About a week ago, I got an e-mail with an invitation to attend an
event taking place in Washington DC’s NED (National Endowment For
Democracy) headquarters today Friday October 30th, 2015. The event
based on the recent report by the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human
Rights in Eritrea started of at about 10AM Moderated by Dave Peterson
who is head of the Africa division at NED. The guests included UN
Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea Chairman Mike Smith,
Tiffany Lynch, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom,
Elizabeth Chyrum, Human Rights Concern-Eritrea and who is also a
beneficiary of funds from NED.
For some who may not be aware of NED according to it’s website, The
National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a private, nonprofit
foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic
institutions around the world. Each year, NED makes more than 1,200
grants to support the projects of non-governmental groups abroad who
are working for democratic goals in more than 90 countries. This
organization may be good for some countries who need help in building
a democracy but for ERITREA this organization seems to have been
nothing but a waste of tax payers money. If one asks how? Well you
have people in Elsa Chyrum’s case who travel around the world
instigating problems and utilizing & coercing poor economic refugees
into political asylums that will turn their back on Eritrea’s
government to be able to get their papers to live in the USA and
Europe. NED indirectly is getting involved and empowering illegal
behavior against sovereign nations including Eritrea. To be exact,
NED’s record of instigating and creating problems in other countries
is not the best.
After attending the inter-American commission on human rights all of
last week today’s gathering looked more like a confirmation of the
attacks that have been taking place against the people and government
of ERITREA. From the get go Mr. Peterson was so biased and in his full
introduction had nothing good to say about ERITREA. He started of
talking as part of the huge campaign to defame Eritrea by referring to
Eritrea as “the North Korea of Africa.” For someone who has never
been to Eritrea and probably North Korea how he can compare the two is
an insult to one’s intelligence. It is purely irresponsible, and very
inaccurate, as reflected by the many international delegates, foreign
workers, tourists, and visitors who have consistently visited Eritrea
and claimed otherwise. After he introduced Mr. Mike Smith the chairman
of the Commission, Mr. Smith went straight to the point about how the
recent report was gathered. He talked about how the Eritrean
Government did not allow the commission to go into the country
contrary to what the truth is.
He claimed that the only way to gather the abuses that took place was
to speak to refugees on the ground in ETHIOPIA & Djibouti two
countries whose governments are the abusers of human rights. Two
countries that have attempted to destabilize ERITREA and in Ethiopia’s
case it currently occupies sovereign Eritrean territories. The mockery
of this report is that the root of the refugee problems starts with
the underlying issue of not forcing Ethiopia to withdraw. The UN and
the US as guarantors of the peace agreement should focus on that
problem and when this particular issue was raised during the public
response session the guests could not reply. Even Mr. Smith mentioned
that he was assigned to do the job by the UN and it is not his mandate
to worry about the border. Well sir, how about bringing this issue to
solve the problem that you have been tasked to write a report on. This
is POLITICALLY MOTIVATED!
Meanwhile I want to say that the room was full and with a very small
number of Eritreans who surprised the speakers on how to exersice your
rights the proper way with respect and full of passion for the
Eritrean nation. Standing up for the truth. One gentleman Mr. Ghidey
shocked the entire room and panel when he talked about his life as an
Eritrean during the thirty year war and how when genocide was taking
place every day of the week, no body heard the cries of Eritreans. In
an emotional outburst he laid facts down about Eritrea and spoke about
the root cause of the problem Eritrea faces with refugees. I wanted to
add, “It is the economy” but chose to observe. I am a strong believer
that if ERITREA’s economy gets better the number of people leaving
their country will small in numbers. Just like many other diaspora who
as a result of economic problems most Eritreans are economic migrants
and will never abandon a history of their gallant people who have won
their true independence by themselves.
Then came testimonials from a national service member who has
completed his Sawa service and was able to express his experience at
the military camp that teaches young people to be good citizens and to
help defend their country from the hostile neighbors to the south.
Another former TEGADALI also let these people have it and clearly
expressed his thoughts about the LAME ACCUSATIONS against the
government of Eritrea. It is clear that Elsa Chyrum was shocked and
surprised to see the number of people who stood up to her in front of
her funders and embarrassed her for her politically motivated
agenda.One can clearly see that she nominated the rapporteur for the
commission based on her hate for ERITREA. You can see in the audience
the handful individuals and groups, that served as informants,
experts, or consultants for the report. They too had a big awakening
as they saw ERITREANS getting up one after the other to let them know
their feelings and starting off with the term “HANDS OF ERITREA”.
In Washington over my 20 years experience covering as a journalist and
attending events related to many different issues national,
international and local, I always wondered if I would see Eritreans
being engaged in their issues and boy did they. They proved that they
are the keepers of their nation. To repeat a message from one of the
attendees the son of all ERITREANS by virtue of his loss of parents
who gave up their lives to defend ERITREA, he went on to let the
commission know Report or no Report, sanctions or no sanctions ERITREA
will stand for the truth and will continue to build itself on its own
as it has never depended on anyone to bail her out. The one small
positive thing I noticed during this hearing is that the USA and some
groups including Tiffany Lynch of the US commission on international
religious freedom seems to think that engaging Eritrea is a good
thing, but one thing she needs to understand is that Eritrea can teach
her a thing or two on religious harmony between it’s people and her
appointment is also tax payers waste of money. Finally the best way to
engage Eritrea is to tell the client state of Ethiopia to leave the
illegally occupied Eritrean sovereign territories as soon as possible.
Then remove the illegal sanctions. Anything else including this report
is considered NULL & VOID to the Eritrean people.
Received on Fri Oct 30 2015 - 18:49:43 EDT