The Official Organ of The Eritrean Democratic Alliance

Two Monthly Magazine

August. -September 2005
 Vol. No. 2

 EDITORIAL

 

EDA Embarks on Broadcasting Intensive Propaganda

“Tsemam hanti derfu”

“The deaf sings one song only”

A Tigrina saying

Introduction

 

The Eritrean people are treated as deaf or mute and perceived as sub-humans by the dictatorial system. As if physically programmed as dry cells in computers, to “listen only”, they have to listen devoid of uttering any word in response. Hence, the above quoted Tigrinya saying.

 

All rights and freedoms are defiantly violated with impunity. “Sink or swim” is the order of the day. One has to oblige to what he listens to keep his head above water, if otherwise, he has to face brutal treatment often times in solitary confinement under ground. Those journalists who had dared to break the silence by exposing the true nature of the obnoxious system are enduring that brutal fate. In this Essay, by “media”, print or electronic, we mean PFDJ’s, mandated to fables and lies similar to that of Nazi Germany under Goebells, Minister of Information and Propaganda, rebuffed by Ulam as “bogus and the greatest lier minister in the world.”

 

And as such the Eritrean people are not only isolated from the benefits of the bounties of information technology in general but also denied the rights to know the truth in particular. Hitler’s dogmatic axiom that “if lies are persistently repeated in relaying propaganda, people will perceive them as true and irrevocable over time”. That ill-fated rhetoric served Hitler for a while. But it was one of the causes for the enormous destruction and unfading shame of the German nation. Mengistu, Idi Amin, Bokassa and other tyrants followed Hitler’s steps that culminated in their fast downfall. Nonetheless, President Isayas and his cronies have not as yet learned from the history of their fellow dictators.

The PFDJ system had done its very best to deceive the Eritrean people and the world community by inflated fake and phony propaganda. Its machination did not pay off however. Its devious propaganda machine has with the progress of time demonstrated to the world that it is catastrophic. All its policies are founded on unrealistic premises; and as a consequence it has since its inception as a sole party in power by the barrel of the gun, has nonetheless been and still remain to be anti economic development and social progress. It is unconstitutional and governs by the rule of the thumb and at will. That is the fallacious base for its “immaginative” propaganda, a mechanism it deplorably deploys to camouflage and conceal its sinister motives from the Eritrean people and the world at large.

 

EDA has of recently embarked on broadcasting intensive propaganda. Its broadcasting will not be limited to disqualifying and nullifying the unfounded, unrealistic and fictitious news and information being broadcast by the system, which for many years has divorced itself from reality. It is also gravely concerned that the illusioned people are deprived of the right of knowing the truth they deserve. It will vigorously engage itself in brad-casting to their full satisfaction, an unavoidable and inescapable task which it has to perform. Likewise, its propaganda is geared towards uplifting the political consciousness of the subjugated people who are forcibly made “deaf” and therefore, considered as “robots” or ignorant by the tyrannical system. It is to persistently convey the idea that they are the masters of their own country.

 

EDA’s position as regards propaganda is straightforward and crystal clear. It is against violence and anarchy. It condemns any form of terrorism inside or outside Eritrea. It is aware that the ferocious regime would foment ill-conceived designs to procrastinate the genuine propaganda work by EDA, with malicious intrigues and vigilante crimes to deliberately deny the people from listening and knowing the truth or to cut short, their positive response to its calls.

 

EDA however, will strictly adhere to civilized codes of propaganda. It abhors bloodshed since incalculable, but priceless blood had been shed both before and soon after PFDJ’s grip on power.

 

Radio broadcasting is the most effective means of communication with high potential of reaching as many people as possible with the power of imparting strong impact on changing people’s ideas, attitudes and beliefs and particularly so in developing nations. Nevertheless, it should also be supported by print media, give away pamphlets, news and information bulletins, posters …etc. the scope of this Essay is however, limited to radio broadcasting and propaganda.

 

The Essay is organized in two parts. Part one will attempt at explaining to our readers the initiative, the rationale and substantiation that justifies EDA’s motives of launching regular dissemination of news and information and intensive propaganda.

 

Part two of the Essay will focus on the strategies of propaganda. Their intended goals will briefly be highlighted at every stage of their planned implementation.

PART ONE

Eritrea: A Colorful Mosaic of Cultures and Languages

 

The Eritrean society is a mosaic of colorful diversities featuring various languages, cultures, traditions and communal and societal organizations. It is the diversity and complexity of these bountiful historical indigenous heritages that make up what we call the state of Eritrea. The inter- and intra boundaries of the nations and nationalities combined solidly warrant and materialize the national integrity and sovereignty of the Eritrean state. Hence, as self contained entities and as divergent identities they collectively and in unison are part and parcel of an integrated whole of the state of Eritrea.

 

Likewise, EDA is a replica of unity in diversity. It is a conglomerate of sixteen national parties as diversified as the Eritrean people themselves. Its broad based formation as a central organization explains its strong position to safeguard and respect what Eritreans posses as a matter of their birthright so that they could make full use of their rights in deciding the direction of their destiny.

It is not solely for the sake for the conceptual frame work of democracy that EDA formally and aggressively vows to detrimentally respond to the demands of the suffering people to peace, justine and tranquility, but crucially because of the contextual analogy that lays bare, and in concrete terms, their devotion to their nation and their passion to national pride with their diversified languages cultures and traditions intact as ever.

 

PART TWO

 

Broad casting strategies and envisaged goals

 

It is in light of these realities that EDA has since April 2004 began intensive radio broad castling. Its justified, substantiated and qualified premises to utilize radio-broadcasting is envisaged to focus on three sequential but inseparable strategies.

 

First Strategy: Confidence Building

 

To build a bridge to walk over and communicate with the oppressed people so as to facilitate conducive ground for building common understanding and a sense of belongingness between the people and EDA.

To enlighten the perplexed people about the distorted and fabricated news and information and the destructive economic, social, political and national defense policies being propagated by the media of the scandalous system, in order to enable them to be conscious enough and reject in earnest, the machinations it deploys to prolong its life on power.

To disseminate general political education to inculcate the virtues of peace, justice, equality, all forms of freedom and human rights on the subjugated people so that they could fully realize the unbearable conditions they are enduring under the terrorist system and;

To initiate the war ravaged and poverty-ridden people to revive and revitalize the high value they attach to resolving their internal conflicts and to managing their local or communal affairs in order for them to sustain their common bond, mutual respect and peaceful co-existence denied to them by the “divide and rule” doctrines of the irresponsible system.

 

Once these fundamentals are perceived as having been deeply felt by the majority of the unprivileged people it would be possible to assume:

Considering that these fundamental objectives were accomplished as initially anticipated, EDA would launch its second strategy, a continuation of the first and part and parcel of the third, though the ultimate goal of the strategies is the same. Nevertheless, the second strategy of broadcasting would be intensive and extensive in terms of scope and magnitude of transmission and articulated substance of propaganda.

·

That they have come to realize that their lofty aspirations to peace, justice, freedom and equality are being aggressively obliterated by the tyrannical system;·

That they have come to believe that the rogue system is not only dictatorial but also provocative and war mongering, lavishly spending million of hard currency on militarism devouring the meager resources of the poor country at the cost of the lives of many thousands of youth in particular and of a two thirds of the destitute and starving people in general; ·

That they have come to observe in concrete terms that the reckless system’s sinister designs are aimed at disintegrating the country into pieces by creating divisive means of perpetrating suspicions and hatred among a cross section of the Eritrean population and under that pretext fomenting havoc and destruction deliberatly rejecting the high need of nation building and socio-economic progress and, ·

That they have come to feel it to the bones that the system is tyrannical by nature, devoid of the rule of law, ferociously intimidating, humiliating, cajoling, torturing, maiming and killing many thousands of innocent citizens with impunity and hence a cause and factor for bad governance, moral decadence, family disintegration and unprecedented migration.  

All propaganda work will be geared towards achieving national consensus of the majority of the people targeted at mass mobilization for a broad national outlook. At this stage of broadcasting, EDA should have acquired plenty of know-how and practical experience in broadcasting tantamount to rendering the fables and lies of the propaganda machine of the disgracing system void and fraudulent so as to be able to rally the people behind its genuine and sacred missions.

 

Second Strategy: Motivational

 

Consistently motivate the embittered people condemn the unconstitutionality of the terrorist system so that they voice out their grievances and their aspirations to a broad based democratic state loud and clear.

Persistently motivate the unprivileged people to condemn the criminal system for its indiscriminate detention, humiliation, torture, maiming and killing of innocent citizens and to demand that it stops its law less ness and to set free all those under its brutal custody.

Continuously motivate the suffering people to condemn the reckless system’s impoverishing socio-economic; destructive defense and security and arrogant foreign policies and demand that they are replaced by pragmatic political, economic and social policies so that the ever-worsening socio-economic degeneration: poverty, famine and starvation: unemployment and migration are alleviated by self governing society. Vigorously motivate the desperate people to condemn the despotic system for triggering the bloody border-war with Ethiopia which has been the cause for 19,000 Eritrean youth to perish and demand that the dispute be resolved by a civilized means.

Tirelessly motivate the demoralized people to condemn the irresponsible system for its war-mongering nature and demand that it stops the crimes and atrocities it violently commits against neighboring countries so that Eritrea could focus on good neighborliness, peaceful co-existence, smooth trade and commercial ties and there by do away with backwardness.

Relentlessly motivate the disenchanted people to condemn the system for its mad passion for power without giving any heed to pluralistic grass roots participatory elections by strictly prohibiting and scaring the opposition forces from operating inside Eritrean, depriving the people of their rights to democratically chose from among many who could represent them in the decision making process of their future destiny.

Aggressively motivate the illusioned people to condemn the system for its devious “divide and rule” policy and demand that all Eritreans be equally treated as nationals to avoid ethnic conflict and civil strife’s and salvage the country from disintegrating in to disarray.

 

Parents and families of the deceased whose beloved members had perished during the boarder war and those who have been driven to jails or who have been heavily fined because their sons and daughters have evaded or escaped military training will be mobilized to express their distress and agony demanding the system to stop and without any pre-condition militarism and military regimentation. Orphans, custodians of orphans, the helpless elderly, the wounded, the maimed and the incapacitated who have been directly or indirectly victimized by the unexpected borer-war would be motivated to do the same.

 

Youth and students associations will be motivated to demonstrate their frustration over the system’s heinous educational policy demanding that it re-opens schools, colleges and the university of Asmara which it has shut off for the sake of asserting its grip on power by military means and to deliberately procrastinate future development prospects of the country in general and to perpetrate irreversible disaster over youth and students in particular, denying them the right to education and national rehabilitation and re-construction in which they could have contributed a priceless human capital, expert ice and labor.

 

Village elders, community leaders, representatives of cultural, religious and civic associations will be motivated to demonstrate their opposition to the unconstitutionality of the dictatorial system demanding pluralistic and broad based democratic elections in which all opposition forces against the regime could full-fledgedly and fairly be represented as contenders. It is envisaged that these segments of the population would be instrumental in exposing its reckless desighns of oppressing all forms of freedom –intellectual, professional, religious, cultural…etc including rights to free press, rallies and demonstrations informal social and communal gatherings travel and visit to other places as well as laying bare its injustice and appalling practices of governance.

 

Meanwhile EDA will further strength its diplomatic contacts with the rest of the world to attain full support for its envisaged goals of establishing a democratic state.

 

Third Strategy: Mass Mobilization and Demonstrations

 

Mobilization will be intensified reinforced by frequent mass demonstrations. Mobilization will carefully be planned to avoid violence and anarchy. Demonstrations will be staged peacefully to avoid skirmishes or physical confrontations with the army, the police and the security forces unless the blood shedding system resorts to the muzzle of the gun to disperse demonstrators as it usually does.

 

Nevertheless, cognizant that such eventualities could occur any time and every where perpetrated by the cursed regime, EDA would take utmost pre-cautionary measures a head of time. One of its primary and distinct measures will be to diligently and seriously convince the army, the police and the security forces to show their solidarity by demonstrating with the masses and set a living example to the “scared-to-death” obsessed people, or at least to remain neutral during peaceful rallies and demonstrations and work stoppages.

 

Artisans, laborers and labor union associations will be mobilized to demonstrate their bitterness by pin pointing the hyper-inflationary exchange rate of the Nakfa and of the soaring prices of locally produced grains and manufactured commodities by undertaking wild-eat strikes until such time that the depletating system is shaken from within and without.

 

Industrial commercial, construction, banking, insurance and business white collar workers will be mobilized to show their dissatisfaction with the “economic policy of poverty” and the decaying national economy of the regime by undertaking frequent work stoppages. They will demand that it privatize all banks, insurance, construction, industrial and commercial corporations which it confiscated without due process of law so that free market economy could be encouraged through local and foreighn investment to save the economy of the country which is on the verge of collapse.

 

 

COMMENTARY

 

PEACE FAVORS A TABLE NOT A GUN!!

 

COMMENTARY

 

PEACE FAVORS A TABLE NOT A GUN!!

 

The PFDJ’s political and socio-economic chaos has completely milled the people of Eritrea against which no legal parameters could measure. PFDJ, the heir of the Dergue regime, has socked-in the entire country in inexplicable and growing circles of political and socio-economic turmoil. The people of Eritrea has been denied of natural rights of all sorts. Citizens have been dehumanized, their personality and dignity squashed over, and their existence compromised.

 

 

The peoples of the planet are confronted with a task of fundamental importance: to learn to live in a civilized way i.e., in the conditions of proper international communication and cooperation. Eritrea and its people also have the right to enjoy the same and unconditional mental rationality. The presumed task and responsibility of the ruling party was its patriotic service to the people, the commitment and devotion for unconditional and full equality, respect for one another, flexible and diverse cooperation, and a strict observance of the principles of peaceful co-existence by all. This is what the practice of “citizen-state” internationalism rests on. The war-charged mind of the regime in Eritrea can only be entertained by war and its havoc. More often that not, excelling in war and poverty is what the regime dreams and hopes best. Issayas Afeworki, the captain of the PFDJ decrepit regime, in his well celebrated crooked linear thinking maintains the philosophy that Eritrea’s comparative advantage has been “only and only” war. The tragedy of the situation lies in the fact that, while possessing human and material potential which is quite sufficient to practically solve the problems facing Eritrea and its people, the regime has been using this potential not for the benefit of citizens’ welfare and national development but for the material preparation of its own destruction. Peace and freedom is not an option or a privilege for any society. It is a heavenly and earthly right that should be decently possessed and maintained without any limit and/or partition. The people of Eritrea lust for peace and freedom. The young and the old courageously fought to break the shackles of colonial repression and its legacy. The people restored independence and dignity after heavy and monumental sacrifice of human and material resources. However, the people of Eritrea has been so unlucky to sustain it. It has been impossible for the regime to divorce itself from the mentality of war and its attachments. The regime has not taken too long to engage the people of Eritrea into another lingering war with all its neighboring countries. The PFDJ clique launched a large scale war with Ethiopia in the pretext of border grievances to serve its egoistic interests. The war with Ethiopia inflicted enormous losses. It has deserted and torn families apart. The entire socio-economic and political immunity of the country collapsed as a consequence of the regime’s war policy. The regime has been processing the failure of Eritrea by perpetuating war and poverty. Border issues can draw the attention of the two conflicting parties for wise legal solutions not for further massive destructions. Border conflicts are universal. Likewise, there are many and varied mechanisms for their resolutions. The regime’s roaring that the cause of the war has been border unrest is not far from white insult and sarcasm to the people of Eritrea and the world community. If the regime honestly believed that the root cause of the war has been border dispute, why would it choose to solve it through the use of force instead of legal and peaceful means? The truth is that, the regime has continuously been elongating its unfaithful and predatory hands to all directions and machineries of its neighboring countries. The regime also elongates its nose and tongue whenever it is asked for the contractions of its hands. The regime’s walking ground has always been slippery. And when it falls, it never stands again. The use of force triggers for the employment of force by the other party. Consequently, the use of force demands the procurement and deployment of precious national (human and material) resources. Many workable peaceful resolutions that are vital for mediating and de-activating the war between the two countries have been suggested by many peace loving countries. In particular, the regime in Eritrea has continuously been requested for the total compensation of its troops from Badme and others to its pre-war zone. The regime’s response to the world community’s peace effort has only been its usual chauvinistic reaction and rejection. The regime was heard to undermine and treat all peaceful recommendations forwarded by all concerned and peace-loving bodies as immaterial and lifeless. And to its shame and disgrace, the regime extravagantly bragged it would control the law of nature. Leaving Badme was equated to the ever-absence of the sun from the planet. The regime confirmed that it would never accept any peaceful or legal arrangements. The primary choice of the regime has been war. The war was executed with the absence of the consensus of the Eritrean people to entertain the sole choice of the regime. Badme and its environs have been restored by force by the government of Ethiopia. The regime immediately accepted the pre-suggested frameworks for peace when it was wrecked in the battle field. The regime was told to withdraw from other areas to where it was before 1998. The regime’s arrogant and chauvinist stance also called for another round of bloody war. The regime was forcedly made to retract beyond where it was before 1998 and settled to sign a peace agreement that undermines the sovereignty and dignity of Eritrea and its people. Sequentially, the regime was forced to sign all the peace initiatives that it once said were dead and buried. The PFDJ regime has seen the product of its interventionist policy even though the negative externalities have been to the Eritrean people. Albeit unjust, the Algiers peace accord is believed to be final and binding. Accordingly, the two parties have the mandate and obligation to respect and abide by it. The PFDJ regime has been burying its head in sand in pretensions that the peace process between Eritrea and Ethiopia has been stalled by Ethiopia’s rejection to the Algiers peace agreement. Although the decision of the border commission is unjust, the government of Ethiopia has accepted the decision in principle. Accepting the Algiers peace agreement in principle means that the government of Ethiopia strongly asserts it has accepted the border commission’s decision. In the process of its practical implementation (delimitation and demarcation) however, it is natural for certain anomalies to occur. In such cases it becomes evident and a decent option for the two parties to talk and solve it only and only through peaceful means. The government of Ethiopia has been of the belief that sustainable peace could only be achieved if wise and peaceful mechanisms are deployed to the matter. Why is then the PFDJ turning its back to peace when it is called for peace? It has been a usual habit of the regime in Eritrea to decelerate anti-clockwise when everyone else is rational and regular. Naturally, the PFDJ clique has never been proponent or in favor of peace. The regime sounds a risk-free and innocent actor that secures and guards the sovereignty and welfare of Eritrea and its people. In actual terms, the regime is a great risk to the sovereignty and welfare of Eritrea and its people. It doesn’t see tomorrow today. If it really does, why is the regime saying the decision has been favorable to Eritrea? Why is it claiming only Badme? Only the village of Badme has been decided to be in the territorial integrity of Eritrea. What is Badme without its agricultural fields and grazing lands? It is only a bone without flesh. What about the rest of the Eritrean villages together with the people that are now decided to be the belongings of Ethiopia? According to the regime’s nil head and clumsy stance, the people of these villages are no more Eritreans. This is the reflection of the regime’s linear and shallow thinking in handling things and itself. The rational question pertinent to the matter is that whether Eritrea has been advantaged or disadvantaged by the decision of the border ruling. The answer is that Eritrea hasn’t gained from the decision. The rationale is that the decision has limitations and anomalies that have susceptible effect on the future coexistence of the peoples of Eritrea and Ethiopia if it is implemented right away. It will bring huge misplacement of people and land that will always call for further dispute. Thus, the only road to sustainable peace is to undertake peaceful means of settling the conflict. Equally important, peace favors a table not a gun!!! Peace is now deferred by the PFDJ regime because peace has always been unfavorable for the regime. It is equated to retardation if there are still who hope and believe that Issayas and his insane associates will bring about or stands for peace. The only good reason is that because Issayas and his disciples are vegetarians of peace. The veracity of this peace vegetarianism dogma is verified by the continuation of the regime’s entire insane calculations.

The Critical question is that, can Eritrea and its people get out of this PFDJ-born plight? The answer depends in the reaction of the Eritrean people to the painful and agonizing regime. The regime has darkened the future of the Eritrean people in the face of this modern era. Worst of all, the current unpleasant signal is that the regime is once again preparing for another round of disastrous war to inflict more human and material losses. The only way of preventing and aborting any unwanted loss is uprooting the regime. The regime’s dusty mentality towards Eritrea’s total decadence and destruction will never cease unless the regime is stopped and weeded-out by any timely possible means. The sooner we begin, the less painful the necessary changes will be.

 

NEWS BRIEFS

NEWS BRIEFS

 

Hussein Khalifa meets Eritreans in Eastern Sudan

 

Brother Hussein Kahifa, Chairman of the Democratic Alliance (EDA), has according to Gulf information center (04/06/2005) made a visit to Eastern Sudan as an extension of his itinerary to meet Eritrean community leaders and representatives of a cross section of the Eritrean population there. The primary purpose of his visit was, according to the same source, to familiarize and promote the lofty objectives of EDA so that Eritreans in the Diaspora could be well versed on the current progressive development of the opposition forces. He oriented his compatriots on the coordinated position of the Senna’a round-table. Furthermore, the source of our information stated, he also briefed them about the relative ship of EDA Executive Secretariat with Sudanese and Ethiopian government authorities and the contribution these countries are making to facilitate safely, stability and peace in Eritrea.

 

He called upon his compatriots to revitalize the vigilance they had demonstrated to the world during the war for independence . He appealed to them to stand alert in the current struggle, which is being made fore peace, freedom and democracy in Eritrea. On their part the people pledged that they would rally behind EDA and give it full support until the dictatorial system is dismantled from power and democracy and justice prevails instead.

EDA: Strengthening Foreign Relations

 

A delegation composed of Tewelde G/Sellasie and Haj Ibrahim Abubakar has initiated executing foreign relations as enshrined in EDA’s charter. From 25/06/2005 to 15/06/2005 the delegation has made contacts with eight embassies including the European Union.

 

In its meetings with the various embassies, the delegation had the opportunity of explaining the 30 year struggle the Eritrean people had fought for independence from colonial rule and the insurmountable sacrifices they had paid to that end. They briefed the Embassies on the appalling political, economic and social conditions in Eritrea under the harsh rule of the dictatorial system since independence.

 

It dwelt at length to explain the formation of various Eritrean national parties determined to emancipate the disentanched people from the yokes of subjugation and oppression, which the dictatorial system is committing in violation of international law. The delegation did its level best to bring to the attention of the embassies that the war-mongering rouge system is persistently intending to foment instability and destruction in the region. It reminded the embassies to fully realize the plight the Eritrean people are bearing under duress and that they ought to give them support in their struggle to do away with the irresponsible system. They also called upon the embassies to recognize EDA; a brood based central political organization made up of divergent sisterly parties, committed to set free the enslaved people form the tyrannical regime.

PFDJ: With Disgrace, a Slap in the Face

 

For no less than a decade the dictatorial system has intentionally resorted to meddling in the internal affairs of the Sudan. In the recent resumption of peace talks between Sudanese government and the opposition, aimed at breaking the stalemate that has lasted for about six months, the self-indulgent system has not ceased form – injecting venom into the process of the negotiations. According to sources following the peace talks, Salem Ahmed Salem, chief mediator on behalf of the African Union (AU), doesn’t welcome Eritrea’s interference in the negotiations, since it politically and militarily supports the opposition forces against the Sudanese Government.

 

Sudan foreign affairs minister, Dr. Mustafa Osama reiterated that President Omar Albeshir has in the presence of Presidents Hosni Mubarek of Egypt and Moamar Gadafi of Libya, accused the Asmara regime of disseminating malice in the solution searching process to in order for the negations to terminally end –up without any trace of fruition.

 

Dr. Mustafa condemned the destructive indulgence of the PFDJ regime in the peace talks. He complained that there is no any conceivable reason for the rouge system to claim a negotiating or mediating role in the peace talks. He added that unlike Egypt, Libya or Chad whose territories border with the Sudan, Eritrea can not justify a single reason for its meddling in the conflict. Elaborating his statement on the same issue, he emphatically stressed that the AU has not invited the government of Eritrea to join the peace negotiations because of its provocative and war-mongering nature in the Horn. Though a slap in the face, the belligerent regime wouldn’t treat that sort of harsh condemnation with diplomatic grace.

Sudanese Parliament Urges Government to Issue New Policy on Eritrea

According to the Sudanese Media Center, the Parliament of Sudan is urging the government to issue a new policy regarding Eritrea. Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Legal Affairs and Justice, Dr. Ismail Alhaj Musa recommends that the new policy should not limit itself to defensive but ought to include offensive aspects as well.

Another member of parliament, Mr. Omar Abdalla on his part told Sudan Media Center that since the Asmara system is bent on endangering peace in the Sudan, the Sudanese government ought review its projected intentions to improve relations with the Eritrean government. Meanwhile, parliamentarians, representing Eastern Sudan have condemned Eritrean intervention in the internal affairs of the country.

 

Joint Declaration in Full Support of EDA

 

Members of sisterly parties converged under EDA have in Riad city, Saudi Arabia, in 13/04/2005, jointly declared their full support to the newly formed central organization.

 

In a communiqué they relayed via internet, they declared that EDA is following the right path in its efforts to embrace a broad based charter in which most parties with divergent political orientation are represented.

 

Elaborating their position, they acknowledged: “In order to do away with all ferocious crimes being committed by the dictatorial system on our people and our country and to set them free from heinous oppression and destitute livelihood we stand and determined to struggle alongside EDA”.

 

In concluding their joint declaration, they stated: “In 16/04/2005 we convened a meeting in which our focal agenda was the prospect of the future of our country and security of our people. After a tireless impact assessment of the issue, we, by consensus unequivocally concluded that the formation of EDA is the right measure to effectuate future peace and democracy in Eritrea, and the correct path for the transference of power.”

Before dispersing, participants of the sisterly parties formed a committee that would organize a platform to design a work plan that would serve to implement various projected programs.

 

Eritrean Students in the Sudan Visit Compatriot Refugees

 

According to news received from the office of Eritrean Students Associations in the Sudan. Eritrean studying in various universities have from 23 to 10,2005 visited their compatriots in refugee camps. The visit was organized to facilitate fertile ground for smooth relation between the students and refugees. Among the major refugee camps visited were Amgurguro, Kurkuru, Kilostawo Ishirn, Girban and Wedisherifei, where the visitors distributed medicine to the refugees and taught them about HIV/AIDS. In their extended programme they will enlighten their compatriots of the adverse effects of female genital mutilation and circumcision. Additional programs will include sports, exhibitions and cultural shows.

 

FAO on Famine and Poor Harvest in Eritrea

 

FAO (the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization), has in May 9, 2005 disclosed that Eritrea is one of the African countries facing acute shortage of food. According to the news release, more than two-thirds of its population depends on humanitarian aid. It stated that the country’s agricultural production of 2004 has fallen far short of the average production of previous successive twelve years. This implies that as a result of poor harvest, the demand for grain will cover for only 15% of the total population. According to the organization, those prone to starvation and famine are children and infants who comprise 40% and mothers 41% of the population respectively.

 

The British and US pledged large sums of money in food aid to Eritrea. But many observers believe any amount provided in food aid to the country will have little bearing to improve the live hood of the war stricken and poverty-ridden people in the long-term, so long as the dictatorial system extracts power by the rule of the thumb.

Presently, about 300 thousand Eritrean youth who should have been the bulk of harnessing agricultural production are forcibly undergoing military service. Compounded by shortage of seasonal rains and consecutive drought, agricultural production to diminishing with the progress of time.

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