Its Time for a Unity Government in Exile - ERITREA
Posted: 03 Feb 2021, 20:19
Nineteen years ago today, on February 2nd 2002, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki corrupted the Eritrean Parliament into taking measures that were effectively institutional suicide. How and why it took this shameful and fatal step is chronicled here. Unquestionably, the removal of an institution that was the last check on the executive accelerated Eritrea’s slide into a One Man Monocracy, which has led Eritrea from one self-inflected wound to another to arrive where it is now: a country without a constitution, without any liberties, where its citizens live in fear of their government and, unlike some people who live in totalitarian states but have something to show for it by way of a higher living standard, our people are poorer for it: materially, spiritually, and any other “ly” that measures human development.
This author had argued before that the solution is a “democratic coup”: meaning, for the ruling party to reset itself and set the country on a path to democracy. (article published at awate can be found here. ) This, obviously, would mean that those who are in a position to do so–the leaders of the Eritrean government’s civilian and military institutions–to remove Isaias Afwerki from power and resume the path that was started in 1997 when the country’s constitution was ratified. This idea was further fleshed out in more detail by former Minister of Finance Berhane Abrehe in his book: Hagherey Ertra, whose English summary and critique is is available here. This author and Berhane Abrehe made the assumption that it was still possible for Eritreans inside Eritrea to be the engineers of this change, a prospect that seems distant now in a land ravaged by Isaias Afwerki’s sadism and a pandemic.
It is time that the Eritrean Diaspora assumed more of the responsibility and in this article, I will try to flesh out an idea that I consider viable and, more importantly, grants our future leaders instant legitimacy.
Before I propose my idea, let’s agree on the facts, first:
Continue reading
This author had argued before that the solution is a “democratic coup”: meaning, for the ruling party to reset itself and set the country on a path to democracy. (article published at awate can be found here. ) This, obviously, would mean that those who are in a position to do so–the leaders of the Eritrean government’s civilian and military institutions–to remove Isaias Afwerki from power and resume the path that was started in 1997 when the country’s constitution was ratified. This idea was further fleshed out in more detail by former Minister of Finance Berhane Abrehe in his book: Hagherey Ertra, whose English summary and critique is is available here. This author and Berhane Abrehe made the assumption that it was still possible for Eritreans inside Eritrea to be the engineers of this change, a prospect that seems distant now in a land ravaged by Isaias Afwerki’s sadism and a pandemic.
It is time that the Eritrean Diaspora assumed more of the responsibility and in this article, I will try to flesh out an idea that I consider viable and, more importantly, grants our future leaders instant legitimacy.
Before I propose my idea, let’s agree on the facts, first:
Continue reading
