Eritrean Citizens vs. Bloody Mercenaries
11 Feb 2018
Defeating the Eritrean mercenaries, at their own game.
Eritreans defended the legacy, history, reputation and image of Eritrea. No matter how much the anti-Eritrea establishment invested on some mercenaries dubbed as “activists”, regardless of the power and influence it wields, the people of Eritrea fought back and beat them.
BY AMANUEL BIEDEMARIAM
Occasionally, we come across very important revelations that serve as evidence to conspiracies, that Eritreans long claimed existed against them. These conspiracies are multifaceted, funded by organizations with deep-pockets and intent on ensuring the success of their agendas no matter what. The obvious questions are: why, whom, when, where and how?
To weaken, destabilize, replace the government and control Eritrea. If they succeed, Eritrea gives Washington control of a large swath of strategic territory on the Red Sea. Not to mention unparalleled natural resources including, gold potash, zinc, cobalt, and oil. Eritrea is rich with marine resources and untapped potential for tourism. Eritrea is on one of the most strategic waterways of the world.
To achieve its greater agenda, Washington made Ethiopia the Anchor State of the region whereby it can control its agendas over the region and beyond. Ethiopia as host to the African Union enables the US to pursue its African agenda from one central place. Defeating Eritrea, satisfies Ethiopian hegemony and Washington’s agendas.
To that end, Washington gives Ethiopia the green light and all the resources necessary to pursue its anti-Eritrea agenda. As a result, for successive Ethiopian regimes, Eritrea has been a cash cow. Hence, waging wars to undermine Eritrea is the primary job of all Ethiopian regimes, past and present.
For decades, Washington and Ethiopia colluded to control Eritrea by any means necessary. France, Germany, UK, Europe, and others followed Washington’s suite and cooperated to ensure regime change. In fact, before Iraq, Libya, Syria, Egypt and others, Eritrea was the first target of Washington’s regime change agenda.
Eritrea is an easy target for the West because her independent “self-reliant” path is considered a threat to the way the West operated in Africa for centuries. The West and other powerful nations have long concluded Africa must remain in a state of disarray, to exploit its resources unchallenged.
Encouraging conflicts, bribing officials, weakening institutional structures and predatory lending practices are their preferred methods. Sophisticated methodologies are applied to ensure the failure of military, banking, educational, administrative, legislative, economic and other institutions. UN-imposed sanctions are a part of the scheme.
The illegal sanctions they imposed against Eritrea, are designed to kill Eritrea’s banking institutions. No country in the world could bank with Eritrea, for fear of violating the sanctions regime. The military institutions of Eritrea, are another. They targeted the youth, to accomplish many objectives. It denies Eritrea human resources, vital to nation-building and national defense.
To justify their punitive measures against Eritrea and to weaken diaspora support, overt global vilification campaigns were conducted. To encourage youth flight, Eritreans are granted political asylum expeditiously. Eritreans that seek asylum are also encouraged and incentivized to campaign against their government, wherever they reside.
National Endowment for Democracy (NED), is one-way US State Department influences elections and imposes changes in countries of interest. NED is an extension of the State Department, the military-industrial complex and multinational corporations that seek to induce change in countries of interest based on the interests of their organizations.
NED is a key funder, of the campaigns against Eritrea.
According to NED’s annual grant disbursement report:
They gave
Biniam Simon of Radio Erena, $49,526. The justification for the payment:
Building Capacity for Radio Erena. To strengthen the organizational capacity. The only independent radio station to broadcast to Eritrea, and to ensure its long-term sustainability. The organization will recruit and train financial and administrative staff, support the development of a strategic work plan, and recruit new board members to support overall capacity.
The head of Erena, Biniam Simon was sent to Japan by Eritrea for training. Biniam Simon was recruited by
Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) in Japan, and was sent to France. RSF receives part of its funding, from NED and Open Society Foundation. NED is paying Biniam, $49,526.
By all standards, Biniam Simon is a traitor who squandered the funds the people of Eritrea paid for his training. Simon absconded and sought asylum, based on none existent threat to his safety. Why would Eritrea send Biniam for training to Japan, and turn around and put him in prison? Worse yet, why would France grant him asylum and RSF help him with funding to establish Radio Erena?
The standards applied to grant Biniam asylum and the hero’s welcome accorded to him is simply mind-boggling. On July 16, 2017,
the Guardian wrote a 10-page article and, glorified Biniam Simon the traitor who betrayed his people.
NED is funding all types of subversive activities, against Eritrea. The 2017 grant disbursement report shows, a wide array of funding projects. These are anti-Eritrean elements intent on destabilizing, demonizing and regime change advocates. To mention some:
$39,400 to “Forum for National Dialogue”, run by
Tekeste Asefaw
To enhance the capacity of young Eritreans in the diaspora to engage in the long-term development of democracy in Eritrea. The organization will conduct training on and disseminate information about human rights, youth in peacebuilding, leadership, strategic communications, intergenerational dialogue and mobilization, constitutionalism, and developing and managing accountable governing institutions.
$75,305 to “Human Rights Concern”, run by
Elsa Chyrum.
To increase awareness of the human rights struggle in Eritrea. The organization will engage with key international and regional human rights bodies and raise awareness on human rights issues affecting Eritreans inside and outside Eritrea.
$15,000 to “Eritrean Global Solidarity LLC”, run by
Seyoum Tesfaye.
To increase solidarity and understanding among Eritreans in the diaspora and share ideas and solutions on long-term transformation in Eritrea. The grantee will hold a two-day conference for activists and intellectuals, who will present papers and participate on panels. It will present a final report with recommendations.
Citizen Advocacy the Antidote
The people of Eritrea have proved to be formidable, in ways that the enemies never imagined. Eritreans are capable to persevere. They understand the psychological warfare, waged against them. No matter how sophisticated, Eritreans managed to identify the hostile nature of the campaigns and fought back.
The collusion between State Department, NED, Open Society Foundation, the so-called Mainstream Media and the anti-Eritrea elements that operate in the name of opposition, human rights, freedom of press, civil society organization and opinion peddlers is clear in this case.
Also, evident, these are the organizations and personalities that the people of Eritrea worked hard to expose and fought against for nearly two decades. But, no matter how much the establishment tried, no matter how much resources they invested, regardless of the power and influence they exerted; the people of Eritrea fought and beat them.
This is unprecedented! Eritreans all over the world took it upon themselves, and fought western campaigns. Self-initiated social media campaigns, demonstrations, write-in, mass-emailing are some of the ways Eritreans managed to go toe-to-toe against established establishments.
This is clear evidence that citizens of a nation can come together based on a mission, to defend the truth. Eritreans defended the legacy, the history, reputation and image of Eritrea. They stood against continued-injustices, that are the reasons for their plight in the first place. They stood for their country, that is maligned unjustly. They stood with their people, any-way they could. To please the superpowers, the world ignored justice and abandoned Eritrea. However, Eritreans showed they can stand on their own.
Conclusion
What Eritreans managed to achieve over the last two decades, is unprecedented. There are millions of people from many countries that reside in the west, and witness countries of their origin vilified unjustly. Eritreans are fighting it, successfully. The nations, organizations and individual Eritrea fought against are established, organized, well-funded and intellectually capable. Eritreans, on the other hand, are not funded and do not possess the media presence of their foes.
This shows, Eritreans are all about Eritrea and can move mountains. But it also shows, moving forward, Eritreans in the diaspora need to organize, establish media-capacities, enhance their lobbying abilities and maximize their reach to benefit their people in times of good just as they did during hard times.
