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EPDP Information Office

In a strongly-worded memorandum addressed to the Foreign Ministry of Denmark, the Eritrean People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) criticized the recent report of the Danish Immigration Service (DIS) which, after a visit to Eritrea, said the situation in the country  is not “as bad as reported” and wrongly called Eritrean asylum seekers as “economic refugees”.

In the memorandum urging the branches of the Danish government to ignore the report, the EPDP believed that the Danish team’s report has “reached an utterly erroneous and dangerous conclusion that we see as a travesty of justice and an added insult to injury to the Eritrean pe

ople currently condemned to live under the worst repressive regime in the whole of Africa, if not the world.”

The EPDP regretted the wrong picture conveyed by the DIS report which intended to deny all world bodies including the UN Human Rights Rapporteur who has been denied entry to Eritrea while the likes of DIS are welcomed by the Asmara regime which is well aware of the wishes of the visiting team.

Below is the full text of the EPDP memorandum to Denmark.

******

To: H.E. Mr. Martin Lidegaard,  

The Foreign Minister of Denmark,

Copenhagen

Mr Martin Ldegaard

Subject: Eritreans Fleeing All-Round Repression at Home Are Genuine Refugees. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      12 December 2014

 Dear Mr. Martin Lidegaard,  

We, in the Eritrean People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), one of the mainstream opposition organizations in exile struggling for change and democratization through people-power,  received with shock and dismay the recent report by the Danish Immigration Service (DIS) which reached an utterly erroneous and dangerous conclusion that we see as a travesty of justice and an added insult to injury to the Eritrean people currently condemned to live under the worst repressive regime in the whole of Africa, if not the world.

The DIS report wished to show that the political and human rights situation in Eritrea is not “as bad as reported” by many honorable bodies including the UN Human Rights Rapporteur and her two submissions endorsed by the UN Human Rights Commission, which in turn upgraded its concern about Eritrea by establishing a UN Commission of Inquiry on that regime’s excesses. The UN Human Rights Rapporteur was denied entry to Eritrea. The same fate could await the UN Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea because their findings would not pre-drafted conclusions, as the case was with DIS’s report, which is already judged as a gross distortion by many sources including Professor Gaim Kibreab, the only Eritrean source the DIS fact finders approached. The report forces its readers to easily conclude that it is a shallow document apparently drafted by not-so-serious team of “fact finders” who could not even see why their mission was so welcome by the regime in Asmara. We are not surprised that they did not see any checkpoints on their pre-planned travel to two localities south of Asmara.

Dear Foreign Minister,

We are aware that Denmark is not the only country pressurized by domestic politics to find an excuse to call Eritrean asylum seekers as “economic refugees” which they are not. We recall that the Italian Government sent a high level mission to Eritrea last summer and expressed its wish to resume work with the regime in Asmara with which it had no relation for a long time. UK government team is now on visit to Eritrea. We hope that its conclusions are not pre-drafted.

As you may very well know, Sir, we are talking about the most disquieting case in regard to gross violations of political, economic, social and human rights in Africa.  One would even dare say that the open-ended national service that has been turned into an illegal act of forced labour is by itself sufficient to inflict havoc to the life of an entire nation. But our country has many more worrisome causes that turned it into a hell on earth. Eritrea is, Sir, a country where:

• No elections have been held for the past 23 years;
• No constitution exists and no rule of law can be dreamt of; 
• No freedom of  press and assembly is allowed;
• No free worship by the faithful permitted;
• No basic human rights respected;
• No private entrepreneurship allowed to thrive;
• No quality or higher education encouraged; the list of no’s is endless……..

These are among the key causes of refugee outflows in any part of the world. Becoming a refugee is not a choice, and only to reiterate: those Eritreans who are fleeing the country are doing so because they were deprived of all basic political and human rights under the repressive regime that made the country unlivable for the time being.

Mr. Lidegaard,

An increasing number of Eritreans inside the homeland and those in diaspora is currently engaged in an ever growing struggle to bring about a positive change in the country. But until then, people are forced to flee, and those who escape arrest or death while crossing the borders are bona fide refugees who deserve temporary protection until the situation is changed. At this moment in time, all Eritreans fleeing the regime in Asmara are genuine refugees and deserve your support and protection.

We, therefore, request your esteemed Ministry to share this message with the Danish Government, the Danish Parliament and the Danish Judiciary. We are asking Denmark and its people to ignore the shallow DIS report and instead continue to give Eritrean asylum seekers at least temporary but adequate protection until the situation in our country is changed to the better through the growing struggle of our people inside the homeland and those in the diaspora.  

Sincerely yours,

Wolde-Yesus Ammar,

Head, EPDP Foreign Relations Office

CC: Danish Government; the Danish Parliament, and the Danish Ministry of Justice.

ኣቦ መንበር ሰልፊ ዲሞክራሲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ፡ ሓው መንግስተኣብ ኣስመሮም፡ ነቲ ኣብ  ሎንዶን ምስ ህዝቢን ማሕበራትን ኣገደስቲ ባእታታትን ብጉዳይ ሃገር ዝገብሮ ዘሎ ርኽኽባት ብምቕጻል፡ ትማሊ ቀዳም 13 ታሕሳስ 2014 ውን ኣብ በርሚንግሃም ብርክት ዝበሉ ብጉዳይ ሃገሮምን ህዝቦምን ዝግደሱ ኤርትራውያን ዝተረኽብዎ ብዓይነቱ ኣገዳሲ ዝኾነ ህዝባዊ ኣኼባ ኣካይዱ።  ኣብዚ ኣኼባዚ፡ ክልተ ኣባላት መሪሕነት ሰልፊን ካብ ሎንዶን ዝመጹ ኣባላት ጨንፈርን  ተረኺቦም ኔሮም።

ሓው ሓምድ ድራር፡ ኣባል ፈጻሚት ሽማግለ ሰልፊ ንኣኼበኛታት እንቋዕ ደሓን መጻእኩም ድሕሪ ምባል፡ በቲ ዝነበረ ሕማቕ ኩነታት ኣየር ከይተዓንቀፉ ዕድመ ሰልፊ ኣኽቢሮም ካብ ርሑቕን ቀረባን ብምምጽኦም ድማ፡ ልባዊ ምስጋና ኣቕሪቡ።

ካብዚ ብምቕጻል፡ ኣቦ መንበር ሰልፊ ሓው መንግስተኣብ ኣስመሮም፡ሃገርና ኣብ ትሕቲ ምልካዊ ስርዓት እትሓልፎ ዘላ ኩነታትን፡ ኩነታት ተቓዉሞ ደምበን ኣህጉራዊ ኩነታትን ብሰፊሑ ብክልቲኡ ቋንቋታት፡ ትግርኛን ዓረብኛን መግለጺ ኣቕሪቡ።ብተወሳኺ ሰልፊ ዲሞክራሲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ኣብ ህዝባዊን ዜናውን ዲፕሎማስያውን መዳያት ዘካይዶ ዘሎ ንጥፈታትን፡ ንሓድነት ደምበ ተቓውሞ ሰልፊ እናካየዶ ዝጸንሐ ጻዕሪታት ብዝርዝር ንኣኼብኛታት ገሊጹ።

ተቓዉሞ ደምበ ፡ብክንዲቲ ኩነታት ሃገርና ዝጠልቦ ደረጃ ሓላፍነት ክሰርሕ በቒዑ ከምዘየለን  በዚ ሎሚ ዘለዎ፡ ዝተበታተነ ሃለዋት ከድምዕ ከምዘይክእልን ኣረዲኡ። ኩሎም ሓይሊታት ተቓዉሞ፡ ናይ ቀረባ ዕላምኦም ንዲክታቶርያዊ ስርዓት ምልጋስ ምዃኑ ተረዲኦም፡ ኣብ ክሊዚ ዕላማዚ ሓቢሮም ክሰርሑ ሓላፍነት ክስምዖም ከምዝግባእ ኣረዲኡ።

ድሕሪ ብሓው መንግስተኣብ ዝተዋህበ መግለጺ፡ ኣኺበኛታት ጠቓሚ ርእይቶታትን፡ ናብ ደምበ ተቓውሞ ብሓፈሻ፡ ናብ ሰልፊ ደሞክራሲ ድማ ብፍላይ ዘነጻጸረ ሃናጺ ነቐፌታታት ኣቕሪቦም።

ካብ ኣኼበኛታት ንዝቐረበ ሕቶታት፡ ብኣቦ መንበር ሰልፍን ኣብኡ ብዝነበሩ ኣባላት መሪሕነትን ዝግባእ መልሲ ተዋሂብዎ። ነቲ  ሓደ-ሓደ እዋን ዘይትርጉሙ ዝወሃቦ፡ ሰልፊ ዲሞክራሲ መሪጽዎ ዘሎ ሰላማዊ ዲሞክራስያዊ ቃልሲ፡ ስለምንታይ ሰልፊ ከም ቅኑዕ ኣገባብ ቃልሲ ከም ዝኽተሎ ሰፊሕ መግለጺ ተዋሂቡ።

ካብ ተሳተፍቲ ኣኼባ፡ ሰልፊ ዝገብሮ ምንቅስቓሳት ንዝናን ሽምን ኢሉ ከምዝገብሮ፡ ኣብ ህዝቢ ቦታ ከምዘይብሉ፡ ናብ መንእሰያት ክወርድ ከምዘይከኣለ ርእይቶ ቀሪቡ፡ ነዚ መብርሂ ክወሃብ ከሎ፡

ሰልፊ ኣብ ዲፕሎማስያውን ዜናውን ስራሓት ዘካይዶ ንጥፈታትን፡ ከም መኽሰብ መላእ ተቓዉሞ ደምበ ተቖጺሩ ክኽበርን ክሙጎስን ዘለዎ፡ ካልኦት ድማ  ኣብ ርእሲኡ ክውስኽሉ ከሀብትምዎን ዝግባእ  ድኣምበር ፡ ነዚ ሃገራዊ ስራሕዚ ከም ንዝናን ንምሽማው ስልጣንን ተባሂሉ ዝግበር ዘሎ ጌርካ ምቑጻር ግጉይ ምዃኑ ተገሊጹ።

እቲ ህዝቢ ኣብ መላእ ተቓዉሞ ደምበ ኣብ ምዕሳል ዘሎ ጸገም ኣብ ሰልፊ ዲሞክራሲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ውን ህሉው ኢዩ። እንተኾነ ግን ሰድህኤL ቃልሲ ብዘይ ተሳትፎ ህዝቢ ክዕወት ኣይክእልን ኢዩ ካብ ዝብል ጽኑዕ እምነት ብምንቃል፡ ናብ ህዝቢ ከብጽሖ ብዝኽእል ፖሊሲ ተመሪሑ ይኸይድ ኣሎ። ብእንሕዞ ሃገራዊ መርገጻትን እንኽተሎ ፖሊስን ዝሓሸ ህዝባዊ ቦታ ከምዘሎና ንኣምን ኢና። ነዚ ኩሉ ዝገጥመና ተጻብኦታት፡ ብዘሎና ህዝባዊ ቦታ ጥራይ ኢና በዲህናዮ ንኸይድ ዘሎና ተባሂሉ።

ሰልፊ ዲሞክራሲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ምስ መንእሰያት ክሰርሕ ንዘለዎ ድሌት ኮንፈረንሳት ፕሪቶርያን ቦለኛን እኹላት መረዳእታ ኢየን።

ኣኼባ በርሚንግሃም፡ ሓላፍነት ዝመልኦ ኣኼባ፡ ካብ ተሳተፍቲ  ድማ ኣብ ስራሕና ሓጋዝን ጠቓምን ሓሳባት ዝረኸብናሉ ኢዩ ኔሩ። በዚ ኣጋጣሚ ድማ ንኹሎም ተሳተፍቲ ኣኼባ ነመስግኖም። ንተቓለስቲ ኑሪ ዓብደላን ስዒድ ዓብደልሃዲን ንኹሉ ዝገበሩልና እንግዶት ብልቢ ነመስግኖም።

ሰልፊ ደሞክራሲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ

ጨንፈር ዓባይ ብሪጣንያ

14 ታሕሳስ 2014

He said the case of migrants should be regulated through legal openness to accept the required number of workers in the developed world and stop frontier controls which usually open markets for criminal trafficker organizations. He surmised that Europe can legally accept up to one million refugees and migrants in the coming five years and thus shut the door to criminal organizations.

The UN expert added that in the 1950-60s, big numbers of North Africans were legally allowed to migrate to Europe as labourers, and that time there were no casualties at sea. “The logic of frontier control by the Treaty of Dublin has utterly failed” he said stressing that it is “unsupportable to let people die in the gates of Europe.”

Mr. Crepeau also expressed satisfaction with the continued work by Italy to save lives in the sea despite the decision to stop the operations of its Mare Nostrum. The EU operated Triton is also far successful in saving lives in the sea a little beyond the limits previously reported.

During the first 11 months of 2014, over 207,000 refugees and migrants reached Europe via the Mediterranean Sea, while 3,400 have died or are still missing.

In 2013, the number of arrivals to Europe was 60,000 and deaths in the sea over 600. Those who died in the sea in 2012 and 2011 were 1,500 and 500 out of 22,500 and 69,000 arrivals, respectively. No estimates were made as to how many of those arrivals and deaths affected Eritreans.

Executive Director of SADC-CNGOs of 15 countries, Mr. Abie Ditlhake, opening the solidarity workshop; Eritrean delegation was at hand to tell the sad story from inside Eritrea and in diaspora.

By Member of Joint Eritrean Delegation

It was a visit unique of its kind: this joint Eritrean delegation to Nelson Mandela’s South Africa just a year after the passing away of modern Africa’s topmost statesman. The delegation consisted not only of representatives of three political and civic organizations but also an independent activist Eritrean lady from the Arab Gulf states. When the 3 to 9 December 2014 mission of the delegation was wound up, its members were reassured that strenuous efforts will be underway very soon to put Eritrea on the African agenda.

Africa was not that good to Eritrea during its long struggle for national liberation. Now, the continent appears to be moving up from the bottom to see to it that Eritreans enjoy what they rightly deserved as of 1991: peace, democracy, human dignity and prosperity that eluded them for too long. This quick reportage will highlight

1. The main issues raised and decided at the 3-4 December workshop of the Southern African Development Community’s Council of Non-Governmental Organizations (SADC-CNGO);
2. The Eritrean delegation’s press conference and its live interview with the S. African Broadcasting Corporation; and
3. The individual, limited and larger group meetings with important personalities, friends of Eritrea and Eritrean community members in Johannesburg, Durban and Pretoria.

Workshop of SADC-CNGO Solidarity Task Team

The workshop of the regional Civil Society Solidarity Task Team held in Johannesburg between 3 and 4 December 2014 was attended by the SADC-CNGO Executive Director himself and support staff, as well as senior representatives of umbrella organizations of member movements like the Southern African Trade Union Coordination Council (SATUCC); South African Trade Unions (COSATU); Fellowships of Christian Councils in 12 Southern Africa states (FOCCISA) and the Botswana-based Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA).  Invited civil society and political activists from Eritrea and Swaziland were availed to give adequate updates on the political and human rights situations in their respective countries. Technical hiccups prevented the expected Palestinian delegation from taking part. 

The workshop was an outcome of decisions taken by the 10^th Civil Society Forum of SADC-CNGOs held last July in Harare, Zimbabwe. Eritrea was one of the four countries identified for support and solidarity by the SADC Council of NGOs from 15 African countries whose main objectives include support for democratization, conflict resolution and good governance. Regarding Eritrea, the July declaration partly stated as follows:

“We are deeply concerned with the political situation in Eritrea and the oppressive conditions facing the people as a result of absence of respect of human rights and democratic governance.  We are alarmed by the widespread and systematic human rights violations perpetrated by the government of Eritrea against its own people. …. (10^th SADC Civil Society Forum) is concerned especially about the continued implementation of unlimited military service under which the Eritrean youth are kept under slave-like conditions rendering them futureless; indeed, the policy is forcing tens of thousands of young Eritreans to leave their country in search of safety and better future risking inhuman treatment at the hands of unscrupulous human traffickers, death in the high seas and deserts, rape and illicit organ harvesting....”

It was based on this understanding that the Harare Forum mandated senior SADC-CNGO leaders to further explore the situation in Eritrea and other affected countries in a workshop and see what can be done in the near future.

The four Eritreans attending the workshop were given the opportunity to present in great detail the ever worsening situation in their country. They also listed what the Eritrean opposition forces would like SADC-CNGO do for Eritreans inside the country and those in diaspora.

The invited delegation members were, as noted earlier, Ms Salwa Nour, a woman activist from the UAE, Ambassador Andebrehan Weldegiorgis of the Eritrean Forum for National Dialogue (Medrek), Mr. Woldeyesus Ammar from the Eritrean People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), and Mr. Kulubrehan Abraham of the South Africa-based Eritrean Movement for Democracy and Human Rights (EMDHR). Dr. Adane Ghebremeskel, the SADC-CNGO programme advisor also at times joined his compatriots in telling the appalling situation in today’s Eritrea.

Eritrean delegation with senior representatives of SADC-CNGO, SATUCC, COSATU, FOCCISA, MISA and Swaziland NGOs

The Johannesburg workshop thus decided, among others things:

• To establish a solidarity body dedicated to follow up the situation in Eritrea and the other three affected countries singled out for increased solidarity and support of SADC-CNGO and others beyond the region;
• To take action towards putting Eritrea in the African agenda so that it could be reviewed at the upcoming summit conference of SADC member states in February 2015;
• Make approaches to civil society movements in eastern, western and northern Africa and promote solidarity for Eritreans struggling for peace and democratic governance;
• Cognizant of the fact that Eritreans being forced to leave their country are not economic refugees or migrants but genuine refugees, the workshop believed that they deserve to obtain appropriate documentation in South Africa and rest of the SADC region and beyond until Eritrea transits from dictatorship to democratic rule.

Press Conference and SABC Interview

On 5 December, the SADC-CNGO organized a press conference to give further opportunity to the Eritrean delegation further explain the ever worsening political and human rights situation in the country. The Executive Director of SADC Council of NGO formations in all the 15 southern African countries opened the press conference with comprehensive explanation of what was discussed and decided at the workshop regarding Eritrea, Swaziland, Palestine and Western Sahara.

On their part, members of the Eritrean delegation expressed satisfaction with the historic solidarity and further pledges for support by the civil society in southern African countries and explained in more detail the distress facing Eritrea and its people under an extremely dictatorial regime. The outcome of the workshop was also disclosed to the attending members of the press, diplomats and civil society movements who came to the meeting in spite of the 5 December celebrations in Johannesburg marking the first anniversary of the death of Nelson Mandela.  Among the participants were diplomats from the Ethiopian embassy in South Africa.

Delegation members were also given the opportunity for a live radio interview with Channel Africa at the headquarters of South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) which enjoys big audience all over Africa. Questions asked to and responded by two delegation members included the political, economic and human rights situation inside Eritrea, the plight of its refugees, the border issue, decisions of the UN Human Rights Commission and the Eritrean regime’s isolation from the rest of the world.

Meetings in Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria

Ms Salwa Nour had to depart after the 5 December press conference, but the rest of the delegation members took the opportunity of meeting with Eritrean community members, mostly in smaller numbers, in three South African cities. Most of the estimated 5,000 Eritrean community members in South Africa have no valid residence permits and are held as literal hostages of the Eritrean embassy.

Many of them are self-employed (owning small shops) and are nowadays extremely busy to earn year’s income this Christmas/summer season. It was learned that many have distanced themselves from the regime but they cannot manifest this position by attending opposition meetings or, if they do attend, by letting their pictures taken in such occasions.

On 6 December, three members of the delegation held an extensive discussion with members of the Eritrean community in Durban. Problems explained by the delegation members and later raised for comprehensive discussion in the question and answer session included the situation inside the homeland, the changing attitude of external powers towards the regime in Asmara, the disquieting situation of Eritrean refugees in many parts of the world, the fragmentation of the forces opposed to the regime and new initiatives for dialogue and realigning of the struggling forces to create a viable alternative force or forces for change and democratization in the country.

 On 7 December, a similar get-together was held with members of the Eritrean community in the Johannesburg region.

A memorial picture of the ‘willing’ in Johannesburg

Members of the delegation also took the opportunity of meeting old friends and acquaintances individually and/or in smaller groups for exchange of notes on how the mobilization of the silent majority can be tackled and the forces in the opposition coalesced in an effective manner.