Eritrea: Why Isaias Afewerki to Maintain a Huge Standing Army
Asmara (HAN) May 7th, 2017 – Public Diplomacy & Regional Security Cooperation. The opinion article wrote by. Alem Kidane, email at: akidane31@yahoo.com “Eritrea, a country that serves as Africa’s version of North Korea, lives in perpetual
Asmara (HAN) May 7th, 2017 – Public Diplomacy & Regional Security Cooperation. The opinion article wrote by. Alem Kidane, email at: akidane31@yahoo.com
“Eritrea, a country that serves as Africa’s version of North Korea, lives in perpetual confrontation with its larger neighbor, Ethiopia. This allows Eritrea’s dictator, Isaias Afewerki, to maintain a huge standing army and keep his population permanently mobilized and quiescent. Both Kim and Isaias know that banging the war drum and talking endlessly of plots and enemies is a tried and tested way of staying in power. There is nothing an authoritarian leader needs more desperately than an external enemy.” David Blair
“ In the nightmare world of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, three vast totalitarian states were permanently at war. Big Brother needed outside enemies to rally the masses behind his rule. As ever, real life suggests that Orwell was on to something: authoritarian states do seem more likely to go to war; democracies, by contrast, very rarely fight one another.” David Blair
“A shrewd street smart tactician capable of manipulating people ; but without the vital complement of his former comrades –in-arms, he lacks a sense of strategy and long term vision. He has absorbed Maoist dogma, internalized Machiavellian scheming, and mastered the intricacies of Eritrean society.” Taken from a book “Eritrea at a crossroads”
Alem Kidane
akidane31@yahoo.com
The article is an opinion for the writer, not Geeska Afrika Online Site.
my country May 8, 2017
ምናልባሽ ዶኾን ህዝቢ ናይ ክልቲኡ ሃገር ድማ ብዕራይ ወለደ ዝ ኣምኑን ጸላኢኩም ዝተባህልዎ ባዶ ገረወይና ኢሎም ዝልዓሉ ንባዕላቶም ባዶ ገረወይናታት ክኾኑ ዶ ኾን ይኽእሉ።ንዘክር፣ ወያነ ነቲ ካብ 1981 ኣትሒዞም ዘምዳሓድርዎ ዝነበሩ ባድመ ገዲፎሞ ብምንስሓብ ከም ዝወረሩና ተነጊሩና ከም ዝኸተትና።ምናልባሽ እቶም ህዝቢ ሰሜን ኮረያ እውን ከማና ዶ ኾን ክኾኑ ይኽእሉ ?
Sarah May 9, 2017
Well said brother/sister my country, I too agree with your good comment and concern. Our young and unfortunate people are left and dispersed without a country & without any hope.
How long are we going to be lied and messed around by liars and fraudsters and bandits?
My Country May 11, 2017
Sister Sarah,
Thanks for the thumbs up….Unless & until we come clean, evaluating if gedli was necessary or misguided death in vain .we shall only fool our selves….even if we come to the bitter conclusion that gedli was not worth it ,there is nothing we can do now ,but , curve solutions based on the situation at hand . Our # 2 block to solution is open and hidden regionalism ,WE seem to have abstract love for Eritrea without involving love for our people. We are trying to find a simple solution ,to a complicated (self complicated) situation…..
alem May 8, 2017
Badme is like “hingugu gezana”. My mother always said she was going to leave me outside for hingugu to eat me if i cried in the evening. I believed that there was hingugu as scary as weyane and kept quite. Could weyane be the hingugu she referred to always? Or may be higdef?
Eyob T. May 8, 2017
The savage Hingugu was and still is your evil Islamic barbaric ELF and Arabic hidden agenda against poor Eritrea and Eritreans. Woyanes have forgotten/ignored you like you never existed and have moved on to the real and competitive world of today to achieve massive developments and progresses while you are still stuck with your old evil Arabic/Islamic agendas.
Eyob T. May 8, 2017
addition: please add ‘while you are still stuck with your old evil Arabic/Islamic agendas’ of the backward and outdated 60s.
Zekarias May 8, 2017
Where does Esayas diablos get the money to maintain and pay salaries of big army? Could God be paying him to continue punishing the Eritrean people? How could God give so much power & a long life to a black African devil?
my country May 9, 2017
Zekarias,
God has nothing with financing Isaias ,We did for 56 years and bisha is taking over now. God is for creation ,not for revolution.
Sol May 8, 2017
you country,
TPLF was administrating the village of Bademe since 1981, that is true but can you tell us HOW and why Bademe came under TPLF in 1981. If you honestly replied this question then we will discover that TPLF and DIA had conspired against Eritrean people and sovereignty long time ago.
Eyob T. May 8, 2017
Can you also tell us HOW & WHY you keep deceiving gullible Eritrean readers with multi cheating names as Sol, alem, adhanom and so on? Are you also conspiring with your evil old Islamic ELF and Arab slave masters against poor Eritrean people?? Cut all your crap double standard and fake acting/preaching.
Sol May 8, 2017
Ayte Tekhlay
I will always remind you that you will not be successful to pollute assenna and sorry if your operators are disappointed and stopped paying you
Bokre May 8, 2017
Iseyas gave Badme to Weyane in exchange of support he got to get rid of ELF.
The two organizations had a unified strategy not only to kick out ELF, but also a coordinated foreign policy regarding other States in the neighborhood, and diaspora based opposition groups of both countries. The protocols regarding these agreements were never made public but people knew about them. After the war Eritrea got the Badme village but lost almost an entire region of Badme, mostly referred to as Badme’s environs, in international documents.
Despite that the regime of Iseyas keeps fooling Eritreans that we got Badme back.
In the illegal war declared by Iseyas and his generals, Eritrea lost a generation of its young people. Iseyas wanted to keep Eritrea on war footing for decades to come, for him to remain in power and rule without law and constitution. The Ethio-Eritrea war was unnecessary. The evil Weyane got an opportunity to use Ethiopia’s huge resources against a small country ruled by a bunch of bandits who happen to be of Tigreyan decent.
my country May 9, 2017
Sol,
I have no agenda except the truth. It was “understanding” between gedlina/eplf and weyane/tplf to let weyane administer the township of badme. For the least the ex jebhaits should have told the Eritrean youth the truth about the situation during the socalled border war. And the mature Eritreans should have bitterly opposed the war as it did not make sense. I would not spare us ,the people ,from responsibility,,governments mislead people into wars ,imcluding & mostly the USA & UK ,the opposition and the people would object ,in the case of the badme war ,there were only cheer leaders ,no mature ideas,
Sol May 10, 2017
Country,
There was no any agreement, it was just done on the wills and orders of DIA as it is the same till today, for those Jebhas who were telling the truth we gave them a deaf ear because we were under total control of the con artist DIA.
alem May 8, 2017
Sol
I think weyane controlled badme in 1981 after they attacked and Pushed elf out of eritrea together with shaebia. What we do not know is whether it was rewarded to weyane for their help or not. This is one fact. More interesting is why iseyas wanted it back in 1998 just when the cconstitution was to be implemented.
Sol May 8, 2017
Alem
In Kassala Sudan there are still some inhabitants of Bademe living as refugees. These people will tell you how after the defeat of ELF a certain military unit leader whose name I forgot told the inhabitants there that Bademe will be administered by TPLF those who don’t accept this can move to another area
alem May 11, 2017
Sol
I heard that too. I heard some elders who were very unhappy about weyane administering them and taxing them. They thought it was temporary that happened due to tactical retreat (mizlaq or mihdam) of shaebia. They were wrong, it was contested even during elf administration era before it was attacked by 3 forces- the derg, weyane and shaebia.
Hagos May 9, 2017
Assurance message to the PFDJ goons:- http://WWW.tesfanews.com, http://WWW.meskerem.com, http://WWW.dehainews.org
If ever the Egyptian were to be as fools as the Shaebyans, and happen to fire a single bullet towards Ethiopia, then rest assure that Eritrea will be history. No matter how much trench you are dig in will never materialize. Eritrea will be first eliminated from the region and Ethiopia will then deal severely with Egypt. Including by destroying the Aswan Dam. Shaebyan I’m sure you still remember how the Gallant Weyane pilots inserted a bomb right through the TOP of your Military airport control tower, with out tempering with the larger Civilian airport. That is the fate of the Aswan Dam. There fore your bad wish against peace between Ethiopia and Egypt with out knowing is your own suicide!!! But Egypt is full of sensible people and will never plunge in to blunder like stupid PFDJ did. But even though I am a Tigrean of South Mereb, the North Mereb(kebesans) are 100% Tigreans who have suffer the same fate like the south under the Barbaric Menelik, and deserves all the best wishes and one day, upon removal of dirty politics from the region, they will merge and consolidate their Original status to prosper in unison!!! Shaebyans are evils who stood against the interest of the Tigrigna speaking people, a tool of hate and divisiveness!!!
Asgede May 10, 2017
Hagos,,
No thank you, we will not fall for agame again we have learned from history agame are back stabbing shamless tribe who are living the cursed life of war and starvation for centuries even Gods hate agame.
After back stabbing us 1998 now they realisr the inevitable and want come to us as brothers. No thank you evil agame this time face the music on your own.
Solidarity with oromo & amhara! !!
Teclay May 10, 2017
ናይ መጨረሻ ርእይቶይ ኣብ ኣሰና።
ዝኸበርኩም ናይ ኣሰና ኣዳለውቲ ፣እተጥፍእዎ ግዜን እትገብርዎ ጻዕርን ንረብሓ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ዝሓለነ ምኻኑ ይኣምን ።ብናይተይ ግምት ጻዕርኹም ኢሳያስ እንተሞይቱ ፡ዼሞክራሲ ተኣውጁ ፍሰሃ ዎ ሰላም ክነግስ እዩ ፣ኣብ ዝብል እምነት ዝሰረተ ይምስል ።ይግበረልኩም ።
ናተይ እምነት ድማ ኢሳይስ እቲ ገድሊ ዝበሃል ኣራዊት ዘወለዶ ኮይኑ፣እዛ ናቱ ቦታ ብኻልእ ሰብ እንተትትካእ እውን ንህዝበ ባሕረ-ነጋሽ መፍትሒ ከምዘይኮነ ምሕባር ኮይኑ ፣ ህዝቢ ባሕረ-ነጋሽ ኣብ ክንዲ ኣብ ኣጉል ተስፋ ዝነብር -መሰረት ናይቲ ሽግር ፈሊጡ ፣ነባሪ ፍታሕ ንኽድሊ ምሕባር እዩ። ብዝኾነ ወነንቱ ናይዚ ድሕረ-ግጽ ንስኹም ስለ ዝዅንኩም ዘየድልየኩም ክትድምሱሱ መሰልኩም እዩ።ኣነ ግን ድሕሪ ሕጂ ዝኾን ይኹን ርእይቶ ኣብዛ ንብረትኩም ከምዘይጽሕፍ የረጋግጸልኩም ።
My Country May 11, 2017
Teklay,
እወ እቲ ሽግር ካብቲ ጸባ ወይ ካብቲ ጓጕዶ ዘይኮነስ ካብታ ላም እዩ።እታ ቀዳመይቲ ላም ጂሃዳዊት እያ ኔራ፣ እታ ካልኤይቲ ድማ ፣ኣንጻር ጂሃዲነት ጥራይ ዘይኮነስ ኣንጻር ምስልምና ትመስል እሞ፣ውዒላ ሓዲራ ድማ ጸረ ጽኑዕ መርገጽ ዝሓዘ ዝኾነ ሃይማኖት ኮይና።እዚ ግን ትማሊ ዝተወልደ ኣይነበረን።ተጋደልቲ ኣስመራ ምስ ኣተዉ፣ኣዴታት እንቋዕ እዝግሄር ሓገዘኩም እዞም ደቀይ እንተበላኦም፣ “ኣምላኽ ዶሽካ ድዩ ብሬን ሒዙ:” ይብሉ ኔሮም።ሓቆም ክኣ ድያብሎስ እምበር ኣምላኽ ኣብ ከምዚ ዓይነት ማሕረዲ ከም ዘይውዕል ሓቂ እዩ።
ኣሰና ኣብ ትሽዓተ ብሄራት ክኣምንን ኢሳያስ ምስ ዝመውት ዲሞክራሲ እግሪ ኣውጺኣ ባዕላ ፍሕዅ ምባል ገዲፋ ከም ትሽምበብ ዝብል ክኸውን ይኽእል።ሓው ተኽላይ፣ ኣነ ዝርኣየኒ ሓደጋ ፣እዞም ደለይቲ ፍትሒ ዝሽሞም ግን ደለይቲ ጽልኢ ዝኾኑ ሕቡእ ወገናዊ ኣጀንዳ ወድዮም ንኸምስሉ ግን ሃገራዊ ካባ ብላዕሊ ጌሮም ነባጊዕ ከታልሉ ዝፍትኑ ተዃሉ እዩ።እመነኒ ፣ኢሳያስ ንወገንነት ከም መሳርሒ ከም ዝጥቀመሉን ዘኳሽሞን ግሁድ እዮም።ካብ ዝደለኻ ወገን ኩን ክሳዕ ዘገልገልካዮ ግን ኣይዓጦን፣ ንዕኡ መናውሒ ስልጣኑ እምበር ዕላማኡ ኣይኮነን።እዞም ደለይቲ ፍትሒ ግን ካብ እቲ ጓሳ ክሳዕ እቲ ዶክተር ሕቡእ ኣጀንድኦምን መምርሒኦምን እዩ።ቀደም ብጊዜ ቃኘው እቲ ዝተረፈ ህዝቢ ገርሂ ኔሩ።ሎሚ ግን ኩሉ ስለ ዝለበመ፣ንሶም ስልጣን ከም ገለ ኢሎም እንተሓዅሮም፣ነተን ዘየድልያ ወገናት ኣግሊሎም፣ውግእ ሓድሕድ ዝዕድም ፖሊሲ ከም ዘካይዱ ሰብ ይኣምን። ሰብ ፍትሒ ጸሊኡ ኣይኮነን፣ግን እዞም” ካብ መካይድኻ ፍለጥ., ክሳዕ ደይወዲ ዓድኺ ቀደሙ እንዶ ተመርዒኺ” እናበሉ ኣብ ሰብኣይን ሰበይትን ምፍታሕ ዘይሓንኩ ፈላለይቲ ሰብ ስለ ዝፈለጦም፣እቲ ቃልሲ ንፍትሒ ከይተስኤ ከሎ ዝመውት ዘሎ።ሓው ተኽላይ፣ ኣነ እዚ ሕማም እዚ ኣየጥቅዓንን፣ግን ይርኣየኒ ብተግባር ስለ ዝርኣዅዎን ሻራ ዘይብሉ ተዓዛባይ ኮይነ ስለ ዝፈርዶን።ሕጂ ኣነ እዚ ካብዚ ይሓይሽ ኣይኮንኩን ዝብል ዘለኹ፣ዝሓይሽ የልቦን።እቲ ጸገም እቲ ሩባ መርዛም ስለ ዝኾነ እምበር ካብቲ ዕትሮ ኣይኮነ ካብቲ ድብኦ።ስለዚ እዚ ጸገም ናይ ኣሰና ዝበልካዮ ካብቲ ዝሓሸ ዘባህርር ሕልሚ እዩ።
እቲ ጸገም፣ ንኤርትራ፣ በባዕልና ብንትርጉሞን ንርእዮን ስለ ንወስዳ ቅልጡፍ ፍታሕ ኣይርኣየንን።ሓው ተኽላይ፣ ኩላትና ነብስናን ጉድለትናን ኣሚንና፣ዝተገብረ ገድሊ ብሓቂ ኣድላዪ ኔሩ ድዩ ኣይነበረን ብግህዶ ተማያይጥና፣ሕጂ ኸ እንታይ ይገበር ኣብ ዝብል ግሁድን ሓቀኛን ዘተ ከይኣተና፣ፍታሕና ከም ኣብ ማይ ምጽሓፍ እዩ ክኸውን።
ልቢን ትብዓትን ይሃበና
Keren May 11, 2017
Very well said brother Teclay and my country indeed.
Tes May 10, 2017
Well analysed Bokre I agree 100%
aba hinjiru May 11, 2017
ginke etie kedem mienty etie dibabo anchiwa tihlef zibehal zereba neru. mechem zebenya girimbit endyu tigumu kea kemzie yinibeb. meintie Badime eritrea tihlef. ezie wedihankum.