[AI] Asmarino Independent

The Breathtaking Hypocrisy of Isaias Afwerki (DIA) and his Supporters!

As President Barrack Obama recently said quoting the late Democratic U.S. Senator Moynihan: "You're entitled to your own opinion, but you are NOT entitled to your own facts!" The PFDJ loyalists must understand that they are certainly entitled to their own opinion, their own wrong opinion, but they are not entitled to their own separate facts. Facts are facts; they don't change for different people or at a different setting or time. The facts in Eritrea today are clear: there is no elected government, no Bayto or parliament; there is no freedom of the press, of travel, of assembly, etc. Isaias Afwerki is the absolute dictator. These are facts.

If they want to be taken seriously, the PFDJ supporters must demand that the rule of law is applied to everyone equally; you cannot apply it selectively. If you do, not only are you unfair, but you are a hypocrite.

A dream of freedom

Tedros’ dream began with founding a school newspaper.  Nothing out of the ordinary about that, you might say, but in Eritrea it just seemed bizarre!  Confounding his critics, Tedros and his high school colleagues started the monthly publication from nothing and became role models for other students. Tedros was on the path he dreamed of.

In May 2000, he joined the largest independent newspaper in Eritrea and met many of the courageous journalists who had inspired him as a child.  Not only that, but he relished and looked forward to the freedom that the 30 years’ war of independence with Ethiopia was all about.  

“It was that time that I had been dreaming of, when I felt I had begun to enjoy my freedom, and I was thrilled. But, sadly, it was only the beginning of the end.”

Eritrea still aiding Somalia rebels last year: UN

In 2009 "the government of Eritrea has continued to provide political, diplomatic, financial and -- allegedly -- military assistance to armed opposition groups in Somalia," said the UN's Monitoring Group on Somalia.

The support violated a 2008 UN Security Council resolution that tightened an arms embargo and other bans on armed groups in Somalia, said the panel in a report to be presented this week to the UN Security Council.

"By late 2009, possibly in response to international pressure, the scale and nature of Eritrean support had either diminished or become less visible, but had not altogether ceased," it said.

The UN Security Council in December last year slapped an arms embargo and sanctions on Eritrea for aiding Somali rebels.

Sudan arrests Somali Islamist leader while trying to escape to Eritrea

Sudanese security services arrested a Somali Islamist leader while he was attempting to cross border to Eritrea, a Somali outlet reported today from Mogadishu.

Muse Abdi Arale, the secretary for defence of Hizbul Islam group has been arrested in Sudan while trying to enter in Eritrea with money embezzled from the rebel group.

Sheikh Hassan Mahdi, a senior official from Hizbul Islam told Mareeg Online that the Sudanese police arrested Arale while he was trying to cross the eastern Sudan border and reach Eritrea.

2009 Human Rights Report: Eritrea

Human rights abuses included abridgement of citizens' right to change their government through a democratic process; unlawful killings by security forces; torture and beating of prisoners, sometimes resulting in death; abuse and torture of national service evaders, some of whom reportedly died from their injuries while in detention; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention, including of national service evaders and their family members; executive interference in the judiciary and the use of a special court system to limit due process; and infringement on privacy rights, including roundups of young men and women for national service, and the arrest and detention of the family members of service evaders. The government severely restricted freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association, and religion. The government also limited freedom of movement and travel for citizens in the national service, foreign residents, employees of diplomatic missions, the UN, and humanitarian and development agencies. Restrictions continued on the activities of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Female genital mutilation (FGM) was widespread, and societal abuse and discrimination against women, members of the Kunama ethnic group, homosexuals, and persons with HIV/AIDS were problems. There were limitations on worker rights, including forced labor.

The government acted as a principal source and conduit for arms to antigovernment, extremist, and insurgent groups in Somalia, according to a June report issued by the UN Munitions Monitoring Group.

Members Preparatory Committee for National Conference @ Paltalk This Saturday

We welcome you to join us in our “ EDA and National Conference For Democratic Change Series Discussion” this Saturday evening at paltalk. We are honored to present to you members of the newly established preparatory committee for National Conference as our guest speakers for this paltalk program. The preparatory committee is composed of representatives of the Eritrean Democratic Alliance (EDA) and representatives of Eritrean civil society groups and the committee had just completed a weeklong meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and set July 30, 2010 as the National Conference date. 

People’s Movement for Peace in Eritrea and the Horn of Africa

In accordance to the mandate given to the Organising Committee a peace charter has been drafted and preparations for the forthcoming conference are well underway. The Conference will be held in the UK from Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd May 2010; potential participants have been short-listed; invitations are being processed and conference programme is being finalised. The major aim of the conference will be to ratify the charter which in turn will be the basis for a grass-roots led peace movement.

Efforts are being made to ensure a well balanced composition of attendants; reflecting the social realities of Eritrea.  Gender will also be taken into account.  It is anticipated that representatives of political groups, civil societies, religious institutions, media, as well as academics and activists will attend the conference. 

UNHCR: Eritreans by far largest refugee group in Israel

90% of Eritrean asylum-seekers are men, many of whom fled indefinite compulsory military duty.

Eritreans constitute by far the largest population of asylum-seekers in Israel, according to the United Nations high commissioner for refugees.

Sharon Harel, assistant protection officer for the UNHCR in Tel Aviv, said Monday there were around 8,500 Eritrean refugees in the country, as opposed to some 5,000 to 6,000 from Sudan.

The Exclusionary List: Hizbawi Me’kete and the Abuse of Language

Suppose you want to fence your plot of land, with the primary intention of marking your property, so that nobody would be able to claim anything past those markers. It doesn't matter to you whether the fence is made up of stone, iron, wood or even planted bushes, so far as they equally serve the exclusionary purpose you have in mind. That is, there is nothing essential or intrinsic invested in each of those materials that would make them indispensable on their own; one can easily replace one with another without losing anything substantial in the process. One can dispense with any one of them, so far as there is another left that would equally do the exclusionary job. The same holds true of those priorities mentioned in the “constructive” list. In and of themselves, they hold no value for the Highdefites. To those who compiled the list, there is nothing indispensable in each of those priorities; they are willing to drop or replace any one of them so far as the revised list is able to deflect attention away from the regime’s atrocities. That is, the value of each priority exhausts itself so far as it is made to serve the exclusionary purpose.

Eritrea Continues to Hold Thousands of Prisoners of Faith

(London; 05-03-2010) Reports coming out of Eritrea indicate that the government continues to incarcerate thousands of Christian prisoners who refuse to seize practicing their faith in accordance to a government ban in place since May 2002. Over the last few months security officers raided homes and arrested several gospel singers from full gospel church and other banned churches.

Recent months have seen a spate of releases from of people who have been detained for periods ranging from several months to five years. This includes a group of 38 people from different churches across the country that was released from Meiter prison. However there still remain a number of prisoners whose conditions or whereabouts remain undisclosed.