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Invitation for Investment in Eritrea

By Gelmo A. Tesfa In 1999 when the country Eritrea was actively engaged in the border war with Ethiopia and when the  Eritrean regime desperately needed money for the war, it sold bonds to Eritreans in

By Gelmo A. Tesfa

In 1999 when the country Eritrea was actively engaged in the border war with Ethiopia and when the  Eritrean regime desperately needed money for the war, it sold bonds to Eritreans in Diaspora. It collected over $10million from the sale of these bonds. The regime later on turned the bonds to land allotment for the bond owners. Thus some 800 bond owners were given land in Sembel area of Asmara for private house construction.   This was Sembel I project. The construction of the homes started in 2001 and continued until 2005. The diasporas invested in total over 150million for the house construction.  Then when construction by the private sector was stopped by the government in 2005, most of the homes under construction were left in limbo.  To this day a large number of the houses remain unfinished – with no proper roads, no water and waste water systems and no electricity supply even if the owners have already paid in foreign currency for the installation of these infra-structures.

Then Sembel II project came – the second fraud scheme of the PFDJ regime. It announced in mid 2003 through its embassies and the internet its plan to allot land for house building by the diasporas  –  By this the PFDJ collected from over 6200  of the  diasporas an amount of US $13,500 for a plot of 500meter square of land and US$6,700 for 250meter square  of land up to the end of 2003. Thus it collected an average of 10,000 US dollars from each of the 6,200 diasporas for the land allotment, totalling some 62million from the 6,200 diasporas. It did not allot the land to the diasporas who paid for the land until the summer of 2006 when at that time it posted on the internet the virtual allocation of the plot of land for each of these diasporas. To this day it did not in reality hand over the land to the 6200 diasporas. While the diasporas paid their money with the pre-agreed notion of building their own home, instead the regime ignored this and came later on in 2009 with idea building houses through the PFDJ construction firms and selling the houses to the public. And it invited the diasporas who had paid for the land in the Sembel II Project to participate in this home purchase program. It was to sale imaginary homes at very high costs and it asked a large portion of the cost in advance. The diasporas who realized that many of them were already swindled more than twice decided not to be sucked again into this new fraud scheme.   Who in his right mind would allow himself to be deceived after knowing the past fraud schemes of this shameless regime?

Thus while the investment on Sembel I project, the initial housing construction of the diasporas (totalling over US$160million) has been left to crumble by the PFDJ mafia, the diasporas was again cheated in the Sembel II Project where this mafia regime netted some US$62million for land allocation that remained virtual to this day.  In total this is over US$222million Diasporas investment money that was practically left to perish through these PFDJ land and housing development schemes.

And now new Diasporas are being lured by the same gangster regime for another swindling game.  The regime is desperately in need of foreign currency and wants the Diasporas to transfer its money to Eritrea in the name of investment in housing development and other sectors. But who can trust a regime that has the habit of cheating? Who can invest in a state where there is no accountability, no rule of law, no constitution, no justice, and no freedom of movement, expression or other human rights in general, no water supply, no electric power supply, no building material (including cement, steel and timber) and no labour force? – Under such situation the time for investment is not now. First the nation must be free from the prevailing tyranny, then a democratic state must be established and immediately after that the time investment, work and prosperity for the nation as a whole will proceed. I think this is a logical and wise sequence of events to follow if genuine development of the nation of Eritrea is to happen.

aseye.asena@gmail.com

Review overview
28 COMMENTS
  • John January 2, 2014

    You know what the hegdefites say. NIKIDMIT………….hahahahahah

    • Desbele January 2, 2014

      Nikid tiray hahahaha……….

  • Andebrhan Ekube January 2, 2014

    {{{{{ If a blind man is leading to a blind man , they both going to the ditch }}}}}

  • Yemane Johar January 2, 2014

    Ge endabeluk’a do tgage!

  • aus 17 January 2, 2014

    Brilliant approach brother, We need more of the facts, evidences, situations happened, informing others because we Eritreansforget very soon therefore trapped with the same trick repeatedly.
    Believe me I know many like this burdened with hihg costs thereby forced by western banks to high high rents for the borrowed money just to finance the non-ever finished housing scheme you rightly mentioned.
    For the sake of the new comers please explain more. the new ones hopes and ambitions are to build a house in Eritrea. And the evil ruler is investing in this noble idea of their dream konwingly it will never fulfil but just keep them in suspence and milk their hard earned money.
    I know many taxi-drivers in Europe and USA suffering from this dilemma and work day and night thus pressed and stressed with additional sickness and caused hughe family problems.
    I wisely didact that the root cause for all problems of Eritrea is the evil regime and its sick system: uproot it and replace it withpeace and justice at home

  • Yerhiwo January 2, 2014

    Excellent article! The problem with Eritreans who support this Mafia regime is greed….they want to grab land from Kushet, Sembel, Godaif, etc. even when they are not going to live there.Poor Europeans give the money for food and shelter to this people, and in return they give the money to these killers!

    As you put it, they have doomed once or they know someone who has been doomed by this Mafia regime…and they still want to buy another house that are not going to come! Unless someone is moron or blind, no one want to invest in a country with no constitution, no law, no electricity, no water, etc.

    Dictator Isaias Afwerki with his cousins Monkey and Kisha are trying to steal the deposit money in “Euros” and disappear. These land don’t belong to them or their ancestors, since their ancestors are in Tembien and Adigrat. They know there time is running out!

    Be aware….if you sign to buy a house..you will be hostage of Dictator Isaias AFWERKI!

  • Justice January 2, 2014

    Thank you for the info.
    Indeed mafia regime!

  • Genet January 2, 2014

    This is a great article. Please wright it in Tigranya for every one to read it. I know people who took bank loans to participate in the past land’s ponzi scheme. I don’t know if any one is out there to get in to this again.
    Genet

    • Jonas Yosief January 3, 2014

      I AGREE WITH GENET THE ARTICLE SHOULD BE WRITTEN IN TIGRINA MOST OR LARGE PART OF THE ERITREAN ARE HEGHERESEB WHO COULD NOT UNDERSTAND EVEN THIER LANGUAGE

      • abdu January 3, 2014

        i am not sure if you aware of it or not. but; if it”s written in uper case meaning you are angry @the person. sorry it’s just asuggetion.

  • Bus.zone January 2, 2014

    The majority of this who has been skimmed off are HEGDE supporters let them get ripped off that may be is the only way they might understand but do not hold your breath for this bond heads am sure they are planning to save money for the next ripped off (Eritrean Telecom ) share Holders $50 per share that is sound so good lol

    • MightyEmbasoyra January 3, 2014

      $50 per share? This sounds so expensive to me. I am sure they don’t let them know the total # of shares the company (of course isaya’s private company) owns. They can issue as many as they want and dilute the price to the pink sheet values.

  • semere January 3, 2014

    What I don’t understand is that there are some people in Diaspora who still trust the “shifta” regime with all the evidence of fraud and open scam. I don’t think they deserve our sympathy. One of them is my uncle who continues to swallow in everything they say. He still hopes to get his house.

  • Hitzit January 3, 2014

    Asmara ended up becoming like Paris, New York, San Francisco, Dubai, and ext where an average earning worker can not afford to rent a small place for shelter. Isaias and his west trained developers are to blame for housing crisis in Eritea. Worse Isaias exacerbated the the housing problem by not listneng to the American and Ruwanda peace iniciative. Then him and his advisors came with this upfront deposit money to keep the country under the status of no war no peace. They keep devaluing the Nakfa because they can print the Nakfa, while the salaried employees are left to affor the cost of lving with adjustment to the effect of Nakfa devaluatin. That is un forgivable

    • MightyEmbasoyra January 3, 2014

      Hitzit,
      Correction: His advisors? Isayas never had any advisers – just obeyers, greedy and simply blind followers.
      If I had to lose any money on this elementary scheme, it is no ones fault but mine. I wouldn’t feel sorry for those idiots – so called investors. They are aiding the criminal by providing the unwanted fuel and continue exterminating citizens.

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