By Steve Walker

SEPTEMBER 5, 2022

There was only one surprise in the vote tally for a United Nations General Assembly resolution in March condemning Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. As a wholly owned Vladimir Putin subsidiary, Belarus naturally followed instructions from headquarters; Syria’s “no” vote was repayment to the capo dei capi in Moscow for his regime-saving military support; and of course North Korea voted no. But Eritrea? Why would a little country in the Horn of Africa with no significant ties or obligations to Russia choose, at such a highly charged geopolitical moment, to give the finger to established norms of international behavior, in the process incurring irreversible reputational damage while seemingly gaining nothing?

The case of Eritrea is worth considering because, like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it reminds us of a lesson the West should not forget as it navigates“post-truth” geopolitics: that totalitarian systems are inherently toxic and by their very nature destabilizing, and that no amount of “engagement” will change them.

I,like all first-time visitors to Eritrea’s capital, was charmed by Asmara when I arrived as the new chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in 2019. The streets are immaculate; thanks to its Art Deco architecture, a living legacy of the Italian colonial period, the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; the weather is perfect.

But in truth Eritrea is a human-rights house of horrors. Dissent is illegal. There is no independent press. Under compulsory, indefinite national service, citizens are conscripted or assigned to civilian jobs. The country has never held a national election. Eritreans live in a state of perpetual fear: Secret police and informers proliferate; arrests are arbitrary; citizens are routinely detained but not told on what charge, and the lucky ones who are released are given no reason for their freedom and are told to keep silent. Thanks to “revolutionary” economic policies, Eritrea is poor, has no infrastructure to speak of and thus no realistic hope for economic development, and is chronically food insecure. Before the coronavirus pandemic and the conflict in northern Ethiopia made cross-border travel impossible, hundreds of Eritreans fled their country every day.

From the May 1988 issue: The loneliest war

The regime’s desire for total control—“social mobilization” justified by an eternal state of emergency—pervades all sectors of Eritrean society. Citizens wishing to go abroad must get an exit visa; those traveling within the country must have “circulation papers” and produce them for armed soldiers at checkpoints along the way. There are four recognized religions; all other worship is illegal. Eritreans are allowed to withdraw only the equivalent of $330 a month from their bank accounts, and they must do this in person at bank branches because there are no ATMs in Eritrea and online banking does not exist. I wanted to visit a privately owned dairy last spring but was told that this would require a written invitation from the dairy, which then had to be sent to the Ministry of Agriculture for approval, then sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which would decide whether to issue a travel permit. Evil may be banal, but in Eritrea, it is also ridiculous.

Eritrea didn’t exist when Jeane Kirkpatrick, a former diplomat and political scientist, wrote her classic “Dictatorships and Double Standards,” but the pariah state that today haunts the Horn of Africa confirms her essay’s contention that totalitarian systems are more pernicious than authoritarian ones, ideologically constructed in a way that precludes liberalization, and inevitably destabilizing. I read Kirkpatrick’s essay in graduate school. I forgot its important lessons.

Instead, I recall with not a little embarrassment that I arrived in Asmara eager to “constructively engage” and optimistic that, through hard work and patience, I could improve ties between the U.S. and Eritrea. I was not alone in this newbie enthusiasm: Many a diplomat accredited to Eritrea has arrived brimming with energy and ambition only to depart a few years later frustrated, exhausted, and with little to show in terms of tangible achievements. My time in Eritrea was eventful, encompassing the coronavirus pandemic, the civil-war-like conflict in northern Ethiopia, and a drastic deterioration in our bilateral relationship. The experience was an education in the unique challenges that totalitarian systems pose. As a foreign-policy practitioner, I arrived at a number of conclusions about dealing with totalitarian states that are, in essence, a set of practical diplomatic corollaries to Kirkpatrick’s conceptual framework. (These represent my own views, not necessarily those of the Department of State.)

1: Diplomatic engagement with totalitarian states is futile. The Eritrean regime loves to “engage”—to participate in and publicize talks and meetings that give the impression of openness and reasonability. During these interactions, however, Eritrean officials make clear to their foreign interlocutors that the regime will, as they told one of my colleagues, “compromise on process but not on principles.” In other words, you can “engage” indefinitely, but nothing is going to stop the regime from terrorizing and impoverishing its people, or destabilizing the region. (It has for decades intervened in, or triggered, conflicts and civil wars in neighboring states.) There is a natural tendency among diplomats, in Washington and elsewhere, to favor engagement. This is understandable, but potentially dangerous because engagement, if not carefully calibrated, risks legitimizing totalitarian regimes. The U.S., like-minded countries, and the UN should continue to deal with Eritrea, and even cooperate on issues of mutual interest, but this should be tactical interaction subordinate to a strategic appreciation that the regime is inimical, if not hostile, to our interests and values.

2: We should support oppressed populations by acknowledging their lived reality. Totalitarian regimes aren’t satisfied with political control. They demand the pervasive control that can only come by determining the “truth.” According to the carefully curated narrative propagated by the Ministry of Information, Eritrea is an African David engaged in a righteous fight for its dignity and survival against a U.S.-led Western Goliath that “weaponizes” human rights. In this telling, the government and people, united as one, have achieved social justice, national self-reliance, and ethnic and religious harmony. In fact, Eritrea is a human-rights-abusing geriatric dictatorship dominated by Tigrigna Orthodox Christians that is totally dependent on borrowing from foreigners. The U.S. may not be able to rescue the Eritrean people, or any other people living under totalitarian dictatorships, but by providing accurate information and diverse views, it can empower them by thwarting regime efforts to control perception. Many Eritreans have told American diplomats that our human-rights advocacy has given a voice to the voiceless. That is what American diplomacy should seek to do. To its credit, the Biden administration recognizes this. Speaking in Pretoria on August 8, Secretary of State Blinken stressed the U.S. commitment to work with African “partners to tackle 21st century threats to democracy like misinformation, digital surveillance, [and] weaponized corruption” through diplomatic support, including hosting the African Leaders Summit this December, as well as financial assistance under the bipartisan Global Fragility Act, which provides $200 million annually to promote reform and good governance in conflict-prone areas.

3. Confrontation is necessary and appropriate. Totalitarian systems need to have an enemy; foreign (usually Western) hostility justifies their repression. We should unapologetically but not hostilely counter totalitarian regimes’ efforts to propagate misinformation, legitimize their repression, and misrepresent Western policies. I decided last fall that we had for too long given the Eritrean propaganda machine a free pass. This neglect had normalized the regime’s human-rights abuses and propaganda. We began countering the regime’s disinformation, especially anti-American propaganda emanating from the information minister’s Twitter feed, on our embassy Facebook page. Public diplomacy typically seeks to focus on “positive” stories. In the case of totalitarian regimes, we should not be fearful of disciplined confrontation. In Eritrea, that approach worked.

4.Totalitarian states are inherently destabilizing and should be isolated and containedTotalitarian regimes are cancers in the international body politic. It is in their DNA to metastasize. Eritrea is a regional menace. Its decades of destabilizing belligerence—including the Hanish Islands dispute with Yemen in 1995; interference in the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1996–98; the border war with Ethiopia in 1998–2000; border skirmishes with Djibouti in 2008; and alleged assistance to the terrorist al-Shabaab group in Somalia in the mid-2000s—led to UN sanctions in 2009 and 2011. Eritrea’s current military involvement in the conflict in northern Ethiopia, during which Eritrean forces have reportedly lootedand committed horrific human-rights abuses, including sexual violence, against civilians, has complicated efforts to stop the fighting and exacerbated an already dire humanitarian crisis. We must accept that with totalitarian regimes, aggression is a question of when, not if, and tailor our diplomatic approaches and calculations accordingly. Our current Eritrea policy of sanctions and isolation is a good template for dealing with totalitarian regimes. We may not be able to stop their aggression, but we can try to contain it.

The answer to the question I opened with—why did Eritrea vote “no” on the UN resolutions condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a vote that the information minister, out-Orwelling Orwell, described as “a demonstration of [Eritrea’s] uncompromising stand for peace”?—is that it wanted to punish the U.S. for American sanctions imposed on Eritrea last fall when diplomatic engagement failed to persuade the regime to withdraw its forces from northern Ethiopia. That this came at the expense of fundamental international principles, contradicted Eritrea’s previous public positions, and confirmed Eritrea’s pariah status appears not to have mattered to the Eritrean leadership. This is another aspect of totalitarian regimes: Many are led by mercurial, paranoid, and grievance-nursing sociopaths. Our expectations of success in engaging with people like this should be modest.

The point I’m trying to make here is that totalitarianism is still with us, and still evil. The assumptions that underpin traditional notions of diplomacy as the collegial resolution of competing interests do not apply to totalitarian states. My time in Eritrea taught me that confrontation, and not compromise, is the best approach when dealing with these kinds of regimes.

From the December 2021 issue: The bad guys are winning

We diplomats like to think that no problem is too big that it can’t be managed by thoughtful engagement and negotiation. Often that approach is the right one. But it won’t work with the Eritreas of the world. We need to be intellectually prepared for the coming challenges of the emerging international dynamics. When someone shows you who they are, Maya Angelou once warned, believe them the first time. As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine wakes us up to the continuing relevance of the lessons we learned during the Cold War, we would all do well to heed her advice.

Steve Walker is a former chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Asmara, Eritrea.

Totalitarianism Is Still With Us

Wednesday, 07 September 2022 02:39 Written by

https://www.theatlantic.com/

Totalitarianism Is Still With Us

The case of Eritrea shows that totalitarian systems are inherently toxic, and that no amount of “engagement” will change them.                       

By Steve Walker

SEPTEMBER 5, 2022, 6 AM ET

There was only one surprise in the vote tally for a United Nations General Assembly resolution in March condemning Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. As a wholly owned Vladimir Putin subsidiary, Belarus naturally followed instructions from headquarters; Syria’s “no” vote was repayment to the capo dei capi in Moscow for his regime-saving military support; and of course North Korea voted no. But Eritrea? Why would a little country in the Horn of Africa with no significant ties or obligations to Russia choose, at such a highly charged geopolitical moment, to give the finger to established norms of international behavior, in the process incurring irreversible reputational damage while seemingly gaining nothing?

The case of Eritrea is worth considering because, like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it reminds us of a lesson the West should not forget as it navigates“post-truth” geopolitics: that totalitarian systems are inherently toxic and by their very nature destabilizing, and that no amount of “engagement” will change them.

I,like all first-time visitors to Eritrea’s capital, was charmed by Asmara when I arrived as the new chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in 2019. The streets are immaculate; thanks to its Art Deco architecture, a living legacy of the Italian colonial period, the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; the weather is perfect.

But in truth Eritrea is a human-rights house of horrors. Dissent is illegal. There is no independent press. Under compulsory, indefinite national service, citizens are conscripted or assigned to civilian jobs. The country has never held a national election. Eritreans live in a state of perpetual fear: Secret police and informers proliferate; arrests are arbitrary; citizens are routinely detained but not told on what charge, and the lucky ones who are released are given no reason for their freedom and are told to keep silent. Thanks to “revolutionary” economic policies, Eritrea is poor, has no infrastructure to speak of and thus no realistic hope for economic development, and is chronically food insecure. Before the coronavirus pandemic and the conflict in northern Ethiopia made cross-border travel impossible, hundreds of Eritreans fled their country every day.

The regime’s desire for total control—“social mobilization” justified by an eternal state of emergency—pervades all sectors of Eritrean society. Citizens wishing to go abroad must get an exit visa; those traveling within the country must have “circulation papers” and produce them for armed soldiers at checkpoints along the way. There are four recognized religions; all other worship is illegal. Eritreans are allowed to withdraw only the equivalent of $330 a month from their bank accounts, and they must do this in person at bank branches because there are no ATMs in Eritrea and online banking does not exist. I wanted to visit a privately owned dairy last spring but was told that this would require a written invitation from the dairy, which then had to be sent to the Ministry of Agriculture for approval, then sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which would decide whether to issue a travel permit. Evil may be banal, but in Eritrea, it is also ridiculous.

Eritrea didn’t exist when Jeane Kirkpatrick, a former diplomat and political scientist, wrote her classic “Dictatorships and Double Standards,” but the pariah state that today haunts the Horn of Africa confirms her essay’s contention that totalitarian systems are more pernicious than authoritarian ones, ideologically constructed in a way that precludes liberalization, and inevitably destabilizing. I read Kirkpatrick’s essay in graduate school. I forgot its important lessons.

Instead, I recall with not a little embarrassment that I arrived in Asmara eager to “constructively engage” and optimistic that, through hard work and patience, I could improve ties between the U.S. and Eritrea. I was not alone in this newbie enthusiasm: Many a diplomat accredited to Eritrea has arrived brimming with energy and ambition only to depart a few years later frustrated, exhausted, and with little to show in terms of tangible achievements. My time in Eritrea was eventful, encompassing the coronavirus pandemic, the civil-war-like conflict in northern Ethiopia, and a drastic deterioration in our bilateral relationship. The experience was an education in the unique challenges that totalitarian systems pose. As a foreign-policy practitioner, I arrived at a number of conclusions about dealing with totalitarian states that are, in essence, a set of practical diplomatic corollaries to Kirkpatrick’s conceptual framework. (These represent my own views, not necessarily those of the Department of State.)

1: Diplomatic engagement with totalitarian states is futile. The Eritrean regime loves to “engage”—to participate in and publicize talks and meetings that give the impression of openness and reasonability. During these interactions, however, Eritrean officials make clear to their foreign interlocutors that the regime will, as they told one of my colleagues, “compromise on process but not on principles.” In other words, you can “engage” indefinitely, but nothing is going to stop the regime from terrorizing and impoverishing its people, or destabilizing the region. (It has for decades intervened in, or triggered, conflicts and civil wars in neighboring states.) There is a natural tendency among diplomats, in Washington and elsewhere, to favor engagement. This is understandable, but potentially dangerous because engagement, if not carefully calibrated, risks legitimizing totalitarian regimes. The U.S., like-minded countries, and the UN should continue to deal with Eritrea, and even cooperate on issues of mutual interest, but this should be tactical interaction subordinate to a strategic appreciation that the regime is inimical, if not hostile, to our interests and values.

2. We should support oppressed populations by acknowledging their lived reality. Totalitarian regimes aren’t satisfied with political control. They demand the pervasive control that can only come by determining the “truth.” According to the carefully curated narrative propagated by the Ministry of Information, Eritrea is an African David engaged in a righteous fight for its dignity and survival against a U.S.-led Western Goliath that “weaponizes” human rights. In this telling, the government and people, united as one, have achieved social justice, national self-reliance, and ethnic and religious harmony. In fact, Eritrea is a human-rights-abusing geriatric dictatorship dominated by Tigrigna Orthodox Christians that is totally dependent on borrowing from foreigners. The U.S. may not be able to rescue the Eritrean people, or any other people living under totalitarian dictatorships, but by providing accurate information and diverse views, it can empower them by thwarting regime efforts to control perception. Many Eritreans have told American diplomats that our human-rights advocacy has given a voice to the voiceless. That is what American diplomacy should seek to do. To its credit, the Biden administration recognizes this. Speaking in Pretoria on August 8, Secretary of State Blinken stressed the U.S. commitment to work with African “partners to tackle 21st century threats to democracy like misinformation, digital surveillance, [and] weaponized corruption” through diplomatic support, including hosting the African Leaders Summit this December, as well as financial assistance under the bipartisan Global Fragility Act, which provides $200 million annually to promote reform and good governance in conflict-prone areas.

3. Confrontation is necessary and appropriate. Totalitarian systems need to have an enemy; foreign (usually Western) hostility justifies their repression. We should unapologetically but not hostilely counter totalitarian regimes’ efforts to propagate misinformation, legitimize their repression, and misrepresent Western policies. I decided last fall that we had for too long given the Eritrean propaganda machine a free pass. This neglect had normalized the regime’s human-rights abuses and propaganda. We began countering the regime’s disinformation, especially anti-American propaganda emanating from the information minister’s Twitter feed, on our embassy Facebook page. Public diplomacy typically seeks to focus on “positive” stories. In the case of totalitarian regimes, we should not be fearful of disciplined confrontation. In Eritrea, that approach worked.

4. Totalitarian states are inherently destabilizing and should be isolated and containedTotalitarian regimes are cancers in the international body politic. It is in their DNA to metastasize. Eritrea is a regional menace. Its decades of destabilizing belligerence—including the Hanish Islands dispute with Yemen in 1995; interference in the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1996–98; the border war with Ethiopia in 1998–2000; border skirmishes with Djibouti in 2008; and alleged assistance to the terrorist al-Shabaab group in Somalia in the mid-2000s—led to UN sanctions in 2009 and 2011. Eritrea’s current military involvement in the conflict in northern Ethiopia, during which Eritrean forces have reportedly looted and committed horrific human-rights abuses, including sexual violence, against civilians, has complicated efforts to stop the fighting and exacerbated an already dire humanitarian crisis. We must accept that with totalitarian regimes, aggression is a question of when, not if, and tailor our diplomatic approaches and calculations accordingly. Our current Eritrea policy of sanctions and isolation is a good template for dealing with totalitarian regimes. We may not be able to stop their aggression, but we can try to contain it.

The answer to the question I opened with—why did Eritrea vote “no” on the UN resolutions condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a vote that the information minister, out-Orwelling Orwell, described as “a demonstration of [Eritrea’s] uncompromising stand for peace”?—is that it wanted to punish the U.S. for American sanctions imposed on Eritrea last fall when diplomatic engagement failed to persuade the regime to withdraw its forces from northern Ethiopia. That this came at the expense of fundamental international principles, contradicted Eritrea’s previous public positions, and confirmed Eritrea’s pariah status appears not to have mattered to the Eritrean leadership. This is another aspect of totalitarian regimes: Many are led by mercurial, paranoid, and grievance-nursing sociopaths. Our expectations of success in engaging with people like this should be modest.

The point I’m trying to make here is that totalitarianism is still with us, and still evil. The assumptions that underpin traditional notions of diplomacy as the collegial resolution of competing interests do not apply to totalitarian states. My time in Eritrea taught me that confrontation, and not compromise, is the best approach when dealing with these kinds of regimes.

We diplomats like to think that no problem is too big that it can’t be managed by thoughtful engagement and negotiation. Often that approach is the right one. But it won’t work with the Eritreas of the world. We need to be intellectually prepared for the coming challenges of the emerging international dynamics. When someone shows you who they are, Maya Angelou once warned, believe them the first time. As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine wakes us up to the continuing relevance of the lessons we learned during the Cold War, we would all do well to heed her advice.

Steve Walker is a former chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Asmara, Eritrea.

Source: Totalitarianism Is Still With Us, and Still Evil - The Atlantic

Source: EEPA

Admin, 1 September 2022

In the last month, the long arm of the Eritrean regime has organised a series of ‘festivals’ and ‘seminars’ promoted as cultural events. On the basis of previous events that have been organised many perceive that the events promote hate speech and incite violence. They have fuelled pushback in the form of protests, legal action and letters from Eritreans in the diaspora and allies opposing the violent message of the Eritrean regime. A new festival was organised in secrecy in Switzerland last weekend, 27 August 2022, and another event was announced in Germany on 3 September – of which the cancellation was announced yesterday, 31 August.

The festivals are organised by representatives (including embassies) of the ruling and only party in Eritrea, the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), and its youth-wing, YPFDJ. It is the political organisation that controls Eritrea and has a granular presence abroad to control the Eritrean diaspora. It is referred to as HEGDEF or HGDEF by members of the Eritrean diaspora, or Shabia, mostly used to refer to its presence in Eritrea.

The tour of festivals comes as the Tigray region of Ethiopia has been under siege for 22 months. Eritrea is seen as an important actor in the conflict. This causes additional tensions around these events, including in the Tigray diaspora.

Hate speech and violent symbolism

Central to the tour of events organised by the PFDJ is Awel Seid, presented as a songwriter and poet. In his videos and texts, diasporas from Eritrea and Tigray indicate that he glorifies war and violence, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He praises the Eritrean military, shows graphic images of civilian killings [4.50 minute mark] and dehumanises Tigrayans, endorsing Eritrea’s invasion of Tigray. These examples are experienced as hate speech.

On a festival held in Switzerland on 23 July 2022, men can be seen dancing in the audience and on stage in military outfits, holding Kalashnikovs [for example around the 3:11:45 mark]. In addition, the video shows that money is collected during the festival. According to Eritrean regime-controlled media Shabait, the festival also included some words from officials: “Ms. Asmeret Abraha [Governor of the Northern Red Sea Region] also gave extensive briefing on the objective situation in the homeland, future programs as well as regional developments.” In addition, Adm Osman, Charge d’Affairs at the Eritrean Embassy in Switzerland, led the festival. The men holding – if not real then very realistic – Kalashnikovs was of no apparent concern to the Charge d’Affairs nor others, including the very present security.

Push-backs from diaspora, human rights activists and allies

For the persons that fled from Eritrea’s military service and the repressions of the regime, the festivals are seen as propaganda events and are a symbol of the continuation of the repression they fled from. Pushback against the festivals has been accompanied by direct threats of regime supports to protesters and other experts and activists coming to their support. This includes threats to family members back home in Eritrea.

Letters warning of the danger

A letter by a concerned group of experts outlined that the festival announced in Germany on 20 August is directly tied to repression faced by Eritrean refugees that have fled the country. Furthermore, warn the experts, the funds collected in the festivals and others like it may well go on to fund the Eritrean military invasion of Tigray.

The Eritrean diaspora petitioned the court to stop the festival organised in Germany on 20 August 2022. The German court, however, allowed the event to continue on the basis of protecting freedom of expression. Thus, a protest was organised at the event – which turned violent. Finally, the event was called off by the police in light of the danger of further escalation. Although a new festival was announced for 3 September, this was also cancelled just a few days before it was set to take place.

Peaceful protests

In Switzerland, the Eritrean diaspora peacefully protested a festival announced to take place on 27 August 2022. The protests were accompanied by petitions and a letter that organised peaceful protests and solidarity. The peaceful protests took place across several cities, as the location of the venue of the event was kept secret. Buses were organised to take those registered by phone to an undisclosed location. Neither Swiss authorities nor the diaspora knew where it took place – if it took place at all.

Festivals and seminars cancelled

Before the cancellation of the event in Germany on 27 August due to violence, other countries have cancelled the festivals before they took place. The municipality of Rijswijk in the Netherlands decided to cancel the event as they had not asked for permission. The municipality, in deliberation with the police, also found that the appropriate safety measures had not been taken. The festival was moved last-minute to Beverwijk, another municipality in the Netherlands, but the municipality was granted an emergency ordinance to stop it.

An event set for 3 September 2022 in Norway was also cancelled. Authorities in Norway are investigating people that participate in these festivals. 150 Eritrean refugees that attended a similar festival celebrating the Eritrean national service in August 2019 were investigated. This resulted in the withdrawal of 13 residence permits.

Another event planned in the UK on 4 September was also cancelled.

Experts indicate that the festivals link to the widespread Eritrean diaspora’s wish to celebrate their culture, music and community. However, in doing so, the festivals also serve as a tool for the Eritrean regime to establish itself financially, organise propaganda and promote perceived hate speech against Eritrean opposition and Tigrayans, they indicated. This argumentation can be seen at the core of the pushback against such events.

The Eritrean regime organizes controversial propaganda events in Switzerland. The opposition is trying to prevent this, the police are alarmed. 

Source: NZZ Magazine

By George Humbel08/27/2022, 9:45 p.m
PFDJ Festival Valais Switzerland

The whole thing doesn’t look like a peaceful cultural festival. A band is playing on stage. But the dancers next to the musicians are wearing battle gear. The two men in army uniforms wield rather real-looking submachine guns. They clench their fists again and again and hold their Kalashnikovs in the air in a victory pose. There is a tent next to the stage, also here people in uniform. They praise the struggle of the Eritrean military and call for donations for the “martyrs”.

These pictures were not taken on the Horn of Africa – but this summer in a multi-purpose hall in Conthey near Sitten in Valais. The whole thing was actually camouflaged as a cultural festival. But in fact it was a propaganda event by supporters of the Eritrean regime. Several senior officials were flown in as guests of honor. The Eritrean ambassador acted as the host. You can see all of this on a YouTube video.

What is made public afterwards is top secret in advance. This also applies to the event that was supposed to take place yesterday, Saturday. The fear of riots at the festival is too great, too great the fear that the authorities could ban such events.

And rightly so: there are regular riots and police operations. The Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) writes: The past has shown “that there is a certain potential for violence and riots are possible”.

It is an expression of the deep ditch that the diaspora goes through. It is mainly Eritreans who fled in the 1980s who are still ardent supporters of the founder of the state, Isaias Afewerki. To this older generation, he is a freedom hero who fought for the country’s independence. It doesn’t matter to them that elections have never taken place and that the human rights situation is miserable.

Those who fled the Afewerkis regime in the 2000s see things very differently. They have experienced oppression and poverty in the supposed paradise themselves and are fighting against the government.

So did Habteab Yemane. He left the country in 2016. The former law lecturer and judge now lives in Switzerland as a recognized refugee. It is a slap in the face for him and his comrades-in-arms that the dictator’s supporters can hold such events. “This is an abuse of freedom of speech and assembly,” he says. The opposition leader’s phone has been ringing every minute for the past few days.

Playing cat and mouse

Only a few knew where this Saturday’s event was to take place. Eritreans loyal to the regime and presumably the Eritrean ambassador to Switzerland Adem Osman organized it. The regime holds such festivals every summer. Selected artists tour Western Europe. They play in Stockholm, London, Bologna – everywhere where there are many Eritreans who have fled.

Yemane and his comrades tried to prevent the festival. They spoke to the police, they wrote a letter to Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter, and they started a petition. They threatened to demonstrate on site if the event did take place. “Peaceful,” as Yemane emphasizes.

The venue of the event was kept secret until the last minute. On Saturday, buses were waiting for the participants at the meeting points. Only those who had registered were allowed to board.

But the authorities and the opposition have had their hands tied in recent days. If only because the venue of the event remained secret until the last minute. The organizers acted clandestinely. On Saturday, buses were waiting for the participants at collection points. As stated on previously distributed flyers, admission was limited: Only those who had registered by telephone were allowed to board. The Eritreans, who are loyal to the regime, wanted to prevent the opposition from disrupting the event.

The example of Giessen in Germany shows how tense the mood within the diaspora is. A big event was supposed to take place in the Hessian city a week ago. It ended with an outbreak of violence: members of the opposition tried to storm the hall. More than 200 people fought a mass brawl. The opponents attacked each other with iron bars, in the midst of an overwhelmed police force. 33 people, including seven police officers, were injured. The incident made headlines across Germany.

The Netherlands is also a key stop on the Eritrean regime’s annual propaganda tour. But the country banned the event this summer. The authorities feared calls for violence and raised security concerns.

In Switzerland, both sides have been playing a cat-and-mouse game in the past few days. Yemane spent nights in front of the screen, searching social media for clues to the venue. Comrades-in-arms reported constantly with rumours. His cell phone kept beeping. New rumour, denials, another new rumour, another denial. It went like that for hours.

The conference of cantonal justice and police directors (KKJPD) also followed the developments. “We have informed our members and the police corps that such an event is planned,” said General Secretary Florian Düblin.

Foreign exchange for Asmara

The Dutch professor Mirjam van Reisen is a proven Eritrea expert. She says these festivals are the “long arm of Afewerkis” in the West. The collected donations are a source of foreign currency for the isolated regime. In addition to the donations, the country also lives from the diaspora tax. All Eritreans living abroad are obliged to pay two percent of their income to the state.

This is encouraged at the festivals. “These are definitely not cultural events,” says van Reisen. She is in favor of a ban like the Netherlands has enacted. In addition to the money, Asmara is primarily concerned with showing the strength and influence of the regime. The choice of artists is also highly political.

The poet Awel Said was announced for the event on Saturday in Switzerland. He is considered the chief propagandist and likes to show himself together with the head of state Afewerki. His speeches are tirades delivered in aggressive staccato against all supposed opponents of the regime. Said rails against the West, against the USA and the people of the Tigray.

The Eritrean army is waging war against so-called Tigray rebels in neighboring Ethiopia. Awel Said glorifies this war and calls the Tigray an inferior people. According to van Reisen, this war is also the reason for the extremely heated atmosphere on both sides.

Last week, NZZ Magazin tried several times in writing and by telephone to contact the Eritrean mission in Geneva. This was not available and did not answer any inquiries.

Waiting and staring at the phone, drinking coffee. Even on Saturday evening, Yemane and his comrades-in-arms didn’t know the venue. A demo on site was impossible. Instead, they gathered in Bern, Geneva and Zurich for small silent marches.

The secrecy tactics of the supporters loyal to the regime paid off this weekend.

The secrecy tactics of the supporters loyal to the regime paid off this weekend. Or the event didn’t take place after all. The opposition suspects that the event was ultimately held on a smaller scale on private property. Maybe you will see it later on social networks. The pro-regime movement has its own media service that produces images and videos.

The embassy is also busy filming and taking photos. Some of these images are broadcast on Eritrean TV. The state news agency also reports on the festivals. In this way, the regime wants to show its own population how much Isaias Afewerki is celebrated abroad.

Visit from Asmara: State secretaries receive Eritrea’s number two

It was a discreet but top-class meeting: As research shows, the Eritrean presidential adviser Yemane Gebreab was in Bern on October 18, 2021. Gebreab is considered the closest associate of the Eritrean dictator Isaias Afewerki and the second most powerful man in Eritrea.

It was a “polite visit”, writes the foreign department EDA on request. The meeting was suggested by the Eritrean side. According to information from the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Presidential Advisor’s reception lasted half an hour and took place in a meeting room of the FDFA. However, the Swiss delegation was important for such a short courtesy visit: Livia Leu and the then head of migration Mario Gattiker, two state secretaries took time for the guest from Eritrea.

The Swiss Refugee Aid (SFH) sharply criticizes the visit: “From the point of view of the SFH, it is incomprehensible that the reception took place at a time when Eritrean troops were deployed in the Tigray region.” A civil war has been raging in neighboring Ethiopia since 2020. Eritrean troops repeatedly take part in the fighting. According to the refugee agency, the Eritrean soldiers are accused of war crimes and alleged crimes against humanity.

The Department of Foreign Affairs countered the criticism. Such contacts would allow important points to be raised. State Secretary Leu “urgently” called for compliance with international humanitarian law. In addition to the war, the meeting also dealt with the issue of migration.

Eritreans were for years the largest group of asylum seekers in Switzerland, tens of thousands of Eritreans are currently living here. The regime does not accept returns of rejected asylum seekers. That is why bourgeois politicians have been calling for negotiations with the East African country for years.

“A solution is needed in the area of ​​migration policy,” says Central National Councilor Marco Romano. The situation has been blocked for over ten years, he criticizes. “We have a huge diaspora in Switzerland and should therefore remain in contact with the regime,” says FDP National Councilor Andri Silberschmidt. “Unfortunately, not all countries are democracies. However, if a dialogue gives the prospect of improving the status quo, it is preferable to breaking off contact.”

NZZ am Sonntag, Switzerland

The Central Council of the Eritrean People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) held three meetings of its 4th regular meeting on 14th,15th, and 20th of August 2022. It deeply discussed and passed resolutions on various important issues taking its huge responsibility into consideration as the meeting was convened under a sensitive situation of rapid political changes taking place in our region. The meeting started with an introductory speech delivered by the Party chairman, Tesfai Woldemichael (Degiga), followed by the adoption of the agenda for the Central Council meeting.

First on the agenda was discussion on the draft report of the executive committee that had been sent to the Council members earlier. The Council also heard the annual financial and asset report submitted by the Party’s General Auditor and held discussion on that as well. The council then endorsed all the reports after making some improvements and passed resolution on important points that need to be accomplished in the future. One of the focal points that the Council passed resolution on is concerning the enhancement of the Party’s internal capacity with emphasis on the full participation of the party members in the preparation for the 4th Party Congress due to take place next year.

At winding up the discussion on the reports, the CC elected a committee that presided over the rest of the meeting under whose leadership it discussed and passed the following important resolutions.

  1. On the Unified Action of the Opposition Camp

Understanding the importance of Unity and unified action, the Council carried out an intensive evaluation based on pertinent decisions made in the past regular and extraordinary meetings. In this discussion, the council recalled the four-point proposal of June 2017 for joint work in the opposition camp and testified that the party leadership and grassroots worked with full commitment for over two years to see to it that Eritrean Pollical Forces (EPF) becomes a force to be reckoned with. However, although the desired goals were not fully achieved, the efforts by all concerned did not remain futile. In fact, the Council noted that a positive experience has been achieved in bringing the political forces close to one another and in enabling them endorse documents of mutual importance.

 Furthermore, the Council reiterated that there is no alternative to unified action in the strive for uprooting the PFDJ and in fulfilling the Eritrean peoples’ aspirations and that it will continue to do everything it can to create a broad-based forum that can encompass all political forces, popular movements, and individual Eritreans in their collective effort for change. The annual 4th CC session also decided that EPDP’s participation in the unified action will be realized in a way that will not adversely affect the empowering and enhancing of the Party’s internal capacity. As the struggle for a unified action is not a task to be left for a certain side but an obligation that must be met by every force for change, the Council has urged every one of them to effectively play their part.

  1. On Current Regional developments and Relations

The other issue that the Council discussed in depth was the political dynamism and alliance of forces taking place in the region that directly impact the Eritrean situation. On the one hand, the Council has taken note (till August 20) of the slowing down of the war in Tigray and saw the window of hope for a peaceful solution; while on the one hand, it has understood that the PFDJ regime has become an obstacle to the peace process in Ethiopia and defiant to accept the international community’s call for its withdrawal from Ethiopia.

With the recent reduction in war damage and the resumption of limited Humanitarian aid to Tigray, The EPDP CC has seen the validation of its stand since day one. The party’s position remained that war was not an alternative to peaceful means to resolve the difference between the Ethiopian Federal government and the regional state of Tigray. Likewise, EPDP’s firm condemnation of the intervention of Eritrean Regime in the war and the damage it inflicted upon the people and the property in the war zone and the siege that ensued has all passed the test of time.

Based on its policy decisions, the Council has once again renewed its long-held position and fraternal relationship between Eritrea and Tigray, and they must continue in a way that safeguards peace and interests of both peoples, and that EPDP will implement its decisions with all its capacity, always with the central objective of defending Eritrea’s sovereign statehood.  

  Needless to say, the CC reiterated its commendation of the TPLF-led Tigray Reginal government for its clear support of Eritrean sovereignty at various occasions. On the hand, the Council called on certain individuals, groups, and some private media outlets to refrain from propagating against Eritrean people’s unity and the sovereignty of the country as this will not benefit both sides. sovereignty as this will not benefit both people. The EPDP thus urged the TPLF-led regional government to play its part in silencing such negative forces.

CC discussions at the 4th session meetings were not limited on Ethiopia/Tigray relations but also assessed PFDJ’s unwarranted interferences in the internal affairs of the Sudan and other neighboring countries acknowledging that this is against Eritrea’s interest and peace and that the council would closely follow up such negative developments.

In addition to meddling in the neighborhood, Eritrea’s PFDJ is currently putting our country in another black page in history by allying with invaders. The PFDJ supported Russia in its invasion of Ukrainian sovereignty and has also sided with China with regards to its plan to annex Taiwan. Considering the consequences of such precedents in current world order, the EPDP Central Council meeting unequivocally denounced these Eritrean regime actions.

  1. Eritrean Refugees

The meeting discussed about the hardships that Eritrean refugees face in all corners of the world with special focus on the problems that they have encountered following the Tigray war. The Central council has discussed about those refugees suffering in all towns pursuant to the war in Tigray with particular emphasis on the life-threatening situation that the refugees are going through in the new camp located in a place called Alemwacha in the vicinity of Dabat/Gonder. The EPDP Central Council has also expressed its deep concerns on the conditions of Eritrean refugees in the Sudan as some of them are being randomly arrested and jailed and being forced to pay huge amount of money that they cannot afford.

The Central Council urges all governments hosting the Eritrean refugees who are constantly asking for help and calls on all other concerned international organizations to give due attention to these refugees.

  1. PFDJ Festivals

The Central Council meeting commended all Eritrean forces of change particularly the Eritrean youth for their activities against all PFDJ movements especially for their struggle to foil PFDJ festivals that were organized to collect illegal funds and to disseminate hate propaganda. The meeting commended all those who took part in delaying the recent PFDJ festivals in Sweden and Texas from going as planned and canceling the festival in Holland while at the same time encourages them to enhance their struggle.

The Central Council meeting democratically elected a nine-member executive committee and an auditor who will be leading the party for the next one year as per the party’s constitution article 6.1.15.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Council expressed its gratitude to its members and other supporters for the material and moral support they have been rendering to the party and requested them to elevate their support for the overall success of the party’s principles and that of its upcoming fourth Congress. It has also called upon the Eritrean people to relentlessly raise their struggle for Liberation and peace.

We strive for Constitutional governance, Democracy and Development.

 

Martin Plaut

Aug 24

 

Reuters

· 

NAIROBI, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Fighting between forces from Ethiopia's rebellious northern region of Tigray and forces loyal to the central government has erupted around the town of Kobo, a resident and the spokesman for the Tigrayan forces said on Wednesday.

"I am hearing sound of heavy weapons starting from this morning," said a farmer in the Kobo area who did not wish to be named. "Last week, I saw Amhara special forces and Fano (militia) heading to the front by bus."

Ethiopian government spokesman Legesse Tulu, military spokesman Colonel Getnet Adane and the prime minister's spokeswoman Billene Seyoum did not respond to requests for comment.

News: Ethiopia Army issues warning calling for immediate stop to “unverified, unnecessary information and rumors” on its current affairs

Source: Addis Standard

AUGUST 23, 2022

·   

Addis Abeba – In a statement it issued today, the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) strongly warned and called for the immediate cessation on reporting “our army’s current affairs” using “unverified, unnecessary information and rumors.”

The army said that it firmly believes that the strength of the support and participation of the Ethiopian people to the Defense Forces are critical to effectively discharge the army’s mandate to protect the country’s sovereignty. Since the trust and mutual support built by our people and our army is standing on a firm foundation, we have been protecting the unity and sovereignty of our country while going through challenges together,” the statement said, adding “in the future, we will continue to show practically that we are invincible [in the face of] the nefarious conspiracies and plots and traps that our enemies set for us.”

The army said tat the recent infiltration by the Al-Shabaab militants through the eastern part of Ethiopia “with the intention of creating a clear danger, have been destroyed.” Similarly, “in the northern part of our country, the terrorist group TPLF is beating the drums of war,” the army said, accusing the party’s spokespersons of “defaming our army in their recent sermons. It is an open secret that they are running a campaign of blaming our defense forces on untenable excuses,” the statement said.

The army also accused Tigrayan authorities of using the international media to echo “their pre-conflict cries” saying “the peace negotiation has broken down” and accusing the army of attacking with heavy weapons which is known to “the chain of command from top to bottom…” among others.

“We have noticed that some social media reports and information are accepting the same pessimistic accusations…just as we noticed that the media of our country are aware of the enemy’s plot and agenda and challenge it.”

Furthermore, the army also warned that “reporting on the activities of the enemy without enough information will disrupt the daily lives of our people.” And blamed those that are reporting on the military activities regarding the existence of war in the country was being taken as income generation means on social media. It warned that such reporting also undermine the security forces.

The army has been making public information on its current situation and activities when it becomes necessary, the statement said and added that it will be done in the same way in the future. “At this time when our army stands ready to resist any attack with determination and caution…we have noticed that there are irresponsible elements who are trapped in the propaganda of the enemy, echoing negative information and spreading the activities of our army through various means of communication. This action cannot have any negative effect on the performance of our army.”

Therefore, the army said it strongly urges social media entities that report on such unbalanced activities “knowingly or unknowingly to refrain from their actions.”

It further warned that legal actions will be taken against “those who continue this act carelessly… or stand not corrected” and the army “will be forced to hold accountable and as necessary bring criminal charges” against those “who endanger the security of the country by spreading the secrets of the army”, and “fanning the enemy’s agenda.” AS