Eritrea: A Nation Mourning in Silence

A couple of weeks ago, more than 400 mainly Eritrean asylum seekers perished on the Mediterranean Sea, apparently on their way to Europe, after their boat capsized in mysterious circumstances. There are a number of conspiracy theory as to how this tragedy might have happened; the director of Eritrean Human Right Concern Mrs. Elsa Chirum claims they could have been attacked, after alleged findings of shrapnel injuries on the corpses. Consequently, many Eritreans are still in dilemma in figuring out, who could have been behind such an atrocious attack that shocked the Diaspora community. Though this is not the first instance for such a disaster to hit the community, however, the loss of life is unparalleled in its magnitude and scope. In the meantime, they are not fully convinced this time around that the boat might have been capsized due to technical failure or turbulent weather conditions, thus some blames to the Gedaffi troops, while others point their finger towards the NATO, but without doubt the major blame goes to the dictatorial regime at home, which reduced them into such state of misery and their long journey to seek refuge ultimately to end in vain.

However, as despicable as this massive disaster may turn out to be to the tiny horn African nation, what is equally alarming is the incident failed to grab the attention of world major media outlets, with only the BBC to come to the episode too late and to do too little. Hence, many Eritreans at least are asking as to where are the so-called international medias. Where is Aljazeera International, which is supposedly shining as a media heavy weight champion of the Middles East, while the incident was just happening not too far away from the door steps of its leading news coverage of the day: Libya. One can understand the enormous task this network is carrying on its shoulders amidst the overlapping and increasingly dramatising political upheavals shacking the region. However, as testing times are in the Middle East, the network should not loose its vision by compromising its pride of international news coverage. Hence, some people are rightly criticising the network for allocating a larger portion of its air time to the very trouble spots, namely Egypt and Libya, while other major events are happening simultaneously.

Eritreans around the world are still in grief with some staging demonstrations across Toronto, London, Stockholm and Los Angeles. This even seems to have made only a little impact to international community, whose attention is predominantly occupied on the crisis in Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East. However, this tragedy is at least expected to narrow the political polarization, among the Eritrean diaspora community. Eritreans in diaspora are suspicious of each other to the extent of at times becoming bitter enemies, mainly because  they happen to differ in their political views. Some literally break up all forms of social contact, thereby erecting a barrier wall in their minds, how these two brothers could reconcile without revenge once the dictator is gone is worth thinking. This could be seen as a potential challenge in building a nation based on tolerance and mutual respect regardless of his/her political stand, once the dictator is removed from power.

The lack of a popular grassroots mobilization by the silent majority is hindering for the establishment of a genuine united opposition block to challenge the dictatorial regime at home. This culture of intolerance need to be broken and a political culture based on pluralistic ideas should be nurtured instead. In doing so, whatever political ambition a certain group may aspire to establish should not be excluded, but rather should be part of the equation for engagement in reinforcing a credible pluralistic democratic alliance. One cannot live engulfed by fear as to what might happen tomorrow, for his today’s action or inaction will determine its fate.

The political actors should leave controversial issues to the judgement of the Eritrean people at home, who remains in silence for obvious reasons. The judgment of leadership throne should entirely rest upon the Eritrean people themselves, the priority of today should be for everyone to work hand in hand in liberating the Eritrean masses from their state of abject misery. Amidst such catastrophe talking party politics can never win hearts and minds, it is rather counterproductiv

Establishing an all inclusive resistance block i.e. a multi-party system of government based on secular ideas with a wider nationalistic appeal should be emboldened and encouraged but it should not be at the expense of other groups with different ideas. This is the only way mutual trust can be nurtured, rejecting and character assassination only leads to distraction and exacerbate misunderstanding. This has been the most frustrating and dark side of the opposition block. From such an attack and counter attack audacity no one benefits except the incumbent government in Asmara.

Some people strongly suspect the regime may have been remote controlling the opposition camp by his satellite agents embedded in the opposition block; this accusation seems to carry some weight for at least one websites, who used to assert as an opposition, turned out serving the agenda of the very regime it claims to stand against. Politics is not a way to heaven, there is always a danger of dirty game, but remaining vigilant would salvage any consequence that may happen as a result. Nonetheless, the civic society organisations should raise their voice; for what is at stake nothing but the future of a country, which is losing its vibrant population at an alarming pace and sadly enough it is continuing unabated.