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From: awetnayu@hotmail.com
Date: Fri Oct 01 2010 - 20:49:52 EDT
Libelous International Crisis Group (ICG) Demonizes Eritrea
Amanuel Biedemariam
It is easy to tell a nation’s priorities by observing how the leadership of a country spends their time. For example, in the US, we witnessed President Obama devote a great deal of time on healthcare his first year in office, and succeeded in passing a sweeping legislation. Leaders of different countries have differing priorities and Eritrea is no different. In Eritrea, food security, children’s health issues, health care, education and access to them are key issues. They are the top priorities of the nation and the people. As such, His Excellency, President Isaias Afwerki has been devoting a great deal of time on food security and youth development programs through education.
In February of 2001 in Eritrea, I spoke with an Eritrean woman who was one of UN’s directors that dealt with healthcare and children related issues at the time. I asked her how she felt about the governments handling of these matters. I still remember what she said then, as if she said it now. She said, “I thank God! For the first time, Eritrea has a government and leaders that are committed to women and children’s issues. My issues. No government has ever focused on these issues before. Not the Italians, the British, Haile Sellassie or Derg ever paid attention to the plight of women and children of Eritrea. Now, we have a government that follows on every detail making sure children are fed and healthy. They encourage us to go to remote areas to reach-out to women that traditionally have never received attention. They encourage us to break through traditional barriers and empower them. They pushed-through child welfare programs everywhere. They have made my job easier, and in turn I am doing the most gratifying work I have ever done in my life.” She went on and detailed her job telling me the most resistance she received was from the uneducated and reluctant public based on cultural and religious hindrances and said that we have made progress.
Eritrea is known around the world for her relentless efforts to reach a descent standard of living through disciplined hard work based on self-reliance. From the beginning of the struggle for liberation, Eritreans have believed and still believe on their toil and hard work to sustain them through any hardships; that is why self-reliance is the hallmark of Eritrea. That doggedness and thought process permeates throughout every aspect of life in Eritrea because, for long, Eritreans have learned to be self reliant. That is why Eritreans keep coming up with indigenous solutions to their needs. While struggling for liberation, Eritrea’s leaders understood the need to educate the youth and educated them under trees, in caves and everywhere in the bare land of Eritrea with a high standard-curriculum that established indigenous capacities. That is also, what propelled Eritrea’s education ministry.
Eritreans are pursuing education tirelessly because they understand how important it is for the future success of their children and the country. The government also shares the same view. In an interview with Hidri Magazine President Isaias Afwerki remarked, “A child in Karora (a remote area) must have the same opportunity as a child in Asmara for the country to attain a balanced-development thus to fulfill robust participation in all aspects of Eritrean life!” With that foundation as basis, the government is doing well by building schools in every part of Eritrea. Every day there are reports of construction of new schools. On September 14, a day before the release of the report, EriTV showed Haben Construction building five schools in the villages of Deki-Seb, Geshnashim, Embaderho, Adi-Segdo and Adi-Guadad. However, what caught my attention was the reasoning behind the constructions. The Eritrean Government is building the schools in the middle of these villages because some families kept their children home (particularly the girls) using distance as an excuse.
What Eritrea is achieving in education is simply mind boggling by African or any standard. The creative approach of educating youth is producing tremendous graduation rates. Sawa high school alone produced over 400,000 graduates in less than sixteen years. Moreover, the citizens’ attitude towards education in Eritrea is unparalleled. On 14th of September, 1044 students of the Warsay-Yikaalo School received Zagre Award for excelling in school by getting ”4 out of 4 points! What were remarkable were the Academic-Awards ceremonies that resembled a production of the Academy-Awards in a majestic setting. The students were the stars and the families and friends were the guests. The Moslem and Christian religious leaders blessed the occasion. President Isaias Afwerki was the guest of honor and ministers from the various ministries attended and the Minister of Education, Mr. Semere Ruusom, hosted the event. The actors and MC’s were kids between the ages of 7 to 15. They were eloquent, funny and brilliant as they delivered penetrating punch lines. One of them joked, “I was wondering why the government is giving-away laptops until I figured it out that the government is giving them away expecting the students to learn to manufacture the computers in Eritrea so they don’t have to pay for it any more.” After giving a brief speech that highlighted Eritrea’s educational needs and the efforts made to meet the need, President Isaias personally handed the Zagre Awards and the prices to all the awardees. Nearly 50% of the students received laptops as prices. After the ceremonies, President Isaias and the awardees happily posed for photos.
Do the stories above portray a nation under siege? Hardly. However, on September 15, 2010 the International Crisis Group (ICG) released a report calling it, “The Siege State”. The bigoted racist report is full of distortions, lies and misleading account of what Eritrea is and is not. The reports key objectives: demonize by painting the people, history and government of Eritrea in the darkest light. The example quoted below highlights the bigotry and racism loudly. Quote: “In the early- and mid-1930s, tens of thousands of Italian soldiers arrived in the build-up to Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia. This period also witnessed significant urban development and the imposition of race laws regulating “native” society. Those laws notwithstanding, many Eritreans served in the Italian forces that invaded Ethiopia in October 1935.” And notes further,” Urbanization and military service contributed to the development of an Eritrean national identity.” The most insidious quote,” Italy’s occupation of Ethiopia was brief and troubled, and Eritrea’s days as an Italian colony were numbered.”
The Italian colonization and slavery of the Eritrean people lasted generations. The report called that, “numbered!” Does that mean that Eritrea’s colonization or slavery by the Fascists was not long enough for ICG to call it numbered? Was it a blur of history without consequences? Why add insult to injury to Eritreans? Furthermore, the paper continues with their misrepresentation by making a simplistic statement, “Urbanization and military service (in the Italian forces) contributed to the development of an Eritrean national identity.” This is a total lie. Eritrean national identity is not a result of Fascist colonization. It has basis and a foundation on long history. This goes to show how little organizations like the International Crisis Group think of the people of Africa and in this case, Eritreans. They blatantly produced a report that brings to question the integrity of the donors and supporters of ICG by demeaning the history of Africans.
Eritrea was a state besieged by the West and international actors’ concoction of conspiracies in order to accomplish their geopolitical and hegemonic agendas until its independence in 1991. The British, (home of the Chatham House and contributor to the report), during the British Military Administration (BMA) pillaged and looted the infrastructures built during the Italian colonial period. The report also confirmed that the US was complicit in handing Eritrea over to Ethiopia in order to gain a military base and noted, the misguided principle of support for Ethiopia continued with the border issue.
After independence, Eritrea has broken through the barriers they placed against her and opened the gates of life for her people. After decades of destruction, drought and mayhem Eritreans are rebuilding their roads, schools, hospitals and other infrastructures the backbone to any development. The dams that Eritrea built over the last 19 years are changing the landscapes of Eritrea making Eritrea look like a tropical heaven all around. As a result, Eritrean farmers are farming year around stabilizing the markets and increasing their production to the point of exporting their products. The government is encouraging the farmers in many ways and at all levels to ensure food security and sustained development. They give them micro loans; provide technical, logistical and medical assistance. They train, educate and organize them in order to help them bolster their capacity and productivity. In Aligidir, the government made residents of the area partners of the farm and turned a formerly abandoned farmland into an epicenter of growth. That in turn changed the way of life and confidence of the residents by ripping the benefits by the salaries they earn and low prices they pay for the product they purchase. President Isaias have made it a personal mission to visit these areas regularly. And that is only the beginning.
The report’s aim is to paint president Isaias in a dark light, to discredit PFDJ, to portray Eritrea as a failed nation as result of power hungry omnipotent leader and a public that is increasingly dissatisfied with his leadership. It tells a story of a population that overwhelmingly voted (99.8%) in support of independence has once more become a militarized nation to the publics dismay. It tells a history of a nation with no previous strong economic background or economic future. It tells the world that Eritrea’s only hope is mining etc…etc…And the Self Reliance preached in Eritrea has failed.
However, while reading the report, I felt that I was reading one of the anti-Eritrean websites. The verbiage, the language the presentation is eerily similar. One thing that hit me hard was the amount of assumptions and suggestive hyperbole the libelous ICG report throws as if based on facts. For example, the reports claimed, “The ministry (Ministry of Information) is the voice of the state, and its head, Ali Abdu, is sometimes seen as being groomed as a possible successor to Isaias.” Where is your evidence? What basis do you have to make that claim? However, when one looks deep at the motive of this claim, it is easy to see that it is an attempt to discredit the Ministry and the Minister by saying he has a personal stake in the government’s future. How convenient! The report also claimed that the government shut-down Asmara University and decentralized higher education to clamp down on decent. Again, another lie not based on facts. Asmara University, in its heydays, was only able to accommodate not more than three thousand students. However, the Mai Nefhi Instititue of Technology is home to over five thousand students at one time studying various fields that will serve the nations needs. That multiplies all around the country in Halhale Business College; Hamelmalo Agriculture College and so on giving various regions different fields of education thus opportunities for growth. The sad part is, these story lines have no basis in fact, and are based on arguments the anti Eritrean camp spews. The racist ICG report is attacking Eritrea using the same attack lines groups who are disgruntled and have no role in the life of the Eritrean people. In fact, the ICG report made it clear that these groups have no acceptance in Eritrea due to their frequent gatherings in Ethiopia and association with the TPLF.
The report also seriously misrepresented the role of Diaspora Eritreans as if they have disowned President Isaias and the nation. Unfortunately, that is what they believed when they pushed the sanction measure against Eritrea. However, to the dismay of the architects of the sanction, Eritreans came out from everywhere to protest by the thousands in the US, Europe and around the world and stood firm in support of their people and government. The report lied by omission when it ignored the tens of thousands of Eritreans that went to Eritrea this summer to join in the Warsay-Yikaalo graduation in Sawa boosting the morale and the economy of the nation. It also ignored to mention the thousands of youth that flocked to Eritrea. These children are born to Eritrean parents that emigrated in 70s and 80s to US and other Western countries. The report claims that these parents disengaged from Eritrea without giving any number to back it up. In reality however, these parents have brought up a young generation that is obsessively nationalistic and enamored with Eritrea more than the countries of their birth and residence. They are organized and organizing by the thousands contributing to the countries development in many ways including by establishing solid relations with Ethiopians, Somalis and others from the region. This is unprecedented in Africa but the concocted field-studies-report failed to mention that Diaspora Eritrea is in lockstep with their government.
The report misrepresents Eritrean relations with all the nations in the region as well as Eritrean foreign policy as if it is operating in the stratosphere. It conveniently diminishes Eritrea’s geopolitical role and significance. It also ignored Eritrea’s role as a peacemaker in the region as a whole. The people in the Horn of Africa trust the people and government of Eritrea. Somalis from all walks have voluntarily gathered in a friendly nation, in Eritrea, and conferred without outside pressure and they could have reached a consensus if left alone. Furthermore, the ICG report completely ignores disastrous US roles in the region. It fails to talk about the Bush Administration and Dr. Janday Frazer’s role that has done much harm to Africans in the region and beyond by pursuing ill conceived policies. US policies and support of the genocidal regime of Meles Zenawi created mayhem when they invaded Somalia. The report talks about US, only in reference to the annexation of Eritrea and lack of US pressure on Ethiopia after it failed to comply with The Hague decision. ICG ignores how the US deliberately tried to frustrate and nullify the Hague agreement by placing many hurdles. It also ignores the incompetence of the world body, the UN, at the time led by the puppet of the West, Secretary General Kofi Anan.
Here are some questions. What is the reason behind the report and why now? How can the paper advocate engagement based on fabrications? Who are the sources, why did ICG select those sources who present views without in-sight into the inner working of the government and the military? And why did ICG present this report as if based on concrete facts when they new that it was not? Did the board of ICG pursue this type of report to pursue a certain agenda? Alternatively, are there groups with anti Eritrean agendas that are trying to convince the board erroneously? Furthermore, how can a policy that affects millions be effective when based on a report that portrays a picture of a nation, people and their history wrongly and on fabrications?
Here are some facts the supporters and contributors of ICG need to know clearly. Eritrea is a nation with many challenges. Eritrea was a country left for dead and her children resuscitated her. The history of Eritrea is the history of ELF, EPLF and all those who contributed to the independence of Eritrea. The ICG cannot diminish that history of valiant Eritreans. There is a saying in Eritrea that goes, “no matter how sweet lies-are, at the end the ugly truth is what prevails.” The fact is the whole report is a big lie. His Excellency President Isaias is beloved by his people including by those in the Diaspora and he enjoys full support. The ICG would have served the American people and their supporters well by doing a little homework and study the Eritrean people. Eritrean survival and victories base their foundation and principles on selflessness and sacrifices. Eritrea knows that unity is the only way to survive and live therefore there is no nation that could even come close to Eritrean unity. Eritrean unity is the envy of Eritrea’s neighbors. Eritreans are determined and hard working. Eritrea is a country that knows what she wants and knows how to pursue it successfully. Eritreans are independent people undeterred by any distraction or setback. Most importantly all Eritreans know their roles in the country and abroad and play it effectively to the amazement of friends and scorn of the enemies. Therefore, where Eritrea stands today in economy, education, healthcare, military, diplomatic standing and all other endeavors is a mark of success and in no way a measure of failure. Eritrean landscape have changed, millions of Eritreans are being educated faster while being trained to word-off enemies in ways unseen any where.
Concluding Remarks
More than any thing, the timing of the report is tell-tell sign why ICG conjured up the report. The whole region is at a pivotal stage. It is a defining moment for Sudan and it can influence the region in many ways. The geopolitical and strategic implications are crucial to big players. It is by far the most defining moment in the history of the region.
Therefore, the main goal of the report is an attempt to undercut Eritrea’s role by undermining the credibility of the nation and the government. However, it crossed a line when it undermined the history and the people of Eritrea unnecessarily. As an African, it is downright disheartening to see the West literally joke with the lives and livelihood of Africans and it is about time for Africans to stand up and call on the supporters of ICG and groups like that to stop their support.
Eritrea is amongst the safest and most stable countries in the world. Eritrea is a nation of destiny and a nation with great potential that is certain to exploit the riches of her resources in mining, tourism, fisheries and other assets. Eritrea is also home to the most humble, hard working, patient, dedicated, simple, fun, brave and smart people. Eritreans are disciplined, civilized and know their direction. Yet, there are some, regularly attempting to paint Eritreans in a dark light. However, as the saying goes in Eritrea, the camel will march while the dog barks.
Awetnayu@hotmail.com
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