The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker.
~Helen Keller
Dear brothers and sisters;
We are writing to congratulate you on the work you are doing to bolster the movement for justice and democracy in Eritrea. As your partners in the struggle we are heartened by the expertise with which you are planning your upcoming events and are certain that this will inevitably have a positive ripple effect in shaping the history of our troubled nation. Indeed it is through such acts of courage and principled diligence to do the right thing, that we would begin to chip away at the entrenched tyranny that has besieged our people for far too long.
Today’s Eritrea is nothing more than a textbook case for everything that could go wrong in a nation. From such a promising start, the ruling clique has managed to squander every bit of resource and all our good will, to produce an endless array of human misery. Our people are subjected to untold hunger and ill health whilst declarations of food security and economic prosperity are being made on our behalf. Young people leave the country in unprecedented proportions facing uncalculated odds, even as empty announcements of the plans for their education and development are made. Our national security is immensely compromised and yet what seems to be of concern to the powers that be in Eritrea seems the national security and integrity of other nations. At no time in history has the Eritrean public been subjected to such levels of voicelessness and subjugation without any viable options for redress.
To top it all off the civic and political space amongst Eritreans has been narrowed down to near non-existence owing to many years of an extremely tapered approach to our national agenda. Today our political organisations striving to institute the principles of democracy and justice are at best struggling hard to establish a rapport with the public, but very often just struggling for effective existence as a viable alternative to lead the nation. The picture is similar for the civic organisations that were set up as a backlash to the abject violations of human and democratic rights abuse that continues to rampage unabated.
As your partners in the struggle for justice and democracy, it is therefore with great satisfaction that we welcome your forthcoming events and look forward to the learning outcomes. Ours is a struggle whose objectives would never be accomplished unless we engage every spectrum of our society ensuring that no one is left behind or unheard. This would without doubt be an arduous task that will take every single one of us to pull off. But this is the only kind of foundation from which a just and democratic Eritrea will be able to rise. Today it may feel only a few of us are standing up to be counted, but what is important is as this is the only way to the future, we can only grow stronger and indeed few of us standing is certainly much more than none of us standing. We may have neither the most effective organisations nor the most conducive circumstances but we should continue to accelerate and do what we can to facilitate the much needed relief to our people.
We wish you all success and please accept our heartfelt solidarity both for your upcoming events and activities and also for the wider struggle for justice and democracy in Eritrea.
In Solidarity
Network of Eritrean Civic Societies in Europe (NECS – Europe)
18 June 2009
NECS-Europe member organisations:
Eritreans for Justice and Democracy - Benelux
Eritreans for Peace and Democracy - Switzerland
Eritreans for Human and Democratic Rights – UK, United Kingdom
Eritreans for Peace – Stuttgart, Germany
Eritreans for Human Rights - Baden-Wuettemberg, Germany
Snit Selam, Frunkfurt – Germany
Eritrean Solidarity for Justice and Democracy in Eritrea - Italy
Release Eritrea, United Kingdom
Eritrean Movement for Unity, Norway
Meqalih Eritrea, Germany
Popular Movement for Democracy in Eritrea - Sweden
The conditions in Wi’a concentration/training camp in the past 7- 9 months have worsened more than any other time. Food rations were reduced further to 3 pieces of sorghum bread per person per day without any supplements such as sauce except limited ration of tea. The shortage of food is compounded by the closure of the camp for family visits which used to facilitate the supply of food from families and relatives to the prisoners/trainees. The shortage of food combined with the very poor sanitation conditions, harsh environmental conditions, fatigue resulting from training exercises and almost non-existent health facilities and health care services in the camp has lead to sustained outbreaks of meningitis, typhoid and scabies resulting in alarming mass deaths. 
But the war, and the crisis in its aftermath, radically altered this three-pronged approach. First, the community-oriented feature of the website, although not totally abandoned, came to suffer as a result of the deep fracture within the Eritrean community that took place after the war. Second, Eritrea itself became off limits; and the dream of joining the Eritrean people in building the nation was indefinitely deferred. And third, as a result of the poisoned climate that came to prevail after the war, the idea of a greater community in the Horn and East Africa was abandoned. Instead, as is the case with most Eritreans, the political, humanitarian and existential crisis in Eritrea came to dominate the dialog in Asmarino – a debate that is still raging on. 
