Each month thousands of men, women, and children flee Eritrea as a result of grave violations of human rights committed by the Eritrean government. Traveling via Sudan and Egypt, 36,000 Eritreans have made their way to Israel over the past six years, via a well-organized network of people smugglers and human traffickers.
“The 127 man national council for democratic change must now act to resolve their internal problems by dialogue”
Writer
It is a mockery of sorts to accuse and blame each other by claiming , “ I have the legitimacy” but come together and evaluate the process of partnership- ENCDC since its foundation.
The ENCDC failed to build institutions of both legislative and executive bodies as well as the laws, procedures and norms by which they operate. Thus our struggle’s demands are fundamental and need clear methods of struggle to bring fundamental changes. The Eritrean opposition has experimented variety of means in the last 14 years,
- Build Political Alliance
- Organized national dialogue conference/2010
- Commissions
- National conference for democratic change/2011
- Formed A national council for democratic change
to bring regime change in Eritrea. But all these approaches failed to unite and work together except deteriorated the spirit of mutual respect and trust.
It is not easy to evaluate the exact methods in transition from dictatorship to democracy and reasons that led to the result of the current situation of the opposition forces in Eritrea, but it would be useful to investigate the reasons behind the status quo in the opposition camp which might help us pick the mechanisms that could lead to our aspired democratic change
Two years has passed since the ENCDC was born in Hawasa- Ethiopia. The Eritrean National Council for Democratic change/ENCDC had adopted and embraced the national charter and roadmap but failed to implement these agreements except resulted in political bickering and conflict.
In this article I will be dealing with some proposals that can help the ENCDC to come to the table of negotiations rather than accusing each other who is on the legal side or not.
- All the ENCDC members must adhere to the guiding principles of dialogue and have firm commitment that dispute will be settled peacefully- that can enhance the credibility of our struggle from dictatorship to democracy.
- The initiative to engage in dialogue should be shared by all.
- A dialogue must be inclusive and participatory to be legitimate and meaningful it must encompass all ENCDC grass-roots members.
- The dialogue must fulfil these objectives. a/ articulated and critical analysis of the conflict. b/ foster national consensus on the challenges and opportunities f acing our struggle from dictatorship to democracy. c/ reaching an agreement on common national agenda.
- Formulate an objective on this time of struggle and create consensus on national priorities.
- Formulate a comprehensive national agenda to remove the dictatorship and lay foundations for democratic transition.
- A national dialogue can help us towards democratic agenda and action plans that must be owned by the people. It must not be limited at the leadership level but disseminated to the grassroots in order to achieve a strong national cohesion.
Conflicts are not all negativ but when actors attempt to resolve conflicts by moving outside established institutional frame work they can create severe problems. The ENCDC should have solved its internal conflicts inside its established frame works- national charter, roadmap and organisational statute.
Disputes arisen inside the ENCDC should have been processed, debated and reacted before it is publicized or be published in the media
The writer of this short article as the member of the ENCDC recommends that let us all be involved to bring the two bodies of ENCDC at the table and resolve the dispute by dialogue in order to get the credibility of our people as an alternative to the current oppressive regime of one man rule.
Population authority officials insist on a clean criminal record from Eritrean army deserter, despite flexibility in regulations.
The Population and Immigration Authority is refusing to grant permanent resident status to a citizen of Eritrea who is married to an Israeli woman, until he provides a document from Eritrea proving he has no criminal record. The Eritrean government is refusing to provide the document, since the man is an army deserter who fled the country.
The guidelines for determining the status of foreign citizens who are married to Israelis stipulate that, even if the applicant cannot provide such a document, permanent status can be granted. Nevertheless, The authority is standing firm in its refusal.
The couple has a two-year-old daughter, who is an Israeli citizen, and the applicant’s wife is in advanced stages of pregnancy.
In a suit filed with the Jerusalem District Court by attorneys Tal Hasin and Oded Feller, who work for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), said the couple has asked the court to instruct the Minister of the Interior to determined the status of the man, “T”, without the requested document.
“The applicants have repeatedly told the respondent that the claimant is a deserter from the Eritrean army and that it is impossible for someone who fled the army of a totalitarian dictatorship to obtain such a document. Yet, again and again, despite regulations established by the respondent authority itself, which often recognizes situations in which it is impossible to obtain criminal records from countries of origin, the application is denied without any pertinent response,” said the lawyers.
T arrived in Israel six years ago after fleeing Eritrea. Upon arrival in Israel, he was imprisoned for two months, and was released on the basis of a letter from the UN Refugee Agency supporting his application for asylum in Israel. He later received a temporary residence and a work permit. In 2008, he met his wife “M” (full names known, but withheld, by Haaretz), who came to Israel from Ethiopia 16 years ago. The two were married three years ago, when the wife registered a civil marriage in Paraguay, so that they could be registered as a married couple in Israel upon her return.
In June 2011, the couple set out to formally determine T’s status in Israel. They were asked to provide a series of documents, most of which they were able to obtain – including his Eritrean passport, birth certificate and a certification of bachelorhood. The Eritrean authorities would not provide a clean criminal record and a relative of T’s in Asmara, Eritrea’s capital, was warned by police not to approach them again on behalf of a deserter. The couple’s explanations were of no avail and the Population Registry refused to give T’ residence status.
SIx months after the initial application was filed, the authority asked T to close his petition for asylum as a precondition for dealing with his status as M’s partner. He did so in January 2012 and promptly received a letter requiring him to leave the country within 14 days. His temporary residence and work permits were revoked. Requests to regain these permits were denied, and he remained without legal status in Israel.
It took a year-and-a-half and pressure from ACRI for the authority to renew his permit. However, the the authority would not budge from its demand that T produce the police record from Eritrea as a condition for obtaining permanent status in Israel.
Attorney Dotan Berman, representing the population authority, said that the insistence on obtaining a criminal record is reasonable. Even though the situation in Eritrea is “far from satisfactory”, the Authority should not have to relinquish its demand for a criminal record from that country, he said in a statement. Since T’s work permit has been reinstated, he is in no danger of being deported and can provide for his family with “minimal damage” to himself and his family, Berman said.
In the suit filed with the District Court, attorneys Hasin and Feller argued that the damage to the family is not minimal. “Employers are reluctant to take in someone with an uncertain employment future. The applicant will at best only be able to find menial work, with limited contribution to the family’s welfare”, they wrote. “In the absence of even temporary residence status, the applicant has no social benefits and is not insured under the state medical insurance system. He cannot obtain a permanent driving license. The couple does not enjoy the full benefits given by the National Insurance Institute nor can they obtain a mortgage.”
In a conversation with Haaretz, M’ said that she would have expected the state to allow her to live with her chosen mate. “It’s really sad. You supposedly live in a state that’s considered modern. The whole world knows that an army deserter can’t provide documents. I’m sure he would be taken in by other countries”.
The Population and Immigration Authority declined to answer specific questions posed by Haaretz, saying that “the issue would be examined on its merits as part of the legal process” and that the authority would give its response in court.”
History says ELF and EPLF refused to unite under unanimous pressure of our people and the fittest survived at last at extreme human, material, psychological and opportunity cost of society to become pain on the butt for the last 22 years as of today. Today the society is being abused by the clueless and egocentric opposition leaders and condemned to continue suffering under the most brutal dictatorship in planet earth. No creativity that excites the people from the opposition groups and the youth organizations and only disappointment has become our experience in this resistance which will never make it without unity. What the forces could not yet understand is that no single man can dictate Eritrea as intensely as Mr. Afwerki did until the end of time because no one has the cult that the president took maximum advantage of, to do whatever he wanted in the country as if it were his private property. No Eritrean will quietly accept another dictatorship and the result of all the divisions will spill out as chaos in future Eritrea rather than a stable government that can comfortably disparage our future political life. None of the political parties and youth organizations can take power by force or by any other illegal means without fierce resistance from the others that can lead our society to civil war. They are dreaming: The sad thing is that all of them appear to be aiming at this extremely intricate if not impossible upshot; for power in complicated conditions rather than for democracy thinking that Eritreans will accept any alternative to the current regime; yet believing that they can dictate the people without a problem. I can only tell you that YOU ARE NOT ISAIAS AFWERKI who enjoyed maximum trust and support from us all because of the unbelievable CULT he built for himself since he joined the Eritrean struggle and you are seeing how difficult it has become for his autocratic regime to suppress the voices of freedom loving Eritreans. Even the extraordinarily popular Afwerki is falling apart with all his might and cult built and shaped by decades of political Machievelism. Yet, even an elected president MORSI could not make it in Egypt when he tried to make a U-turn on democracy: his attempt to steal Egyptian democracy in partial favor of Islam by ignoring the people’s appeal neither served his interest and safety nor did it help the country currently on the verge of a civil war. There is only one explanation to all this happenstances: the era of dictatorship is practically over in Africa. My advice to the selfish political leaders everywhere is that YOU NEITHER HAVE THE CAPACITY AND CHARISMA NOR DOES THE INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ATMOSPHERE ALLOW YOU TO DICTATE IN ERITREA. Therefore what you are going to cause is a CHAOES that will end up consuming your life unless you sense back to reality. My advice to individuals in this category is you better kill each other now thinking you will hold power illegally because you will end up doing it in post Afwerki Eritrea by objective experience. My advice to their blind followers is that you will destroy your society, yourselves and the following generations (your kids) unless you confront your leaders on the question of UNITY. At the end of the friction all groups whether they like it or not will have to sit and resolve their differences in future Eritrea like ERITREA and ETHIOPIA did after the BADME war: would not it be better to unite and get it over with RIGHT NOW instead of facing this unavoidable way of democratizing the country after a disaster?
Onመግለጺስምረትመንእሰያትንድሕነትሃገርኣብርክብቦለኛ
The youth group in NA had a press release against the Bologna meeting few days ago and you know how irritating it had been to most of us. Two Eritrean groups Semret Eritrawian in Italy and global Eritrean solidarity for unity [my translation from the press release] then followed the same idea to reject the meeting in question “after lengthy discussion”. The release says that the two organizations discussed the issue thoroughly and reached agreement based on two reasons to reject the Bologna activity. The first; because the entrance fee was expensive to the average Eritreans living in Italy and the second reason; because they did not have enough time to prepare for the meeting as a result of a short notice given by the organizers. I do not know about you but I found the two reasons very weak for taking such an action though I do not think meetings should charge big money for attendants to attend. It also tells how incompetent the leaders of the two organizations were because it does not take intense discussion to come up with the two infantile excuses in rejecting the BOLOGNA activity but only few minutes to people with average IQ. You did not discuss a philosophical issue or conduct any scientific research to agree on said points which were most probably prematurely concluded ahead of time. Your press is not even a full page and only in TIGRIGFNA and ARABIC for you to tell us with a deceptive gut about “a lengthy discussion” on the mess; you do not even have the time and the knowledge to write a complete detail because you are dictators who follow the secretive government of Eritrea and have no compromising substance except DIVISIVE!
It also shows how lost the followers are to accept this none-sense without resistance. Eritrean youth group followers need to clean the obstacles of their resistance by either openly challenging their leaders in public or even firing them from their post for neglecting the main issue of the society. The process is very simple: it only requires members to question the position of their leaders on UNITY…PERIOD. In any case here are the opinions of few Eritreans who commented on the forum relevant to this activity.
Kabbire: Another worthless “press release”. Still talking about “other” opposition groups. When are you going to talk or raise critical issues that concern Eritreans directly?
After reading and listening so much garbage within the opposition camp, do you dare to ask why most young Eritreans do not care about your organizations? Do you ask why so many young are abandoning you?
Except the few and hardworking Eritreans, the only name and credential most of have earned so far as “professional” opposition is kente mentu ከንተመንቱ
Asme: “I couldn’t agree more. ember Kento mento! ኣበይ አለኻ ዘይበልዎስ አብዚ አለኹ What a waste of a reading space and ink”
Senait: “Smrete menEseyat??. .If they do not agree for the simple gathering in Bologna..don’t expect them to agree on anything. That is why the silent majority is still silent..they prefer isias than the selfish oppositions. God save Eritrea from the so called oppositions and dictator isias.”
Hzbi: “wey gud ! i though the simerrr was one organization but as i can understand now, they are 3 in the same name. I think, i really feel frustrate,
wey gud ! NEZI KTG’ATA DO KNDZI TRHXA ! Y Y Y YYY ! “
Tewelde belay: “With Eritreans it is always a dilemma! If you hold a meeting someone will oppose, if you don’t yet another will say why should we not have a meeting? The core problem is because the struggle is not a unified one. We need a unified, cohesive and consolidated struggle. Otherwise it will be like the Amharic saying WHA QDA WHA MELS”.
Netabay:” “texgibeni kicha’s ab mokle’a kela efelta” this what my grandma used to say…for such things”
Comment: Another disappointing action by the youth, indeed and it keeps coming from all directions. Will they read and feel what all these comments mean and will they ever understand the meaning of democracy and unity? The worst dictatorship in the world, the Eritrean government calls itself for democracy and justice and these anti-unity guys call themselves SEMRET NEDIHNET HAGER or something like that. I do not even know why they are telling us this none sense and what they want us to do with it, needless to suggest they better change their names to something that reflects their dictatorial and divisive position on the Eritrean question. Let us see how this grabs them: YOU DON’T REPRESENT US BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT DOING WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT YOU TO DO. YOU REPRESENT YOURSELVES AND THUS DEAL WITH YOUR HALLUCINATION AND POLITICAL MISADVENTURE WITHIN YOURSELVES.
There is something important that we all have to understand from all these waste of resources and division. I exclude government infiltration from this issue because it will always be there (it is constant). You do not do anything with a constant except taking it as it is but you must deal with the variable because you have a chance to pick the best alternative if you may chose to do so. What is worrisome is that the youth groups have been consistent on division and contradictions. All these obstacles are clear indications of the fact that their leaders have a problem with UNITY and they do not have the capacity to lead or to unite their followers leave alone to manage a society (their dream). This also says loud on the fact that the followers are being herded like animals with no gut, principle or even knowledge to confidently challenge their shepherds.
On demonstrations:We keep on fighting to UNITE our forces and the youth leaders and demonstration organizers keep on diverting the issue by totally avoiding it in favor of any other Eritrean agenda. The effort of dealing with our other agendas is great and thank you but the complete elimination of UNITY from the activities nullifies the core purpose of the struggle for freedom and democracy in Eritrea because it is the best and the only remedy we have available.
In the first week of August Eritreans in TORONTO demonstrated on SINAI victims and were told by their leaders that they delivered a heavy blow to the government. Poor participants did not even know what they did was scratching the regime with a force that it can hardly feel, while at the same time serving its purpose. Few days later, another Anti-PFDJ demonstration in Calgary, Canada (August 12) repeats the same mistake avoiding the burning issue of our society UNITY and most likely the participants went home after the occasion without any homework deceived by their leaders on the extent of damage they inflicted on the regime. Congratulations for scratching the Eritrean government but do not fool yourselves of making it with your monotonous shouting against Afwerki unless you load the punch with the question of UNITY
ERITREAN DEMONSTRATIONS IN THEIR CURRENT FORMAT ARE HELPING THE GOVERNMENT AND KILLING THE RESISTANCE
What do you lose including the burning question of UNITY of the forces and youth organizations in the activity? In what way would doing this contradict your mission of helping the Eritrean victims everywhere? Don’t you think it would help you get better attention and stronger internal unity to swiftly get rid of the problem once and for all? Is not TEMPORARY UNITY the only way to change the Eritrean situation from dictatorship to democracy? Does not this make our divided forces and youth organizations the root causes of the problem? Should not your responsibility then be pressing all opposition forces to unite? Do you know that it has become obvious that your leaders are stopping you from demonstrating on the most important issue of the Eritrean question; UNITY? Please go back in memory remembering any one demonstration out of the hundreds conducted internationally on many genuine issues of our society that included the question of UNITY in its program and call me a liar for answering NONE: not even a placard folks!! We are not talking about what else we could have done for UNITY; like exclusive worldwide demonstration asking our forces to UNITE, which is a DREAM : I am not even talking about scattered demonstrations conducted by Eritreans in a given geographical area shouting for UNITY exclusively. I am talking about anyone of them that included UNITY as part of the programs!! Once again; NONE!!.
IQ TEST: Do you think the RESISTANCE exclusively missed UNITY in all demonstrations that addressed every concern about our society by accident or you think it has been intentionally avoided by the leaders of the groups (organizers) because of hidden agendas?
If the whole world by now knows that we have a problem with our government, do you think it is worth telling it again and again and do you really think the international community will appreciate what you are doing in the streets?
Apparently, the Afwerki regime knows that it cannot stop Eritreans from demonstrating against it but it well knows that nothing will change as long as they keep on ignoring the RED BUTTON called UNITY in their activities. The best choice of the government here is trying to keep the Eritrean demonstrators from voicing for UNITY because it knows UNITY will nullify its power sooner than later.Demonstrating without including the issue of UNITY in the program is the best gift you can give the Eritrean government and the worst you can do to the resistance specially at this critical moment where the government is over-exposed for being the worst oppressor in the world and the opposition camp is in disarray.I do believe the officials in Asmara are scared to hear UNITY specially in demonstrations because it is the BOMB that would explode in their face for their permanent disposal. They will enjoy the show otherwise and that is what our Diaspora community is doing effectively in this regard. What the government wants is staying in power as long as possible and these SILENT ON UNITY demonstrations perfectly serve this purpose very well. I do not know about you but I oppose demonstrations that avoid UNITY as part of the overall program because it indirectly helps the Eritrean government instead of the resistance by defocusing or disconnecting our youth from the central axis of the solution (UNITY).I can no longer keep going to demonstrations that only focus on the EFFECT without touching the CAUSE any longer: this is like crying wounded without any effort to look for the remedy.
Senait on Anti PFDJ Demonstration in Calgary, Canada: “down down Isias” “Isias Must go”..how many times have we heard this? In my opinion the opposition slogans should change. The oppositions should list what is the priority demand the average people who live inside the country are. Right nowthey want basic food, electric and they want their son and daughters to let go of the endless military services”.
My advice is.. instead same slogans over and over on every demonstrations..change your demand to food and others that people really interested to listen..that way you will get support from inside the country. Otherwise if my uncle from the village wouldn’t give about what democracy or dictator is all he cares right now is to feed his families and to have his son/daughter from Sawa”
Comment: She is telling you to be creative and do something worth doing with your time rather than boring the planet with the same grievance repeatedly.
Netabay: “dearest Futsum; what do you think if i we say —these are the generation which are misplaced. the generation which tries to lead eritrea using a very old soft ware ….Macintosh in windows 8….they ate the talent of our generation….we the new generation are lost with out any foot print…we became victims of the faults of the generation of 70s. they used to tell us ”you are the future” but when we came to the imagined Eritrea…they told us pragmatically…..’they fought for 30 years , and they will compensate these lost years and their lost opportunities with in that range of time” so we are left with more ten years …..”
Comment: thanks for the kind words brother but your question raises many issues that I worked hard to answer to the best of my subjective understanding of the human nature in my book “THE CURSE OF BEING AND LIVING IT”. You can have it from AMAZON BOOKS and read it if you want.
Continued dialogue with Nair
Nair:“the Opposition forces did not develop its political discourse to accommodate the expectations of the youth, thus, the desperate youngsters had been taking risky measures to get rid of the devastative situations by fleeing through dangerous borders, such as the Egyptian-Israeli border, aquatics and the Sahara deserts, not only that, but we find that the individual attitudes towards the regime and the opposition alike are being taken according to ones-own individual, group, sect or societal interests..”
Comment: It is clear that the opposition forces did not do anything encouraging for our youth to look for. I do not think anyone can change the tendency of our youth running away from the scene all together, though. The opposition forces have no capacity to control this situation even at their best financial and political shape (a dream) although they could improve it. Eritreans will continue to run for better survival no matter what. The question is how about the divisive forces within the youth organizations? I sincerely believe that the youth organizational leaders are equally responsible aside the quietist intellectuals all over the place for this: the divisive youth leaders are directly responsible here probably more than any other part of the society for the following reasons:
1) They have not yet taken an assertive position on the divided opposition forces practically because of their own division: They have ignored the issues of unity rather concentrating on encouraging their followers to demonstrate only against the regime (in almost everything) and split apart with no follow up assignments to carry on. There must be a reason/s for to not instruct their followers to focus on Unity in the demonstrations. Reference: No demonstration focused on unity so far in the Diaspora despite our continuous appeal through the websites. You do not do this persistently by accident!!!
2) They failed to take their responsibility of forming a united checking and balancing mechanism to the actions of the opposition forces in Diaspora or to develop such a mechanism from within the intellectual community through organized debates and interviews. They do this here and there for image but nothing that can continue developing after a given event is over: Example: The organizers of the DC Independence Day festivities did a great job and even brought intellectual panelist to the event for what it seemed to be the beginning of something good (I will refrain from discussing other things here). But, they left the participants with no follow up duty whatsoever that could emerge from the occasion for continued development of the issue into the future. Everyone left without a home work. It was just a onetime shot that died after the occasion.
Likewise the panelists (at least two PHDs) failed to do this for unknown reasons. They did not want to take the responsibility of organizing something out of the opportunity. They missed a wonderful opportunity to start something concrete that would help the youth to the right direction.
Everyone went home after the festivities with absolutely nothing to work on indefinitely. This is also because they did not allow others to suggest on what to do ahead of time. They only focused on the TACTIC and totally ignored the STRATEGY: they had no focus or vision and probably the capacity as well to visualize this important issue, with all respect to the panelists and the organizers. The least they could have done was collecting the names of intellectuals for future contact and possibly, debates too, and we had written several articles at Assenna to this effect ahead of the festivities. Unfortunately, the tiresome effort went down the drain without effect. Now that the opportunity is gone; we are back searching for another opportunity with nothing to do to accelerate the outstanding momentum they created through extremely hard sacrifice.
To some Eritreans, the DC festival was a success story. It certainly was in collecting us together in such a magnitude. It was, however, a failure to me, excuse my honest opinion: All participants of the event were aware of the system; that is the reason they were there. They did not need education on this. Therefore, the focus should have been organizing them or creating a workable formula ahead that can produce something tangible out of the opportunity until the next occasion takes place. We left the scene as naked as we could have been in terms of tasks and we are waiting for another opportunity wondering if it will ever take place. We are sitting idle disconnected from one another with nothing to do then after. Nothing is going on now because of this mismanagement of Time, Intelligence, Dedication and a golden opportunity. It was difficult to see this take placed from distance!
The mistake is by the way going on full speed ahead as we are talking here: Too many demonstrations without touching the issue of unity as a priority. How can this be accidental? It cannot be!!!
How can the rigid opposition forces unite without a strongly united pressure group from the Diaspora as we see it going? Who will pressurize them to unite if the youth fails to unite? I believe all youth leaders should be confronted by the followers on this issue. Why are they still dormant on making UNITY a priority? Is it power struggle or what? Something needs to be done for the resistance to walk forward instead of going around in a circle.
The negative effects of our division on international solidarity
The fact remains that no crazy international force will pay attention to you unless you prove to be efficient in the agenda of UNITY no matter how many times you colonize the streets of the world and dance on QUAILA. They forecast chaos in future Eritrea and they stay away from us until we get our vision straight. You could have seen the difference had we all unanimously voiced for UNITY. We could have easily challenged the ambitious but divisive politicians had we been united in the Diaspora and easily get funds to accelerate the struggle forward. Do not expect funding without UNITY because there is a more united complementary PRO-government force THAT NEUTRALIZES the scattered and divided opposition forces in view of international politics. This has been the answer given by the US STATE DEPARTMENT to individual political groups in the opposition camp trying to get help from in the past and America’s position on our resistance is correct.
We have to be confident openly saying that the spade was a spade: We cannot continue depending on and toyed by useless, flip-flopping and outdated politicians who have so far refused to unite under the EDA and the destructive youth leaders in the same category who seem to concentrate on building cults instead of getting down to the core of the solution. Our experience says that the only way we can have the material and political power to reject and accept any opposition force in view of unity for future democratic Eritrea emanates from solid unity of the youth and this essence has so far been untouched beyond closed door pretensions.
Nair: “It is no secret that today’s world is driven by interests, and all decisions taken by the international community through its international organizations, or taken by major countries alone are able to meet or comply with its own interests. In reality it has more to do with the interests of the superpowers, or the neighboring countries in implementing its political vision for the region, such a decision has no doubt a significant impact on the Project of National Unity whether negatively or positively. “
Comment:The western powers do what they do for similar reasons everywhere and therefore this cannot be a special Eritrean agenda.Is the western view on Eritrea exceptionally dangerous compared to its views on any other East African nations for Eritreans to defocus their priority from unity in defense of the country as a result? I do not think so. The fact remains, however, that Ethiopia has always been the strongest and best ally in the region. There is nothing East African can do about this except accepting it as it is. All of them are relating to the West harmonically and so should be the case with Eritrea. At the bottom line, we need to visit this question: Does the said western interest affect all Eritreans similarly or differently? If the first, this threat should then further motivate the forces to unite.
The PFDJ junta is advertising the sale of housing units in three sites around Asmara, (1) Halibet, (2) Sembel, and (3) Space2000. These sites will comprise of 1048 modern apartments, 376 residential houses, and 256 business units.
What is the catch?
The junta needs money. They need it NOW. In the past they promised similar projects for single, duplex, and quadruplex homes, but failed to deliver (actually there was no genuine attempt made to deliver any). Many citizens paid in full in advance something unheard off in the free World for either homes or land; these are besides the war and government bonds that have simply vanished into thin air. In order to make themselves credible they have innocuously and casually mentioned that the few people who have paid in other projects (single residential houses, land, government and war bonds) in the past and did not receive any yet can make their claims or transfer their investments into these new units in the latest scam. This means one pays for a single home and receives an apartment unit in a congested residential complex, in the USSR style. To these thugs anything and everything goes they do not make any distinctions in what they say or do to the people.
Who is going to construct these homes?
None of these homes are going to be constructed; it is not in the plan at all. There are no engineering, contracting or constructions firms in the country that can handle, let alone these gargantuan and complex projects, they the existing PFDJ junta owned firms cannot even fix or remodel the existing government and privately owned buildings that are falling apart throughout the Capital. Many of the engineers, architects, construction contractors, subcontractors, and skilled personnel have already fled the country, or they are held incommunicado, maybe some of them might still be in Issaias’ Gulags. They can NOT afford to give these projects to the South Koreans again maybe the North this time as we shall see below.
How much revenue will they produce? What are the profits of the PFDJ?
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me
In order to maximize their profits the labor component of the construction will be handled by inmates from the Gulags and conscripts from the endless military service (Issaias Afewerqi’s self reliance). Since the great PFDJ donor Muaammer M. Al Qaddzafi does not exist anymore, therefore skilled labor and professionals (engineers and architects) will have to be procured from other repressive, soul, and guileless Nations in the OF form Developmental AID (so much for self-reliance). Candidates include low-cost-professionals from North Korea, China, or Iran in that order. Given these possible scenarios then the PFDJ thugs will construct these unites to the tune of at least $291 million USD or 219 million Euros of pure profits to wage their endless wars and payoff their massive proxy armies.
What are the hidden expenses and liabilities to the new homeowners?
In the tradition and nature of the PFDJ, the ultimate goal is to make money and have the leverage to extort more. Since ‘self reliance’ to the head of the PFDJ, Issaias Afewerqi, is to con, steal, cheat, rob, beg, starve the people and reduce the country to rubble then they have to target the weakest people in Eritrea, PFDJ members and their sympathizers.
From the mouth of the beast we read that, “Potential buyers are nationals who have fulfilled their national obligations.”
These are the suckers who chant, “he is us and we are him”. These are those who have an updated list of receipts, continue to pay up the 2% remittance tax, and the other numerous forced PFDJ designed “People’s Pledges”.
And maybe some who are gullible and naïve with minimum or limited faculties of human accessories.
What are the other swindling ploys of the PFDJ?
Buyers are expected to make an upfront payment of 25% of the total price of their units as a deposit and are expected to completely payoff the rest of the cost within a stringently TWO short years. Why the rush? Well the Eritrean people are not people to the junta but low level subjects, thus they do not deserve the respect and protection guaranteed to citizens of a civilized nation. And this project is not meant to provide service to anyone nor is it carefully planned in its logistical and economic feasibility. It is a ploy to extort immediate cash from the junta’s subjects for other ventures in the grand scheme of things still unveiling themselves.
What does the 25% upfront deposit of the total sales price and the rush to completely payoff the total cost in two years provide the junta? This warrantees them an immediate liquid cash of $73 million USD or 55 million Euros just during registration, without raising a finger. Does completing the remaining payment of $212 million USD or 156 million Euros in the next two years close the deal? Not a chance.
The next phase of the conning ploys is guised under the auspices of utilities connection expenses and cost overruns. The former are expenses for connecting sewer pipes or centralized cesspools, installing electrical step-down transformers and cables, connecting to the municipal aqueducts, extending asphalt or dirt roads to the units, and finally inclusion of garbage collection routes. This utilities phase will later be an excuse to come up with an additional cost overrun tag that will be incurred on the buyer’s homeowner deed. By this time the cost of these homes will jump up from 50% to 100% more; the typical past experience of previous buyers from the same PFDJ developer is that people were charged an extra $75,000 USD for a deal originally closed at $150,000 USD hiking the final price to $225,000 USD, an increase of 50%. This in return generates the juntas extra revenues and the total will jump to $509 million USD or 383 million Euros.
The ‘silver lining’ is in the final phase and the knock-out blow where the dazed buyer is placed and connected to a funds sucking intravenous tube permanently. This is when the real PFDJ game begins. Buyers will be requested to provide documentation of their 2% remittance receipts going back to 1992. This will be immediately followed by requests of “numerous PFDJ set-up pledges” ranging in titles from (1.) pledge to fund national defense, (2.) pledge to assist war disabled, (3.) pledge to assist families of martyrs, (4.) pledge to assist orphaned children, (5.) pledge to house war veterans, (6.) pledge to assist war veterans (7.) pledge to fund soil & water conservation, (8.) pledge to education funds,…etc.,. All these pledges have a minimum lower bound and buyers will be encouraged to top other people’s pledges in order to expedite the completion of the construction of their homes. The muscle of this leverage has proven to be successful in previous projects to the PFDJ junta, where many buyers regretted ever buying a home. This latter step by itself is the real bread and butter of the regime to fund and sustain its control of both its subjects (the masses) and its ruses (the veterans, martyrs, disabled, orphans, etc.,).
Please, be careful and inform friends and relatives.
I am my brother’s keeper.
N.B.: All the cost analysis are made at the lowest level in the PFDJ’s GREED scale. I expect them to charge much more than my estimate, multiply my figures by the correction factor of “k = between 1.75 to 3.75”.
Fifteen years ago I wrote so many articles on asmarino.com demanding for the assassination of mad dog Isayas Afewerki. I repeatedly warned that mad dog Isayas Afewerki was a declared dictator and that he would ruin the fruits of our long struggle for independence and immerse our nation into untold hardship and torment our people with impunity. No one heard my cries and as a result I stopped writing articles knowing that the eventual outcome would be a misery for our nation and excessive hardship for our people. All my prophesies came true and mad dog Isayas Afewerki is doing precisely what I foretold fifteen years ago.
Today, our nation is on the verge of collapse and the hardship in Eritrea is beyond imagination. Our youths are rotting on the front lines and numerous of them have chosen to be refugees rather that live under mad dog Isayas Afewerki’s dictatorship. Those in Eritrea are constantly terrorized and imprisoned without and tangible reasons and subjected to untold hardships. Mad dog Isayas Afewerki is the sole decision maker and has become the life-giver and life-taker and decides who lives and who dies. The situation in Eritrea is unparalleled and incomparable to any country in the world.
Many of us put so much hope into the opposition groups to unite us and fight against the dictatorship of mad dog Isayas Afewerki. Unfortunately the numerous political parties are so fragmented that there is no viable opposition to Satan Isayas Afewerki’s heavy handedness and ruthless rulership.. Just Like myself many Eritreans both within and outside the country have lost hope and do not rely on the numerous opposition to bring any relief to the Eritrean people and nation. As a result, we have resorted to the last alternative we have and that is prayer to our Almighty God and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. We have lost hope on man and are turning to God for His ultimate redemption and His .holy intervention. We give ultimate gratitude to God for granting us independence and the creation of an Eritrean nation. We did not gain our independence through our strength and valor but with the assistance and blessings of the Almighty God. Many of us abandoned the Lord for a long time but shall return now to his confines and surrender our lives to him and beg for mercy and redemption for our disintegrating nation and impoverished people. Hence, we pray for Satan and mad dog Isayas Afewerki and ask the Lord to pass His ultimate judgment upon him and save Eritrea from his wicked aspirations.
And this is my prayer for mad dog Isayas Afewerki:
My Lord and my God, the creator of heaven and earth, the creator of the universe, the creator of all living and non-living things and the creator of all mankind. In your name I pray with all my heart and soul. Dear Lord grant me this wish, as you have always done, and fulfill all the desires in my prayer. Dear Lord let mad dog Isayas Afewerki’s brain decay and his heart burst into smithereens. Let his liver be full of sclerosis and lungs collapse and perforate. Lord let his knees buckle and collapse and his hands decapitate. Let his blood be poisoned and his marrow melt down. Let his bladder burst and his prostate decay with cancer. Let his eyes see nothing but permanent darkness and his ears become deaf. Let his body rot and be eaten by worms and maggots while still alive. Let his kidneys fail woefully and his pancreas disintegrate. Let his intestines and stomach rot inside him. Let cancer eat him up alive. Let him suffer tremendously for the torment and torture of the Eritrean people and let him not see the end of 2013. We ask you all this in the name of your blessed Son, Jesus Christ Amen.
We should all pray this prayer repeatedly and mad dog Isayas Afewerki will be judged and convicted by the powers of the Almighty God. We have suffered enough under mad dog Isayas Afewerki and it is time we took some actions to remove him from power. Prayer is powerful particularly when it is said by an entire nation and people. Demon Isayas has trampled upon our rights and made our independence useless by usurping all powers for himself. His death will mean a rise of our nation from its ashes. By collectively praying for his death will reveal the people’s power and what we can do in unity. Today, our only hope is in God and what He can do on our behalf. We should all return to the path of God and honor Him from the bottom of our hearts. That way the Lord will hear our pleas and fulfill our desires. Death to mad dog Isayas Afewerki and his henchmen.
