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THE ERITREAN REFUGEES AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING

The moment the hostages arrive in Sinai they are distributed among the five major families located few miles from the Israel-Egyptian border.  Reminiscent of the bygone era, hostages are chained and placed in makeshift rooms dominated by the big house occupied by the patriarchal chief, his relatives and wives. Soon after their arrival torture begins and calls are made to relatives in the middle of the torture session. Thereafter, the torture continues until the hostage comes up with the money requested by the criminals. Few fortunate ones avoid the prolonged torture by paying the ransom immediately but for many it continues for months. The majority who has no means to pay or have no extended family living in the US/Europe, Africa or the Gulf states die a miserable death. There are also candidates for organ harvesting in particular those individuals appearing healthy and with admirable physical attributes. ....

International Women's Day, March 8

It is compulsory for Eritrean women to serve in the national service where they are not treated as equals with the male soldiers, who themselves are there against their wishes and maltreated, but  used as sex objects by the military officers and made to work as housemaids-cum-slaves. Women are subjected to abuses and sexual harassment by officers in the training/concentration camps, prisons and the army. Refusal to meet the demands of the officers usually results in torture and reassignment to places with extremely hostile living and working conditions.

In most Eritrean ethnic groups recruitment of women into the military is traditionally not accepted. Women thus recruited are therefore shunned as suitable wives and mothers. They are maltreated by the army and ostracised by the rest of Eritrean society. Paradoxically, childbirth provides the only release from national service into a socially and economically rejecting society.

Propaganda and Sycophancy Masked As Book Review!

A dozen years ago in 2001 when Dr. Bereket spoke against the dictatorial regime in Eritrea, or even earlier when he joined the G-13 in sending Isaias Afewrki a letter, many of the regime's blind supporters began attacking his reputation, suggesting that he was power hungry, etc. But to his great credit, unlike many other well-educated Eritreans, he didn't fold, but stood firm and continued to speak up against the evil regime. ...

Therefore, not only Dr. Bereket was hoping the EPLF would do the right thing, but he wrote about it almost a year (June 1990) before the independence of Eritrea (May 1991) believing what Isaias Afewrki and his organization, the EPLF, were promising at the time. That of course was the problem: Isaias Afwerki’s game of deception.  It is obvious now that Isaias Afwerki never meant what he said then in 1990 or in subsequent years about the future of the EPLF and the governance of Eritrea after independence.  It was all part of Isaias’ grand deception scheme.

Forto 2013: the Quintessential Eritrean Revolution

In her essay, Freedom from Fear, Aung San Suu Kyi makes references to the people being like water in the hands of the oppressor when they are controlled by fear… but once fear is defeated the people become like shards of glass in the hands of the oppressor… if the oppressor dares to tighten grip the shards cause more damage to that grip…and without that grip the system collapses. Forto2013 made many young people into shards of sharp glass and hence heroes possessed of courage! No you have not imagined the new form of activism and no the posters outside the stadium in Dekemhare… the writing on the walls in Keren and the leaflets in Asmara aren’t figments of our imagination but the result of the hopeful stir that will build into a wave for change, as an Eritrean after another defeats fear and becomes a sharper shard of glass in the hands of pfdj!

The Coup fiasco in Eritrea and its scanty support

Why did the General population not seize on the opportunity and staged a peoples uprising in Eritrea to overthrow one of the world's most repressive regimes ?  Why did members the Eritrean Defence Forces not rise up in support of their colleagues ?  Why didn't the Diaspora stage massive demonstrations in support of the coup and why was the response in general so pitiful ?  These are questions we need to ask and seriously look into. ...

After 50 years, the people have realized that the independence struggle was wrong and that they were used as cannon fodder by the butchers of Nakfa and Barka.  The very notion and concept of "Ghedli" has become unpalatable for the millions of Eritreans who had to endure decades of mayhem and bloodshed.  The people know that these officers are part of the problem and not messiahs descending from the mountain  or "Forto Baldisera" to rescue them.  Eritreans know better and have expressed it silently by withholding support. If one cannot understand the silence and lack of adequate support to the attempted coup by Eritreans, then one cannot understand even if they speak out loud.

Asmera: Under the Long Shadow of the Forto

They [the opposition] imagine the city restless and in political effervescence, waiting for some disgruntled elements of the army to join the armed occupation that was snuffed out in the ruthless method of the EPLF. They fancy the city breathless for any signs of a crack on the edifice of the totalitarian regime ... They conjure up a repeat of the Arab Spring scenario in the city and rush to call the incident as “embryonic and homegrown,” completely forgetting that the masses in the city were invisible. Most tellingly, they refuse to picture the semi-starved Asmarinos were probably visible all over the city, waiting for the few rationed breads in the same morning the mutiny occurred ...

The behavior of the people of Asmera in January 21 amply shows that rumblings around the Forto were not something to join given its subaltern role as the gebars of the Yekealo princes. The reaction of the people of Asmera has for the understandable reasons partly described above not yet recognized the incident as “embryonic and home grown”⁶ in the real sense. When armies become predators, the notion of such a lofty phrase loses its meaning.

RIP pfdj… my heartfelt condolences to the goons!

People ask so many questions about why things have gone wrong for Eritrea, they try to blame the organisational structure of EPLF and the nature of the Eritrean society… they also analyse post conflict societies… post post colonial societies and many more theories… I say at the bottom of every ill that we as a people have had the misfortune of experiencing… at the heart of every opportunity we missed out on and in the middle of all calamitous disasters that have befallen us is Isaias Afewerki, the author and perfector of Eritrea’s fall from a shining hope to the very definition of a tragic disaster!

Many years of observation and testimonies from those who know him well attest to the fact that IA is a confirmed psychopath who is incapable of experiencing or fully comprehending the normal range of human emotions. He is completely without conscience and without remorse, will do anything at all to achieve his goals or desires, and, sees the rest of humanity and particularly us Eritreans as simple pawns in his power games. ...

Fear and Silence Cannot Continue Forever!

1) First the incident itself.  Reportedly, as those in contact with the army in Eritrea tell it, the movement that culminated into the taking over, albeit briefly, of the Forto and Ministry of Information, will not be the last one.  We have not seen the end of it.  There is growing discontent in the army and the Tegadelti in general.  Also, although it is not clear if any high ranking officials supported it or not, it’s clear by the reaction of the regime, arresting some high ranking officials, etc., the movement was not an isolated one. The regime even addressed it instead of denying the whole thing as its usual habit always was. This shows that the regime is concerned of its safety indeed.  Time will tell the truth of course.  However, it is clear, fear and silence will not last forever.  The Forto incident shows that the fear has been broken, and silence, at least to some brave folks, is not an option any more.

Eritreans Risk Organ Harvesting and Death to be Free

The Eritrean government gets the biggest share of the blame because its authoritarian greed on the people is causing this mass exodus.  Unless the indefinite military service is stopped there is no way this exodus, especially of the young people, the young adults, will stop.

Evidence is coming out that the government itself is involved in this business directly.  The Eritrean middlemen - so far hundreds of Eritreans are identified not only as sellers to the Rashaida but also as recipients of the ransom money in many parts of the world, including Eritrea.

The Rashaida smugglers, having got immunity from both the Sudanese and the Eritrean governments, are the most ruthless middlemen who make everything happen. ...

(Photo: Elsa Chyrum and Suzette Standring at Eritrean Community Center in Boston)

Pfdj trying to sink this fish!

Where ambassadors and political advisors failed small time errand boys and girls are now desperately looking to their ‘leaders’ to do something to someone, to confirm the might of the ‘old pfdj’, and ensure that this sort of thing is stopped… and so someone stopped Aljezeera from broadcasting in a bid to stop them from beaming worldwide discontent against pfdj into Eritrea… another attempt at sinking the fish that continues to swim upstream!

…too late! Forto 2013 did happen; our people did catch the wind of change and thousands of people in the diaspora have finally burnt their bridges to pfdj and have freed themselves… and NO Ethiopia didn’t do this for us, Forto did it! so that old ‘weyanie’ battle cry is outdated too! Poor goons are having to mint so many new terms and concepts! Apparently me and my colleagues are thugs and hooligans and my response is where is my ASBO then?

The EDF will be back! You can’t reverse the wind of change… just like you can’t sink a fish!

Forced Labour in Eritrea: in Light of the HRW Report on Mining Companies

Through the “Warsay-Yikealo program” launched in 2002, forced free labour has been institutionalized and remains the main supplier of the bulk labour force for the Eritrean Economy. Thus all sectors and almost all economic activities are dependent on free forced labour. ...

Strategies were designed to effectively lock up the whole population in the forced free labour and put the economy under the absolute monopoly of the ruling party and military. To enforce this, the forced free labour policy, all the productive human resources were put under the control, ownership and administration of the ministry of defense. No individual has control and choice on his/her fate. He or she is the property of the government /ministry of defense. All government and party institutions and companies use forced free labour assigned to them by the ministry of defense. It is the ministry of defense’s responsibility to assign people to the various sectors and ministries.

pfdj’s pick and mix response to Forto 2013

…when something momentous happens in Eritrea pfdj goes silent… so silent that you could hear a pin drop in alenalki.com…. they hold their collective gasp and look to TV Eri to tell them what to tell each other and the rest of the world… unfortunately for them last Monday Forto was telling them… Unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience, Implementation of the constitution and that power be passed to the people… the poor goons couldn’t believe what they were seeing so went to Dimtsi hafash and willed the static noise  to tell them that they only imagined what they heard and saw!