ኣብዚ ቀረባ መዓልታት ኣብ መርበብ ሓበሬታ “ኤሪ መድረኽ” “ካብ ኤርትራ ብሰንኪ ዘጋጠሞም ግፍዒ ናብ ኡጋንዳን ደቡብ ሱዳንን ዝሃደሙ ዜጋታት መንግስቲ ኤርትራ ናብ ኤርትራ ክኣትዉ መጸዋዕታ ኣቕሪቡሎም።” ዘርእቱ ዜና ኣንቢብና። እዚ ዜና’ዚ ንኩነታት ኤርትራን እዞም ሕጂ ብህግደፍ ዝጽውዑ ዘለዉ ዜጋታት ካብ ሃገሮም ሃጽ ኢሎም ዝወጽሉ ምኽንያትን ክከታተል ንዝጸንሐ ዘገርምን ዘስደምምን እዩ። ምኽንያቱ እዞም ዜጋታት ገንዘቦም ኣብ ዓዲ ጓና ከፍስሱ ዝተገደዱ ብሰንኪ እዚ ሕጂ ክምለሱ ዝጽወዖም ዘሎ ኣምሰሉ ጉጅለ ህግደፍ ስለ ዝኾነ።

ካብ ጠባያት ጉጅለ ህግደፍ ሓደ እንዳ ኣዕሸካ ምንባር እዩ። እንተኾነ ዋላ ህግደፍ ተደለዮ ዘለኣለም እንዳተዓሸወ ዝነብር የለን። እዚ ስርዓት ከም ቀንዲ  ኣብ ስልጣን መንበሪ ካብ ዝወስዶ ሓደ ምጥላም እዩ። እቲ ጥልመት በቲ ንህዝቢ ኤርትራ ተጠቃሚ ፍረ መስዋእቱ ዝኾነ ናጽነት ከይከውን ካብ ዘርኣዮ ጥልመት’ዩ ዝጅምር። ሎሚ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ኣብ ዓዲ ይኹን ኣብ ደገ ኣብ ናብራ ስደት ዘሕልፎ ዘሎ ሓርካፍ ህይወት ውጽኢት ጠላም ባህሪ ናይቲ ጉጅለ እዩ። እዚ ጉጅለ ኣብ ስልጣን ህዝቢ ምዕምጣር፡ ኣብ  ዘይድሩት ኣገልግሎት ውትህድርና፡ ኣብ ዋንነት ቁጠብዊ ትካላትን ካልኦት መዳያትን ዘርእዮ ዘሎ ኣተሓሕዛ ጠላሚ ባህርያቱ ዝወለዶ እዩ።

እዚ ጉጅለ ኣብ ልዕሊ ህዝቢ ካብ ዘለዎ ንዕቀትን ጸቢብ ህግደፋዊ ስሰዐን ነቒሉ፡ ንኣዝዩ ንኡስ ድኽመታት ኣተዓባብዩን መዝሚዙን፡ ኣብ ስረሓት ህንጻ፡ ምቕራብ ዝተፈላለዩ ኣገልግሎታት፡ ንግዳዊ ትካላት፡ … ወዘተ ተዋፊሮም ንዝነበሩ ኤርትራውያን ናይ ንግዲ ፈቓዳቶም መንዚዑ፡ ንብረቶም ራስዩን ኣብ ባንክታት ዝነበረ ገንዘቦም ዘሚቱን እቲ ቁጠባዊ ሜዳ ናጻ መዕንደሪ ትካላት ህግደፍ ክገብሮ ከም ዝጸንሐ እቶም ግዳያት ጥራይ ዘይኮኑ ኩልና እንፈልጦ እዩ። እዞም ኣብ ከም ኡጋንዳን ሰላሙ ዘይውሑስ ደቡብ ሱዳንን ተሰዲዶም ዘለዉ ኤርትራውያን ዜጋታት ከኣ ውጽኢት ናይዚ እዮም።

ጉጅለ ህግደፍ ደድሕሪ ህይወትን ድሕነትን ኤርትራዊ ዜጋ ዘይኮነስ ደድሕሪ’ቲ ኤርትራዊ ዘጥረዮ ገንዘብ ዝኸይድ ምዃኑ ፍሉጥ እዩ። ካብዚ ነቒሉ እዩ ከኣ ኣብቲ ፈትየምዎን መሪጸምዎን ዘይኮነስ ንሱ እቲ ጉጅለ ኣገዲድዎም ዝኸድዎ ዓዲ፡ ቁሩብ ገንዘብ ሒዞም ኣለዉ ምስ ሰምዓ ሓላይ ህዝብን ሃገርን ተመሲሉ ክሽሕጦም ዝፍትን ዘሎ። እቲ መጸዋዕታ ናብኣቶም ስለ ዝኾነ እቲ ውዱእ መልሲ ናይዚ ሸፋጢ ጻዋዒት ካብኣቶም እዩ።

ከምቲ “ክትከይድ እንከለኻ ዘዕንቀፈካ እምኒ፡ ክትምለስ እንከለኻ’ውን ተደገመካ ንስኻ ኢኻ እምኒ” ዝበሃል፡  መልሶም ነቲ መጸዋዕታ፡ “ኣይትድገመኒ ዝተረፈ፡ ይኣኽለኒ ዝሓለፈ” ዝብል ክኸውን ይግበኦ። ደሓር ከኣ ሎሚ መንግስቲ ኤርትራ ነቲ ኣብ ዓዲ ዘሎ ህዝቢ ዝርካበን ናቕፋኡ ዓጽዩ ብምቑነን እንዳሃበ፡ ኣብ መዓልቲ ሓንቲ ሕብስቲ ንሓደ ሰብ ከባጽሕ ዘይከኣለ፡ ዶላር ኣብዚ ባንከይ ኣቕምጡ እሞ ከም ድላይኩም ከተንቀሳቕስዎ ትኽእሉ ኢኹም ኢሉ ክሰብኽ ካልእ ጉሒላ ምዃኑ ዘመልክት ብሂል እዩ። ትማሊ ንብረቱ ተዘሚቱ ኣደዳ ስደትን ሳዕቤናቱን ዝኾነ ተመሊሱ ነቲ ጉጅለ ዶላራት ዘሕቁፍ፡ ዘይጥዑይ ወይ ውሽጡ ህግደፍ ዝኾነ ጥራይ እዩ። ኩልና ከም እንከታተሎ እቲ ወሪዱ ዘሎ መስገደል ኣብ ልዕሊ መላእ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ዝተጻዕነ እዩ። እንተኾነ ውሱናት ሓለውቲ ዓራት ደቂ ዓይኒ መዓር ከኣ ናይ ገዛ ካዝናታቶም ብናቕፋ ጥራይ ዘይኮነ ብዝተፈላለዩ ናይ ሸርፊ ዓይነታት ተሰንዳሕኩ ይብል ከም ዘሎ ፍሉጥ እዩ። ኣብ ሓደ ኣጋጣምስ ዲክታቶር ኢሳይያስ እውን ድንኳናት ከሰላ ብናቕፋ ተረቒሑ ከም ዘሎ ተኣሚኑ እዩ። “እዚ ናቕፋ እዚ ደኣ ንስኻ ከይፈለጥካዮ ካብቲ ባንክ ከመይ ኢሉ ወጺኡ?” ዝብል ሓታታይ ተዝረክብ እንታይ ኢሉ ምመለሰ እንድዒ።

እዚ ሃገርናን ህዝብናን ዘለዉዎ ሃለዋት ግዜ ዘይብ ፍታሕ ዘድልዮ እዩ። ኣብ ዓዲ ዘሎ ህዝብና ጸገሙ ኣብ ኩሉ መዳያት ደረት ሓሊፉ እዩ። ኣብ ስደት ዘሎ ብሓጺሩ ኣይጠዓሞን። ኣጋጣሚ ረኺቡ ገንዘብ ወኒኑ በቲ ገንዘብ ኤርትራዊ ክብሪ ክገዝእ ኣይከኣለን። ስለዚ ዓይነቱን ክብደቱን ደኣ ይፈላለ እምበር ኤርትራውያን ኣብ ጸገም ኢና ዘለና። ክሳብ ክንድዚ ዝኣክል ሱር ዝሰደድ ጸገም ካብ ሃለወ መፍትሒ ምንዳይ ከኣ ናይ ግድን እዩ። ምእንትኡ ኢና ከኣ ውጽኢቱ’ኳ ክሳብ ሕጂ ማዕረ ትጽቢትና ተዘይኮነ እንቃለስ ዘለና። ሕጂ እውን ኣብ ራህዋ ንክንበጽሕ ብዘይካ ኣብቲ ሒዝናዮ ዘለና ጐደና ቃልሲ ዕንቅፋታትካ እንዳጸረግካ ቃልስኻ ምብራኽ ካልእ መተካእታ የብልናን። ንመጸዋዕታ ህግደፍ ተቐቢልካ ናብቲ ዝዅዕቶ ጉድጓድ ምኣታው ከኣ እሞ አይሕስብ እዩ። እቲ ቃልሲ ብውሱናት ዝካየድ ዘይኮነስ ኩሉ ደላይ ራህዋ ኢዱ ክሕውሰሉ ናይ ግድን ምዃኑ ምርዳእ እዋኑ እዩ። ህግደፍ ግና ወጻዕን ዓማጽን ክነሱ ኩሉ ዝብሎ ንኣርዑት ወጽዓኡ ዘትርር እምበር ፍታሕ ዘምጽእ ከቶ ኣይኮነን።

by Martin Plaut

In August 2006, while I was working for the BBC, I received reports that aid provided to Eritrea by the European Union (EU) was being sold by the Eritrean government, and the proceeds used for government work programmes.

The European Commission's ambassador to Eritrea, Geert Heikens, explained in a BBC  interview that he had attempted to discuss this abuse with the authorities, but to no avail. He said he had written endless letters to the government, but had received no reply.

The ambassador pointed out that Eritrea was not a democracy and this kind of behaviour was symptomatic of its lack of transparency.

Ambassador Heikens was recalled by the EU and has now explained what took place, in the email below.

Martin

I found the article Martin wrote for the BBC, August 2006, about the EC food aid for Eritrea. In this email I will try to reconstruct the events based upon my memories.

In 2005 the EC donated for an amount of 3 million Euros food aid to Eritrea. The ship delivered the wheat in 2005 in the harbour or Massawa. See photo enclosed.

In the agreement between the EC and Eritrea it was stated that the aid should be made available freely to a target group to be agreed between the EU and Eritrea. Examples of target groups were e.g. children, nursing mothers, elderly persons. The food was stored in warehouses in Eritrea, most of it, if not all, in Asmara.

After almost a year the food aid was still in warehouses, while one could see hungry people in the streets of Asmara. Requests to talk and agree upon the target group remained unanswered.

At a morning, May - June 2006 I was informed that bags with the EU logo containing our food aid were sold in the market, in the streets of Asmara and perhaps also in other places. My wife who walked every morning with a friend and our dog through Asmara discovered the bags.

I contacted and reported this discovery to HQ in Brussels. After consultations I contacted the Eritrean government, the EU National Authorising Officer (NAO), the official counterpart for EU development aid with the ACP (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific), Dr Woldai.

However, I did not get an answer. Requests for a meeting were neither answered.

At a certain moment Martin heard from our problems and asked for a telephone interview. I agreed and early August I believe we spoke by telephone and I explained the situation and the history. When the subject EU Food Aid was finished Martin asked me if he could ask some questions on the situation in Eritrea. I agreed.

Without remembering the whole and exact exchanges I remember I said something like ...... well however you look at the situation,  you cannot call it a democracy, it is a dictatorship under President Issaias. For the exact wording see the article of Martin.

That evening we, Rita and I, were watching BBC world service and in the moving bottom line we could read the text EC ambassador calls Issaias a dictator, or a text with similar meaning.

A few days later I was called for a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a meeting with the NAO, minister of national development,  Dr Woldai.

I acknowledged that I have used the words as written in the article.  The MFA just took note of what I said. With the NAO the exchanges evolved into a discussion about democracy.

In detail I reported both meetings to Brussels HQ, both DG Development and DG AIDCO.

After some exchanges Brussels decided to call me back for consultations. In Brussels we had a long exchange after which it was decided to call me back, ending my assignment to Eritrea and offer me another posting.

I did not return to Asmara. Rita, whose diplomatic visa was expired, received a tourist visa and could go back to Asmara in December 2006 for a few days to arrange the removal. She could say farewell to the staff of the EU Delegation and some colleagues and friends and read a message from me for the staff of the Delegation.