FOREWORD
“………. As you know, separation and departure for a series of different chapters of life has set its feet already. However, realizing that we are living in a globalized world, I hope that our sense of cooperation and solidarity will sail smoothly…….”
Sometimes, we carefully say something that we really mean to say, and sometimes we make “a slip of tongue” and become guilty of unintentional utterance, and sometimes we don’t pay much attention to what we have said - be it intentional or accidental - until we see its result at some point of time in the future. The above quoted message is part of what I would like to call “a prophetic speech” that I gave on the occasion of a farewell party - with fellow university graduating class of the department of Business Management - some nine years back. I still remember that special day, as we were all excited, very much relieved and happily united to say bingo to the couple of hectic, yet fascinating years that we spent together at the sole University in the country - University of Asmara. It was taking place just few weeks before our assignments to the different ministries and other government organizations, to do our one year internship program. When I said separation and departure, in that short speech, I really had no idea if it would turn out to be an unintentional prediction of our painful inevitable fate - fleeing the country. Because, I have now learned that more than half of us - 16 out of 26 - who partied on that special day, have already left the country, looking for our personal freedom elsewhere. I brought this typical example of our exodus, in order to give readers a real picture of what has been the truth about Eritrea – a historical irony for more than a decade. A sad part of our history in the making that must be documented in one way or another. Loads of questions can be raised about the causes to our exodus in mass. Indeed, the obvious mistreatment by the ruling dictatorial regime has been the pivotal reason behind the exodus.
Starting the last month of the year 2000, right after the two-years-long border conflict with Ethiopia ended with a ceasefire, so many vigilant Eritreans raised important questions regarding the need for implementing the already ratified constitution - regardless of its shortcomings - which has been subdued by the government for years. It was meant to be the rulebook of our country. However, the dictator, President Isaias Afwerki, didn’t want to implement it. What a shame and insane act to be betrayed by one of our revolutionary leaders. Nobody has expected to see only one president for more than two decades in an independent Eritrea; and hearing like the following response from him, simply strengthens my argument that our history has never been set free from betrayal, even after independence.
“We will see what the elections in the United States will bring about and we will wait 30 to 40 years ...... maybe more ...... to have democratic elections in Eritrea”
This was President Isaias’ response to Aljazeera’s Riz Khan program question “When are elections going to be held in Eritrea?” – it really gave him a terrible heartache in an in-depth interview, which took place on May 22, 2008.
Indeed, after successive Italian and British colonisations, Eritrea as a nation did witness an act of betrayal by the western countries, some six decades back, when they unjustifiably decided to bury our desire for independence. We have a well documented history of betrayal, when the UN passed the resolution 390-A(V) to federate Eritrea with Ethiopia in 1952. Typical example of betrayal that manifested the interest of western countries in Eritrea, because of its strategic location, linking Africa and the Middle East, and to enhance their relationship with the then very diplomatic Emperor Haileselassie of Ethiopia. It was passed against the unshakable desire, long awaited dream and expressed will of our people for independence; and most notably despite the fact that most African countries were given their independence at that time.
Hence, after being betrayed by the world, we had to go through decades of war for independence. And we achieved our long awaited independence, after 30 years of bloody war with Ethiopia, in May 1991. We have never been lucky in history though, as our independence has also brought us another two and still continuing decades of betrayal - by our own leaders. As a result of our martyrdom for independence, we were rewarded with dictatorial leadership, stubborn leaders and no signs of willingness for rule of law - just like the times of the colonial period. All concerned Eritreans did realize the regime’s primary intention of prolonging its stay in power by using the border conflict with Ethiopia as an excuse. Questions were raised right after the war ended in 2000 and those who challenged the regime in different occasions were targeted for imprisonment. As a result, many fellow Eritreans started leaving the country to avoid torture, suffering and repression. Ever since that year, therefore, it has been history of exodus in the making for Eritreans.
Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, has once said “To live is to choose.” And to make the best choice in life, he gave us the precious advice “You must know who you are, what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.” This is a very powerful advice that I believe can help us make the right decisions to fulfil our dreams. Indeed, we have to accept the reality that we can’t always be offered with desirable choices in this paradoxically unfair world. Hence, Annan’s saying needs to be complemented with a famous proverb in my mother language, Tigrigna, which says “Choose from what the market has to offer you and not what your mother has sent you to get her.” (loose translation). Although, we humans are responsible for whatever decisions we make in our lives, these decisions can definitely be affected by external factors. As citizens of the contemporary world, we Eritreans have been making our history in various facets of life. One of them is the prevailing exodus from our beloved country – after having been pushed by the regime and not on our own choices. We have been taking our journeys, mostly through the tightly controlled borders with Sudan and Ethiopia. In most cases without planned final destinations and unlike the Israelites, there hasn’t been a guide like the Prophet Moses - to collectively lead us all the way to our preferred destinations.
It is written in the Bible that Moses was chosen to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, through the wilderness of Sinai desert, where God revealed himself and offered them a covenant that they were to keep his law, and in return He would be their God and give them the land filled with many good things, Canaan, where they would be free from the troubles that they experienced for centuries. And, God ordered Moses to lead them, as stated in the following verses from the bible:
Exodus 3:9-10 “I have heard the cries of the Israelites, and I have seen the way the Egyptians have made life hard for them. So now I am sending you to Pharaoh. Go! Lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
Their tortures, as written in the above verses of the Bible, have also been mentioned in Quran’s Sura 14:6, which says, “When Moses said to his people: Remember Allah’s favour to you, when He delivered you from the people of Pharaoh, who imposed upon you a dreadful torment, slaughtered your sons and spared your women.” Thus, whether it is in the Bible, Quran or historical books, all we have come to know is that the suffering of Israelites under the Pharaoh did pave the way to their famous history of exodus from Egypt - after living in the country for about 430 years.
The term “exodus” literally means going out; a departure or emigration, usually of a large number of people. The Bible’s book of exodus, as we know, is all about the mass journey of Israelites from Egypt all the way to Canaan. The title of this book is, therefore, given to show the strong fact of historical similarities that exist between the exodus of Israelites to Canaan and exodus of Eritreans for the last decade to multiple destinations. Both exoduses have got the main motive of avoiding tortures and looking freedom. Because, there is no question that freedom is as important as oxygen, for every human creature - as we need it badly in our lives’ fulfilment.
Freedom, as defined in so many occasions, refers in a very general sense to the state of being unrestricted, unconfined or unfettered. History tells us that, people who are deprived of their freedom turn out to be aggressive in trying to get it back. This has always been true, whether it is national freedom or personal freedom - like freedom of speech, movement, press, religion, choice and other basic human rights. That is why it took us 30 years of aggressive war with Ethiopian regimes - Emperor Haileselassie and Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam - to achieve our independence. The same amount of sacrifice is demanded to realize individual freedom, because, both freedoms are interlinked and have always complementary relationship.
It is just because, we humans are not willing to let our freedom be compromised, even if we are being asked to surrender it by the one who gave it to us - the almighty God. Being a believer in God, like all creationists, I believe that God gives the ultimate freedom for us to choose what is good in our lives. Unluckily, though, the dictatorial regime in Eritrea has taken every imaginable kind of freedom we received from God at birth. Despite the strong fact that the regime doesn’t have any legitimate power to take it. Hence, we needed our lost freedom badly. Internal oppositions would have been effective to pressurize the regime to get our lost freedom back - but the security network of the regime in our small country has been very tight. Neighbors are spied by their neighbors, military commanders are spied by soldiers, teachers are spied by their students, government and non-government workers are spied by their colleagues and vice versa. Everyone living in the country is under the total control of the government. Hence, the exodus, in my opinion has been one of the ways of opposing the dictatorial regime through non-violence. There is undeniable fact that those of us fleeing the country have given our lives in defending the country during its times of emergency. We could have fought to overthrow the government, but that is going to be fighting with our family members. We all have someone in the military who have been forcefully conscripted. Thus, we preferred to leave the country and see what the future holds for us and our country. There is no doubt that the main problems of the country have been the dictator, his military commanders and few other beneficiaries under the regime. As long as this regime remains in power, the suffering of our people will continue – and so will our exodus. This exodus, together with other carefully organized internal and external oppositions, will definitely pressurize the regime in the future, paving the way to a dramatic political change in the country. That will inevitably be followed by gradual political reform and mass return of us Eritreans from the Diaspora. Our dream of having economically, socially and politically stable country should by then be realized, and thus we will be able to enjoy full freedom in all aspects of life in our own country.
Tesfamichael W. Tewelde
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