On 7 February 2015, a relatively large gathering of Eritreans in Geneva formed a new association that primarily aims to help a successful integration of Eritrean refugees in Switzerland where over 25,000 new caseload of Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers have entered the country in the past few years.

The new community association, which will be known in French as “d’Entraide Suisse-Erythrée” (Eritrean-Swiss Mutual Aid), shall be free from political and religious affiliation. Existing Eritrean political and civil society groups as well as free individuals have committed themselves to promote the objectives of the community association.

The general assembly was informed by the organizing committee, mainly composed of young Eritreans raised in Eritrea and abroad, that a good number of support activities have been underway by volunteers in the community.

Four of the organizing committee members who led the proceedings of the general assembly included Tedros Eyasu, Sophia Ammar, Tedros Teklemariam, and Awet Aregai. Addressing the general assembly in turn, they explained to the general assembly the various objectives of the new mutual aid association which include the following:    

1. Granting a range of assistance to newly arriving Eritrean asylum seekers and refugees to help them become self-supporting members in the society. In particular

• Providing them necessary information related to job opportunities, housing, insurance etc
• Translation assistance at administrative offices and at health centres
• Taking preventive measures to avoid violent confrontations among them.

1. Preparing education and capacity building programmes to help Eritrean refugees to integrate in the Swiss society.
2. Creating a common centre where the asylum seekers, refugees and Swiss nationals of Eritrean origin can meet.
3. Preparing the ground to preserve Eritrean cultures and traditions.

The general assembly adopted the constitution of the new association in a unanimous vote and mandated the organizing committee to lead the association till the next general assembly.

The general assembly also voiced commended the services of mothers in supporting the new refugees, many of them still living in under-ground bunkers, and warmly applauded the work of Swiss-born young boys and girls who are granting French classes to the refugees, several of them being under the age of 20

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In picture are among the young educators who availed themselves to talk about the project at the assembly. They are from left to right: Hannah Ammar, Niyat Tesfaldet and Veronica Almedom. Other youngsters who take part in the teaching courses are Filmon Zerai, Uda Bekit, Lina Hamde, Senait Almedom.

EPDP Editorial

Lately EPDP has been posting articles on some fundamental and burning issues that are ailing the Eritrean nation in general and the opposition forces in particular. At issue were politics of regionalism and the devastating effect it would have on the overall coexistence and tolerance among our diverse social groups, as well as on our nationalism, nation building, and national integration. And if we do not reject it as a phenomenon against the long collective struggle we waged, it will be a big liability and it might present incalculable social violence and political instability to the country in post PFDJ Eritrea.

Now, some of the responses to our editorials were utter simplifications and crude exaggerations instead of admitting that there is politics of regionalism in the work in the Eritrean politics/opposition. They were evocative and emotional reactions that are far from realistic and genuine debate. The truth is we may not consider politics of regionalism yet a household politics, but it is out there. In fact, it is not only politics of regionalism, but also sub regionalism is another that is spreading like a wild fire in the opposition. And the argument of those responding to our critics is simply to blur the distinction between encountering the reality and dealing with their own subjective personal reading of the subject at hand. As usual, such individuals go beyond reality to give their gullible readers information that is not objective, but by and large a rhetoric narration of the issue being discussed.

There is a name for this in the science of debate or dissemination of information. They call it generalization and assumptions. For example, if you are not a truth seeking writer, you choose to be general, meaning you must avoid being emphatic and detailed, which requires proof and not assumption. And this is a dishonest exercise to the core in an effort to appear you are genuine and objective, but you are not. And few people, especially those who are attached to certain subjects, in our case politics of regionalism, will buy it as a true story simply because the information delivered to them by their mentors does not allow them to navigate beyond the general context given to them. And this is what the regionalists love to do. In essence, it is our region vs. that region; our culture vs. that culture in an effort to appear as if their region is dominated or suppressed by another region.

EPDP understands that a small minority of regionalists celebrates intolerance and harbor deep politics of regionalism and sub regionalism attitudes and politics in our midst through distortion and red herring argument, which is diametrically opposed to the democratic struggle that we are attempting to wage collectively. And we know they cannot engage in critical public discourse on the subject because they know doing so will render them wrong; and this is not the first time Eritrea has seen this. We had it all along in our history with few groups popping up now and then behind politics of regionalism and militating either at the cost of other regions or a desire to be recognized as a distinct entity for a bigger pie in the country.

EPDP sees the danger of politics of regionalism to the wellbeing and existence of Eritrean society. And it does not matter from which direction it is coming, whether it is from the PFDJ or from the regional entrepreneurs in the opposition camp who attempt to exploit the emotion of some on the account of their misplaced personal accounts on the agenda of regionalism. For EPDP and for the majority of Eritreans, both features of regionalism are the same phenomenon that divides and polarizes Eritrean people to the core, impedes national integration, and they must be stopped. In fact, there is little striking difference between the PFDJ politics of regionalism and the regionalist entrepreneurs, in essence the latter does not constitute a challenge to the former but exacerbates the problem to the likening of the former.

EPDP does not dismiss regional grievances that deserve focus. EPDP also recognizes that the main culprit of politics of regionalism is the PFDJ regime. But the few regionalist entrepreneurs have made ‘politics regionalism and sub regionalism’ their central program, a desire to assert their narrow regional politics with the false assertion that they have a unique social and political problem than the rest of the population. However, such justification is a gross misuse of the state of tyranny in Eritrea to validate their claim – that their region (s) is being systematically oppressed by the PFDJ regime and that everyone associated with PFDJ either by region or religion is automatically a culprit, which is a false, dangerous, and meaningless assertion. In some way, their argument seems to be about grievances, but their fight is aimed against other regions rather than the minority regime of PFDJ. The point is instead of engaging in a united struggle under one banner (remove PFDJ and replace it with democratic system), they are blaming other regions by counting them equivalent to the PFDJ while in reality every region in Eritrea is facing the same injustices and grievances. This mentality is not healthy and is not an expression of justice and democracy, as well. It is ironic when the regional entrepreneurs say they stand for freedom and democracy while in reality they are poisoning the fabric of unity and diversity of Eritrean society, which is the core value and strength of our existence.

The full picture is there for all to see: the only entity responsible for the brutality and injustices in Eritrea is the PFDJ regime, not the Eritrean people or some regions. And if our regionalists continue to blame other regions because those regions belong to a larger group (region or religion), it does not mean that they are responsible for the crimes of the PFDJ. The enemy is not other regions; it is the PFDJ regime, and until the regionalists get grasp of it, no progress will be made.

The caveat is this: should the region of Seraye be responsible for the crimes of PFDJ? Should the region of Barka, Hamassen, or Akel Guzay be responsible for the brutality of PFDJ? It is like asking all these regions must apologize for our regionalists for something the regions are not responsible. EPDP says let’s not allow this narrow discourse strangulates the democratic struggle that we are waging against the enemy, the PFDJ regime. The exploitation of regional sentiment to capture self interest, or drawing few gullible into regional tendencies at the end of the day won’t help. It does not have currency in Eritrea proper. The indisputable, rational, and justifiable thing to do is to echo the collective voices of Eritrean people against the PFDJ regime.