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Le Monde: Irresponsible Accusations against Eritrea

GENERAL

https://shabait.com/2020/11/06/le-monde ... t-eritrea/

Nov 6, 2020



In its publication of November 5, entitled Ethiopia: the threat of Civil War, Le Monde insinuates, on the basis of innuendos and speculation, that

the Eritrean leader is the ‘master builder’ of the start of the conflict, which, despite its local appearance, is dangerous in more ways than one.

Le Monde quotes a single, anonymous, “knowledgeable source” in validating its baseless accusations.

This ridiculous assertion flies in the face of stark facts. The immediate cause of the current conflict is TPLF’s reckless and multi-pronged attack this week on contingents of the Ethiopian Armed Forces – the Northern Command – deployed in the Tigray Region for decades. The TPLF itself has not denied this fact even though this was couched in terms of,

pre-emptive action to neutralize the Northern Command and the requisition of its weaponry.

Le Monde’s defamatory article is also replete with other inexcusable factual errors and presumptions. It asserts, for instance, that

the Ethiopia’s Constitution was tailor-made to allow Eritrea to secede from Ethiopia in 1993.

In the first place, Ethiopia’s Constitution has no jurisdiction or relevance whatsoever to Eritrea. Furthermore, the Ethiopian Constitution that the authors of the article invoke was drafted in 1994 – one full year after the formal independence of Eritrea following the internationally-supervised referendum that Eritrea held out of its own volition in the sequel of its military victory in the 30-year armed struggle of national liberation against foreign occupation.

Unless rectified, sloppy journalism of this magnitude can only blight Le Monde’s image and do a disservice to its readers.

Ministry of Information
Asmara
6 November 2020

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NCEA Condemns Mike Rubin's OPED


The National Council of Eritrean Americans (NCEA) would like to express its profound dismay, at what appears to be a deliberate distortion of facts by Michael Rubin’s latest article in The Washington Examiner. On November 2, 2020, the Washington Examiner published Michael Ruben’s OPED, titled

The State Department can and should stop Eritrea’s illegal ‘diaspora tax’ in the US.

The author, based on a baseless premise, calls for a punitive measure against the Embassy of Eritrea by urging the State Department to take action to stop an African Diaspora from helping a promising African country. The writer erroneously describes Eritrean-Americans in the USA as "fleeing" from dictatorship though the majority has been in the USA going all the way to the 1960s, years before Eritrea achieved its independence in 1991.

The matter of the Diaspora taxes, the principal issue Mr. Rubin raises in his attempt to undermine the hard- fought sovereignty of this young African nation, has long been rendered as a voluntary remittance and a means of supporting the various development projects in Eritrea regarded by many as a model of a country striving to promote self-reliance rather than dependence on foreign handouts. To show you how wrong Mr. Rubin has been about Eritrean-Americans, let’s give you a recent example demonstrating diligent and conscientious citizenry on how Eritrean-Americans across the country took proactive roles and raised millions of US dollars in less than 2-weeks to help the fight against COVID-19 in Eritrea. It must be understood, Eritreans in the Diaspora are not willing to see their country of origin beg for aid if they have a means to help it. No one is forced or coerced to participate in these noble humanitarian causes and thus, the article's accusation is baseless.

Another opinion, without contextual clarity or evidence, imbues an erroneous picture of the reality in Eritrea, yet again. Although one can wonder intent, continued historical rhetoric of maliciously crafted propaganda to destroy a superior example of self-determination and self-governance provides a clear picture of an agenda in the modern-day scramble for (or scavenge of) Africa’s resources.

Here is a glimpse of the reality of Eritrea for those without hidden political agendas, who truly want to know about and understand the essence of Eritrea. Eritrea cannot be understood, without understanding Eritreans. For over 50 years, Eritreans have been a people targeted, if not for absolute genocide, for absolute domination. Eritreans have persisted in resilience, fighting for the right to be self-reliant and to self- governed. The Eritrean people, with virtually no assistance from the international community, gained their independence and secured their statehood. An achievement not handed to them by inked pens, but by the flow of the blood of their children. To render Eritreans feeble is ignorance, be it innocent or malicious. Attempting to impress a false narrative the Eritrean masses are not participatory in Eritrea’s present, past, and future is also spiteful.

The majority of Eritreans in the diaspora have historically been proactive participants at every step of Eritrea’s journey: from the harrowing struggle for liberation to nation building, to preserving her sovereignty. Within this context and the continued desire of the Eritrean Diaspora to infuse itself in a development process based on self-sufficiency, the Eritrean Diaspora initiated and embraced the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Tax (RRT) soon after independence. The policy specifies that every Eritrean citizen in the diaspora is entitled to all rights and privileges that citizenship provides, without regard to payment of the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Tax. The policy is only activated, when a citizen seeks administrative or legal services of the government. Even in its procedural flow, it is the citizen that initiates the process for payment.

The NCEA strongly condemns, all attempts designed to take Eritrean-American rights to help Eritrea.

National Council of Eritrean Americans (NCEA)

2154 24th Pl NE, Washington, D.C. 20018

e-mail: [email protected]


NCEA-Response to Mike-Rubin.pdf- File: http://dehai.org/dehai/assets/dehai/202 ... -Rubin.pdf

Confused Alem Weyane wedi General, who has never seen independent Eritrea, advocating for his brothers in Tigray. Yirdaekum

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In a way, every 'expert' wanted to see Eritrea's direct involvement in the ongoing operation against TPLF probably for two reasons:

1) Worried that Eritrea's involvement would prematurely end the crisis, which is not good for crisis profiteers, or
2) The involvement helps to internationalise the crisis, such that other actors may join in to rescue the TPLF.

[Let us not fret, about how the western press is interpreting the on going anti-terrorist operation in Ethiopia. But instead, we should make a level headed analysis of HOW the western press is reporting the events. And from what I have been seeing, I have come to one very critical observation; It appears that by PMAA hitting the TPLF and the west crying foul, the west's SWEET SWEET SPOT has been found!

As the west cried foul when the nexus of Russia/Iran/Hezbollah/Syrian Arab Army finally took Aleppo away from the Terrorist In Syria, so to are they crying like little babies as PMAA wrestles Tigray away from their favored sh*t slingers.

And really that's the standard operating procedure of the west, they use any method possible to put into place and maintain a group that's willing to do all of their dirty work of causing as much chaos as possible in a given region, as this terrorist group goes about setting fire to the region and causing untold amount of suffering, the west then sends in their financial vultures to pick at the dying carcass of that region. Apparently they call this strategy "Zero Sum Game", or winner take all.

In the mean time, we should expect for the west to either provide cover or engage in obstructionist behavior to prolong the life of their favorite terrorists in the region. But it won't be more than what we've seen in the past, and to end on a positive note, most of their tactic of causing disruption is generally done behind the curtain, by them getting yanked out into the light, most of the war has been won. We know the sides, and thus we know the enemy.]
Courtesy of: Lalimba

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And for those who're interested in some comedy, here it is:

Fikre
ባዕልኻ ዝፈሓርካዮ ጎድጓድ ተመሊሳ ንዓኻ : The Wisdom of Elders

By: Dr Fikrejesus Amhazion

https://fiqre4eri.wordpress.com/2020/11 ... ssion=true

11 hours ago



In Eritrea, there is a popular Tigrigna proverb cautioning that,

ባዕልኻ ዝፈሓርካዮ ጎድጓድ ተመሊሳ ንዓኻ (balaka ze’faharkaya gud’gad, temelesa niaka).

Roughly, this may be translated and understood as,

the ditch/hole that you dig for others, will actually end up swallowing you.

The first time I heard this proverb was years ago, as I sat with a group of elders under the cool shade of a large tree in the Debub (South) region of the country, not far from my mother’s ancestral lands. One by one, each of the owlish elders in the group shared a story, sometimes of an actual event from their own lives, sometimes fictional, but always entertaining, enlightening, and infused with a strong message.

Returning to the aforementioned proverb, it was actually delivered as the punchline to a particularly memorable story that one of the group members had shared about a crooked person who had lived in a surrounding village long ago. To briefly summarize, the individual, although relatively well off, was unscrupulous. He spent all of his time plotting mischievously against his simple neighbors, driven by a greedy attempt to acquire more land, a greater harvest, and more animals. In the end, however, despite – or rather because of – his well-laid plans and plotting, he was left destitute and with nothing.

I could not help but recall this story and the popular Tigrigna proverb that the elders had shared with me all those years ago, as I observed the significant events that have been unfolding in our region in recent times. In particular, earlier this week, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed ordered a military offensive to subdue the region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The move came after TPLF forces launched an attack on a federal army base, trying “to loot” military assets, according to the PM.

Our defence forces … have been ordered to carry out their mission to save the country. The final point of the red line has been crossed. Force is being used as the last measure to save the people and the country,

he declared.

In a television address, the PM also added that the TPLF attack resulted in

many martyrs, injuries and property damage.

National authorities have shut down electricity, telephone, and internet services in Tigray, while the Ethiopian cabinet has also declared a six-month state of emergency in the region (to be overseen by a task force led by the head of the army). The recent situation is just the latest part of tensions, that have been escalating for several years.

In many ways, the recent events in our region demonstrate the lessons and message of the Tigrigna proverb, rather well. For one, consider how for years, the TPLF regime made loud and frequent calls for the overthrow of the Eritrean government and, through belligerent, threatening statements via government-owned media outlets, proclaimed its intentions to carry out

military action to oust the regime in Eritrea.

Of course, its policy of regime change and pattern of unrelenting aggression also extended to other governments in the region with which it did not agree or particularly get along with.

However, several years ago, it was the TPLF that would be swept from power, on the back of years of massive and widespread anti-government protests. Ethiopia is divided into ethnically-based states, within a federal system. That system had long been ruled by a coalition of four parties, which was known as the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and was dominated by the Tigrayan minority, who make up approximately only 6% of the country’s total population of 110 million. In 2015, large protests about land seizures and evictions, unemployment, torture and human rights abuses, widespread corruption, and economic and political marginalization quickly spread across the country and threatened to bring down the government. Thousands were killed or arrested, there was large-scale displacement, and the country was put under an extended nationwide state of emergency. It was on this backdrop of turmoil, mounting discontent, and widespread unrest, that the EPRDF regime began to fall apart, and the TPLF would fall precipitously. In the end, like the plotting villager, the plans for regime change that the group had devised and set out for others would actually come to pass upon it.

Or consider the topic of isolation. Again, for years, one of the TPLF’s overwhelming aims, working closely with several international partners, was to isolate Eritrea and undercut its support. For instance, a leaked 2005 US embassy cable in Addis Ababa described how the TPLF-led Ethiopian government’s strategy was to,

isolate Eritrea and wait for it to implode economically.

However, along the lines of the proverb, the plans and aims ended in vain. The developments from recent weeks and years show, that there is only one group that can accurately be described as isolated and alone. While most of the Horn of Africa wants peace and cooperation, recognizing it as the only viable way to ensure prosperity, progress, and better circumstances for the region, one group stands apart and alone in its view that peace and cooperation are negative, threatening, and dangerous.

Finally, consider the issue of terror. For years, the TPLF’s military and security apparatus concocted and spread false claims and information alleging that Eritrea was a destabilizing force and a sponsor of terror, while it also a branded any domestic opposition as terrorism. Yet, in another reflection of the profound proverb, it is the former ruling regime that has been shown to have ruled on a system of terror. Moreover, just this week, Ethiopia’s federal parliament – which the TPLF had once lorded over – criticized the TPLF’s destabilizing activities and proposed that it be designated as a

terrorist organization.

Returning to the group of elders, not a single one had top academic credentials or boasted some fancy, high-sounding title. However, each was extremely wise and very intelligent. Their simple, yet powerful, stories and messages displayed a deep reservoir of understanding and great knowledge about life, the world, and their community. While many commentators and so-called experts are falling over themselves rushing to explain the regional developments that have been unfolding in recent times, the most perceptive, insightful, and astute understanding may actually be that of the elders:

ባዕልኻ ዝፈሓርካዮ ጎድጓድ ተመሊሳ ንዓኻ (balaka ze’faharkaya gud’gad, temelesa niaka).

The vultures, have already started circling. Note how military targets around Mekele being hit, was misconstrued to look like the city is being bombed!