NAIZGHI KIFLU IS MORTAL HISTORY WILL ABSELOVE HIM – BY AMARE GEBREMARIAM GEBRE
BY AMARE GEBREMARIAM GEBRE “If we no longer treat the dead with dignity what hope is here for the living” Condolences to the family of Naizgi Kiflu that is to his wife, his son and daughter and
BY AMARE GEBREMARIAM GEBRE
“If we no longer treat the dead with dignity what hope is here for the living”
Condolences to the family of Naizgi Kiflu that is to his wife, his son and daughter and relatives.
People say that you can measure how civilized a country is by the way it treats its dead. That is dignified burial. The world community is moving into the brave new world of designer babies, face transplant and cloning. These advances are held to be evidences of the superiority and prowess of our civilization. Yet the way we treat the dead is of the greatest possible significance, not just to the health services but to the society at large. If we do not show respect to the dead, we will not show it to the living.
Death is inevitable. Naizghi Kiflu died Feb 6th 2012 in London a natural death at the age possibly 70 years. Yet his corpse did not get proper burial not because his family could not afford it, not because the British government did not give permit, but the dictatorial regime PFDJ in Eritrea did not allow entry of Naizghi Kiflu’s corpse to Eritrea for dignified burial. Highland Eritrean Christians always prefer to bury the dead at his/her village of origin. This is the norm of the Eritrean highland society and this is not the norm of only Eritrean but of most world society.
I knew Naizghi since my school age days first at Tipo elementary school then at St. George middle school in Mendefera and at a high school in Asmara. Naizghi battled colonialism since his middle school days.
NAIZGHI’S FIGHT WITH COLONIALS
People say beauty is on the eye of the beholder. My take on Naizghi’s struggle for independence and after is based on observed facts and reported information.
a) His struggle started during middle school days when he led the demonstration of St. George middle school student in support of the students of high school students in Asmara. Then he continued it by distributing fliers in Mendefera and Asmara during his high school days. He was also the brave man who organized the most cells of Movement of seven{ mahber 7} ,organize demonstrations. Because of these activities he was expelled from high school along with the late Andemicael Kahsai and were exiled to Ethiopia Where he continued his struggle. Then he got scholarship to the Soviet Union stayed in other countries and joined the armed struggle in 1972.
b) I met him in Sahel for a brief time in 1976 that we only exchanged greeting. 1974 is the time Naizghi started to put black spots in his endeavor for independence. He became right hand man of Isaias Afeworhi and had a role in the execution of the revolutionaries (MENKA). There is also information that implicates him in many ways as a minister of information, vice chief of security——-etc. This is second hand information that I can not conform or reject.
c) Naizghi Kiflu was an intelligent, bold, hard working and visionary. People who grew up with him expect from him a document of the struggle of EPLF and PFDJ and his vision for the future. I am sure the Eritrean people will forgive him for certain misdeeds the moment that document surfaces.
Eternal life to Naizghi Kiflu and condolences to his family and relatives.
We struggle we succeed Comments>>>>ama766@comcast.net
Glory to our martyrs
havatar2009@yahoo.com March 2, 2012
Ato Amare I agree with you the dead body must be respected but you have tried to give us another picture of criminal and known murderer Nizgi Kflu please the truth must be told whether you are dead or alive.
HGDF March 2, 2012
Does anyone of you know what it means ጅብ ከሄደ ውሻ ጮኸ?
HGDF March 2, 2012
MenkaE? what is that by the way? What makes it so special than the issue of Falul and Sriya Addis, or Garsay and Koroken? Is that because there are people who can advocate for MenkaE people specially and no one cares about the others? Or is this a hypocrisy trying to get rid of the speck in your friend’s eye without seeing the log in your own eye? How is it possible for a blind person to remove a speck from someone’s eye?And how is it possible for the devil to advocate because some saints didn’t enter heaven?
Mr. T March 2, 2012
HGDF,
Call it the irony of all ironies. No EPLF member of the past or current had/has ever blamed the EPLF for the alleged killing of “MenkaE” by its leaders. As funny as it may sound, all those who had accused the EPLF in the past or who are accusing it now were/are members of the old ELF organization. You may also ask for what reason? It is simply to divert our attention away from their recorded criminal past. It is an amazing show of criminals accusing their criminal counterparts.
Daniel (metaabity) March 2, 2012
No wonder, there is a lot of people in our world praising Nazism and no wonder in Eritrea opposition groups praising a devil man like Nay-siol or Nay-sheytan ( his ex name was NAYZGI ). Naysiol do not own a human sprite and human body what he own a devil sprite and a devil body. That’s why I don’t worried about a devil dead body. Nay-siol had said to an old Orthodox prist who is now living in London when Nay-siol was minister of religious affairs. “you will not see Eritrea to buried your dead body” so “what goes around comes around” as we say in Eritrea ( Eid Senahit Egri Shendahit)
Zebib March 2, 2012
Amare Gebremariam Gebre
I do not think your post about the late Nyzghi Kiflu is balanced. You say history will absolve him. To absolve means to free from responsibility, to exculpate, to forgive, to discharge, to free, to clear, to exempt, to exonerate and so on and so forth. I think that you write in memory of a friend and I respect that. But that you try, through your article, to set the pace on how everyone should react to the grave (criminal?) roles played by the late Nyzghi Kiflu is, in my view, hardly democratic. PFDJ leadership, just like the late Nyzghi Kiflu, serve the whims of one man and have completely forsaken their initial noble vision of serving their people, through truth and justice. Those who foresaw this tragedy coming and tried to do something about it (Menka’E) were wiped out by one man’s craving for absolute power and those at his complete service. If history absolves those who wiped out those who stood for the collective good then what remains? How do we avoid repetition? To me you seem soft on condemning Nyzghi’s outrageous and servile criminal deeds may be because the affection and friendship you nurture outweighs the stark reality: he helped wipe out real democrats with the noblest dream in our history. He stood for the opposite of the noblest and highest aspirations of humanity to satisfy the ‘deep throat’ of Isayas for absolute power.
Asgedet March 2, 2012
Zebib,
I am actually surprised Amanuel Eyasu allowed the good for nothing article to be published in his website. The author as it seems is one of the sympathizers of PFDJ where his articles are frequently appeared on the neither here nor there website a.k.a meskerem.net (LekhbaT website).
Zebib March 2, 2012
Dear Asgedet,
Thank you for the info. I do support Amanuel Eyasu for letting such an article appear in Assenna (although, I confess, I personally do not find it easy to be a true democrat – the impulse for ‘revenge’ can be strong). We all must aspire to be freedom-loving and genuine democrats, difficult as it may be. We abhor the present system in our country because it will not allow free expression and will not hesitate to imprison or even kill for dissent. All those who perished during the struggle in the hands of DIA were ONLY guilty of expressing dissenting views, albeit higher and nobler democratic ones! It is a daunting task, but we must evolve to be true democrats!
danny March 2, 2012
Zebib,
Very well put! It should have been common sense by now that if one aspires to experience the fruits of democracy, one has to welcome and be tolerant to opposing views. Democracy begins from within.
Danny
ahmed saleh March 2, 2012
Zebib
You said it well articulated. Eventhough we accept the reality of our martyred compatriots but the ones who are eliminated by those cowards is painful memory to our true history. Disregarding the agony afflicted to the mothers and family members by those evilish perpetrators is deluding approach.
I think the cherished policy of assenna to allow free speech is an example to a democratic
journey. But it is up to the writer responsibilty to clarify himself not to make sure that
freedom of speech means absolute immunity from the consquences of what he says. We
should think right, fair and sensitive consideration to others.
Kiflom March 2, 2012
Those who are dead alive are worried for the already dead. I am not against his getting proper burial, however one has to think of those who are still suffering and are dying alive in prisons and elsewhere be in Eriteria or not. Time to act not to lament!!!!
Cambo March 2, 2012
Who else in the opposition is “balanced”? All are the same in all web sites.
I repeat below:
Eritrea’s hope are mainly the unpolluted and unspoiled young Eritrean minds opposing the tyrant and his counters of the older generation hidden somewhere in the name of “opposition” who were propping up the chief Halewa Sewras in Hgdef and Jebha.
Many of the young generation are opposing rightly, regardless of ones religion, ethnicity or political inclination. They are only motivated by justice. But there are many websites praising people only because they want to protect their own of religion, village or past and present politics.
Like Naizgi Kiflu, I had also seen many in the opposition praising the murderer Idris Abdela and many killers like him who burned villages and killed young students, no less than the Janjawids of Sudan.
Lets call a spade a spade to all murderers and genociders of Eritrea regardless of their ethnicity, religion or Adi.
Our motive should be just justice.
This does not mean that any dead Eritrean should be denied a small gudguad meqabr.
kbri ytakeb March 2, 2012
GENA KTBEKI EKA.ZEYELO WERETAT AKAKIBKA ENTEZERGAHKA,EZI LKIA KEM BEYNU ZIGOYEYES ZKIDMO NEYBLU ZIAYNETU EU EMBER BMENASEYAT ENTEKOYKA AB WETSAE ZELEWU MSTOM AHWATOM AB ERITREA ZELWU HAGEROM BKEMEY EYA ETMABLE EYOM ZSERHU ZELWU.GELE GELE KEMAKA GIN AYSAANUN EYOUM NNEBSOM KNDI 4000,5000 EDAQOTSERU HALOW ZIBLU.
Abrhaley March 2, 2012
Ato Amara you are trying to defend the undefendable. God is the only one who knows why the criminal Naizgi was acting the way he was acting in life. It is really hard for his family but they need to know who the REAL Naizgi was. You seem you have lost the judgment for the sympathy.
fit-he_tesfamichael@yaoo.com March 3, 2012
First of all i am disappointed by the kind reaction of some people to the death of the butcher of innocent eritreans during the armed struggle. Naizghe kiflu(nai-shetan kiflu) willingly participated in the slaughter of innocent eritreans right from the early 70’s to the late 90’s and early 2000’s. He was a willing partner to the dictator(pia) in all the evil deeds he commited and continues to perpetrate. At the end of the day all evil doers rot in hell and will be thrown right into the dust bin of history. Nai-shetan kiflu’s fate was no different.
eternal glory to our martyrs!
weredemihret March 4, 2012
Ato Amare,
I am lost by your paragraph below. What document are you talking about? What do you mean when you write that people who grew up with him expect from him a document?
Did he share with you and other Mendeferinos that he had authored a document that would tell the truth and eventually free him?
Even if he had told you so and you had read the document, that ought not make you make the statement that history would absolve him. Nayzghi could have written or said what he deemed history but that would not entitle him to declare innocent- we all know how the legal system works.
Need to clarify:
“c) …… People who grew up with him expect from him a document of the struggle of EPLF and PFDJ and his vision for the future. I am sure the Eritrean people will forgive him for certain misdeeds the moment that document surfaces.”