EPLF is not the same as PFDJ and the Government of Eritrea: Part 2

By Petros Tesfagiorgis

A point of clarification:

In reaction to my article I got as many as 46 comments on Asmarino.com. In addition I had a lot of informal discussion with friends of which I find some comments unpleasant. Many of the comments were critical but constructive. They are focused on the issues I raised rather than on the person I am. I extend my thanks to all who expressed their views from different angles.

I want to make my self very clear. My intention is not to cover up the crimes committed by EPLF or ELF for that matter. If it gave that message I must be misunderstood and I stand corrected. My apologies to those brave people who are documenting the crimes  particularly to the researcher and advocate of human rights Resoum Kidane  who reacted by writing an extensive article. “EPLF is the same as PFDJ”.  When he put the quote by Tekle Aden that from 1973 to 1980 no less than 3000 persons were killed by the Security Department “Halewa Sewra” I was really shocked. Yosief Ghebrehiwet has also listed all the crimes in his comments and I do acknowledge his effort to inform the people.

I strongly believe that EPLF and ELF belong not only to the leaders alone but to all those who participated as fighters and all those civilians who served it directly or indirectly by contributing money or soliciting international diplomatic, financial and political support. And their sacrifice, heroism and commitment must be acknowledged. On this issue I do not compromise.

Some people used to ask me if I regret serving the EPLF which is more than 20 years.  My answered has always been I have no regret.  EPLF was just an instrument for liberation and not an end by itself. In 1975 I have witnessed the Ethiopian security forces in Asmara brutalizing the people. The whole town was gripped by fear. A security unit of the Ethiopian army called “Afagn” composed of elite members of ground forces, Air force and the Navy were kidnapping people particularly youth and put them to prison and shoot them. The youth were terrorized when the unit strangulated 6 or 7 people by piano wire; I don’t remember the exact number.  

In that moment in time I passionately believed that I have to fight against such kind of injustice and I took the most dangerous task of working in Asmara for EPLF, organized in a cell. Although our cell was restricted to raising funds and buying essential commodities for the fighters we have to give sanctuary to our two contact fighters who had to come to Asmara disguised as civilians to collect the supplies. The two were very well known in Asmara their names were Memher Andom and Yemane Hailinkiel.

One day, it was March 3, 1975 they came to the city and went to the house of Wedi Teklia a rich business man, bus company owner,  who agreed to give money to EPLF. Actually it was a trap. As soon as Wedi Teklia led them to the living room he went out excusing to bring them tea and what happened next was a request through a walkie talkie loud speaker by the Afagn to give themselves up.  There was no way out and they preferred to die fighting. That was the day I left Asmara and went to the field. There is a lot to write about the history of this two unsung heroes and about life in the underground world.  

There is the history of 150,000 martyred and those thousands who are maimed. There are those who had spent years in prison including “Alem Bekagn” in Addis Ababa, who were subjected to torture and being shot.  EPLF belongs to all these people as well. At the time of liberation in 1991 there were more than 90,000 soldiers. PFDJ not only killed the vision but also robbed the history of the people.  Today EPLF is being defined in the image of the Isaias Afewerki and his close associates only.

I admit that PFDJ is not an entirely new. It is an extension of EPLF; the people are the same and the party structure is the same. But at the same time there are differences.  I entirely agree with one commentator who said both Petros and Ismael Omar are wrong. There are things which are the same there are things which are different. It is true I stand corrected.

EPLF with all its crimes was meant to be an instrument of liberation and thousands supported it and paid their life for it.  Today the PFDJ has become the instrument of oppression. Incompetence, corruption, hunger, cruelty, forced labor and of course killings are institutionalized. Isn’t this enough of a big difference repression institutionalized?  During the struggle, the killings were mostly secret; not all knew what was taking place.

My article was meant to challenge Ismail’s contention EPLF/PFDJ/GOV are the same? I expected the “Push and Pull” factor would highlight the differences. But unfortunately it has resulted in collateral damage. Some regular Asmarino.com visitors and friends who share with me the same value of democracy felt that the article is an apology for the crimes done by EPLF which is not.

EPLF/PFDJ/ and ELF members are part of the problem they are also part of the solution: They have to be encouraged to switch to the side of reform.

Ismail wrote that the members of EPLF who are in opposition are eager to preserve the EPLF/PFDJ political infrastructure.  He goes, “Consider why they would want that.  First and foremost, it exonerates those (prominent ex-EPLFers) from blame.  Second, if EPLF/PFDJ (minus Isaias) remains intact, their chances of grabbing at and reclaiming the political and economic infrastructure with which they are so intimately familiar would be very high.”

This conspiracy theory that seeks to deny ex-EPLF members to participate in the activities for democratic change in Eritrea is not Ismail’s idea only.  The recent article by “Alena” - on Asssna.com has implicated Mesfin Hagos with the murder of Ibrahim Afa on circumstantial evidence and so he must not participate in the struggle for change. This would damage Mesfin’s reputation because Ibraham Afa is a popular hero and represents the good side of EPLF. I met Ibraham during the first ERA- meeting in Sahel in early 1980s. I find him extremely charismatic; with full beard of a revolutionary style of the time and one can easily associate him with Che Guevara.  He was soft spoken and did not look militaristic.  I never saw him again.  His death was announced during the 2^nd.EPLF and Unity congress in February 1987. In absolute silence the people paid their respect to the fallen hero. Sadness pervaded the conference hall.  I sensed how popular Ibrahim was.  He was to be greatly missed by the fighters not only as a person but to the country as a whole because he was one of the genuine, honest, revolutionaries, had he and other democrats within EPLF been in power the present repression might not have taken place.

I know Mesfin but not closely as my work experience was more of a foreign relations nature with little working contact with the people in the field. But after independence I went to participate in the economic and social rehabilitation of Eritrea and stayed for 7 years.  In 1993 before the rank and file fighter’s mutinies there was central committee meeting who decided that the EPLF fighters would work 4 years without pay. It was only Mesfin Hagos who opposed it saying that the fighters have responsibility of families and they have scarified enough to be denied a modest salary. His plea fall on deaf ears, it was overwhelmingly rejected. People say that was what triggered the 1993 failed mutiny. The other case was when Mesfin was the minister of defense.  Isaias was bypassing him and directly giving out orders to the navy and the air force. He complained that these would divide the armed forces and confronted the president not to interfere in his work. The president refused and he threw his Defense minister portfolio and resigned. He had good reputation and was quite respected because of that.  Socially he was not known to drink excessively and womanize in night clubs like the other leaders who became bad influence on the youth. That is why I become very uncomfortable and even entertained the idea that he may be targeted and there may be a motive to do so. Time will tell. Assena.com is entitled to carry Alena’s articles but he should have insisted to put his real name not a pen name.  Mr. Alena seems to witness a lot of crimes in the past, is he aware that knowing and witnessing crimes and say nothing is an act of complicity? Alena also bragged that he will do the same to Ambassador Abdella Adem, another dissident. Such kind of talk is not about justice it is about revenge. 

I do not oppose documenting crimes of ELF and EPLF. What I don’t agree with is to single out personalities purely to alienate them from participating in the activities that would bring democratic change in Eritrea. I strongly believe that The Struggle for democracy without ex-EPLF and ex-ELF members and even potential dissident from PFDJ is a struggle amputated.

I quote from an article in Assenna.com by Resoum Kidane titled, “Facts and Evidence: Purge and Liquidation in the ELF in the 1970s”. It   goes ,” Mussie Gebreab who joined the ELF (Jebha) as a teen age in December of 1974 and was a prisoner in 1977 states that , I have seen and experienced much worse than these at the hands of Salih Gadi's( Vaseline) Idol Abdella Idris (Hankish) and co.”

Resoum Kidane’s research and documentations of crimes by the fronts are profoundly essential in the search for justice.  They are extremely important  lesson of  past and helps to make sure that it will never happen again. However when it come to passing judgments it is better to leave it to a body of judges or committee  like that of “Truth and reconciliation” or of different kind to be formed by the authorities of democratic Eritrea. There is a collective responsibility in this. There are many junior officers who are ordered to carry out killings, where do you put them. Are they carrying orders or they do it of pure criminal behaviors.

Let’s say that ex-ELF Saleh Gadi, like ex-EPLF Mesfin Hagos, must not be part of the opposition. Who are the winners and who are the loosers in this? The loosers are those who fight against repression and the winners are those who perpetuate it.

Saleh Gadi is the founder of Awate.com independent news and information media. Awate.com is the first pioneer who provided an alternative voice when PFDJ banned all private newspaper. Their slogan inform, inspire, reconcile is what the people need to arm with in order to stand up and fight their oppression.

He conducted an intensive interview with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi – in Addis Ababa. PMZ provided a rare insight of his vision of peace, his respect to the sovereignty of Eritrea and the need to build understanding between the two peoples.   This has been proved when the Ethiopian Government opened the doors of its universities to Eritrean refugees.

Saleh‘s best contribution is his book “Of Kings and Bandits – The Making of a Child Warrior.” Going through Saleh’s book one can understand the social and political condition prevailed in Keren at the time and the brutality of the Ethiopian regime. How the child Jamal witnessed the army torturing and humiliating his father and saw the seeds of rebellion. The Ethiopian Government method to pacify the communities’ was to destroy their culture and tradition and replace it by that of the Amhara ruling class.  The authorities named streets in Keren after Amharic Warriors where the Lowland people do not relate to. Such actions represented a form of crude cultural Imperialism. Saleh in his book had made all these visible, it is a book worth reading if one wants to learn in depth the background history of the armed struggle and the system of “Divide et Empera” by Emperor Haile Sellasie (Janohoi). It is a dramatic narrative and pleasant to read focused upon the deepest problems of the people of Eritrea.

This book has to be read widely particularly by the young generation who may not know a lot about life under Ethiopian occupation.

There is another fact; there are thousands of ex-EPLF in Eritrea as civilians or soldiers. It is true that they are now part of the problem but there is no doubt they are also part of the solution. Alienating them does not help the cause of freedom. They are near to proximity of power than any one in the Diaspora. Inclusion may even be the most significant dimension of uniting people in their activities to bring democratic change in Eritrea. 

Meskerem.net re-printed Amanuel Iyasu’s article dated 2002 together with his photograph which criticized those who stood up for democratic change in the time when Eritrea was at War.  It forgets Amanuel was a member of the ministry of information and he was supposed to serve the ministry. It is not surprising if he writes articles that tow the line of the government?  What is important is that he is now a dissident? Such people can be more productive because to a certain extent they know the inside workings of PFDJ.  Amanuel is exceptional he has already established the credential of digging information from the jaws of the oppressors. His interviews, his personal messages are heartening. In the process of raising the level of consciousness he stands tall. To re-print his article is nothing but a form of personality assassination.

To continue

I will prepare part 3 my last amending the title. .

Looking through the prism of the book titled “Of Kings And Bandits: The making of a child warrior: by Saleh “Gadi” Johar:

By reading through this book I saw by my minds eye the brutality of Ethiopian rule.

The child Jamal had witnessed and seen the humiliation the beatings of his father. He developed that hatred. The book reflected the endurance of the people. They kept their culture and values well.