Letter to Ms Angela Merkel, the Federal Chancellor of Germany (On the YPFDJ Jamboree in Berlin

To:
H.E. Ms Angela Merkel,
The Federal Chancellor of Germany,
Bundeskanzler Amt, Berlin

To:
H.E. Mr. Guido Westerwelle,
The Foreign Office, Federal Germany,
Auswärtiges Amt, AA,
Werderscher Markt 1, 10117, Berlin                                                         22 March, 2010
                                                                                         
Dear Excellencies,

I, the undersigned chairman of an Eritrean opposition party in exile struggling for change and democratization in our country, am taking the liberty of addressing your esteemed Offices, and through your good Offices to all concerned governmental and non-governmental German institutions, to express our deep regret that some of your authorities have innocently allowed the so-called Young-PFDJs (named after the repressive People’s Front for Democracy and Justice of the Eritrean president, Isaias Afeworki) to hold a jamboree in Berlin between 1 and 5 April 2010.  This group, known to many Eritreans as the “Isaias Youth”, is an embryonic copy of the awesome Hitler Jugend of the last century. We appeal to you that this Eritrean version of an ugly history in Germany,  and an emerging tool of the hated regime in Asmara that is under targeted sanctions by the international community for its multiple abuses against the peace, security  and best interests of all peoples in the Red Sea basin, should not be encouraged to grow in Europe.

Dear Madame, Dear Sir,

As you very well know, Eritrea is turned into a big prison of its own people. Over 300,000 young men and women are kept in war-trenches and other tens of thousands of Eritrean youth are subjected to brain washing at concentration camps like the infamous Sawa, which are euphemistically called “schools”. The organization called Young-PFDJs, which is now due to gather young Eritreans in Berlin from all over Europe is nothing but a dangerous propaganda tool of the dictatorial regime in our country.

It may interest you to know how these Young-PFDJs are coming to Berlin. The parents and relatives of young persons are subjected by Eritrean embassy staff and their messengers in Germany to acts of intimidation, psychological pressure and threats of vengeance against their relatives in Eritrea if their sons and daughters ever dare fail to appear at the Berlin jamboree.  No young Eritrean and his/her parents will be given visas to Eritrea anytime, and their properties in Eritrea will be in danger if the young ones do not take part in the event.  Similar campaign through harassment of relatives is going on in all parts of Europe to make the show in Berlin a “success”.

You could already have noticed that the demonstrations the Eritrean regime organized in Geneva and other places last February against the targeted UN sanctions imposed on the regime were arranged in a similar manner of wicked intimidations and threats to life and property – brutal acts that  could not be imagined to have occurred in Europe of the 21st century.  

Dear Madame, Dear Sir,

We, members of the EPDP and other Eritreans opposed to the regime in Asmara, trust you will agree that this unwarranted act of intimidation against civilian Eritreans living in Germany and the rest of Europe is unacceptable under all circumstances. Therefore, we strongly call upon you and your esteemed governmental institutions to investigate these intimidations and threats and take appropriate action against the agents of the Eritrean regime in Germany. By copy of this message, we shall request similar action in many European countries in which Eritreans live in great numbers.

We remain at your disposal to provide any information required to justify our claims against the abuses of the Eritrean embassy staff and their agents in Germany and other countries in Europe against innocent civilians holding European and/or Eritrean passports.
With kind regards,
 
Woldeyesus Ammar,
Chairman,
The Eritrean People’s Democratic Party (short EPDP Profile attached)
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