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EPDP Editorial

Part 2

[For Part 1, please click here http://www.harnnet.org/index.php/news-and-editorial/epdp-editorial/item/1289-issais-new-year-interview-production-of-more-manipulations-and-lies-1]

Apart from the constitution talk, Issais also roared a lot of things in his New Year interview,among ofwhich were the so-called development plan for 2015, human resources development, five-year plans…etc. These were all rehashed Issais’ tyrannical policies from last year and the year before, and presented as if they were new. No new thing, unfulfilled promises and declaring further promises that would not be fulfilled, a scheme designed to manipulate Eritrean people into thinking that something good will take place in their lives next year. 

For example, when asked…on realizing the objectives as­sociated with making Eritrea a prosperous country…how do you assess our capacity to realize our aspi­rations? Do we have the human and material resources required to accomplish the tasks ahead? Issais said, “Human and material resources are what you can create. For ex­ample, everybody wants to live peacefully. However, peace is not something that is a heaven sent opportunity. Rather, one has to work hard to bring peace. We need to clearly identify the re­sources required for achieving our objectives. There are different resources such as technology, ma­chinery, different raw materials, etc. However, human resource is the key of all the resources…work culture is also very important for materializing what you aspire (Eritrean Profile, January 14, 2015).

The above response is Issais’ fixative prayer for preserving his power.  No matter how evil, atrocious, or deceptive the ends are as long as they justify the means, it is what Issais is doing – recklessly and without hesitation assault Eritrean people to empower his tyrannical power. Think about this: every year, Issais tells Eritrean people that they will be better off next year than the year before. He declares the problems and uncertainties of today will not be repeated next year. He claims that Eritrean people have learned lessons from past year and they would use those experiences to achieve their goals in the coming year. We will overcome them next year…etc. How many next years have Eritrean people gone so far without realizing their dreams - exactly over two decades now and still continuing. Simply put: by using unending promises and running a cynic campaign (usually in the name of Eritrean people), Issais managed to run an absolute system in the country for over two decades.

The fact is Issais can claim prosperity and development, but the reality is Issais is running one of the bloodiest governments on this planet: forced hundreds of thousands of Eritrean youth to exile; destroyed many Eritrean lives; altered Eritrean polities and institutions; eroded the living standard of the people; and committed widespread violation of human rights. Issais has it all, except freedom and democracy. Today, the Eritrean people are suffering from chronic shortages of basic consumer goods, water, electricity and fuel.

When asked … about the mass exodus of Eritrean youth…and if there are any tangible plans regarding their compensation or their future?  Issais said, “I don’t want to talk about something that doesn’t exist. Many have been plunged into quagmires in consequence of their actions (motivated by their families and environments) to go somewhere where they would supposedly find riches and change their lives…Generally speaking, those who have gone to these “dream lands” will eventually regret their actions. Many of them mistakenly fled because their desired state of affairs didn’t come overnight in this country…” (Eritrean profile January 10, 2015). The content of the above statement simply recalls Issais’ contemptuous mockery when he said, “they are going for a picnic” in reference to the mass exodus of Eritrean youth few years ago. So, Issais did not shift ground on this; nothing new. He just doubled it down on his crusade to annihilate the Eritrean youth in order to continue his grip on power. Remember that this comment is made against the backdrop where hundreds and thousands of Eritreans are being forced to work in Party and military-owned businesses as unpaid laborers. The reality is that the mass exodus is the result and consequence of this form of forced labor imposed on the Eritrean people for the last two decades by Issaias and his dictatorial regime. The bigger picture here is that the exodus of Eritrean youth represents a major threat to Eritrea’s integrity and continuity as a nation. A country without a young generation has no future.

At this juncture, though, Issais and his cronies can roar as long as they want regarding drafting new constitution, development promises, foreign forces, war hysteria …etc. Eritrean people know the promises are empty and the development plans/projects are nonexistent; the war hysteria is a lie to keep Eritrean people in a state of war. The point is all this barrage of lies can no longer reverse the multitude crisis unfolding in Eritrea although Issais will continue to exploit such lies as a necessary strategy to muzzle and reduce the whole population to slavery. We know Eritrea is now a dilapidated, stagnated, and hungry place, with a life standard plummeting to abyss every day. Maybe this time the era of Issais’ manipulation is coming to an end. Eritrean people seem to be waking up because they are increasingly realizing that the entire edifice of Issais’ politics is based on lies and perpetual manipulations. In fact, we are witnessing Eritrean people slowly detaching if not divorcing their susceptibility to the regime’s unending lies and manipulations. They see it; and they are not buying it anymore. And there is nothing more inspiring than seeing Eritrean people finally searching their souls and beginning to withdraw their support from the PFDJ regime.

At the end, we should ask ourselves what is the lesson we can learn from Issais’ New Year long tirade and menacing interview against our citizens:

• One, Issais is spinning such an endless catalogue of lies and manipulations regarding drafting constitution, development plans, aggression of foreign forces, and others because of the increasing erosion of support base to his regime that began as a result of the crackdown on pro democracy decedents within his leadership and on journalist in 2001. This was reinforcedby the January 2013 (Forto mutiny), followed by the Eritrean Catholic priests (Where is Your Brother), and finally amplified by the excommunication declaration issued by the clergy of the United Eritrean Orthodox monasteries.
• Two, the above revelations are reinforcing Eritrean people’s confidence both in challenging and rejecting the propaganda that the mad dictator has been roaring like a wild animal for years on one hand, and in leading to a collective and united action on the other, all making Issais’ lies and unending promises more and more fragile, especially inside the homeland. We need to understand and exploit such development, and break it open to reveal the danger of Issais’ regime to our country.  
• Three, we must understand that the strategy of Issais’ interview is to stifle the evolving internal opposition by conditioning Eritrean people to his own reality – a reality of fear and conformity that he knows would enable him to continue enslaving Eritrean people. Our role should be to deconstruct those realities as they are designed to perpetuate tyranny and submission to the power of Issais.
• Four, there is nothing that scares Issais than the emergence of factions within his own inner circle. We must target such a unity of the inner circle in a manner that amplifies the blunder of Issais and leads to the demise of his system. This is the major task of establishing and nurturing internal opposition.
• Fifth, we should understand that Issais will continue to lie in the face of mass exodus of the Eritrean youth. This is not an ordinary lie; this is a threat to the existence of our country. The message here is that whether ignorance or weakness not shattering such dangerous policy of Issais is strengthening his rule in Eritrea. The sad thing is there is nothing Issais has said or done that we do not know. The problem is every time, we encounter Issais’ speech, we denounce his insanity and we become delusional instead of systematically and collectively challenge it. 
• Sixth, now the issue is no more about Issaias and his regime. Issaias’ contempt to the collective wisdom of the Eritrean people is boundless. His disrespect and disregard to the interest of the Eritrean people is deep and profound. His declaration of the 1997 Eritrean Constitution as “dead and nonexistent” is another in a series of blunders that exposed issais’ inner motive and evil intent. The real culprit and enemy are known and it is up to the opposition and the people what to do with it.  As the saying goes, ‘snake at your feet, a stick at your hand’  “በትሪኣብኢድካተመንኣብእግርኻ.”

Last, Issais does not care about democracy, constitution, and development in Eritrea. Why should he? After all, being democratic or accepting the sovereign right of Eritrean people denies his power. He is a malignant narcissistic dictator and that is the nature of dictators, conditioning the people to their own reality and fighting for their power until they are booted out from power. The question is not to count the dangers, betrayals, and evils of Issais to our people because we already know those. The question should be why all these dangers and evils of the regime are not setting off a firing revolution and lead to a deep sense of national and united opposition against the regime? Where is our collective action?

Local office of UN refugee agency, UNHCR, in Eastern Sudan reported that 3,667 new Eritrean refugees have registered at the reception centre of Shagarab during the month of December 2014, showing an increase over the figure of 2,128 refugee arrivals in previous month of November.

This increase in the number of refugee arrivals at the camp of Shagarb was registered in spite of the insecure situation of the reception camp located near the Eritrea-Sudan border. It is to be recalled that Eritrean refugees at Shagarb were subjected to inhumane treatments in the hands of local villagers assisted by state security personnel.

According to the report for December, 555 of the new refugees were below the age of 18. It was also made clear that, out of the total arrivals 457 were female and 3,210 male, including children below the age of 5.

The ever deteriorating situation in Eritrea is reflected by the ever increasing number of refugees escaping from the unbearable political, economic, social and human rights condition in the country. This was well reflected in the UNHCR briefing on Eritrea last November in Geneva. A 14 November 2014 report entitled “sharp increase in number of Eritrean refugees and asylum-seekers in Europe, Ethiopia and Sudan” was a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The must read report follows:

During the first ten months of 2014, the number of asylum-seekers in Europe from Eritrea has nearly tripled. In Ethiopia and Sudan, neighbouring Eritrea, the number of Eritrean refugees has also increased sharply. So far this year, nearly 37,000 Eritreans have sought refuge in Europe, compared to almost 13,000 during the same period last year. Most asylum requests have been lodged in Sweden, Germany, and Switzerland, with the vast majority of the Eritreans having arrived by boat across the Mediterranean. Our office in Italy reports that 22 per cent of the people arriving by boat are Eritrean, a total of nearly 34,000 people this year. This makes Eritreans the second largest group to arrive in Italy by boat, after Syrians.

Most of the Eritreans arriving in Europe have travelled, initially, via Ethiopia and Sudan. These countries have also experienced a dramatic increase in arrivals, including large numbers of unaccompanied children. More than 5,000 Eritreans crossed into Ethiopia during the month of October alone, compared to the average of some 2,000 arrivals per month since the beginning of the year. About 90 per cent of those who arrived in October are between 18 – 24 years old. Seventy-eight children arrived on their own, without an adult family member. The trend seems to continue with more than 1,200 Eritreans having arrived in Ethiopia during the first week of November.

In Sudan, we have also been witnessing a marked increase in the number of arrivals since the beginning of 2014. This year, more than 10,700 Eritreans have sought refuge in Sudan, an average of more than 1,000 arrivals per month.

There are currently more than 216,000 Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia and Sudan. Sudan has been hosting Eritrean refugees for more than forty years, which makes it one of Africa's most protracted refugee situations. Eritreans started to arrive in Ethiopia in 2002, after the end of the conflict between the two countries. The recent arrivals told us that they were fleeing an intensified recruitment drive into the mandatory and often open-ended national service.

Growing numbers of the predominantly young refugees in Ethiopia and Sudan have become frustrated with the shortage of services and absence of self-reliance opportunities in the camps. Limited funding for the Eritrean refugee programme in both countries has resulted in a lack of secondary and post-secondary education, as well as vocational training and job opportunities. Deprived of any prospects for a better future and feeling that they have nothing to lose, many fall prey to unscrupulous smugglers and put themselves in danger by trying to cross the Mediterranean on overcrowded and unsafe boats. We are extremely concerned that the refugees crossing into Ethiopia today will eventually try to move on.

There is a need to boost education and livelihood opportunities for the refugees in the countries neighbouring Eritrea to prevent people moving on simply out of desperation. At the same time, we also call on Europe to step up efforts to provide credible legal alternatives to dangerous voyages, to protect people from the risks of traveling with smugglers. The collective response needs to maintain a strong capacity to rescue people at sea and increase safer ways for refugees to find safety, including enhanced resettlement, other forms of humanitarian admission and private sponsorship schemes. UNHCR is calling on European governments to do more to facilitate family reunification and use programmes such as student or employment visas to benefit refugees.

Additional Information:

During the first 10 months of 2014, 36,678 Eritreans sought refuge in 38 European countries in 2014, compared to 12,960 during the same period last year. Most asylum requests were presented in Sweden (9,531), Germany, (9,362) Switzerland (5,652) and the Netherlands (4,113). Authorities in Italy recorded 342 asylum applications by Eritreans thus far this year.

Sudan is the main country of asylum for Eritreans with 109,594 refugees at the end of October 2014. 10,701 people have arrived since the beginning of the year, including 1,259 during the month of October. The majority of the refugees are in refugee camps in the arid eastern part of the country (Gaderef and Kassala), with smaller numbers in the capital Khartoum.

Ethiopia is the second largest country of asylum with 106,859 Eritrean refugees, including 1,591 unaccompanied children at the end of October. They mostly live in four refugee camps in Tigray region and two in Afar region in north-eastern Ethiopia