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Post 23 June Geneva successful demonstration presents a formidable challenge

By Petros    Tesfagiorgis It was Tuesday 30 August 2016, I woke up at 7 am and Tuned BBC radio. It said the Italian coast Guards rescued 6500 people mostly Eritreans and Somalis from drowning in the

By Petros    Tesfagiorgis

It was Tuesday 30 August 2016, I woke up at 7 am and Tuned BBC radio. It said the Italian coast Guards rescued 6500 people mostly Eritreans and Somalis from drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, yesterday 29 August 2016.

They could have been drowned had it not been for the rescue mission.  It is a moment in time where I felt helpless. Look at the heart-breaking photos below. What a powerful image of people among them young girls/boys and babies. They are risking their tender life to go to countries where they can be free to exploit their God given potential to work freely and be happy. They committed no crime except that they want to build their shattered life.

 

The regime has totally ignored the recommendations of United National Human Rights Council in Geneva in June and in collusion with the mining corporations chose – to dispel the truth that the Eritrean repressive regime is guilty of committing crime against humanity.    The mining corporation are going out of their way by trying to paint a human face to the regime as they show no concern for the pain and suffering of the people of Eritrea in return for lucrative profits. They are going down in Eritrean history for condoning the repression of the Eritreans people.

 

  I quote from Assenna.com, “JP Morgan’s love affair with Eritrea: JP Morgan Chase has emerged with 9.12% of Eritrea-focused Danakil whose flagship operation is the Colluli potash project, a 50-50 joint venture with the Eritrean National Mining Company. JP Morgan is no stranger to Eritrea and already has an interest in Canada’s Nevsun Resources which operates Bisha, one of the few producing mines (copper-zinc) in the poverty-stricken and hugely under-developed East Africa country. (Fitzum Abraham – has written extensively about this in assenn.com titled “   Global Initiative VS Global Leadership and the urgency of conceptual unity in the face of our POTASH exploitation

Yes, exploiting the natural resources of a nation by multi-national corporations with no regard to the welfare of the people is not new.   It is the fate of many third world countries. The people of the Republic of Congo remains poor for years while its Diamonds was ruthlessly exploited by multi national’s corporations.

As Martin Luther King, Jr said in 1967, “My Government – the United States of America has structurally installed and financially supported dictatorships, simply because democracies offer less long term trade security. It is convenient for the mining companies to ignore the pains and suffering of the people and deal with a government who does not publish any budget. The regime is not accountable to the people.

The Challenges: 

As a result of the persistent human rights violations in Eritrea the influx of refugees to exile is continuing unabated so are the deaths and rescue missions’s in the Mediterranean Sea.

Every week there comes breaking news of rescues and deaths in the Mediterranean Sea.   THE LOCAL ITALYS NEWS IN ENGLISH on 29/May 2016 said:   Week of shipwrecks and death in the Mediterranean culminated Sunday with harrowing testimony from migrant survivors who said another 500 people including 40 children had drowned, bringing the number of feared dead to 700.

I saw my mother and 11-year old sister die,” Kidane from Eritrea, 13, told the aid organizations. “There were bodies everywhere.” A sad testimony of an Eritrean child.

Dozens of kids die as boat tragedies claim up to 700 lives

It is proved beyond any reasonable doubt that for PFDJ the life of Eritreans perishing in the Sea does not matter at all.

 All these presents’ formidable challenges to the Diaspora activists,  the international community, the Governments of European Union who are flooded with refugees and defined it as “Europe’s Refugee Crises”. Above all it is a challenge to the Human Rights Commission as they see that their recommendation is undermined.  The regime has clearly violated the UN instrument to bring justice to the oppressed.

It is the responsibility of the Diaspora Eritreans and peace and justice loving people to mobile people to call on the UN and the Government in the West and elsewhere to put pressure to the Eritrean Government to stop this senseless indefinite National service.

There are many issues to be raised? Where is Eritrea heading? Where is the recommendation of UNHRC? Can the international community and Eritreans in Diaspora do something about this?

On the other hand,  the call for collective action has been intensified:  On face book there is an appeal by “Current Eritrean Review” calling for World Wide demonstration. It goes, “We need to request the international community to exert utmost pressure on HGDF. The focus of our demonstration to save our people in the deserts and Mediterranean Sea. The concern of Eritrean intellectuals has risen: many conferences and debates have taken place a important materials that help to win the argument against repression.

At Assenna.com, in his analysis of Eritrean Political economy,   Dr. Gebre Gebremariam has argued that the mining companies cannot stimulate economic growth while the regime is mismanaging the manpower, the main force of economic growth. In fact it is a way of propping up the regime to continue suppressing the people.

Pro Gaim Kebreab’s research book on indefinite national service is timely and essential to the present situation. He is a speaker during APPG 3rd meeting on September 5 at the House of Commons. This will give the parliamentarians ammunition to take it up with the British Government.

What lacks the Diaspora is a unified action: But these have been recognized and an effort to work together and to have global leadership is underway. The Eritrean civic society has more things to bring them together than to divide them.

To see 3 organisations to write a letter to Pro Asmarom Legesse is encouraging: Eritreans for Facilitating National Dialogue (EFND) Eritrean Global Society (EGS) People Movement of Eritreans for Justice in North America (ህዝባዊ ምልዕዓል ኤርትራውያን ንፍትሒ ሰሜን ኣሜሪካ). :  

 

To continue

NB: The economic impact of indefinite national service in Eritrea

 

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Eritrea will examine the   impact of indefinite national service on the Eritrean economy during its third meeting.

 

As the recent report by the UN Commission inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea and the wider media have shown, indefinite national service is frequently cited by Eritreans as one of the main reasons for leaving the country. However, little is known about the economic consequences of this policy, or of the knock on effect of thousands of young Eritreans leaving the labour force. At this meeting the APPG will discuss the state of Eritrea’s economy, the effect of indefinite military service on its performance, and the consequences of this for the Eritreans who live there.

 

The meeting will bring together expert speakers, guests and a cross party group of parliamentarians to discuss the economic impact of indefinite national service in Eritrea. Speaking at the event will be:

  • Charlotte King, Senior Africa Analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit
  • Professor Gaim Kibreab,Professor & Course Director of Refugee Studies at London South Bank University

This will be followed by a Q&A session, in which the audience are encouraged to participate.

 

All Party Parliamentary Group on Eritrea

Chair: Matthew Pennycook MP

Vice Chairs: Ann Clwyd MP; Patrick Grady MP; Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead; Jeremy Lefroy MP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

aseye.asena@gmail.com

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17 COMMENTS
  • Berhe Tensea September 2, 2016

    People with babies and pregnant women taking the dangerous boats to cross to Europe, this is totally unacceptable.
    These people are too stupid to risk their and the children lives, just to reach Europe and worst of all end up Iseyas supporters..
    The European countries MUST close their borders so that the influx of refugees and the death by drowning to stop..

    • petros tesfagherghis September 4, 2016

      Dear Berhe:

      The solution is not to stem the flow of refugees. The solution is to end the repression and gross violation of human rights in Eritrea. We in Diaspora each and every one of us have to ask ourselves what are we doing to end repression or ease the pains and suffering of the Eritrean refugees prosecuted in Israel or languishing in Calais/France known as the Jungle. The refugees are taking risks in order to transform their broken life into meaningful life. You have to be able to view their condition wisely and with compassion instead of judging them. On the contrary people in the United Kingdom – are getting mobilised to support refugees in Calais providing clothes and food. Their slogan is “Welcome refugees”. Is there an input from Eritreans in Britain.: You may be living away from as refugees and denying the same right to other Eritreans. Petros

  • Daniel September 3, 2016

    Dear Petros
    No one sane mind can extricate him/herself from this absurd reality we are in….an irony dying running away from their country, a sad country of an evil Ghedli Eritrea.
    I can’t extricate myself from Selam Kidane’s great observation :
    “The fathers (and mothers) died liberating the country called Eritrea…….the children are dying running away from it…the irony……the tragedy……the absurd reality of being Eritrean……Selam Kidane.

    Dani (Croydon).

  • Teclay September 3, 2016

    Amanuel Assena and others way of thinking

    Daniel ,thank for your quotation from Selam KIdane ,” “The fathers (and mothers) died liberating the country called Eritrea…….the children are dying running away from it…the irony……the tragedy……the absurd reality of being Eritrean……”
    An open minded person doesn’t need any farther explanation ,the above statement from sister Selam is every thing .Brothers and sister please throw away the black blanket of Ghedli propaganda that you have been covered with for 55 years .Be courageous ,face the reality .Almost everyone of us has passed through this fantasia world ,Please be realistic open your eyes .
    Amanuel ,you have done a lot ,and you are an intelligent person ,but why you couldn’t pass through this obstacle is beyond my imagination.Amanuel,had it not been for the stupid and nonsense students of the ’50s,’60s,or ’70s ,you would not have been grown in Sahil and you would have enjoyed your-childhood in your home as a normal child.
    እስከ በሉ እዚኣ ድያ፣ እታ ነጻነትስ ኣሎና ሓርነት እዩ ጎዲልዋ ፣ትብልዋ ሃገር??ንሱ ድማ ኢሳያስ ኣግዲፉና ፣ቁማር ኢሉና ገለ ቲብሉ ሰባት፣ብፍላይ ድማ እቶም ልዕሊ 60 ዐመት ዳርጋ መሰታ ኢሳያስ ዝኾንኩም ሰባት ፣ሓመድኪ ዕደ ጥራይ እየ ዝብለኩም ።ኣብ ሕበርተሰብና ነውሪ እዩ ፣ወዮ ዲኣ ነውሪ ጠፊኡ እንበር ፣ መሰታይ ሃሪሙኒ እናበልካ ኣይብከን እዩ።

    • Daniel September 3, 2016

      Thank you brother Teclay for your great/excellent observation and comment.
      Three successive generations of young “Eritreans” went through 4 wars within a period of 44 yrs.
      One former so called Eritrean liberation fighter recently put it rightly, ” it took us 30 yrs to liberate the land and it will take us another 30 yrs to liberate the people”, indeed.
      Brother Teclay, the big question is ‘what makes Eritreans any different now?
      There is this difficult to comprehend and ever-recurrent tendency about Eritreans : the tendency to harden their hold on anything they come in contact with-immaterial whether it is of any benefit to their well-being or survival. This inflexibility is manifested in all sorts of social-cultural, religious, linguistic or political spaces or social activism. This rigidity, whether it is a side-effect of a colonial past or a desperate attempt to recover from, demands some examination. However, one thing is for certain. Whatever that space may be, there is a correlation with that displacing and blinding effect which pulls ‘all good intentions’ to an undesirable outcome and begin the cycle of defending the indefensible to disaster end and, come what may, ‘travel’ the world against their own (national or not) self-interest and resource-base. This is the sad reality on the ground for Eritrea unable to move forward. as a nation but to the few so called opportunist opposition feel free to fabricate your own.

      • petros tesfagherghis September 4, 2016

        Dear Daniel
        Every underdog (oppressed people) has his day. We have a battle of ideas – of getting people empowered. It is not an armed struggle, it does not take 30 years. The Eritrean people looks set to define the destiny of Eritrea, the people with the slogan “justice seekers “are waking up. Democratic Eritrea will prevail. But don’t give up hope.please.

        • AHMED SALEH !!! September 4, 2016

          It is true we fought for 30 years to get our independence but we stop short to safeguard the principle of armed
          struggle . If people were empowered to continue the fight
          for their right , liberty and equality in free Eritrea , HGDF
          junta could not easily control every aspect of the country’s
          social , political and economical affairs .
          Therefore , we can’t sit crying foul for past misdeeds but we can use our experience as learning lesson .
          If the president betrayed people’s trust , obviously they
          will be victims of corrupted government . If a married
          man betrayed his family ofcourse their whole life will
          get effected drastically .
          Eritrean problem has nothing to do with social , ethnic
          or religious issues but rather with lack of constitutional
          government and principled leadership .
          That is simple fact we Eritreans are the sole witnesses .

  • Teclay September 3, 2016

    Sorry,please read Amanuel Assena and others who have the same way of thinking

  • rezen September 3, 2016

    Commentary (3 Sept. 2016)
    QUOTE: “The fathers (and mothers) died liberating the country called Eritrea…the children are dying running away from it…the irony…the tragedy…the absurd reality of being Eritrean …” UNQUOTE by Selam Kidane

    TWENTY.EIGHT simple words reflect the classical TRAGEDY of Eritrea more than a voluminous book can. Those twenty-eight words should make us think deeply into ourselves by ourselves for our own salvation. Thank You, Ms Selam Kidane for those insightful words.

    And the respective mature commentaries given by Daniel and Teclay are good starters for mature, sober and insightful observation for the BENEFIT OF ERITREANS. Insults, innuendo and hidden parochial narrow mindedness will NEVER lead us to the BENEFIT OF ERITREANS.

    “Please be realistic [and] open your eyes” writes Teclay. It is a plea, calling upon us to look at ourselves deeply, without destructive parochial emotions, for the BENEFIT OF ERITREANS.

    Likewise Daniel points out to the “inflexibility [that] is manifested in all sorts of” parochial matters without “any benefit to their own well-being or survival”. It a comment of care and and for the BENEFIT OF ERITREANS.

    What do WE ERITREANS want? Unfortunately, Eritreans do not seem to understand the inter-dependability of our WORLD, tending to be mesmerized by the intense and constant propaganda deliberately infested into the minds of the Eritrean people with respect to the superiority of Eritreans against the world!!! And indigenous educated writers, together with foreign supporters, added fuel into the fire. Let us face it: It was simply another practical application of the theory of brain-washing, applied by an African State to its own hard working, believing people. There is no freedom; there is no liberty; there is no justice; there is no equality – but only the equality of being the victims of indigenous slavery as well as being a store of human spare parts in the wilderness of the Sahara Desert and nourishment of creatures of the oceans and seas. It is a FACT. It is glaringly broadcast on TV throughout the world.

    And so, the question that begs us for answer is this: >>> What are our Eritreans ever growing ‘opposition’ parties/civil groups (about eighty-eight (88) so far ) and safely secured in foreign countries, are intending to do to liberate Eritrea? It is truly a historical wonder that a tiny country like Eritrea [of three to six million – nobody knows the close figure to reality !!!] would have 88 parties for a SINGLE goal that WE ERITREANS do not seem to know. The question then becomes WHAT DO WE WANT? Roulette comes to mind. THE END

  • Gedem September 3, 2016

    Thank you Petros, keep up the good, working exposing the fascist Shifta leaders of Eritrea. Young Eritreans have become victims of the greedy Hgdef leaders in the national slavery, along the way of the savage Arab regimes and Arab gangs of Rashyada-Bedoune, the evil Wahabii Islamic State dogs and the deep blue sea.

  • ተባዕ ድምበዛናይ September 3, 2016

    ማይ ኣይሰትንየ_______ ዋላ እናጸምኣኒ ገዲፈዮ
    ባሕሪ እናዘከረኒ____ ንህዝበይ ኣዝማደይ ዝኣረዮ
    ነደይ ዘንብዓ፣ ውሒጡ ዘይጸግብ_ ካብ ልበይ ጸሊኤዮ
    ሽፍታ ተጋዳላይ_ ኣብ ሳሕል ንቕሓት ኣዕራብ ብዝወደዮ
    ነጻነት ኢሉ ባርነት ዘምጽእ__ ሓበሻዊ መንነቱ ዝኣለዮ
    ሙታንታ ግብጺ፣ስዑዲ ከም ኮንዶም ተጠቒማ ትድርብዮ
    ንኽቡር ሂወቱ _______ኣብ ዘይረብሕ ዕላማ ዘብልዮ
    ንባዕሉ ሓሲሩ__ሂወት መንእሰያትና ኣሕሲሩ ነቦ ዘብክዮ
    ቤትማእሰርቲን ቀላይ ምጥሓልን ሎምስ normal ወሲደዮ !!!

  • rezen September 4, 2016

    Greetings! ተባዕ ድምበዛናይ
    Needless to say, you have a talent for poetry. There are a few commentators that I truly admire for their ability in Poetry using Tigrigna, the ancient written language, derivative of Geez, and the pride, in fact, of many African countries. Why shouldn’t it be the pride of its Originator?

    Anyway, I admire people who captured the secrete of Poetry. It was my weakest (at the bottom) subject in my entire formal school life. Having said all that, ተባዕ ድምበዛናይ, I am curious (honestly) why you used the English word ”normal” instead of finishing the line like this: ቤት ማእሰርቲን ቀላይ ምጥሓልን ሎምስ [ንቡር ኢለ] ወሲደዮ !!!
    Keep it up, please.

    • rezen September 4, 2016

      Correction: Please insert the word “also” in the last sentence of the first paragraph, in between the words “it” and “be”.

      • ተባዕ ድምበዛናይ September 4, 2016

        Dearest Rezen ,

        Point well taken,at times I miss the obvious.

        thanks

  • PH September 4, 2016

    ጸማም ሓደ ደርፉ ናይ መንነት ቁልውላው ዘለዎ ከኣ ዓሰርተታት ሱሙ።ሓንሳብ ተኽላይ፡ረዘን፡ሓዞ ወዘተ።ናይ web site ሃሱስ ዑሉል ሽፍታ!!!ኣዚዩ ዝቀሓረ መርዛም ስሚ ዘማሓላልፍ ተስፋጽዮን ክኾውን ኣለዎ።

    • AHMED SALEH !!! September 4, 2016

      PH
      He has nothing to contribute except to corrupt the forum . The article of
      Petros to inform and educate participants is crucial at our country present
      situations but these ghosts with strange pen names will destruct the needed
      attention purposely . To recognize any form of people’s enemy within inside
      or from outside forces prepare us to stay vigilantly focused .
      So far nobody doomed to follow their provocative behavior the way we noticed in other forums .
      Keep arrogance away to where it belongs ” TO Mr. PSYCHOPATH ” .happy
      to disrespect and irritate people for his foolish fantasy . If he is Ethiopian
      I advice him to learn from Ethiopians in Awate forum which I admire their
      talent and the way they represent themselves respectfully with confidence .

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