Refugees, Asylum, and Isaias' Inhumanity!

Isaias Afwerki, in his now-infamous interview with Al Jazeera in February, said a lot of things that made no sense coming from a head of State. He said something that a person in his position, I thought, would never say. When asked if he is bothered by the unfortunate phenomenon of thousands of Eritreans seeking asylum around the world, he responded, "Why should I be bothered by that?" I thought that was the most astonishing thing to come out of the mouth a leader of a country. Can you image President Barack Obama, Chancellor Angela Merkel, or Prime Minister Gordon Brown saying they would not be bothered if thousands of their citizens flee the US, Germany or the UK? No, you cannot image such blatantly arrogant statement to come from leaders in the West. They would be hounded out of office if they do or say something remotely close to that! That is because they are accountable to the voters in those countries. Isaias was being asked about the well-being of his own people, the Eritrean people, and his answer essentially was: "I don't care!" Only a fascist and a dictator can say that and get away with it. Isaias is not accountable to any one!

The word asylum is defined as "protection and immunity from extradition by a government to a foreign refugee". And a refuge is "one who flees, usually to another country for refuge, especially invasion, oppression or persecution". (See, Webster's Dictionary). Asylum is sought by refugees fleeing their country of origin for political reasons. Under the United Nation's Convention for refugees, a refugee is a person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail him/herself of the protection of that country. See United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. In other words, a refugee is one who cannot go back to their country of origin for fear of persecution, for fear of being arrested, tortured, or even killed. Most of us Eritreans in the Diaspora including the PFDJ loyalists who arrived in the West in the late 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, sought asylum, sought protection in our adoptive countries in Europe and America from the fascist Dergue regime in Ethiopia. These loyalists are now effectively (by their support of DIA) denying their own people the basic human rights accorded to an asylum seeker. They call those fleeing the fascist PFDJ regime "deserters" and cowards. There are tens of thousands of Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia alone. Fourteen thousand of them were still living in Shimelba in Tigray (one camp) until the beginning of 2009, a year ago. I am sure many more have joined them there now. And there are at least two other such camps, according to the Eritrean opposition monitoring refugee situation in Ethiopia.

Why is DIA not bothered that Eritreans are seeking asylum in Europe, Israel, the US or Canada? Isaias Afwerki is not bothered by thousands of Eritreans fleeing his brutal regime because he has no conscience, no humility, no sympathy, no humanity. He is cruel and inhumane. But, most importantly, he is not bothered by it because he has learned that he can do whatever he wants with impunity; that is, whatever he does, he knows there are many people, thousands of them in fact, who support him, applaud him, and would even go out demonstrating for him in capitals around the world. Inexplicably, and essentially, they are telling him that it is okay to arrest, jail, torture, and even kill their our brothers and sisters! That is the amazing thing about the whole thing! Otherwise, he understands perfectly well the meaning of the word asylum. He just does not care! Period. Isaias' inhumanity by now is clear to many Eritreans, except to those who are pretending to be deaf and blind.

Words have no consequence whatsoever for Isaias Afwerki. That much has been clear to us for many years. He uses words for the time being and forgets about them quickly. Words, however eloquent, do not matter to him. Everyone who heard him address his first OAU summit in the early 1990s was in awe with his eloquence, his directness, and his courage. I was one of them. But he quickly forgot what he told the Heads of State. He had scathing criticism for their irresponsibility towards their people. He assaulted them for their lack of democratic rule and their corruption. I remember that the report at the time said that the only people applauding and cheering him wildly were the journalists at the back of the hall. Unfortunately, he quickly forgot all that as he himself began engaging in economic, political corruption. And he just doesn't care!

Isaias' inhumanity by now is clear to many Eritreans, except to those who are pretending to be deaf and blind.

It was inhumane to shoot and kill disabled veterans of the war in the mid 1990s just because they demanded to get a better treatment! Remember Mai Habar?

It is inhumane to throw in prison and forget about a hero, Brig. Gen. Biteweded, who was commander of the Asseb front at the end of the independence war in 1991.

It is inhumane to jail Aster (the wife of another prisoner, Petros Solomon, a former minister), who was picked up from Asmara Airport as she returned home after years of stay abroad, depriving her children of both their parents!

It is inhumane to jail your former comrades-in-arm, who must be in their sixties by now, without the due process of law!

It is inhumane to refuse them medication for their diabetes, high blood pressure, and other ailments!

It is inhumane to let these and other prisoners including the nineteen journalists to essentially die in prison for lack of basic medical care!

It is inhumane to refuse for their relatives to visit them in prison!

It is inhumane to shoot Eritrean youth attempting to cross the border!

It is inhumane to force hundreds of thousands of youth to remain in the army for 10, 12 and even 15 years, when you initially promised them only 18 months to 2 years national service.

It is inhumane to demand 50 thousand Nakfa from poor parents for their son or daughter who manages to escape from your (PFDJ) clutches.

It is inhumane to hold parents responsible for their grown children.

Oh, but of course, PFDJ loyalists will say that it is okay to do all that. You know the old excuse: They must have done something wrong otherwise he (Isaias) would not have jailed them! In other words, they trust a brutal dictator to do the right thing! They trust his word than the words of a refugee seeking asylum; they trust a dictator's words than the words of a student leader; they trust a dictator's words than the words of journalists who wrote the politics of the day. In short, PFDJ loyalists trust the word of Isaias, a dictator, than their own brothers and sisters who are the victims of his brutal regime. How could you trust a person who continuously denies and tramples the basic rights of the people? How could they trust a person who continues to tell them that he does not care whether their brothers and sisters die in the desert or the high seas? Their only crime being that they defied him by leaving the country. That's why he does not care for those who die in the deserts -- because they defied him by leaving his brutal regime. To the PFDJ, ones you leave Eritrea without their blessing, i.e., you cross the border without a visa or a passport, they don't recognize you as an Eritrean citizen. If you died while crossing the border, they don't give a hoot. If you died serving in the army, they would not care either. Such is the reality today in Eritrea.

A reader, responding to my previous article (http://asmarino.com/articles/602-the-breathtaking-hypocrisy-of-isaias-afwerki-dia-and-his-supporters), wrote the following:

"Paulos,

“Why don’t you focus on the “alternative idea” (or the complete lack of it) that you and the opposition purport to have rather than attacking so called “supporters” of the Eritrean regime? You pay lip service for “tolerance” but for the last decade all the so called opposition elite writers never ceased from calling people names such as, guila lovers, pigheads, idiots, dictator worshipers, etc. Some of the language that the opposition uses is so offensive it makes one cringe. This was more apparent on the countless writings that appeared on Asmarino and Awate leading up to the February 22 Worldwide demonstration. Suffice it to say that did not stop people from coming out to the demos in droves but it shows the utterly bankrupt discourse the opposition camp is involved in. [sic] Having said that, those extremists from the other side who use similar language to go after the opposition figures and supporters are as abhorrent and pathetic as those of the opposition. Granted PIA had handled the interview with Jane Dutton badly but it is clear to anyone worth their salt that she sets him up write from the get go. Her disrespect to the president’s office was disgustingly transparent and her patronizing attitude was openly there. It has hard to think that you have missed that but then again she was attacking the person you hate with passion so who gives a hoot about objectivity, right? By the way, the blog she wrote in which she claims that PIA called her “insane” and that Asmarino still displays on its website was removed from Aljazeera a couple of weeks ago http://blogs.aljazeera.net/africa/2010/02/22/eritreas-president-declares-me-insane Why do you think that is, could it be Aljazeera realized that its egotistic journalist totally crossed the line with her effort to make herself the story, not to mention that some of the stuff she wrote was untrue and slanderous? I would not hold my breath that your answer to that question would be affirmative."

The reader, obviously intelligent and well-versed in Eritrean politics, admits DIA handled the interview "badly". However, the reader instead blames the journalist for being "disrespectful" and "patronizing". I don't know how asking questions to a powerful man like DIA can be considered disrespectful or patronizing. She refused to engage in his small talk about 'enjoying the show'. Is that disrespectful? She was more serious than him. I heard similar excuses from Isaias loyalists right after the interview became public. They said that she caught him when he was in a bad mood, that he probably did not sleep well the night before, etc. We don't know for sure why he acted "badly". But from what we can see and remember from his past behavior, he was just being his own old self: belligerent, boastful, and arrogant.

The reader asked me about the "alternative idea". What is the alternative idea? Well, we (those of us in the opposition) have called and keep on calling for many things to happen in Eritrea. I suppose the reader did not want to hear about it. We have called for the rule of law. We've called for prisoners to be released or charged in a court of law. We've called for elections. We've called for peaceful negotiations between Eritrea and Ethiopia, or Eritrea and Djibouti, for example, when the dictator denied everything. (Now, reportedly, he is begging to be reconciled with Djibouti. Now he also says he has no problem with Ethiopia!). We have called for the implementation of the 1997-ratified constitution. Those are alternatives to dictatorship; alternatives to the rule of the jungle; alternatives to one-man worship and one-man rule. If, by alternative, the reader however meant to suggest that there is no alternative to PFDJ, that there is no one that can lead Eritrea but Isaias and the PFDJ, I say the reader is absolutely wrong and I cannot help him with his psychology.

As to the name-calling, both the supporters and the opposition do use unnecessary words which hurt each other. I would not absolve myself in this regard either. The difference is, while the opposition is struggling against a dictatorship which denies it any recognition, the supporters of Isaias Afwerki are helping to perpetuate that dictatorship. This angers the majority of the Eritrean people in the opposition. Unfortunately for the supporters of Isaias, their hero is making their stance untenable as he routinely destroys any good-will and the benefit of doubt they or anyone else extend him.

One thing is for sure: as long as there are apologists apologizing for his costly adventures, he will continue with his belligerence. The reader, as intelligent as he sounds (and many intelligent ones are still supporting the dictator) exemplifies the reason why DIA is not bothered by Eritrean refugees seeking asylum around the word, by the suffering of the Eritrean people in Eritrea proper, or by the deaths of many of them in the Sahara desert and the high seas. Because he knows his supporters will support him no matter what! He has learned that he can do whatever he wants, and yet, his loyalists, such as the reader quoted above, will, inexplicably, keep on supporting his disastrous adventures while their own people flee Eritrea, die in the deserts of Libya or Egypt, or the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, in their quest for asylum as refugees around the world, if they're fortunate enough to survive the desert and the sea passage.

And Isaias Afwerki will not care! He never cared for the Eritrean people and he isn't about to start now! He only cares about himself and staying in power!