PRESS RELEASE | PROTESTING THE MURDER OF UNARMED AFAR CIVILIANS BY UAE
PRESS RELEASE | PROTESTING THE MURDER OF UNARMED AFAR CIVILIANS BY UAE Where: UAE Embassy, 125 Boteler Street, Ottawa, Canada When: Monday, Aug 27 @ 10AM-12:30 Background: In 2015, the Eritrean government granted coastal land to United
PRESS RELEASE | PROTESTING THE MURDER OF UNARMED AFAR CIVILIANS BY UAE
Where: UAE Embassy, 125 Boteler Street, Ottawa, Canada When:
Monday, Aug 27 @ 10AM-12:30
Background:
In 2015, the Eritrean government granted coastal land to United Arab
Emirates (UAE) for a military base to use in the war against Yemen.
These lands are the traditional territory of the Afar, an indigenous
people, who have used them for thousands of years.
Since taking over of Afar territories UAE attack helicopters
repeatedly shoot and kill Afar civilians carrying on their traditional
fishing in their traditional homeland along the southern Red Sea coast
of Eritrea.
• In October 2016 UAE fired on an Afar fishing boat, killing 5 Afar
fishermen and wounding others;
• In May 2017, a UAE helicopter attacked an Afar fishing boat inside
Afar territory of Eddi, killing one person instantly and injuring nine
others;
• In December 2017, UAE attacked an Afar fishing boat with three
passengers; the boat has been missing since this event;
• On August 18, 2018, UAE attacked an Afar fishing boat, gravely
wounding the boat’s captain.
The Eritrean government has been condemned by United Nations agencies
for persecuting the Afar so severely as to commit to crimes against
humanity. United Nations agencies documented Eritrea’s crimes against
humanity every year since 2013, describing in vivid detail Eritrea’s
systematic murders, rapes, tortures, land expropriations and communal
displacement.
UAE has now joined in these crimes by occupying lands that have been
the subject of ethnic cleansing and furthering the displacement of
Afar people by murder and atrocities. The crimes committed by UAE and
Eritrea are crimes against innocent non-combatant civilians. United
Nations agencies have stigmatized these actions as crimes against
humanity. They must stop.
Eritrean Afar National Congress (EANC) calls on all civilized people
of the world to stand up for justice and stand up for humanity. We
ask you to join hands with Afar in solidarity to denounce UAE’s and
Eritrea’s criminal conduct!
For further information contact:
Telephone: 613 627 3273 Email: info@dankalia.org
Dawit August 26, 2018
Until the kebesa people gets the killing by the UAE, don’t expect help from them. Kebesa is busy these days handing over Assab to Ethiopia. Medemer 2018.
Wolde August 31, 2018
Thousands kebesa people are dying every Month trying to free themselves.
Michael Tesfamariam August 26, 2018
Very sad for all the victims and their families of this cold-blooded atrocities by Arabs, I am deeply ashamed as Eritrean to see my fellow Afar communities are being murdered by Arabs because they are poor and don’t have a government to protect them.
Killing and rape are common way of life in Eritrea and the people are already used to it, what is not common though is inviting foreign forces to your country to murder your own people. This is another a new demotic experiment by Issais to test if such action by foreign entities is bad enough to generate maximum outrage and outcry among Eritreans, though I doubt Eritreans as usual will ever be able to wake up and do something about it.
My advice to my Afar people is simple: go out and retaliate; that is the only sensible way you will be able to draw international attentions to your plights. Don’t ever think joining the lazy and hopeless “opposition” in Geneva to dancing and screaming which nobody will heed to. I know you are the bravest ethnic minority in Eritrea, perhaps you need to be able to send the Arabs a strong and unmistakable message that for every criminal action they carried out against you there must be at least equal and devastating reaction, this is the only way you can deter any further air bombardment by the filthy Arabs. Had there been one or two successful assassination operations against high ranking members of the regime in Eritrea, we wouldn’t have been in this situation today, perhaps our prisoners would have already been released, Issais and his cronies would have behaved the way they behaved for the past 28 years. God Bless You and May God welcome the victims into His heaven. Amen!
Okbay August 26, 2018
Michael, but the Afar communities are moslems who pray and follow Arab’s kuran and mosques.
Michael Tesfamariam August 27, 2018
Okbay
They are Eritreans though, whether they are Muslims or Christians they are citizens and we have national and moral obligations to speak out as one. As far Eritrea is concerned regional sentiments among Eritrean communities in diaspora has been the major source of division and obstacles not religion.
Okbay August 28, 2018
Michael, did I imply they should be punished more by the Arabs because they are moslems? Don’t get too smart!
I only meant they are more closer to the Arabs because of their beliefs.
Try to grasp the real meaning of every comment before giving any lectures.
Ahmed Mohamed August 26, 2018
Thank you for this strong solidarity Micheal, Please let everyone you know to join us tomorrow for letting UAE know they will be held accountable for Afar murders, displacement and land theft in Danakalia, Eritrea. Protest time 10 am,(eastern time) In front of UAE Embassy, 125 Boteler Street, Ottawa, Canada.
Negash August 27, 2018
Protesting for what? Israel have been bombing and murdering poor innocent women and children of Palestine in front of the eyes of the world, so many protests have not stopped the Israelis from killing more Palestinians, stealing Palestinian lands. What makes you think Eritreans are any different than the long suffering Palestine victims?
Michael Tesfamariam August 27, 2018
Ahmed,
As you may well have understood my position, I don’t believe dancing or yelling in the streets will bring about any significant impact to our causes. It did not work before it will not work now, you must be able to come up with different methods of getting your concerns across key international communities.
Asgedet August 27, 2018
Indeed brother Michael, I too agree with all what you’ve said so far.
Our small/minority communities of the Afar and the Kunamas have suffered so much humiliation and bad treatments under the old corrupt Jebha and EPLF/PFDJ. And now in the 21st century instead of development and prosperity they are still being punished for nothing. These poor and kind people should be compensating for their past losses and unjust treatments.
k.tewolde August 27, 2018
‘And now in the 21st century instead of development and prosperity they are still being punished for nothing.’….This is not an Afar issue alone, it is an Eritrean issue Asgedet,there is no specific ethnic group which got it worse than the other and there is no ethnic group as such compensating the other,we all have a common enemy as a nation,an enemy who want to bury us all in one mass grave and forget we never existed ever before.If we don’t believe that is the case and approach this clear and present danger to our survival that way and fight together…..I don’t want to finish this sentence because it scares me to death saying it.
geladios September 6, 2018
ኣውያት ብዘያት ስቕይ እካ መናብርትና እንተኾነ ዕሩይ ስርዓት ብሀይምትካልና ኩሉ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ቀሲኑ ኮሪዑን ዝነብረላ ሃገር ኣይፍጠርናን ዘሎ። ካብዚ ኩሉ ስቓይ እንወጸሉ ማዕበል ጥሙር ሓያል ውህደት ዘለዎ ናይ ሓባር ጽላል ክንፍጥር ይግባኣና። ባዕላዊ ኢደ ወነናዊ ስርዓት ዘይኮነስ፡ ህዝባዊ ባይቶን ህዝባዊ መንግስትን ከይተኽልና ዝውድእ ስቕይ ብኽያት ኣይክህሉን እዩ። ሽዑውን ዕድለኛታት እንተኾይና! ኣብ ስደት ስቕይ ኣብ ኣብ ውሽጢ ሃገር ስቕያትና ከብቕዕ፡ ኣንጻር ናይ ሓባር ጸላኢና ንቕንዕ፡ መሰረታዊ ፍታሕ ምንዳይ ኢቲ ዝበለጽ ብልሒ መላጸ ምኻኑ ኢዩ።