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Eritrean Field Notes: A lonely nation under a glass
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Eritrean Field Notes: A lonely nation under a glass
Eritrean Field Notes: A lonely nation under a glass
By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 13, 2009 7:01 PM
I set off for Asmara having read about Eritrea's extraordinary liberation struggle against Ethiopia, about its fierce sense of independence and its experiment in self-reliance.
I also knew that many people now consider Eritrea to be one of the most repressive nations on Earth. I had read about its desert prisons full of journalists, believers in banned religions, army deserters. One U.S. official outside the country -- citing allegations that Eritrea is sponsoring al-Qaeda-linked rebels in Somalia -- described Eritrea to me as "an aspiring rogue state."
And yet the feeling upon arriving in Asmara was anything but rogue.
At first, it just felt lonely, almost abandoned. In contrast to chaotic, crowded African airports I've been through, Asmara's was almost empty. My 115-passenger jet had had 14 passengers. It was one of only two jets on the long runway. At the clean-swept, gray-marbled arrival hall, which was the size of a convenience store, the loudest noise, literally, were crickets.
Though there were no lines, a friendly government minder ushered me VIP-style through the gauntlet of passport-checking and declaring of currency, and soon we walked out into the mostly vacant parking lot and the crisp, orangey light of a late Saturday afternoon.
It took about 10 minutes to reach Asmara. And that is the first thing you notice about this pretty, palm-lined capital: how small it is, how petite, really. It feels as if it was placed, intact, on its high plateau.
For the week I was there, the weather was conventionally perfect, each day bright and warm, each evening refreshing and cool. Asmara is a famously crime-free city of art deco buildings built by Italian colonizers, who once envisioned it as the jewel of their never-realized African empire. It was built, in a way, to manifest that dream, and for that reason and others, the city feels like a movie set. Its ice-cream colored palette, its fantastic buildings and many cafes, its bicycles, its older men dressed in sharp hats and old suits, convey the feel of a benign netherworld operating at the behest of some unseen director.
Soon, though, a slightly less benign feeling settled in. I was told to expect that my phone calls would be monitored, that anyone I spoke to, especially Eritreans, did so at great personal risk, and, at lunch at an outdoor café one day, that the man sitting rather conspicuously alone at the next table was probably a spy. He was a nice-seeming spy, a kind of comic book version -- an older man in a suit, taking notes in a little black book. My lunch companion sent him a beer, and the man waved, smiled and nodded a thank you.
Walking around, I began to notice how empty many of the shops were of products and customers. Eritrea's economy operates almost completely at the behest of the government, and the mood of hustle in many African cities is oddly absent here. People essentially sell what they are told, work when they are told, and even eat what they are told, as most Eritreans subsist on an array of government-subsidized rations.
Though one U.S. dollar was officially trading at 15 nakfa, the local currency, I was told that the black market rate was around 41. (The price for using the black market, however, is detention.)
Foreigners and Eritreans alike began to tell me, always anonymously, how they saw Asmara. "My own personal 'Truman Show,' " was one description. "Animal Farm," came another. One young Eritrean explained the country's system of indefinite national service as a kind of never-ending forced labor camp. Another, explaining how complete social control is here, told me: "Resistance is futile -- the only escape is to flee!"
The fact that Eritrea produces more asylum seekers than all but one other country on the planet became more striking with each gently passing afternoon.
Many Eritreans told me they had brothers, husbands, uncles and others who had disappeared over the years, presumably into desert prisons. Sometimes, just as mysteriously, they would reappear, often with scars. One person told me a friend reappeared with brain damage.
I asked whether ordinary Eritreans discussed this situation in their homes, and several people told me no. The repression is so common, one young man explained, that it has become a kind of quiet understanding, something so commonplace that it is no longer remarkable. The other explanation was that no one trusts each other, that even family members have been known to turn one another in.
By the second or third day of the trip, Asmara began to feel like a kind of snow globe, a city hermetically sealed under a glass dome, an alternate, un-globalized universe where virtually nothing comes or goes.
One day, a man walking down the street began screaming into the quiet afternoon. His words, a few explicatives inappropriate for a family newspaper, bounced around the pale pink and yellow buildings. Then he stopped, and kept walking.
It was incongruous with this lovely and subdued capital, and yet, somehow, understandable.
-----------
Ed's Note: FYI. The current edition of Airports of The World magazine has an article about Asmara's airport. You can find the magazine at your local bookstore or newsstand worldwde. Article is not available online for non-subscribers.
50 comments
Comment from: efrem [Visitor] 
pls US or european community generally world ppl help us .we eritreans are suffering evevthough we left our country .here and there all the same but better than the government of eritrea.
why the world only talk they dont help us ,i read news paper for 10 years they write about eritrea but no action ppl r suffering .pls take action help the ppl if not my family will follow me to the desert and the world will c new thing old age in the desert.that is it.
why the world only talk they dont help us ,i read news paper for 10 years they write about eritrea but no action ppl r suffering .pls take action help the ppl if not my family will follow me to the desert and the world will c new thing old age in the desert.that is it.
12/16/09 @ 02:52
Comment from: Tamrat Tamrat [Visitor]
It is not a crime to plan for a great self sufficient well to do country. I thought it is every government's plan or dream to be self sufficient. The problem with tigrigna people is the way to acieve the plan. Instead of working they seat in power and let other sweat to death. They send their famillies to the weast but shoot when other ethnic groups to do so. Instead of saling what they produce or producing for sale they get profit giving shelter and training for all the oppostion groupes by money comes to distabilize the read see region from differnt nations to controll the strategic see rute. They new how profitable it is when they got innumerous some of financial aid and weapoen to wipe russia and derg from read see. Tplf's grip is strong because at home and abroad the majority so called poletician are from tigrigna people. but it wont be long.
12/16/09 @ 02:56
Comment from: c´moi senait [Visitor]
Pol pot Issayss is suffocating eritreans with his malaria infected brain .
12/16/09 @ 03:03
Comment from: Good luck [Visitor]
Errem, You Eritreans are simply harvesting what they sow. you should be happy my dear, just like in 1991 when you laughed on the face of Ethiopians. Good luck luck matey
.
.
12/16/09 @ 03:25
Comment from: haleluya [Visitor]
Asmara = Animal farm
Abeet ye Ethiopia amlaak, God punishing these traditional traitors, haleluyaaa,
Abeet ye Ethiopia amlaak, God punishing these traditional traitors, haleluyaaa,
12/16/09 @ 03:34
Comment from: haleluya [Visitor]
nazret, you should mark this article in red. these askari idiots deserve as much bashing as possible
.
.
12/16/09 @ 03:36
Comment from: 7/11 [Visitor]
nazret, thanks for the info about an article on Asmara airport, but for those of us who don't live in the US, I think the writer of this article has said it all. An airport the size of convenience shop.7/11 may be.
12/16/09 @ 03:55
Comment from: Gigi [Visitor]
it has been 18 years since Eritrea become an independent nation but still we are Obsessed with Eritrea.
This is Ethio Forum, I don't understand what the purpose is to post Eritrean issue here.
This is Ethio Forum, I don't understand what the purpose is to post Eritrean issue here.
12/16/09 @ 04:02
Comment from: Ato [Visitor]
".....People essentially sell what they are told, work when they are told, and even eat what they are told, as most Eritreans subsist on an array of government-subsidized rations.
..."
That is the result of our Ethiopian Tears....
We, Ethiopians, did nothing other than begging the Eritreans to stay together for good or bad......but look who is paying back.
..."
That is the result of our Ethiopian Tears....
We, Ethiopians, did nothing other than begging the Eritreans to stay together for good or bad......but look who is paying back.
12/16/09 @ 04:10
Comment from: Samson [Visitor]
Washington Post can write anything if they are funded from TPLF's. The point here Eritrea will never neal down !!will continue what's been established as a true one nation, Hade Hizbi Hade Liby!!!!And that is that, and you Stephanie McCrummen u must have not got the attention u expectd but we are managing our economy, if u did not enjoyed it then it's the end of your journey we wont adjust our nation for one dooosh bag!
12/16/09 @ 04:43
Comment from: Former army officer [Visitor]
Poor eritrea ! what happen the so colled NASENET ??? now you need to start fighting to integrate with emmama ethiopin without us you are nothing well it might takes the next 10,000 years.actually you deserve it i am having fun when i hear those kind of information.pr minister Meles thanks so much you make me happy by the way when we are going to bring back our port ?
12/16/09 @ 04:52
Comment from: Asmara [Visitor]
I know the now eritrean government did a good job to liberate Eritrea in the thirty years of war but there mistake is they should give the power for properly elected, who can manage the country properly and Issayas would have a very good respect among the Eritrean people. Even till now people have respect for him so it is not late to arrange every thing and pass the government to a well educated, organised and politically and socially matured person to correct all the past mistakes. How ever we will not compromise about Badme. When the right time comes and the American administration changes his policy in supporting about Badme then we Eritrean kick weyanes ass to run away not only from badme but also from the whole Ethiopia. We had and will have no problem with Ethiopian let alone tigrays people. But we had and will fight for the integrity of the country let alone for Eritrea but even for our neighbouring countries including Ethiopia because we don't afraid of sacrificing for the right cause. Long live east Africa and the whole world.
12/16/09 @ 05:06
Comment from: Asmara [Visitor]
Efrem, please don't pretend as you are an Eritrean. I know you are from the weyane elite (A.g.a.m.e neh).
12/16/09 @ 05:08
Comment from: Yirgacheffee [Visitor]
Articles like this one make me ask questions like "WHAT THE HELL ARE PARKING-LOT NEFTEGNAS COMPLAINING ABOUT MELES FOR"?
12/16/09 @ 05:09
Comment from: jigsa [Visitor]
IT IS VERY unworthy to compare Eritrea v Ethiopia, any way in order to awake those who are blindly sleep!
Eritrea
Officials have launched a search for Eritrea's national football team after the players reportedly failed to return home following a tournament in Kenya.
The Eritreans were knocked out of the Cecafa competition for East and Central African nations last week.
But when the team plane landed back home, it was reportedly only carrying the coach and an official.
The government, which is frequently accused of repression, denies any players are missing.
But the country's football federation confirmed to Cecafa head Nicholas Musonye that the players had not returned.
Mr Musonye told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme it was the third time the Eritrean team had failed to return home after a tournament.
ETHIOPIA
With Prime Minister Meles, the President reviewed efforts by the United States on climate change and reiterated his commitment to making progress. He expressed his appreciation for the leadership role the Prime Minister was playing in work with African countries on climate change, and urged him to help reach agreement at the Leaders summit later this week in Copenhagen. For his part, Prime Minister Meles stressed the importance of success in Copenhagen, and the need to find ways to make suitable progress on the mitigation, adaptation, and the provision of finance for the developing countries.
ERITREA
I set off for Asmara having read about Eritrea's extraordinary liberation struggle against Ethiopia, about its fierce sense of independence and its experiment in self-reliance.
I also knew that many people now consider Eritrea to be one of the most repressive nations on Earth. I had read about its desert prisons full of journalists, believers in banned religions, army deserters. One U.S. official outside the country -- citing allegations that Eritrea is sponsoring al-Qaeda-linked rebels in Somalia -- described Eritrea to me as "an aspiring rogue state."
And yet the feeling upon arriving in Asmara was anything but rogue.
At first, it just felt lonely, almost abandoned. In contrast to chaotic, crowded African airports I've been through, Asmara's was almost empty. My 115-passenger jet had had 14 passengers. It was one of only two jets on the long runway. At the clean-swept, gray-marbled arrival hall, which was the size of a convenience store, the loudest noise, literally, were crickets.
Though there were no lines, a friendly government minder ushered me VIP-style through the gauntlet of passport-checking and declaring of currency, and soon we walked out into the mostly vacant parking lot and the crisp, orangey light of a late Saturday afternoon.
ETHIOPIA
It’s now 25 years since the Ethiopian famines of the 1980s and the British public’s unprecedented outpouring of generosity to their fellow human beings on another continent. The question I’m always asked, of course, is: was it all worth it, what’s changed in Ethiopia and in Africa as a whole? A great deal, I answer – for both better and worse.
Recently, I was back in Ethiopia, where these two types of change are quite apparent. On the positive front, economic growth has boomed; indeed, next year Ethiopia is expected to be among the top five fastest growing economies in the world. Education enrolment has been doubled, malaria death rates halved and HIV/AIDS is on the decline.
Mobile telephony is spreading (though it would be faster if privatised) and rural roads are linking remote communities to markets and health and education services. Above all, while too many people are still reliant on food aid, famine will be avoided this year as it has been for the last 18 years, as distribution and early warning systems have improved. Certainly, the government could be more transparent, but on the whole this is a country making progress, in a continent that has been doing likewise.
ERITREA
With the threat of U.S.-backed sanctions looming over this isolated Red Sea nation, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki recently summed up his defiant attitude toward the United States, and indeed most things he deems foreign -- a free press, certain religions, electoral democracy, political parties, global warming.
"Leave us alone," said the commandingly tall former guerrilla leader who became Eritrea's first and only president in 1993, after a 30-year struggle for independence from Ethiopia. "We don't want to be pushed around."
Over the past year, the United States and other nations have accused Eritrea of sending money and weapons to al-Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels in nearby Somalia, and a draft resolution calling for sanctions is now circulating at the U.N. Security Council.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Isaias, 63, dismissed the charges as "fabricated," blamed the United States for pursuing years of failed policies in the region and said of the threatened sanctions: "It will be a regrettable move if it's meant to blackmail or intimidate Eritrea."
ETHIOPIA
The United States will dole out more than $5.2 Billion dollar in Foreign Military Financing in FY 2010 and Ethiopia's share will be a pitiful $3 million. But the money requested for FY2010 is an increase of 256% from previous year when Ethiopia received $843,000 in military assistance. Egypt, which gets the second highest military assistance after Israel will get a whopping $1.3 Billion.
Eritrea
Officials have launched a search for Eritrea's national football team after the players reportedly failed to return home following a tournament in Kenya.
The Eritreans were knocked out of the Cecafa competition for East and Central African nations last week.
But when the team plane landed back home, it was reportedly only carrying the coach and an official.
The government, which is frequently accused of repression, denies any players are missing.
But the country's football federation confirmed to Cecafa head Nicholas Musonye that the players had not returned.
Mr Musonye told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme it was the third time the Eritrean team had failed to return home after a tournament.
ETHIOPIA
With Prime Minister Meles, the President reviewed efforts by the United States on climate change and reiterated his commitment to making progress. He expressed his appreciation for the leadership role the Prime Minister was playing in work with African countries on climate change, and urged him to help reach agreement at the Leaders summit later this week in Copenhagen. For his part, Prime Minister Meles stressed the importance of success in Copenhagen, and the need to find ways to make suitable progress on the mitigation, adaptation, and the provision of finance for the developing countries.
ERITREA
I set off for Asmara having read about Eritrea's extraordinary liberation struggle against Ethiopia, about its fierce sense of independence and its experiment in self-reliance.
I also knew that many people now consider Eritrea to be one of the most repressive nations on Earth. I had read about its desert prisons full of journalists, believers in banned religions, army deserters. One U.S. official outside the country -- citing allegations that Eritrea is sponsoring al-Qaeda-linked rebels in Somalia -- described Eritrea to me as "an aspiring rogue state."
And yet the feeling upon arriving in Asmara was anything but rogue.
At first, it just felt lonely, almost abandoned. In contrast to chaotic, crowded African airports I've been through, Asmara's was almost empty. My 115-passenger jet had had 14 passengers. It was one of only two jets on the long runway. At the clean-swept, gray-marbled arrival hall, which was the size of a convenience store, the loudest noise, literally, were crickets.
Though there were no lines, a friendly government minder ushered me VIP-style through the gauntlet of passport-checking and declaring of currency, and soon we walked out into the mostly vacant parking lot and the crisp, orangey light of a late Saturday afternoon.
ETHIOPIA
It’s now 25 years since the Ethiopian famines of the 1980s and the British public’s unprecedented outpouring of generosity to their fellow human beings on another continent. The question I’m always asked, of course, is: was it all worth it, what’s changed in Ethiopia and in Africa as a whole? A great deal, I answer – for both better and worse.
Recently, I was back in Ethiopia, where these two types of change are quite apparent. On the positive front, economic growth has boomed; indeed, next year Ethiopia is expected to be among the top five fastest growing economies in the world. Education enrolment has been doubled, malaria death rates halved and HIV/AIDS is on the decline.
Mobile telephony is spreading (though it would be faster if privatised) and rural roads are linking remote communities to markets and health and education services. Above all, while too many people are still reliant on food aid, famine will be avoided this year as it has been for the last 18 years, as distribution and early warning systems have improved. Certainly, the government could be more transparent, but on the whole this is a country making progress, in a continent that has been doing likewise.
ERITREA
With the threat of U.S.-backed sanctions looming over this isolated Red Sea nation, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki recently summed up his defiant attitude toward the United States, and indeed most things he deems foreign -- a free press, certain religions, electoral democracy, political parties, global warming.
"Leave us alone," said the commandingly tall former guerrilla leader who became Eritrea's first and only president in 1993, after a 30-year struggle for independence from Ethiopia. "We don't want to be pushed around."
Over the past year, the United States and other nations have accused Eritrea of sending money and weapons to al-Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels in nearby Somalia, and a draft resolution calling for sanctions is now circulating at the U.N. Security Council.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Isaias, 63, dismissed the charges as "fabricated," blamed the United States for pursuing years of failed policies in the region and said of the threatened sanctions: "It will be a regrettable move if it's meant to blackmail or intimidate Eritrea."
ETHIOPIA
The United States will dole out more than $5.2 Billion dollar in Foreign Military Financing in FY 2010 and Ethiopia's share will be a pitiful $3 million. But the money requested for FY2010 is an increase of 256% from previous year when Ethiopia received $843,000 in military assistance. Egypt, which gets the second highest military assistance after Israel will get a whopping $1.3 Billion.
12/16/09 @ 06:03
Comment from: efrem [Visitor]
efrem,
who are you using my name...I am not Eretrian...please try to use another name..I am a proud Ethiopin..eventhough i feel sorry for you guys you chose to live like that. What goes around comes around...You now have to fight another sixty years to bring democracey and freedom to those dessert prisons...I am sorry you have a long road to travel again and again....but that's the way things are..untill you get rid of the current regim..it is very sad that you and i will not be alive to see a glimpse of freedom...may be our grand children...shame hey? After 30 years of fighting for freedom ..back to dictatorship...what kind of a cursed continet is Afria, God have mercy on us.
who are you using my name...I am not Eretrian...please try to use another name..I am a proud Ethiopin..eventhough i feel sorry for you guys you chose to live like that. What goes around comes around...You now have to fight another sixty years to bring democracey and freedom to those dessert prisons...I am sorry you have a long road to travel again and again....but that's the way things are..untill you get rid of the current regim..it is very sad that you and i will not be alive to see a glimpse of freedom...may be our grand children...shame hey? After 30 years of fighting for freedom ..back to dictatorship...what kind of a cursed continet is Afria, God have mercy on us.
12/16/09 @ 06:16
Comment from: Drogba [Visitor]
What do you expect when you bite the hand that fed you.
12/16/09 @ 06:29
Comment from: APEF [Visitor]
Forget everything and lets work on the foundation of Artreans embassy in Ass-mara becouse no eritrean live inside the country.We need an ambassador who can represent us in Artrea. Most of us live in sahara desert, some of us in meditranian and red sea,and some of us dissiminate all over the glob and some of us in Ethiopia(the promise land). APIP
12/16/09 @ 06:59
Comment from: Alemu [Visitor]
Poor Eritrea, all that sacrifice and bloodshed. How many died for independence and this is the result. Shame on you Isayas!!!!!!!
12/16/09 @ 08:50
Comment from: laljoe [Visitor]
eritrean yemigelitsu ababaloch:
-yekotun (ethiopian) awerd (amelt) bla yebibituan talech (isayasn tegaterech)
-yekebetu (yetegenetelu)ken mot aygegnim.
-etsedik biye bazlat tentelitila kerech
minu kitu. lemanignawum en esey yibelachu befit sayhon ahun new kegn gizat yehonachut biyalehu.
-yekotun (ethiopian) awerd (amelt) bla yebibituan talech (isayasn tegaterech)
-yekebetu (yetegenetelu)ken mot aygegnim.
-etsedik biye bazlat tentelitila kerech
minu kitu. lemanignawum en esey yibelachu befit sayhon ahun new kegn gizat yehonachut biyalehu.
12/16/09 @ 09:29
Comment from: Tembien [Visitor]
I never stop laughing !!...Soon will follow the Melesians on the same path. lol
12/16/09 @ 10:04
Comment from: Tsiyon [Visitor]
Efrem, why in the world would the world help you
It was a result of your notorious 30 years fighting.
I thought you chose the so called "freedom" during the referendum. Enjoy your freedom
By now, you know what freedom is all about and what it takes to get it back.
To fight is a hobby for Northern Ethiopians' and Eritreans'.
They can't live without it.
That is the only way their little brain tend to work.
It was a result of your notorious 30 years fighting.
I thought you chose the so called "freedom" during the referendum. Enjoy your freedom
By now, you know what freedom is all about and what it takes to get it back.
To fight is a hobby for Northern Ethiopians' and Eritreans'.
They can't live without it.
That is the only way their little brain tend to work.
12/16/09 @ 10:13
Comment from: gomeraw [Visitor]
What the writer encouraging is why you become so organize. We don’t like it. Be chaotic, disorganize, and be obedience let us take care of your busyness. Be a good boy otherwise you will be isolated. Unless you don’t let us do what we ask you to do we will talk shit about you we will do our best to force your people to live your country we also will organize and pay for such to happen. You are fighting with a giant and there is no way you are going to win and so on. That is what we have heard for the past 10 years now nothing is special on this piece of crap. What is very important to mention here is that the western never sleep if they can’t control a nation in third world. Folk be aware of their hidden agenda don’t just read believe it please think deeply to find the root cause. To me the article nothing but a piece of nonsense.
Success isn’t measured by the position you reach in life, it’s measured by the obstacles you overcome.”
Booker T. Washington
12/16/09 @ 10:20
Comment from: Tefera [Visitor]
"At first, it just felt lonely, almost abandoned. In contrast to chaotic, crowded African airports I've been through, Asmara's was almost empty. My 115-passenger jet had had 14 passengers. It was one of only two jets on the long runway. At the arrival hall, which was the size of a convenience store, the loudest noise, literally, were crickets."
.....
i have never seen any thing being described as vivid as this. this writer literlay put me at the airport and feel what she did.yuuck
...
but the point is had eritrea chose a different peaceful path with ethiopia its people would not have suffered like this. you dont make war with your bigger neighbor and expect not to suffer. my advice: make peace eritrea by allowing ethiopia to use asab free.
.....
i have never seen any thing being described as vivid as this. this writer literlay put me at the airport and feel what she did.yuuck
...
but the point is had eritrea chose a different peaceful path with ethiopia its people would not have suffered like this. you dont make war with your bigger neighbor and expect not to suffer. my advice: make peace eritrea by allowing ethiopia to use asab free.
12/16/09 @ 10:49
Comment from: Dandy [Visitor]
It is sad for East Africa that Eritrea is going in such isolation and disasterous path.
The effect is flowing over to adjucent countries like Sudan Ethiopia and Yemen. For instance, Ethiopia is hosting 40,000 young eritrean refugiees at a great cost and security risk. Do not underestimate the security risk because those refugiees are grown to adulthood during the so called eritrean era "after NETSANET" and are brain washed. They have distorted view about Ethiopia.
The other issue is what will be the future of East Africa if the trend continues for the coming 5-10 or more years as Eritrea chooses to play the same role as it does today.
Transition to another sort of government which wishes to live in peace with its neghbours does not seem the likely succession of Esayes's rule in Eritrea. That is a fact because there is no organized opposition. The oposition is rather fractured along religious line. The ugly historical divide between highlander and lowlander is sadly gaining momentum after heavy handed takeover of the fertile land of the lowlanders by the ruling people (ethinic)in the last 18 years. If this issue is not contained Eritrea, like Somalia, will be another distablizing factor in East Africa. That is a sad situation that we all East African should worry about.
The most worring of all is, based on the play write of its creation, Eritrea thinks it has responsibility to support all anti-establishment groups of any imaginable cause. Eritrea became the Mecca of rebel groups; Bangladesh, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan (until recently), Dijibuti, Uganda, Congo, etc. Imagine, the impact of this on the Eritrean society, its mentality and also on countries around Eritrea.
The effect is flowing over to adjucent countries like Sudan Ethiopia and Yemen. For instance, Ethiopia is hosting 40,000 young eritrean refugiees at a great cost and security risk. Do not underestimate the security risk because those refugiees are grown to adulthood during the so called eritrean era "after NETSANET" and are brain washed. They have distorted view about Ethiopia.
The other issue is what will be the future of East Africa if the trend continues for the coming 5-10 or more years as Eritrea chooses to play the same role as it does today.
Transition to another sort of government which wishes to live in peace with its neghbours does not seem the likely succession of Esayes's rule in Eritrea. That is a fact because there is no organized opposition. The oposition is rather fractured along religious line. The ugly historical divide between highlander and lowlander is sadly gaining momentum after heavy handed takeover of the fertile land of the lowlanders by the ruling people (ethinic)in the last 18 years. If this issue is not contained Eritrea, like Somalia, will be another distablizing factor in East Africa. That is a sad situation that we all East African should worry about.
The most worring of all is, based on the play write of its creation, Eritrea thinks it has responsibility to support all anti-establishment groups of any imaginable cause. Eritrea became the Mecca of rebel groups; Bangladesh, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan (until recently), Dijibuti, Uganda, Congo, etc. Imagine, the impact of this on the Eritrean society, its mentality and also on countries around Eritrea.
12/16/09 @ 11:28
Comment from: Honest [Visitor]
C'est la vie, Eritreans!!! Deal with it! You have made your bed
and now you have to lie on it.
Ethiopians are better of with out you delusional self-aggrandizing lunatics. Now if we could only get rid of the left over Northerners (Woyanes). Now that would be pure bliss!
and now you have to lie on it.
Ethiopians are better of with out you delusional self-aggrandizing lunatics. Now if we could only get rid of the left over Northerners (Woyanes). Now that would be pure bliss!
12/16/09 @ 11:54
Comment from: welcome [Visitor]
Missing Eritrea football team 'welcome home'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8414441.stm
The AFP news agency says Eritrea's government tried to stop sportsmen from fleeing in 2007 by forcing all traveling athletes to deposit 100,000 nakfa ($6,600) before leaving the country.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8414441.stm
The AFP news agency says Eritrea's government tried to stop sportsmen from fleeing in 2007 by forcing all traveling athletes to deposit 100,000 nakfa ($6,600) before leaving the country.
12/16/09 @ 13:26
Comment from: yoni [Visitor]
Truman Show
Animal Farm
Permanent National Service
Airport as big as Conv. Store
Rough State
Most Repressive State on Earth
Container Prison Cells
Never Ending forced Labour
WOOOOOW
Animal Farm
Permanent National Service
Airport as big as Conv. Store
Rough State
Most Repressive State on Earth
Container Prison Cells
Never Ending forced Labour
WOOOOOW
12/16/09 @ 13:32
Comment from: IZON [Visitor]
Eretria use to get Sugar and Teff from Ethiopia during Durg for some political reason. The Woyane who use to give ass massage each other for 30+ years do not give them tasa wuha. But they are not officially divorced yet just separated for now see if they can mange on their own do not trust 11.
12/16/09 @ 13:40
Comment from: Tazabe [Visitor]
Eritreans fought with Ethiopia for 30 something years to be independent and end up with one of the worst dictator on earth as a ruler. Here is the agony of that, Ethiopia lost a lot of resource.(human and material with her poor economy standing in the world and Eritreans end up owning their desert land finally and now everybody is migrating to other countries) Welcome to Africa where modern day dictators rule their people by iron feast. My two cent advice for Eritreans is unless you liberate yourself from this dictator nobody does.
12/16/09 @ 14:34
Comment from: Drogba [Visitor]
I don't understand why our govt accepting refugees from Eritrea.
12/16/09 @ 15:12
Comment from: To Efrem [Visitor]
I think the people of Eretrea had given all they had during the 30 years war and are not fighting any more.
Don't give up, keep the dream alive. Organize your communities around the world and take your issues of human rights to the UN. Take the example of Liberia, it took one women to organize a non violent movement and she was able to bring peace. Collaborate with other non-governmental organizations thoughout the world, like human rights watch, amnesty, oxfam etc..nothing is impossible but don't stop hoping.
Don't give up, keep the dream alive. Organize your communities around the world and take your issues of human rights to the UN. Take the example of Liberia, it took one women to organize a non violent movement and she was able to bring peace. Collaborate with other non-governmental organizations thoughout the world, like human rights watch, amnesty, oxfam etc..nothing is impossible but don't stop hoping.
12/16/09 @ 15:31
Comment from: To Efrem [Visitor]
Honest,
It is childish to forget that whatever happens to others can also happen to us. Stop pointing fingers, they are people just like you but with misfortune and who knows it may be your turn tomorrow. This is life's lesson, at least get this much from living...
It is childish to forget that whatever happens to others can also happen to us. Stop pointing fingers, they are people just like you but with misfortune and who knows it may be your turn tomorrow. This is life's lesson, at least get this much from living...
12/16/09 @ 15:34
Comment from: challenger [Visitor]
"at lunch at an outdoor café one "day, that the man sitting rather conspicuously alone at the next table was probably a spy. He was a nice-seeming spy, a kind of comic book version -- an older man in a suit, taking notes in a little black book. My lunch companion sent him a beer, and the man waved, smiled and nodded a thank you."
Cartoonish indeed. God...I died laughing
Cartoonish indeed. God...I died laughing
12/16/09 @ 16:40
Comment from: chala [Visitor]
who cares abt shabia land they are free to be stupid,poor and ignorant all they want
12/16/09 @ 17:36
Comment from: woo [Visitor]
please ppl i love isayas, he told zem that ER will be the futer singpore of africa and end up like a goddam s/korea.they were better when they were living in nakfa hoping to be...singap....
HAMASEN/SCORPIONS/ ARE WORST THAN SNEKS.
HAMASEN/SCORPIONS/ ARE WORST THAN SNEKS.
12/16/09 @ 18:51
Comment from: iyasu [Visitor]
After 7 years it is difficult to find any one in the country . May be those DRUMS and SANDELS
12/16/09 @ 19:16
Comment from: Mela Mela [Visitor]
The Ethio. Born son of Adwa,Tigrai IssayASS would do even remarkable job in the coming future when he is going to announce that he is going to defect to the west. a Real coup attempt to his life will scare him and will not take chance again.
Ha!Ha1HA! he is going to join the soccer players in Kenya
Ha!Ha1HA! he is going to join the soccer players in Kenya
12/16/09 @ 19:38
Comment from: Yeha [Visitor]
Meskin Philly.Just keep collecting AKATS. That's all you can do these days nothing else.Yeha
12/16/09 @ 19:43
Comment from: Abirerm [Visitor]
Let them learn the hard way. Presidente Wedi Afom stay another 30 hrs.
12/16/09 @ 20:29
Comment from: What's the big deal! [Visitor]
If what he said is true so what is the big deal of having 14 passengers in a plane. I live here in US and there were times when only 5 or 6 of us traveled in the same flight, so this guy may have gone there during off peak season so what is all this talking, he should know better. As far as I know our Airport is one of the cleanest and well organized , I've ever seen. You name it from the Porters (guys who handle luggages) or the Immigration personnel, duty free shop etc.... It is very cosy and I hope it will stay like that for long long time. He made me laughed when he compared it to a convenience store. Aye itiopianoch hulu negern new yemitamnut. Do you know the meaning of analyzing or using common sense? All what I read from this guy is a bunch of lie, garbage and exaggerations. Ethios just keep hearing/talking while the camel marches. Tigreans keep dreaming about Asmarino. By the way it used to be your mecca. You know that there is no way that you will go back there and that is why it is killing you inside.
Long live PIA!
Long live peace loving Eritrean people!
Long live PIA!
Long live peace loving Eritrean people!
12/16/09 @ 20:49
Comment from: sol [Visitor]
I think we should realy feel sorry for our brothers and sisters in eritrea. It is realy so sad that a guy who has promised them to take to the promised land has taken them exactly the opposite to a Land that
has been best described by this writer, where every body young, old, woman, man wants to leave the country. This is an ultimate betrayal of the people's blind trust by the government of Eritrea. I do remember the last time, after Eritrea invaded our teritory and was told to pull its troops to positions prior to the conflict and failed to do so, when our PM said I will give Eritrea a lesson that they would never forget, some Eritreans were joking and riducling him. The lesson that started at that time is what is being taking place. In some ways for Eritreans it is a blessing in disguise. Erittreans have to seriously look in to them selves and ask this question? Where did the Independence Revoultion went wrong. Personally I believe it the whole Etreean Society with few exceptions
who are responsible for what went wrong with revolution. I don't blame Essayas only. I could say there was a mass euphoria and a mass paranioa
right after indepenence in Eritrea.
Eritreans had a feling of a complete invincibilty, a false hope that did not secure the future of young Eritreans.Until very rececnty, the Essayas regime has been leading Eritrea with the full support of his
people in eritrea and out side of Eritrea. The Eritrean people should do some soul seraching and shoudl committe themselves to a peaceful existence with thier neighbours. I am sure they have realized how peace have become very elusive in the case of Eritrea.Eritreans must learn the sooner they do is the better. I am worried it might be too late like somalia for Eritrea. I hope not. My advice to Eritreans please stop thinking how to destabilize our country. We are your brothers. We are not happy by your situation. We are helpless like you to help you
because this is what you chose and we do not want to inetrfer in your matters. Please think about building your own country and how we can
live side by side as brotehrs and sisters.
Do not despair. God is watching. There is a time for all under the sun. I am sure like all of us one day Mr. Essayas will have his
time as well.God has his own plan.
Please let us pray for Eritrea.
has been best described by this writer, where every body young, old, woman, man wants to leave the country. This is an ultimate betrayal of the people's blind trust by the government of Eritrea. I do remember the last time, after Eritrea invaded our teritory and was told to pull its troops to positions prior to the conflict and failed to do so, when our PM said I will give Eritrea a lesson that they would never forget, some Eritreans were joking and riducling him. The lesson that started at that time is what is being taking place. In some ways for Eritreans it is a blessing in disguise. Erittreans have to seriously look in to them selves and ask this question? Where did the Independence Revoultion went wrong. Personally I believe it the whole Etreean Society with few exceptions
who are responsible for what went wrong with revolution. I don't blame Essayas only. I could say there was a mass euphoria and a mass paranioa
right after indepenence in Eritrea.
Eritreans had a feling of a complete invincibilty, a false hope that did not secure the future of young Eritreans.Until very rececnty, the Essayas regime has been leading Eritrea with the full support of his
people in eritrea and out side of Eritrea. The Eritrean people should do some soul seraching and shoudl committe themselves to a peaceful existence with thier neighbours. I am sure they have realized how peace have become very elusive in the case of Eritrea.Eritreans must learn the sooner they do is the better. I am worried it might be too late like somalia for Eritrea. I hope not. My advice to Eritreans please stop thinking how to destabilize our country. We are your brothers. We are not happy by your situation. We are helpless like you to help you
because this is what you chose and we do not want to inetrfer in your matters. Please think about building your own country and how we can
live side by side as brotehrs and sisters.
Do not despair. God is watching. There is a time for all under the sun. I am sure like all of us one day Mr. Essayas will have his
time as well.God has his own plan.
Please let us pray for Eritrea.
12/16/09 @ 22:19
Comment from: Tamrat Tamrat [Visitor]
Ya, ya, we heard italian made this football size city and called it asmara and all shabians swip it from dirt and non tigrigna people. so what! But it is not easy to be eritreans in nazret.com like Shimelba(atleast in shimelba you get food). Thanks to bandas tigrigna people 'eritreans' suffer in italy colonization. When italy colonize who do you think got comofrtable being soldiers for italy. You guess right, tigrigna people. When british came who sang more saying italians are facists? Tigringa people. Who were officials after 'eritrea' returned to Ethiopia? Tigrigna people. Who danced most wehn woyane inter addis? tigrigna people. Who were dancing in asmara bombing tigray shcool children? tigringa people. Who are the leadrs in eplf? tigrigna people. Who sent their children to the west and suffocate us with eplf bullshit, you guess right. Who remaine in Ethiopia and pray eplf is marchining to addis with dogs of issayas. Now you learn who tigrigna people. Akatari people. Now it is in the blood cells cause it stayed more than a century
12/17/09 @ 00:20
Comment from: God give Eritreans all they deserve [Visitor]
Sol, indeed I pray Eritreans get all they deserve. good or bad, it's up to God, and I have no problem with what God is giving them
12/17/09 @ 02:01
Comment from: parking lot expert [Visitor]
Woy ethiopia! Ye tigre wonbedewochina ye shabia meteremameshia honeshe keresh? Ppl like yeha and yirgachefee are acting ethiopians when they are fighting with their northeren brothers, but all other times they are just proud tigreans. Sad but true.
12/17/09 @ 04:19
Comment from: Ethiopiawi [Visitor]
Drogba said it all correctly!! I add "Yebelachibetin Wechit Sebari!" Eritrea is paying it back dearly. Good Luck "Liberated Eritrea!"
12/17/09 @ 13:27
Comment from: ZXAmiche [Visitor]
Stephanie McCrummen of Washington, we don't blame you. You had no access to Eritrea, in the name of NGO!
The Washington stupid who doesn't even know her own backyard says:
"I set off for Asmara having read about Eritrea's extraordinary liberation struggle against Ethiopia, about its fierce sense of independence and its experiment in self-reliance."
Yes, you will hear the next extraordinary economic struggle against USAid dependency and poverty, about its fierce sense of food security and its experiment in, once again, self reliance, on your next trip!
The she goes:
"I also knew that many people now consider Eritrea to be one of the most repressive nations on Earth. I had read about its desert prisons full of journalists, believers in banned religions, army deserters."
Yes, justifiably the most repressive nation on earth to jero Tebi hired agents and extreme religious import exporters, in the name of "Religious Freedom". Talk about army deserters? Go to Canada and learn about your deserters' history. Banned religions? Go talk to the Saudis whom you monitor their monarcky, knowing that they wouldn't allow Bible preaching. Did you say one U.S. official outside the country cited allegations that Eritrea is sponsoring al-Qaeda-linked rebels in Somalia? Tell him to talk to Ramsfeld. And tell him to talk to Bush, the one who linked Al Qaida with Iraqi insurgents. Let him learn about Bush and Ben Laden's relation, befor he vomits on Eritrea, the one and only, who confronted Al Qaida in Sudan, 1996. He told you Eritrea was "an aspiring rogue state"? It must be Frazer the loser.
Now, let's see how you felt Asmara was "rogue"!
At first, you just felt lonely, almost abandoned. I don't blame you. You came with agendas. Don't feel bad if you were abandoned like USAid and other NGOs. Eritrea has been like that since 1991, after it foiled Cohen and Carter to claim Independence.
"...In contrast to chaotic, crowded African airports I've been through, Asmara's was almost empty. My 115-passenger jet had had 14 passengers. It was one of only two jets on the long runway."
That's fine. There were no corrut NGOs, baboon African leaders and UN satellites to corrupt the runways. And Nationalist citizens were out on daily trip to do infrastructure.
"At the clean-swept, gray-marbled arrival hall, which was the size of a convenience store, the loudest noise, literally, were crickets."
Don't worry, it is designed to reject you so you will not spy. But I don't think it was that bad, compared to your Hard-Rock music. The staff that work there is used to US supplied mortars. They only have selective hearing.
"Though there were no lines, a friendly government minder ushered me VIP-style through the gauntlet of passport-checking and declaring of currency, and soon we walked out into the mostly vacant parking lot and the crisp, orangey light of a late Saturday afternoon."
May be if the friendly minder was unfriendly, may be the vacant parking lot would have been overfilled. And those parking lots were for camels who were out on daily trip to do the infrastructure.
"It took about 10 minutes to reach Asmara. And that is the first thing you notice about this pretty, palm-lined capital: how small it is, how petite, really. It feels as if it was placed, intact, on its high plateau."
Thanks God that there were little or no NGOs in the palm-lined capital. It would have taken you an hour to get to your place. Besides, it is enough for our "abandoned" capital. We don't need inflated population in the pride land that could be excuse for famine.
Then she goes:
"For the week I was there, the weather was conventionally perfect, each day bright and warm, each evening refreshing and cool. Asmara is a famously crime-free city of art deco buildings built by Italian colonizers, who once envisioned it as the jewel of their never-realized African empire."
I thought it was a repressive nation. Can repressive nations become crime-free? I didn't know! You should be thankful you had left Washington, saving your rear from street murder and rape. Once envisioned as "jewel of their never-realized African empire"? What's different now?
"It was built, in a way, to manifest that dream, and for that reason and others, the city feels like a movie set. Its ice-cream colored palette, its fantastic buildings and many cafes, its bicycles, its older men dressed in sharp hats and old suits, convey the feel of a benign netherworld operating at the behest of some unseen director."
You're right Hundreds of nefTegna and Woyane Ethiopians had died for it, in vein. It wouldn't be different if your cheap journalism of portraying bad image of Eritrea end up in vain,just like the Ethiopians who even paid their lives. You will not be alone.
"Soon, though, a slightly less benign feeling settled in. I was told to expect that my phone calls would be monitored, that anyone I spoke to, especially Eritreans, did so at great personal risk, and, at lunch at an outdoor café one day, that the man sitting rather conspicuously alone at the next table was probably a spy. He was a nice-seeming spy, a kind of comic book version -- an older man in a suit, taking notes in a little black book. My lunch companion sent him a beer, and the man waved, smiled and nodded a thank you."
Common Steph, it won't be worst than Bush, from "Constitutional America" who monitor your phone call and your E-Mail, would it? Is that how you start recruiting agents by inviting beer? Just asking!
The Steph goes:
"Walking around, I began to notice how empty many of the shops were of products and customers. Eritrea's economy operates almost completely at the behest of the government, and the mood of hustle in many African cities is oddly absent here. People essentially sell what they are told, work when they are told, and even eat what they are told, as most Eritreans subsist on an array of government-subsidized rations."
Oh Steph! would it be worst than Chinese, whom you borrowed money from? What's wrong if they are told what to eat, as long as there is food to eat, avoiding chemical laced experimental grain and there were no poster children produced? Do people have choice what to eat when they are in line to receive USAid food-aid?
Then she goes:
"Though one U.S. dollar was officially trading at 15 nakfa, the local currency, I was told that the black market rate was around 41. (The price for using the black market, however, is detention.)"
Yes that was part of the illegal and unofficial sanction being placed upon Eritrea which will never work. It's ok Steph, first thing is first. We have other priorities to focus on. Let the chips fall where they may, until the right time.
She continues:
"Foreigners and Eritreans alike began to tell me, always anonymously, how they saw Asmara. "My own personal 'Truman Show,' " was one description. "Animal Farm," came another. One young Eritrean explained the country's system of indefinite national service as a kind of never-ending forced labor camp."
What did you tell him about the indefinite Americans' sabotage against court ruling and the Western sabotage to bring Eritrea down? And what did you tell them, to "Foreigners and Eritreans alike", about Iraq's illegal invasion and its "indefinite military service"? Did you tell the "Foreigners and Eritreans alike", that there had an alternative of USAid food-aid, rather than seeking long term solution to their problems? And what did they tell you?
Yhen she goes:
"Another, explaining how complete social control is here, told me: "Resistance is futile -- the only escape is to flee!""
What did you tell them about American prisons and racial profiling, in arresting and conviting colored citizens? Did you tell them how many innocent passengers had been illegally prevented from their flights? By the way, did you tell the big ones that they had means to flee, may be thru UN refugee camps in Ethiopia, thru UNMEE or Embassies?
Then she continues:
"The fact that Eritrea produces more asylum seekers than all but one other country on the planet became more striking with each gently passing afternoon."
Wasn't it designed by the UN Corporation, in a double standard fashion? Why now complain, Stephie?
"Many Eritreans told me they had brothers, husbands, uncles and others who had disappeared over the years, presumably into desert prisons. Sometimes, just as mysteriously, they would reappear, often with scars. One person told me a friend reappeared with brain damage."
Is that how Washington justify the hearsay allegations? May be the mysterious people resurrected from death. Was it Santa that brought him from the mystery!
Then she continues:
"I asked whether ordinary Eritreans discussed this situation in their homes, and several people told me no. The repression is so common, one young man explained, that it has become a kind of quiet understanding, something so commonplace that it is no longer remarkable. The other explanation was that no one trusts each other, that even family members have been known to turn one another in."
You're glad that they "trusted" you to tell their stories. What do you expect from "crime-free" repressive nation?
Then:
"By the second or third day of the trip, Asmara began to feel like a kind of snow globe, a city hermetically sealed under a glass dome, an alternate, un-globalized universe where virtually nothing comes or goes."
Yes, this "glass dome" is very preserved, naturally and nurturewise, not to be broken, as we know people from a glass house would never start to throw rocks, to start fight, except preserving their preserved living dome. A "journalist" of your type would not fit to live in that house, only the qualified ones!
Then she felt bad about an Asmara psycho who was deprived USAid food-aid. She goes:
"One day, a man walking down the street began screaming into the quiet afternoon. His words, a few explicatives inappropriate for a family newspaper, bounced around the pale pink and yellow buildings. Then he stopped, and kept walking."
I wonder what you would say about Iraqi, Afghanistan, Korean, and Vietnames VA psychos in every downtown of the USA cities. May be that "pink and yellow building" had a USAid logo he would have behaved.
Finally, she goes:
"It was incongruous with this lovely and subdued capital, and yet, somehow, understandable."
Thank you for your understanding, steph! An incongruent journalist wouldn't put the puzzles together right. You would be congruent when you come back to the new American "dream come thru" capital, enjoying crime filled and overpopulated DC.
C.C.
Assab deprived utopian nazret
The Washington stupid who doesn't even know her own backyard says:
"I set off for Asmara having read about Eritrea's extraordinary liberation struggle against Ethiopia, about its fierce sense of independence and its experiment in self-reliance."
Yes, you will hear the next extraordinary economic struggle against USAid dependency and poverty, about its fierce sense of food security and its experiment in, once again, self reliance, on your next trip!
The she goes:
"I also knew that many people now consider Eritrea to be one of the most repressive nations on Earth. I had read about its desert prisons full of journalists, believers in banned religions, army deserters."
Yes, justifiably the most repressive nation on earth to jero Tebi hired agents and extreme religious import exporters, in the name of "Religious Freedom". Talk about army deserters? Go to Canada and learn about your deserters' history. Banned religions? Go talk to the Saudis whom you monitor their monarcky, knowing that they wouldn't allow Bible preaching. Did you say one U.S. official outside the country cited allegations that Eritrea is sponsoring al-Qaeda-linked rebels in Somalia? Tell him to talk to Ramsfeld. And tell him to talk to Bush, the one who linked Al Qaida with Iraqi insurgents. Let him learn about Bush and Ben Laden's relation, befor he vomits on Eritrea, the one and only, who confronted Al Qaida in Sudan, 1996. He told you Eritrea was "an aspiring rogue state"? It must be Frazer the loser.
Now, let's see how you felt Asmara was "rogue"!
At first, you just felt lonely, almost abandoned. I don't blame you. You came with agendas. Don't feel bad if you were abandoned like USAid and other NGOs. Eritrea has been like that since 1991, after it foiled Cohen and Carter to claim Independence.
"...In contrast to chaotic, crowded African airports I've been through, Asmara's was almost empty. My 115-passenger jet had had 14 passengers. It was one of only two jets on the long runway."
That's fine. There were no corrut NGOs, baboon African leaders and UN satellites to corrupt the runways. And Nationalist citizens were out on daily trip to do infrastructure.
"At the clean-swept, gray-marbled arrival hall, which was the size of a convenience store, the loudest noise, literally, were crickets."
Don't worry, it is designed to reject you so you will not spy. But I don't think it was that bad, compared to your Hard-Rock music. The staff that work there is used to US supplied mortars. They only have selective hearing.
"Though there were no lines, a friendly government minder ushered me VIP-style through the gauntlet of passport-checking and declaring of currency, and soon we walked out into the mostly vacant parking lot and the crisp, orangey light of a late Saturday afternoon."
May be if the friendly minder was unfriendly, may be the vacant parking lot would have been overfilled. And those parking lots were for camels who were out on daily trip to do the infrastructure.
"It took about 10 minutes to reach Asmara. And that is the first thing you notice about this pretty, palm-lined capital: how small it is, how petite, really. It feels as if it was placed, intact, on its high plateau."
Thanks God that there were little or no NGOs in the palm-lined capital. It would have taken you an hour to get to your place. Besides, it is enough for our "abandoned" capital. We don't need inflated population in the pride land that could be excuse for famine.
Then she goes:
"For the week I was there, the weather was conventionally perfect, each day bright and warm, each evening refreshing and cool. Asmara is a famously crime-free city of art deco buildings built by Italian colonizers, who once envisioned it as the jewel of their never-realized African empire."
I thought it was a repressive nation. Can repressive nations become crime-free? I didn't know! You should be thankful you had left Washington, saving your rear from street murder and rape. Once envisioned as "jewel of their never-realized African empire"? What's different now?
"It was built, in a way, to manifest that dream, and for that reason and others, the city feels like a movie set. Its ice-cream colored palette, its fantastic buildings and many cafes, its bicycles, its older men dressed in sharp hats and old suits, convey the feel of a benign netherworld operating at the behest of some unseen director."
You're right Hundreds of nefTegna and Woyane Ethiopians had died for it, in vein. It wouldn't be different if your cheap journalism of portraying bad image of Eritrea end up in vain,just like the Ethiopians who even paid their lives. You will not be alone.
"Soon, though, a slightly less benign feeling settled in. I was told to expect that my phone calls would be monitored, that anyone I spoke to, especially Eritreans, did so at great personal risk, and, at lunch at an outdoor café one day, that the man sitting rather conspicuously alone at the next table was probably a spy. He was a nice-seeming spy, a kind of comic book version -- an older man in a suit, taking notes in a little black book. My lunch companion sent him a beer, and the man waved, smiled and nodded a thank you."
Common Steph, it won't be worst than Bush, from "Constitutional America" who monitor your phone call and your E-Mail, would it? Is that how you start recruiting agents by inviting beer? Just asking!
The Steph goes:
"Walking around, I began to notice how empty many of the shops were of products and customers. Eritrea's economy operates almost completely at the behest of the government, and the mood of hustle in many African cities is oddly absent here. People essentially sell what they are told, work when they are told, and even eat what they are told, as most Eritreans subsist on an array of government-subsidized rations."
Oh Steph! would it be worst than Chinese, whom you borrowed money from? What's wrong if they are told what to eat, as long as there is food to eat, avoiding chemical laced experimental grain and there were no poster children produced? Do people have choice what to eat when they are in line to receive USAid food-aid?
Then she goes:
"Though one U.S. dollar was officially trading at 15 nakfa, the local currency, I was told that the black market rate was around 41. (The price for using the black market, however, is detention.)"
Yes that was part of the illegal and unofficial sanction being placed upon Eritrea which will never work. It's ok Steph, first thing is first. We have other priorities to focus on. Let the chips fall where they may, until the right time.
She continues:
"Foreigners and Eritreans alike began to tell me, always anonymously, how they saw Asmara. "My own personal 'Truman Show,' " was one description. "Animal Farm," came another. One young Eritrean explained the country's system of indefinite national service as a kind of never-ending forced labor camp."
What did you tell him about the indefinite Americans' sabotage against court ruling and the Western sabotage to bring Eritrea down? And what did you tell them, to "Foreigners and Eritreans alike", about Iraq's illegal invasion and its "indefinite military service"? Did you tell the "Foreigners and Eritreans alike", that there had an alternative of USAid food-aid, rather than seeking long term solution to their problems? And what did they tell you?
Yhen she goes:
"Another, explaining how complete social control is here, told me: "Resistance is futile -- the only escape is to flee!""
What did you tell them about American prisons and racial profiling, in arresting and conviting colored citizens? Did you tell them how many innocent passengers had been illegally prevented from their flights? By the way, did you tell the big ones that they had means to flee, may be thru UN refugee camps in Ethiopia, thru UNMEE or Embassies?
Then she continues:
"The fact that Eritrea produces more asylum seekers than all but one other country on the planet became more striking with each gently passing afternoon."
Wasn't it designed by the UN Corporation, in a double standard fashion? Why now complain, Stephie?
"Many Eritreans told me they had brothers, husbands, uncles and others who had disappeared over the years, presumably into desert prisons. Sometimes, just as mysteriously, they would reappear, often with scars. One person told me a friend reappeared with brain damage."
Is that how Washington justify the hearsay allegations? May be the mysterious people resurrected from death. Was it Santa that brought him from the mystery!
Then she continues:
"I asked whether ordinary Eritreans discussed this situation in their homes, and several people told me no. The repression is so common, one young man explained, that it has become a kind of quiet understanding, something so commonplace that it is no longer remarkable. The other explanation was that no one trusts each other, that even family members have been known to turn one another in."
You're glad that they "trusted" you to tell their stories. What do you expect from "crime-free" repressive nation?
Then:
"By the second or third day of the trip, Asmara began to feel like a kind of snow globe, a city hermetically sealed under a glass dome, an alternate, un-globalized universe where virtually nothing comes or goes."
Yes, this "glass dome" is very preserved, naturally and nurturewise, not to be broken, as we know people from a glass house would never start to throw rocks, to start fight, except preserving their preserved living dome. A "journalist" of your type would not fit to live in that house, only the qualified ones!
Then she felt bad about an Asmara psycho who was deprived USAid food-aid. She goes:
"One day, a man walking down the street began screaming into the quiet afternoon. His words, a few explicatives inappropriate for a family newspaper, bounced around the pale pink and yellow buildings. Then he stopped, and kept walking."
I wonder what you would say about Iraqi, Afghanistan, Korean, and Vietnames VA psychos in every downtown of the USA cities. May be that "pink and yellow building" had a USAid logo he would have behaved.
Finally, she goes:
"It was incongruous with this lovely and subdued capital, and yet, somehow, understandable."
Thank you for your understanding, steph! An incongruent journalist wouldn't put the puzzles together right. You would be congruent when you come back to the new American "dream come thru" capital, enjoying crime filled and overpopulated DC.
C.C.
Assab deprived utopian nazret
12/17/09 @ 13:38
Comment from: woldeyesus [Visitor]
I wish I was able to doubt what Mrs. McCrummen wrote about Asmara. Unfortunately, I believe every line she wrote. Although I was never to Asmara, I had several good friends when I was in school, in the good old days. And I am sorry that the current situation is not better for them and their families than those years in which they were unhappy about their being counted together with the rest of Ethiopia.
My prayers, wishes and hopes for a better future for Eritreans including Ethiopians is stronger than ever.
My prayers, wishes and hopes for a better future for Eritreans including Ethiopians is stronger than ever.
12/18/09 @ 14:16
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