Thoughts from the Horn

The second half of this year, I am back developing Web based applications for a number of organizations. I will come back and offer a few updates every now and then.

I tune in to AJStream of Aljazeera as often as I can.

I am also frequenting at Habesha Hub nowadays listening to some old and new Eritrean and Ethiopian songs and some more Eritrean music here. And also sometimes listening to mezmur at mezzmur.com

Most of the wikileaks cable releases on Eritrea this week are based on rumors picked up from the streets of Asmara or the opposition websites – which I have heard, read and talked about in the past. Some have been to be just rumurs and very few seemed to have had any sort of value. Despite all that,  the releases very well display the roles of US Ambassadors to foreign countries; how foreign delegates from different countries confide in each other; how their public speeches and interviews could very well defer from what is actually being transmitted to the US govt.

If it wasn’t for wikileaks, I would have never learned the Chinese and US ambassadors sitting on a table mocking mao and the Eritrean president; the embassy officials spending time looking for the Eritrean president’s father’s grave; or noting how the president was once called “Little Beer Pot” as a kid.

From the several dozens of the cable releases on Eritrea I have read so far, here are a few things that somehow seemed strange or are worth noting:

… Ambassador McMullen thinks President Isaias (PIA) bases his policies on the discarded 30% of mao’s ideologies

“While Chinese today allow that Mao “was 70 percent correct,” Isaias seems to have adopted many of his policies from the other 30 percent.” Link

… A Chinese Amb providing “a detailed read-out” to an American Amb
“Chinese Ambassador Li Liansheng later provided a detailed read-out to
the ambassador. President Isaias mentioned ten times during the course of the evening his “42-year long relationship with China,” dating from his 1967 training as a political commissar during Mao’s Cultural Revolution.” Link

A Chinese Ambassador mocking a president on his relationship with China with his American counterpart – who could have seen that happening?

… an American mining company taking a legitimate question as an opposition to their existence

“I don’t see how Eritreans will benefit from these mines. Where are the benefits?” Link

… why Russian companies are not in Eritrea
“There are no Russian companies operating in Eritrea. The Russian Embassy states the unattractive business climate, which includes the inability to exchange local currency into hard currency, is the main reason for not doing business in Eritrea.” Link

… an Eritrean official thinks being jailed in “a container is a luxury”

“He took issue with the Ambassador’s contention that being imprisoned in a metal shipping container is a human rights violation, saying in a country like Eritrea where people live in mud huts, a container is a luxury.” Link

.. Eritrean politicians trying to prove “no one cares about Eritrea”

“The GSE appears to be interpreting a reduction of UNMEE to 1500 as an indicator of lack of support or interest in demarcation; a further affront to Eritrea and evidence of how the no one cares about Eritrea.” Link

That is generally true. It is also repeated in one or another form in the Eritrean media, trying to convince the people we are on our own. That stems from psychological issues with the officials – it has been in a way a self-fulfilling prophecy.

… an ambassador building a stereotype

“On May 22, in separate meetings with Poloff, two GSE officials, MFA Director General for UN Affairs Ghirmai Ghebremariam and Colonel Zacarias Ogbagaber, Commissioner for the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea expressed indirectly (and in typical Eritrean style) the GSE’s unwillingness to accept transformation of UNMEE to an observer mission.”

… GSE is creative in finding ways to “generate hard currency”

“The GSE will continue to find creative ways to generate hard currency as it does now.” Link

That they will.

… please, thank you, and I’m sorry

“Wags in Asmara claim there are three things you’ll never hear an Eritrean government official say: please, thank you, and I’m sorry. The regime’s behavior after the MOI’s attempt to torpedo the ambassador’s presentation was a rare expression of civility. Perhaps the exception that proves the rule? In any event, we’re glad to be able to resume our popular and effective PD outreach activities.” Link

Generally, in Eritrean culture those things are expressed through body languages and subtle messages, and rarely out loud – especially with former independence fighters. That is not to say the officials could come across as being arrogant too … in their defense, when you spend decades in the trenches in the deserts, “please, and thank you” seem to matter less and less. The new generation does very well embrace the voiced thank yous. Thank you for noticing that though, Mr McMullen. I hope this didn’t emerge from your experience in the continuous excessive respect for Americans in certain part of Africa – which with time I hope will tone down to that of a normal level.

… reuters correspondent thinking he is Mr Token

“[Reuters correspondent Jeremy Clarke] confided that he feels he is a token that the Isaias regime will trot out to prove a “free press” exists in Eritrea.” Link

… USG lacking support
“Previous USG attempts to do so flopped. One skeptical Western ambassador in Eritrea this week commented, “Are your claims of Eritrean support for al-Shabaab like those of Saddam’s WMD program?” Perhaps recent statements by Somali factional leaders themselves, especially those who have or still do receive Eritrean support, could be the foundation of a persuasive case.“ Link

… if you ever wondered how the US views Isaias [Little Beer Pot]
“Would you like me to hold a trial and then hang them?” Link

… EDA building opposition from Ethiopia

“The EDA is organizing a National Congress in June or July of 2010 and Yusuf said the ENSF plans to participate. The National Congress will bring together other Eritrean political parties, civic organizations, and academics from the Diaspora. The National Congress will serve as a forum for dialogue at which the EDA will benefit from a broader national consensus of all stakeholders. Yusuf told Poloffs that Ethiopia is ready to host the National Congress.” Link

Seriously! Most Eritreans, though still have not found peace at home, they are not ready to embrace Ethiopia as a change agent to their problems. Your movement being located in Ethiopia seeking for peaceful negotations with the Eritrean leaders, it is a lost issue from the start. Trying to reach the diaspora from Ethiopia, are you kidding? Don’t you know the people are much less comfortable with Ethiopian or Ethiopia based group involvement in Eritrea to bring about change.

… Meles thinks Isaias is “jumping up and down on his bed”

Meles again…we should just ignore him [Isaias] as he was “jumping up and down on his bed to gain attention and to get us to act.”

… UNMEE can or can’t enforce the agreement – which one is it?

“Although UNMEE has the responsibility and right to enforce the border agreement,one state can renounce a bilateral agreement if they wished”

I don’t even know what that means …they have the right to enforce it, but the right can be taken away by the entity it is enforced upon??

… “agree in principle” – a gift from the international community

The 3 words that stalled the border demarcation… “Meles replied that the int community had urged him to use the words “agree in principle”

… forget the pizza boy, enjoy the pizza

Something worth noting is the fact many tried to undermine the effects of the Wikileaks releases by focusing on the personal drama of the founder. As someone once put it, “I don’t care about the pizza delivery person, as far as the pizza tastes good”.

Wikileaks may have caused revolutions across a few countries, but to me the main lessons have been on the role of the US embassies across the world in defining the US governments image on the specific country. I have read several cables made public by Wikileaks. Most confirm the thoughts and fears many have had, and suspected for a long time. The releases on Eritrea have been in line with the common theme of issues everywhere else in the world. The ones which stood out for me were:

The Chinese Ambassador’s view on Isaias

Chinese ambassador, "he learned all the wrong things." Isaias
was turned off by the cult of personality surrounding Mao,
but apparently internalized Maoist ideology.

Does this mean the Chinese ambassador doesn’t embrace Maoist ideology? Or he thinks Isaias has internalized the ideology? What are all the wrong things he learned? Since when do the US and China have common understanding on which ideology is wrong and which one is right? Could it even possibly mean the US ambassador has embraced Maoist ideology?

On What Isaias’s mother did for living
In an attempt to degrade the president’s childhood, the ambassador talks on how he was called names due to his mom’s source of income. On his mother’s job, the ambassador states:

Isaias' mother made and sold a traditional beer called sewa.

Trial, and then hang them?

When a visiting U.S. movie star in
early 2008 raised the plight of two Embassy Asmara FSNs who
have been imprisoned without charge since 2001, Isaias glared
stonily at her and replied, "Would you like me to hold a
trial and then hang them?"

On the quest to find the President’s father’s grave
I spent a week in the President’s village about 10 years ago, and I know that the cemetery is far outside the village — it is way out of the main roads. It is safe to say the embassy officials spent about 2 to 3 hours looking for the grave for them to go to the cemetery and go  from a tombstone to another to declare the grave they are in searching of doesn’t exist. What a great waste of time? Plus how is it not favouring your own village more than the others not a good thing?

Afwerki is said to be buried in the village cemetery,
but emboffs could not locate his grave.

http://wikileaks.org/cable/2008/11/08ASMARA543.html

The US Ambassadors interest in comparing the Opposition Party’s media in Eritrea:

Opposition website assenna.com recently launched Radio Asena,
airing hour-long broadcasts on Mondays and Wednesdays in
Tigrinya and on Fridays in Arabic. ("Asena" means "good" in
the congratulatory sense).  The station, found on 9610kHz,
reports on a variety of topics including mass arrests and
detentions, military defections, destructive government
policies, and military corruption.
http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/04/09ASMARA105.html

Unless the ambassador is the president’s biographer, I would have imagined him spending more time in assessing more useful things — or even perhaps, just perhaps find one tiny good thing to say about the country and the president in all the hundreds of cables sent out from Asmara. Mr Ambassador, your job should have been bigger and more noble than reporting petty rumours or spending an afternoon at a cemetery examining tombstones.

I don’t by any means want to belittle the efforts of the Eritreans in diaspora for their relentless messages of support or that of opposition voices over the years. I have read several articles that changed my views on different issues. Nevertheless, I still want to maintain a liberal position – for association implies accepting the rogue ideas and intentions that comes along with either of the camps packages.

I believe any government should be held accountable for how it treats its own citizens. It is not that of a secret any more, why I and many others left the country in search of a place where we can “labour in freedom”.

I also believe the current opposition groups and websites are not as successful as they should have been on bringing up the people in diaspora together. Imagine, if one finds it difficult to bring the free portion of the population together, then I find it difficult to think there will be any unity among different interest groups, should the current government ceases to operate overnight. Overnight, there will be a number of groups associated with foreign entities that could lead the country ending up a rogue state like Somalia. There is a great deal of common social values between Somalis and Eritreans (except both being former Italian colonies)  and the ethnic divisions that might flare up due to small incidents. I hate to point out for this and other reasons, I tend to support “the devil I know”.

Focus on Unity

I don’t mean unity in hating the existing leadership – but rather open platforms to discuss issues that matter to the people.  If we think any of the existing platforms are achieving the transparency and level of openness we require, we are more likely day-dreaming. Supporters of the government should be open for discussions with that of the opposition, and vice-versa.

Acknowledge the Positive Achievements of the Current Government

One thing that concerns me a lot (briefly mentioned above) is that if we somehow find ourselves in a time that the power is transferred to the people (which also means to another small group), what exactly are the immediate positions and policies of the new government on issues like: Border demarcation, national service, and the handling of part of the population still loyal to the government.

I believe it clears way to a brighter future, if the positive achievements of the current government are acknowledged. The progress of the country on access to education and health is an admirable achievement, for instance. The progress of the country on pushing for self-reliance and getting rid of foreign dependency is something to be admired too.

Dialogue among the people is the best way to find a unified position on dealing with the government. If you believe we are unified, please look at the any of the last protest photos with more protest banners than the attendees – leaving one to wonder why there is so little turnout.

Like many of you, I have read about and looked at the heart-wrenching all-too-familiar starving children and mothers photo from East Africa. And there are images of the animal skeletons, graves, and over-crowded refugee camps. The victims are the innocent part of the population, who has always struggled to make ends meet on daily basis .. struggle against the armed movements, politicians and of course, mother-nature.

This year, mother nature was the last-straw that broke the camel’s back. Even then warnings, some talked about nearly 8 months ago, were never taken seriously by the governments, and fund-raising by organizations didn’t get momentum till the first photos of dying children comes in.

But the blame lies somewhere else:

1. We spend far too much time fighting against each other

Why does it feel wrong to say this?

We do, don’t we? Look at the past few years: Ethiopia against Eritrea, Eritrea against Dijbouti, Ethiopia against Somalia, Ethiopia against the Oromo insurgents, Eritrea attempting to bomb Ethiopia and of course the well know civil war in Somalia and the proxy wars in the country.

We spend years fighting, preparing to fight or just beating war-drums in the media. There is a rat-race to power — and even if we know our people will be starving a month later, we still buy military tanks.

All the time spent in petty quarrels may have been used to improving infrastructure or just storing food for rainy-days like the one we are in.

2. The least represented in the government are the ones starving

The starving people are generally the ones ignored by their governments or least represented. Take Ethiopia for example, as far as the current government is in power, the northern citizens are the least likely to fall into the traps of famine.

3. Aid-Mentality, we know someone will always come to the rescue

The rest of the world is a sort of safety net — and we care very little about depending and managing our own resources to fight our problems. The world maybe late in responding but it never fails to help starving people. We somehow know that and we have cultivated our current mentality accordingly.

Mother-nature might just be saying out loud, “Weren’t I too generous last year?”

It is not that difficult to see there are 3 groups in the Eritrean diaspora – which at some level has common ground, but seem to be comfortable at their own polarized or just “confused” opinions. Most fall in one of the following three categories:

The Overly Patriotic Group

Those are the flag-waving; and love to vacation in Eritrea during the summer time. They never have been to the military training camps; and if they did, it is as part of tours organized to the camps by the government. They have never been to the trenches. They have never crossed its borders on foot; and they have certainly not crossed the Sahara deserts or the Mediteranean Sea –running away from the oppressive policies of the people in power. They have spent their life insulated from the damaging policies of the government.  They have romanticized views of the Warsay-Ykealo programs. They are on the for front of PFDJ fundraising events, and are usually seen dancing and swinging to the same Eritrean songs on Eri-TV. They believe Isaias is the greatest thing that happened to Africa. They find themselves signing petitions to repel any sanctions that came along.

The Rage Group aka Opposition Group

They continuously refer to themselves as the opposition; not a political group or party which stands for something – (I honestly find irritating). They don’t seem to know what they stand for — except relaying whatever foreign media negative reports on the country. They can’t isolate the country from the leadership, and they don’t seem to care about the effects of their actions on the long term dignity of the country. They are very comfortable spreading rumours — founded or unfounded, as far as it shades negative light on the country or on the Eritrean governance. They are not willing to rejoice the positive progresses (however few they are) of the country. And of course, everybody they know is neatly categorized under two categories — a friend or an enemy. They don’t seem to exercise thier skills of debating — more of emotions and name calling as opposed to — facts, evidences and even just strong opinions. They support any sanctions that came along on Eritrea.

Liberal aka “The Confused”

The vast majority of the people, I believe, now fall on this category. They watch from the sidelines — hoping that somehow the issue would resolve by itself. The rare chance they speak, by appearing fair, they find themselves shut out by the pro-govt or opposition at one point or another. They visit opposition websites and pro-govt websites to get a fair opinion for the day. They wouldn’t raise the flag for the govt nor do they raise banners for the opposition. (Mind you, despite the hundreds of thousands of people in the diaspora — the pro-govt or opposition rallies are attended by the same few familiar faces). They pay their 2% tax to the gov — to still keep their chances of return to the country open or help feed their people. Either they claim to be not interested in politics or just claim to have left the issue on God’s hand. They don’t seem to intend to read the details of the sanctions imposed on the country or work on repelling it with the overly patriotic group.

So, what kind of Eritrean are you?

I lived in Eritrea for several years – I went to government organized mandatory summer camps, and military training camps; worked at its government offices both military and civil. And of course like many other Eritreans, I have seen the inside of its prisons for reasons I remember little. This is in no way a unique personal story, most people I know have gone through similar experiences. It is just generally considered the norm.

I don´t want a sore experience to cloud my judgment on an ongoing issues. I can´t possibly, as a sign of rage or revenge, participate in the elimination of the current government for several reasons – reasons I will try to address on a different blogpost. On this one, I am focusing on the ongoing issues between the UN as an institution and the current once-overly-loved Eritrean dictatorship.

The United Nations

The UN, in its entire existance since 1942 has always been at odds with the country, and its people. It was rarely heard boldly talking positive things about Eritrea except on issues to do with imposing more ban especially in the last decade. The UN voted to federate the country to Ethiopia in 1952 – which lead to one of the longest wars in history lasting for 30 years. The loss of lives, displaced large part of the population, dragged its  economy, and the rest of the people spent decades suffering under the hands of foreign dictators. The UN along with the two superpowers (US and the then USSR) both at one time or another sided with the then in power dicatators HaileSlassie and Mengistu Hailemariam — overly stretching the struggle for independence to decades. Perhaps, considering this, it is not difficult to understand why the Eritrean leaders are not hugging and kissing the UN that often.

The PFDJ

And meet Mr. Afeworki — the only president Eritrea has known, and by some described as a “friendly” dicatator. In person, he is overly-charming, presents himself as a well-read, and greatly insecure individual. On the other hand, he doesn´t believe in freedom of speech, movement and imprisons citizens for the slightest provocations. (Reminds me an Eritrean I met in the port city of Port Sudan, who was jailed for months for failing to explain how he was able to buy an expensive shoe, and spent 2 weeks in jail for lack of explaining his source of income.) Well, the list is endless. The president´s diplomacy skills and respect to the people of Eritrea, foreign organizations, and journalists has touched its lowest point. Even during some of his interviews, it leaves one to wonder who is in charge of asking the questions — famously responding with rhethorical questions that leaves even the camera man uncomfortable. (Will update with link)

The love story

Recently, the UN is unable and unwilling to enforce the border court ruling – which Ethiopia and Eritrea already accepted — and delayed by Ethiopia´s “Let´s talk first” pre-requisites. I can´t even imagine the need for further talks about the borders and given the atmosphere, the implementation without dialogue would have made the whole conflict a distant history. Instead, it´s still talked about and the border demarcation remains unsolved.

The UN, in my opinion, are happy treating symptoms and not the root causes of problems. Perhaps the need to stand politically correct and appear objective – it continuously deals with minor symptoms which in turn leaves the root problem untreated. In the case of Eritrea, the government of Eritrea, is perhaps using the un-enforced border ruling as an excuse to further dissastablize the region to call upon further attention to the on-going the border issues mentioned. There were several analysis on speculated and talked on a number of occasions in the past.

Here is a thought: the UN should work on solving and resting the border demarcation — that could eventually lead to the straightening of the leadership in Asmara; begin the process of healing the wounds between the two people that would inturn lead to more economic and political cooperation; and Ethiopians would increase thier chances of using Asab as a primary port, tourism cooperations … and so on. Perhaps, some of the few things that puzzled me before the conflict would be back on the picture, and would perhaps do good for light discussions. For example, Eritrea could also be back on the top 20 coffee exporters list in the world (Ironically, though Eritrea has little to none producer of coffee, the country was a significant coffee re-exporter of coffee imported from Ethiopia.)

Of course, the benefits listed above don´t even address the over all advantages the two countries could gain by creating an atmosphere of peace. The border issue solved, the majority of Eritreans, even to the extent of Tahrir-square(freedom square) protests, would force the government to shape up.  Incidentally, we have a freedom street in Asmara too … and wouldn´t be suprised if that street or would be on the headlines of the media around the world. Given the policies and acts of the government have had the threats from Ethiopia at the center piece, I would expect changes in the government policies and approaches with the people to happen within 6 to 12 months upon the elimination of war threats from Ethiopia and demarcation of the borders on the ground.

Let me reiterate my point. With the new UN allegations (or here), the UN is more likely to impose more sanctions on the country, its government and its people eventually. The most effective approach would be to enforce the border ruling between the two countries according to the Algeries agreement of 2002. Let the freedom thirsty Eritreans – now that the issue is an internal problem – would handle the situation in a way the people have handled the foreign agressors in the past.

The Eritrean airlines is relaunching its services with newly added destinations including Lahore. You may or may not have differences with the current leadership, but you should definitely rejoice the re-launch of the Eritrean Airlines. I have read several articles by Eritrean opposition websites, disregarding the value of the Eritrean airlines it adds to the country and its economy, the writers were engaged in celebrating the fact that the Eritrean government was blocked from leasing airplanes from US companies.

This is a good news, at least for a change, and I would encourage people to see the positive side of the news.  In my book “Lonely Without Me” I talk about the sadness I felt when I found two of my favourite airlines SilverJet and Eritrean Airlines went under in 2007. Congratulations Eritrean Airlines, it is nice to see you on the runaways of cities around the world.

The following list is the list of books I have read over the years, and would recommend to anyone interested in Eritrean history and culture.  If you have read any other book on Eritrea, and you think it belongs to this list, please leave a comment, and will consider including it.

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	Good Morning, Eritrea by Amanuel Sahle I have read several dozen of Amanuel Sahle´s articles on Eritrea Profile, so this book holds not only a collection of my favourites, but also random memories from the past … Good morning to you too, Amanuel. Good Morning, Eritrea is a compilation of 54 articles by Amanuel Sahle, selected by him from what he wrote for Eritrea Profile between 1996 and 2001. In his own words, these relate to “Eritreans in general – their customs and traditions, eating and drinking habits, legends and myths, songs, rural and urban Eritrea, writing, Asmara past and present, animals big and small, and cultural encounters.”
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	Against All Odds by Dan Connell Against All Odds is the firsthand account of Eritrea’s epic 30-year struggle for political independence and social justice. With almost no outside support, Eritrean nationalists brought successive U.S.- and Soviet-backed Ethiopian governments to their knees. At the same time, they worked to liberate women, workers and peasant farmers from centuries of grinding poverty, chronic hunger and numbing oppression. Connell argues that it was the blending of social revolution with political objectives that enabled this uniquely self-reliant liberation front to weld Eritrea’s fractious society– half Christian, half Muslim, from nine ethnic groups– into one of the most remarkable fighting forces in modern history.
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	I Didn´t Do It For You by Michela Wrong A veteran Africa correspondent for the Financial Times, Wrong writes in a pointedly digressive style full of narrative side roads that accommodate a daunting level of geographical and historical detail. Historical highlights include a colorful profile of the late 19th-century writer and Italian parliamentarian Ferdinando Marini that draws on his extensive memoirs about his tenure as the first civil governor of the region as an Italian colony. The early 1960s conflict, occupation and independence of this small neighbor to Ethiopia also make for a terrible, gripping story, including border disputes and bloody war with Ethiopia.
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	The Crown and The Pen by Bereket HaileSelassie This memoir recounts the extraordinary story of a man straddling two worlds—a progressive lawyer and high-ranking official of the government of Emperor Haile Selassie who struggled for justice within an archaic system.It is also the story of a man who has been touched by and in turn made his share of influence in some of the major events and developments of Ethiopia, Eritrea and the rest of Africa as well.
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	Two Weeks In The Trenches by Alemseghed Tesfay A quarter of a century ago, Alemseged abandoned a promising academic career to join the fledgling Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front to fight for Eritrea’s freedom. This book, a translation of an earlier account in Tigrinya of the Battle of Afabet, the most important battle in the Eritrean fight against its Ethiopian occupation, shares with readers a searing eyewitness account of bravery and valour in the face of death.
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	My Fathers´Daughter by Hannah Pool Hannah Pool was adopted from an orphanage in Eritrea in 1974 and came to England, via Sudan and Norway, with her white adoptive father six years later. Then a brother she never suspected she had wrote to her from Eritrea. But Hannah hid the letter away, and it is only now ten years after receiving it that she has decided to track down her surviving Eritrean family. Hannah Pool’s search for her birth family is a journey which takes her far beyond her comfort zone and face to face with the harsh realities of a life that could so easily have been her own. Frank, intimate, funny and sometimes all too real, MY FATHERS’ DAUGHTER is the story of one life, two families and two very different cultures.
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	Eritrea: Even The Stones Are Burning by Roy Pateman  Roy Pateman traces the Eritreans’ response to Ethiopian occupation of their land and the origins of the war. He provides a survey of Eritrean history, with a special inside look at the military and other developments in the last two decades. Pateman examines the impact of U.S. foreign policy on the region and the people, the political ideologies of the independence movement, the tragic famine which took lens of thousands of lives, and the vision of the liberation fighters for a post-independence society. The book has been updated to provide readers with an insight into developments of the post-independence period.
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	Never Kneel Down by James Firebrace with Stuart Holland MP A fact finding mission to Eritrea in 1984, the 24th year of the war.