ቤት ጽሕፈት ውደባ ሰልፊ ዲሞክራሲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ (ሰዲህኤ) ዝጸውዖ፡ ሓላፍቲ ዞባ ኣውሮጳ፡ ንኡስ ዞባ ጀርመንን ጨናፍርን ዝተኻፈልዎ ኣኼባ ብ15 ለካቲት 2015 ብመራኸቢ ብዙሓን ተኻይዱ።  ኣቦ መንበር ዞባ ኣውሮጳ፡ ሓው ብርሃነ ገብረክርስቶስ፡ እዚ ኣኼባ'ዚ፡ ከም'ቲ ኣቐዲሙ ተሓቢርኩም ዝነበረ ብቤት ጽሕፈት ውደባ ዝተጸውዐ ኰይኑ፡ ኣጀንዳታቱ ድማ እዚ ዝስዕብ ኢዩ ኢሉ።

1ይ ትካላዊ ኣሳራርሓና ከመይ ኣሎ?

2ይ ፖለቲካዊ ጎስጓስናን ንጥፍታትናን ኣበይ በጺሑ ይርከብ?

3ይ ርክባትናን ውዳበናን ከመይ ይመስል?

4ይ ቁጠባዊ ኣበርኩቶና ብኸመይ ነዕብዮ?

5ይ ምድላው ካልኣይ ጉባኤናን ምስንዳው ፈስትቫልናን ከመይ ይስጉም ኣሎ?

ኣቦ መንበር ቤት ጽሕፈት ውደባን ሓላፊ ኣሳናዳኢት ሽማግለ 2ይ ጉባኤ ሰዲህኤን፡ ሓው ተስፋሚካኤል ዮውሃንስ፣ ምስ ሓላፊ ውደባ ክሊ ኤውሮጳን ኣባል ማእከላይ ባይቶን ሓው ኣሰፋው በርሀ፣ ከምኡ ውን ኣባላት ምምሕዳር ውደባዊ ጉዳያት ቤት ጽሕፈት-- ሓብቲ ትዕበ ተኪአ፡ ሓብቲ ኣዲያም ተፈራን ሓው ነጋሲ ሓምደን፡ ነዚ ኣጀንዳታት ከብርሁልናን ምሳና ሓቢሮም ክዛተዩን ኣብ ሞንጎና ምርካቦም እናመስገንኩ፡ መድረኽ ናብኦም አመሓላልፎ ብምባል ሓው ብርሃነ ገብረክርስቶስ መእተዊ ቃሉ ናይ ኣኼባ ደምዲሙ።

ሓው ተስፋሚካኤል ዮውሃንስ፡ 2015 ዓ.ም ናይ ራህዋን ሰላምን ዓመት ክትኰነልና፤ ህዝብና ድማ፡ ካብ ውልቀ-መላኺ ስርዓት ኢሳያስ ኣፍወርቂ ዝገላገለሉን፡ ናብ ግዝኣተ-ሕግን ዲሞክራስን ዝሰፈኖ ስርዓት ዝሰጋገረሉን ዓመት ክኸውን እምነ ብምባል ኢዩ መግለጺኡ ጀሚሩ። 

ኣብ ከም'ዚ ዝኣመሰለ ንሃለዋት ውደባና ዝግምግምን ንኣሰራርሓና ዘማዕብልን ኣኼባ ተረኺበ ምሳኹም ሓሳብ ንሓሳብ ክለዋወጥ ከለኹ ክብርን ደስታን ይስምዓኒ። ኣኼባና፡ ዓለምና ኣብ ቅልውላት ተሸሚማ፡ ውግእን ምንዕዓባትን ኣብ ዝነገሰሉ፡ ማእለያ ዘይብሉ ህዝቢ ኣብ ዝፈናቐለሉን ንስደት ዘምርሓሉን ዝሃልቀሉን ዘሎ ወቕቲ ኢና ነካይዶ ዘለና።  ብወገና ነዚ ድቃስ ዘይህብ ሃለዋት  ዓለምን ሃገርናን፡ ብዕምቆት መዚና፡ ንውልቀ መላኺ ስርዓት ኤርትራ ካብ ስሩ ምሒና፡ ኣብ ሃገርና ሰላም፡ ዲሞክራሲ፡ ግዝኣተ ሕግን ንምስፋን ዘይተሓለለ ቃልሲ ነካይድ ኣሎና ኢሉ።

እዚ ሓው ብርሃነ ዘርዚሩ ኣቕሪብዎ ዘሎ ኣጀንዳታት ክከታተሉ ዝጸንሑ ሓለፍትን ኣካየድትን ናይ ዞባ ኣውሮዓ ምሳና ስለዘለዉ፡ ብዝያዳ ንኸብርህዎ ንዕኦም ዕድል ክህብ ኢየ ብምባል ሓው ተስፋሚካኤል ዘረብኡ ዛዚሙ።

ሓው ኣሰፋው በርሀ ብወገኑ ሕውነታዊ ሰላምታኡ ድሕሪ ምቕራብ፡ ነቲ ሓው ተስፋሚካኤል ዝሃቦ መግለጺ ብምስማር፡ ሰዲህኤ፡ ንዅሎም ደለይቲ ፍትሕን ዲሞክራስን ኣብ ትሕቲ ሓደ ሰፊሕ ሃገራዊ ዲሞክራስያዊ ጽላል ጠርኒፉ፡ ብህዝባዊ ፖለቲካዊ ናዕቢ ኣቢሉ ንመላኺ ስርዓት ኤርትራ ኣልጊሱ ሰላምን ፍትሕን ንምስፋን ዝቃለስ ውድብ ኢዩ ኢሉ። ኣስዒቡ፡ ኣብ'ዚ እዋን'ዚ፡ ሰልፍና ካልኣይ ጕባኤኡ ፈስቲቫልን ንምድላው ኣብ ዝሸባሸበሉ ዘሎ እዋን እነካይዶ ዘለና ኣኼባ፡ ንኣሰራርሓና ዘጽፍፍን ንሰልፍና ዘሐይልን ሓሳባትን ምምሕያሻትን ዝምንጭወሉ ኣኼባ ክዀነልና እትስፎ ብምባል ናብ ነቲ ኣጀንዳ መእተዊ ክኸውን ዝኽእል መግለጺ ምሃብ ኣትዩ።

ትካላዊ ኣሳራርሓና ኸመይ ኣሎ ንዝብል ኹላትና  ኸም እንፈልጦ ብሓፈሻ ትካላት ውድብና ጹዑቕ ፣ስርሓት ቤት ጽሕፈታተን ከካይዳ  ብምጽናሕ ኸምዚ ዝኣመሰለ ሓበራዊ፡መኣዲ ዘተ ኸይገበርና ምጽናሕና ሕጽረት  ይኹንእምበር ኣብ ዝተፋላእየ ውድባዊስርሓት ንራኸብን ሓቢርና ንሰርሕን ምንባርና ግን ዘይከሓድ  ፍሉጥ ነገር ኢዩ። ሕጽረታትና ንምውጋድ ንዝመጽእ ግዜ ስሩዑን ምድቡን ኣጋባብ ኣኼባታት ከነካይድ ኽንጽዕር ይህልወና።እዚ ኣልዒልናዮ ዘሎና ኣርእስትታት ካብ ተልእኾናን ራኢናን ዝመንጨወ ትካላዊ ኣሳራርሓና ኣብቲ ፩ይ ጉባኤና ዝሓለፈ ውሳኔታትብምምርኳስ ኹለንቤት ጽሕፈታትና ፡ብፍላይ ክኣ ህዝባዊ ስርርዕ ኻብ ዕለት ናብ ዕለት ስራሓቱ ኸጻፍፍን መደብ ዕዮታት ብምውጻእ ናብ ስራሕ ኽጸምድ ይጽናሕ አምበር ብዙሓት ብድሆታት ኣጋጢምዎን  የጋጥምዎን ኣለዉ፡ንምስዓሮምዝተፋላለዩ ስልትታትን ስትራተጂን ብምውጻእ ኽንብድሆም እኳ እንተ ፈተና ምስቲ ናይ ኣባላትና ውሕደት ፣ ሙሉእ ግዚኦም ወፍዮም ዝሰርሑ ሓርበኛታትና፣ መብዛሕትና ብትርፊ ግዜና  ድሕሪ ውልቓዊ ስራሕና ስለ እነካይዶ ርኡይ ሃጓፋት ኽህሉ ግዴታ እኳ እንተኾነ ብዘለና ዓቕሚ ብምትሕግጋዝን ምምልላእን ስርሓትና ክካናወን  እንርእዮ ዘሎና ውድዓዊ ኩነት እዩ፡ ስለዚ ውፉያት ንኽሉዉናን ኒስርሓትና ዝሓሸ ውጡን  ምምሕያሽን ኣሎ እንብሎ ተራዳዲእና ሓሳባት ወይ ንድፊ ኣውጺእና ኣብ ስራሕ እንትርጉመሉ ኒዝመጽእ ገምጋም እናገበርና እነመሓይሸሉ መላት ኽንጥቀም ኢና፡፡

ኣብዚ  ኣተኲርና ኽንርእዮ እንደሊ ኣቃራርባ ጸብጻብ ኽማሓየሽ ምዕቡሉን ፣ኻብ ታሕቲ ናብ ላዕሊ ኸምኡ ኻብ ላዕሊ ናብ ታሕቲ ስሉጡን ግዝያዊ መራኸቢ ብግቡእ እና ተጠቐምና ርክባትና ክድልድል ይግባእ፡፡

# መዳይ ፖለቲካዊ ጎስጓስን ውደባን፣ ኣብዚ እውን እንተኾነ ኸምቲ ኣብ ላዕሊ ዝተጠቅሰ ስጋብ ሎሚ ተኻይዱ ዘሎ ስርሓት ዝንኣድ እኳ እንተኾነ  ኣዕጋቢ ንምብጻሑ ፣ ኣሳራርሓና ኸነማዕብልን ቑልጡፍ ሓቤረታት ተሞክሮታት ኽንላዋወጥ ሓደ  ንኹላትና ኣብ ኤውሮጳ ኸራኽበና ዝኽእል ጎግል ( ኻብ ኣባላት ዝተዋህበ ሓቤረታ )ኽንጥቀም ኣድላይነቱ ዑዙዝ ምዃኑ ተራኢዩ፡፡

# መዳይ ርክባትን ምእካብ ሓቤረታን፣ ኣብ እነብረሉ ዠሎና ሃገራት ምስ መንግስታዊ ትካላትን ፣ ውድባትን ሰልፍታትን ፣ ሲቪካዊ ማሕበራትን ፣ ገበርቲ ሰናያትን ብምርኻብን ንቓልስናን ንዑቑበኛታት ኤርትራዊያን ዝዳጋገፋሉን ዝምድናታትና ዝድንፋዓሉ ምግባር ሓደ ኻብቲ እንሰርሓሉ  ዝጸናሕና ኾይኑ ብዝያዳ ኽብርትዕ ዘለዎ ህሞት ኢዩ፡፡

ምስ ኩለን ኣብ ደምበ ፍትሕን ዲሞክራስን ብውልቀ ይኩን ብእኩብ ውድባት ይኹና ምንቅስቓሳት፣ በቲ ሓቢርካ ምቅላስ ዘኽእል መደያቱ ኽንሰርሕን፣ ምስተን ተልእኾን ራኢን  ዝማሳሰል ዘለወን ክኣ ኣብ ሓደ ንምምጻእ ጻዕሪ ምⷋድ፣ ነቶም ራኢኦም ፍሉይ ዝኾነ  ብናይ ሓባር ስራሕ አቢልካ አብ ሰፊሕ ሃገራዊ ዲሞክራሲያዊ ጽላል ዘብጽሕ  ባብ ምኽፋት ኣድላይ ስርሓት ምክያድን ውጺኢቱ ብዝቐልጠፈ ንመሪሕነት ምትሕልላፍ ንስራሕ ኣሳልጦ ልዑል ተራ ዘለዎ እዩ፡

# መዳይ ቑጠባዊ ስሰና፣ እዚ መዳይ እዚ ንኹሉ ኣባልና ዝምስገንን፣ ዸኺመ ኸይበለ ኻብታ ዘላቶ ብዘይ ንሕስያ ወርሓዊ ጉቡኡን፣ ወፈይኡን ዘበርክቶ  ዘሎ ሓርበኛዊ ስርሓት ኣድንቖት መለክዒ የብሉን፣ ዘሎ ግን ነዚ ኸቢድ  ጾር ኽፈኹሰሉ ዝኽእል ፕሮጀክትን  መላታትን ብምውጻእ ናብ ደገ ዝጠመተ ኣሳራርሓ ብጻዓት ኸነታኣታቱ ዘለዎ ሜዳ ሃሰስ ኽንብል ይግባእ፡፡

#መዳይ ካልኣይ ውድባዊ ጉባኤን ፈስቲቫልን፣ 2ይ  ጉባኤና አብቲ ዝተመደበሉን ወርሕን መዓልትን ክውዕል ዘዲሊ ምቅርራብ ኣብ ዝግበረሉ፣ ኣባላት ኣብ ምምሕያሽ ጶለቲካዊ ፕሮግርምን ፣ ቁዋምን ዝሳተፍሉ ይካየድ ምህላዉ ኹላትና እንዋሳኣሉ እውን ዘሎና ኣብ ርእሲ ምዃኑ ዘሔጉስ ተሳትፎን ኣገዳሲ ዝበልዎ ራኢኦም እውን ይልኡኹ ምህላዎም ስጋብ ክንደይ ዋንነቶም እምነት ኣብ ተልእኾን ራኢ ሰልፊ  ዲሞክራሲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ዝሕብርን ተስፋ ዝህብን ኢዩ፡፡

ብዛዕባ ፈስቲቫል ምስ ጉባኤታትና ተዛሚዱ ዝኸይድ ቡዙሓት ዑዱማን ኣጋይሽን ዘኤንግድ ንምብቃዕ ካብት ዝሓለፈ ዓመት ዝሓሸን ዝማዕረገን ንምብጻሑ ዝኽዕበተ ስራሕ ይጽበየና ኣሎ  ኽብል ሓው ኣሰፋው መግለጺኡ ደምዲሙ ፡፡

ድሕሪ ዚ ንመላእ ተሳተፍቲ ኣኼባ ዘለዎም ርእይቶታት ከቕርቡ ዕድል ተኸፊቱ። ሓውቲ አልጋነሽ ያቆብ ኣባል ሽማግለ ዞባ ኤውሮጳ፡ ነቲ ዝተዋህበ መግለጺ ከምእትሰማማዓሉን፡ እዚ ዓይነት አኼባ ብኣጋጣሚ ክግበር ዘይኮነስ ስሩዑን ምዱቡን ኾይኑ ብውሑዱ ኣብ ዉሽጢ ሰለስተ ወርሒ ሓደ ግዜ ምርኻብ ኣድላይ ከምዝኾነ ኣተሓሳሲባ።

ኹሎም ተሳተፍቲ በቲ ኣብቲ ኣኼባ ዝቐረበ ጠቓሚ ሓሳብን ዝረኸብዎ መግለጺን ዑጉባት ነይሮም። ገለ ካብቲ ዘቕረብዎ ሃናጺ ሓሳባትን መተሓሳሰቢታትን ድማ ከምዚ ይርከቦ -

1. ኣብ ዝመጽእ ኣኼባታትና ኣብ ክንዲ ሓለፍቲ ብዘቅርብዎ ነዊሕ መግለጺ እቲ ግዜ ዝጸብብ፡ ነቶም በዳህቲ ሕቶታት ጥራይ ኣልዒልና ከመይ ከምእንፈትሖም ምዝታይ ጠቓሚ ክኸውን ይኽእል።

2. ኣብ ዲያስፖራ ናይ ዝነብር ህዝብና ኩነታትን ብዝሕን ምስ ነዚ ክፈልጡ ዝኽእሉ መንግስታውን ዘይመንግስታውን ትካላት ብምውካስ ንምፍላት ሰልፍና ጻዕር ከካይድ

3. ኣብ ሃገረ ጀርመን ከተማ ፍራንክፎርት ዓመት-ዓመት ዝግበር ፈስቲቫል፡ ኣብ ክንዲ ብዞባ ኤውሮጳ ጥራይ ዝኸውን ብመላእ ኣባላት ሰልፊ ክኸውን

4. ሰልፊ ዘካይዶም ሰሚናራትን ናብ ዝተፈላለዩ ሃገራት ዝገብሮም ዑድታትን ኣብ ዝኸይድ ዘሎ ናይ ለውጢ ቃልሲ ሓጋዚ ተራ ስለዘለዎም ኣበርቲዑ ክሰርሓሎም

ኣሰናዳኢት ሽማግለ 2ይ ጉባአ ሰልፊ ደሞክራሲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ብ21 ለካቲት 2015 ኣብ ዘካየደቶ 8ይ ስሩዕ ኣኼበኣ መስርሕ ምስንዳእ ኣበይ በጺሑ ከም ዘሎ ገምጊማ። በቲ ዘካየደቶ ገምጋም መሰረት ቀዳማይ ዙር ምይይጥ መሰረታት ሰልፊ ኣብቲ ናብ ጉባአ ዝቐርብ ንድፊ ፖለቲካዊ መደብ ዕዮ ከም ዝተዛዘመ ኣረጋጊጻ፡ እንተኾነ ኣገዳሲ ንዝበሃል ተወሳኺ ሓሳባት እቲ ዕድል ዕጽው ከም ዘይኮነ ኣረጋጊጻ። ብተመሳሳሊ ኩነታት ናይታ ሽማግለ ናይ ሎጅስቲክስን ፋይናንስን ክፍሊ፡ ቦታን ካልእ ንጉባአ ዘድሊ ነገራትን ኣብ ምቕራብን ናይቲ ጉባአ በጀት ነዲፍካ ኣብ ምቕራብን ኣውንታዊ ስረሓት ከም ዘሳለጠት ኣብዚ ኣኼባ ተገሊጹ። ጉዳይ ኣወኻኽላ ኣባላት ኣብዚ ኣብ መጻኢ ወርሓት ክረምቲ ዝካየድ 2ይ ጉባአ ሰልፊ ዝምልከታ ንኡስ ሽማግለ እውን ኣድለይቲ ሓበሬታ ናይ ምእካብ ስረሓታ ቀጻሊ ከም ዘሎ ኣብዚ ኣኼባ ተገሊጹ።

ነቲ ኣኼባ ዝመረሐ ናይታ ሽማግለ ኣቦመንበር፡ ሓላፊ ቤት ጽሕፈት ውደባንን ኣባል ፈጻሚት ሽማግለን ሓው ተስፋሚካኤል ዮሃንስ፡ መስርሕ ምስንዳእ 2ይ ጉባአ ንምዕዋት በቲ ሓደ ወገን መሪሕነት ሰልፊ፡ በቲ ካልእ ወገን ከዓ ኣባላት ኣሰናዳኢት ሽማግለን ንኡሳን ሽማግለታታን የካይድዎ ንዘለዉ ጻዕሪ ንኢዱ፡ እዚ ጻዕሪ ኣብ መጻኢ’ውን ብናህሪ ንክቕጽል ኣተባቢዑ። ንሱ ምስዚ ኣተሓሒዙ እቲ ጉዳይ ናይ ውሱናት ኣባላት ሽማግለ ዕማም ጥራይ ዘይኮነ ናይ መላእ ኣባላት ሰልፍን ደገፍቱን ምዃኑ ጠቒሱ፡ ኣብ ኩሉ መዳያት ኣበርክተኦም ከዕዝዙ ጸዊዑ። ናይቲ ኣኼባ ተሳተፍቲ ብወገኖም ሒዘምዎ ዘለዉ ከቢድ ሓላፍነት ኣብ ሸቶኡ ንምብጻሕ ከይሰልከዩ ክሰርሑ ምዃኖም ኣረጋግጾም።

22 ለካቲት 2015

The Swiss Federal Council, which is a seven-person cabinet elected for seven years, on 25 February responded to parliamentary questions affirming that it attaches great importance to the “extremely disquieting human rights situation in Eritrea”.

The Federal Council was responding to eight questions on Eritrea addressed to it from the Swiss Parliament. The initiator of the questions on behalf of the Swiss Social Democratic Party was the Hon. Ms Fehr Jacqueline who deposed the questions to the Cabinet through the Parliament on 12 December 2014 following meetings with the Swiss party and government on 19 November 2014 of the a delegation of the Eritrean People’s Democratic Party (EPDP).

The Honourable MP Fehr Jacqueline, and Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga

In its introduction of answering the eight questions, the Swiss Federal Council, currently presided by the incumbent President of the Confederation, Ms Simonetta Sommaruga of the Social Democratic Party, stated as follows:

“The Federal Council attaches great importance to the question of respecting of human rights in Eritrea. The extremely disquieting human rights situation in Eritrea is the root cause of the large exodus of people in and from the Horn of Africa. In the face of the gravity of this situation and in light of the big number of Eritrean refugees in Switzerland, our country is called to make efforts towards identifying the sources of problems and towards resolving them in collaboration with the international community”.

The questions wanted the Swiss Federal Council (cabinet) to say its position on what is going on in Eritrea as related to the forced labour, the refusal of the Eritrean regime visitations by the Geneva-based International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC); what Swiss government does to help Eritrean refugees in the country and those in the Horn of Africa region; how the Federal Council views the reports of the UN Human Rights Rapporteur on Eritrea and the formation of the Commission of Inquiry by the powerful UN Human Rights Council, and others.

The document has been released in German, French and Italian languages. WWW.Harnnet.org

will make efforts to present full translations of the questions and answers in Arabic and Tigrinia languages.

Meanwhile, an EPDP delegation and a representative of a newly formed coordinating committee of Eritreans in Switzerland are invited to address a meeting in Bern on 2 March of the Swiss Social Democratic Party’s Commission on Foreign Policy Affairs.

EPDP Editorial

Part I

The history of modern Eritrea is the history of a long and arduous struggle in search of statehood and national identity. Successive generations of Eritreans waged both peaceful and armed struggle collectively against their common colonial powers (Turks, Egyptians, Italians, British, and Ethiopians). Particularly, organized Eritrean national resistance against colonial rules got momentum during the 1940’s and the 1950’s, which overtime got transformed into an armed national liberation movement in the 1960’s. Thus, after struggling against successive colonial powers for almost 100 years that includes thirty years of bloody armed struggle against the last alien ruler, Ethiopia, Eritrea's de facto independence was realized under the leadership of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) in May 1991 and the birth of the nation was formally legalized, de jure independence, through the April 1993 United Nations monitored referendum, which of course had its drawbacks regarding the representation of sister liberation fronts. However, as we know, independence was not an aim in itself but a means to an end - to have an all-inclusive democratic, political, economic, and social system with solid political and civil institutions. That is, independence was a necessary condition not a sufficient condition for establishing a democratic and prosperous Eritrea.

Indeed, the core objectives and aims of the Eritrean war of liberation were freedom, justice, democracy and economic and social emancipation. In this, it is well-evidenced that throughout our struggle for independence, leading Eritrean figures of the armed struggle constantly made solemn pledges and vows of the importance of the establishment of democracy, rule of law, and a society governed by democratic principles and institutions anchored on a constitutional governance that is accountable to the people in post-independence Eritrea. These pledges also continued during the first few years after de facto independence. The National Charter(adopted by the 3rd congress of EPLF in 1994) and the 1997 Constitutionfor example, pledged the birth/creation of a free, democratic and prosperous Eritrea with a constitutional political system that upholds the rule of law and respects the fundamental principles of freedom and human rights. Again notwithstanding the drawbacks of the constitution making process, the pursuit of these noble objectives, many of them included in the 1997 constitution, was the raison d’être for the Eritrean liberation struggle where generations of Eritreans paid untold sacrifices. Hence, the ultimate legacy of the Eritrean liberation struggle in general and the EPLF (as an organization that led the final phase of the Eritrean struggle to victory) in particular would have been the creation of a constitutional and democratic Eritrean State, which would recognize the legitimacy of a government that derives from the consent of the governed (the people) and that would become sustainable by an active citizenry engagement and participation in the governance of the country. It did not happen.

Because, not long after independence, the process of nation building and the democratization of Eritrea was hijacked by a group of ruthless predatory dictators and subsequently the noble objectives of the liberation struggle were subverted for personal power and aggrandizement of these few unscrupulous predators – by all account antithetical to what Eritrean martyrs and Eritrean people had all along struggled and envisioned for their country, meaning the establishment of popular governance and not a dictatorship. But, what we have now in Eritrea is the latter, which is the rule of dictatorship under one man with unlimited power that rules by decrees. With this, all the pledges and the concrete promises that were made during and after the liberation struggle were betrayed to the core by none other than Isaias and his henchmen elites who are anti democracy, anti diverse views, and anti Eritrean citizens’ sovereignty.

After securing power through the PFDJ Party, which is the nucleus of authoritarianism in Eritrea, this kleptocratic group led by Isaias went on a spree of purging and eliminating pro democracy elements among the ranks of the EPLF first and later against members of the PFDJ. Once Isaias took control of the PFDJ, he changed its structure and character, reduced it to a mere exploitative weapon, and made it a brute Party to suppress all political dissenters and oppositions. And over the past two decades, Isaias frozen public servants and military personnel, tortured opponents, outlawed press freedom, imprisoned and murdered hundreds of pro democracy movement groups who pushed and called for constitution governance in Eritrea, and put hundreds of others in incommunicado and solitary confinements. Needless to say, now two decades later, it seems that Isaias has reached the stage where he thinks he can have a free and smooth ride to his dream land – an Eritrea ruled by a person of his choice to maintain his “legacy”– even if it means that person is from his own clique or from his own family.History shows that some dictators succeeded or attempted in creating family dynasties such as the three generations lineage of the Kim Dynasty of North Korea and the Al-Assad Dynasty of Syria; and other dictators such as Mubarak of Egypt, Gaddafi of Libya, and Ali Abdella Saleh of Yemen - attempted to create a family dynasty but they failed due to popular uprising.

In his 2015 New Year interview, after shelving it for 17 years, Isaias declared his own 1997 constitution as a ‘dead’ document. Not only that, but also he declared that he is planning to draft a new one. Will he draft a new one? What kind of constitution will it be? How will it be different from the 1997 constitution? If at all his hidden drafters produce one, it will be either a document that will allow ONLY One Party System or a NO-Party System of which both these systems pave the way for the continuation of his unholy “legacies” in Eritrea – the dream land of Isaias. In reality, Isaias is digging the last ditch to bury the legacy of the EPLF/the liberation struggle and with that comes the continuation of the denial of Eritrean people their right to have a constitutional political system that upholds the rule of law and respects the fundamental freedoms and basic human rights. Whether or not Isaias will be able to land in his dream land will depend on what the Eritrean people will do. But what is absolutely clear now through his recent interview is that Isaias has admitted that he has in fact been ruling Eritrea without a constitution (without the consent of the Eritrean people) for the last 17 years. For the brainwashed majority followers of the PFDJ, this should be a red flag that Isaias’ regime is illegitimate and that Isaias has neither a right nor a legitimacy to eliminate or declare the 1997 constitution as dead.

But in a reversal of fortune, as if the Eritrean history is not replete with betrayals, the Eritrean people have been betrayed once again by a homegrown predatory dictator. Because of this, almost 24 years after independence, Eritrea does not have a constitution, has had no elections and no contract between the governed and the government. The Isaias regime has failed Eritrea in all its political, educational, cultural and socio-economic policies. Instead, Isaias all along engaged in looting the country’s resources and distributing it to the ruling class and other selective minority groups as a means to maximize the power of his dictatorial regime. The use of the country’s resources as a form of patronage and favoritism is used to placate supporters and punish those who oppose the regime.

The brute fact is instead of establishing governance structures and resources allocation system that allows popular participation, the regime from the outset adopted extractive and exclusionary laws that allow it to capture all the benefits of our independence. As a consequence, many population groups in our country were and are marginalized politically, socially and economically. Ever since its inception, the regime has centralized the production and distribution of resources, established patronage and privileges at the expense of all other elements of the nation’s economy. We know, using this political power, the few in PFDJ have accumulated enormous wealth and resources of the state for themselves. In addition, the state power arrangement does not constrain the powers of the government: it does not guarantee economic freedom; it does not provide mechanisms for peaceful resolution of conflicting interests of various groups within Eritrea; it does not advocate for peaceful coexistence in Eritrea. What we have in Eritrea is a “failed state phenomenon” where the regime neither cares for the majority of the people or for the public good, nor for the people’s right.

Last, with the latest declaration of scrapping the 1997 constitution, Eritrea is being exposed to a bone-deep deficiency of statehood and representative political system, which is a major threat to the country and its people. And this is the final nail in the coffin of all the legacies of EPLF and of the struggle of Eritrean people for democracy and freedom. Where is the anger and fire of ex-EPLF fighters who paid blood and sweat to achieve free Eritrea, but betrayed by Isaias? Our question is, was not the basic precept of the constitutional process to establish rule of law and representative government in Eritrea? Is not it time that we say enough is enough and stop the evil minded Isaias from destroying and burying the legacy of our armed struggle and thedream of our people – a dream of democracy, rule of law, and constitutional governance that is accountable to the people of Eritrea? EPDP says “it is high time that we should” intensify our call upon the Eritrean public in general and all ex-EPLF fighters and supporters in particular to join hands and confront the evil intent and design of Isaias and save the “Eritrean Nation” from descending into political, social, economic and demographic abyss. Understanding the evil mind behind this unfortunate negative trend is relegated to the Part II of this series.