Yemane Gebreab’s Transcribed And Translated Interview

The following is the text of the interview that Hassen Zeytuni of RT television conducted with Yemena Gebreab in the London studios; it was transcribed and translated by the Awate Team. The video clip of the interview can be found Here.

1. Welcome. Eritrea is a state located in the Horn of Africa and these days it’s celebrating its 24th independence anniversary and Eritrea faces many internal and regional problems. After its revolution, it didn’t succeed in building a modern state, a dream that was enticing Eritreans. Still there are problems and the road is still harsh and difficult. To discuss these problems, we host Mr. Yemane Gebreab, the special adviser to president Isaias Afwerki, and the chief of the political affairs of the People’s Party for Democracy and Justice. Welcome Mr. Yemane Gebreab to RT (Russian Today) in the London Studios with Hassen Zeytuni. Let’s start with your visit to London. Is it on an invitation by the Ministry of British foreign affairs or on a private visit to this country?

I came to Britain to participate in the Eritrean community yearly festival here in Britain. This festival is held every year in a continuous manner…

2. Did you meet authorities at the foreign ministry?

True, I met today with authorities in the foreign ministry, and yesterday [I met] authorities from the home office, herein Britain.

3. It means the relations with the government and with the foreign ministry is continuing…

Yes,

4. Between you and between… or, is there a kind of pressure exerted on you personally?

Personally there is no pressure… we have a constructive dialogue with the British government, I mean, on issues and developments in Eritrea, mutual relations, and also on developments in the region.

5. You mentioned you came to London to participate in the festival that is held yearly by the Eritrean community residing here and in several other countries spread all over the world… but what is the reason for your coming to participate in these festivals, because there are some who say the reason is to follow up on the activities of the community, supervise its activities on one side and probably to collect money and donations. What is the purpose of your presence here?

Firstly, the Eritrean festivals started in the seventies in the previous century. It is a yearly cultural festival, and also political. This is a legacy of the Eritrean political Tradition. The dialogue is continuous between the government–before independence, between the liberation forces and the Diaspora population. These cultural festivals are also held in Eritrea. The Eritrea festival will begin tomorrow, the same time when the festival in Britain begins. We have no need to collect information from our communities because our communities are part of the Eritrean people, part of the national construction, it is a support for Eritrea and the Eritrean government.

6. The reason behind my asking this question is that Canada has prevented you from collecting taxes from the members of the Eritrean community there. Does the same situation apply here in Britain?

Firstly, the festival of the Eritrean community in Canada will begin next week. The attempts by the Canadian government to deny Eritrea its right, legal and international, is a harm and injustice on Eritrea. Eritrea as a state, independent and sovereign, has the right to collect taxes from its citizens, in any country in the world. One might ask, that, the big state that collects taxes from its citizens is the USA. We in Eritrea collect 2% of income, [from] all Eritreans…

7. Did you find the members of the community responsive to this decision?

This also started in 1992, it is not something news, not something… it has been a practice for 22 years until now. This started immediately after independence, for reconstruction, a state destroyed due to thirty years of war against Ethiopia and for the purpose of the independence of Eritrea.

8. Let’s talk about the internal situation, You mentioned the thirty years war and the ambitions were big, the Eritrean revolution had an ambition to build a modern state after the end of the armed struggle. But like the rest of revolutionaries in Africa and the third world, the revolutionary fronts can’t carry out the other task, which is building a state. Do you think that so far you failed in transforming the ambitions to a tangible reality?

On the contrary.  Eritrea and the Eritrean revolution, and The PFDJ, succeeded in laying down strong foundations for building a modern developed state in Eritrea. We still maintain our basic principles and revolutionary principles, to build a state founded on equality and justice in Eritrea. We hold to our principles that brought us to independence and liberation in Eritrea. Of course, we face difficult situations and big challenges, and aggression on Eritrea, particularly from big powers like The USA… on this…

9. That is the external challenges that you face, the internal challenges that you face is, firstly, you were not able to put a constitution for the country, to this date. You decided in the past not to implement the constitution because of the wars between you and your neighbor Ethiopia. You focus on building an army… there are statistics that say there are more than 375, 000 soldiers in the ranks of the Eritrea armed forces, and the population of Eritrea is not more than 6 million–violations of human rights according to reports by international entities. Ambitions are okay, but the reality is different. You focus… there are some who say, that there are no administrative organs in the Eritrean community but the army administers the issues. What is your response regarding these accusations?

Firstly, this image that you put is a mistaken image and it does not reflect the Eritrean reality. There are talks and propaganda against Eritrea. And in this occasion I would like to invite you , RT, to visit Eritrea to know the reality in Eritrea. In the beginning of this interview you said that there are internal problems in Eritrea, political problems…

10. Natural all countries have internal problems…

True, But in Eritrea we didn’t face big internal political problems, firstly we…

11. Is there opposition?

There are different views. But opposition in the true sense of the word–an opposition can have differences with the government on views and programs, and politics, but also supports the country and the rights of the country–opposition in this sense is not present in Eritrea. There are those who call themselves opposition but they are basically mercenaries, and are part of the external aggression on Eritrea…

12. Do you allow political pluralism in Eritrea? Multiparty?

We see that, we are in the beginning of the road to build a modern state in Eritrea. People forget that the history of building a strong and modern economy, and also political systems [that are] strong and democratic, needs a long time, and it needs transformation…

13. Do you have that intention, a genuine intention?

Intention is there, a genuine intention is there. But we see building a state on strong foundations. We see there are elections, [in] many countries of the world, the developing ones, but it doesn’t mean elections in the right sense of the word…

14. Excuse me Mr. Gebreab, building a state–before talking about parties, before talking about justice, before talking about pluralism, [there should be a] constitution. Is there a constitution in your country?

We… immediately after independence we started the process of drafting a constitution for Eritrea and actually we ratified the constitution in 1997–before 18 years, before 20 years. And the constitution was not implemented because immediately after it was ratified there was a war.

15. The war started in 1998, it ended in 2000, and we are in 2015. 15 years!

But it didn’t end. The war didn’t end. The war is continuing until now. There are attempts to aggress on Eritrea and invading Eritrea. And there are occupied Eritrean lands, to this day, by Ethiopia. And in addition to that is, the aggression of big countries on Eritrea.

16. I promise you we will come to that topic… Let’s focus on the EU that provided aid for internal development estimated at 300 million Euro–correct me if that is wrong. We need to know: where did this money go, and did you really receive this amount?

Firstly this program is still in the consultations [stage] between us and the EU… and the amount is 2 million Euro and not 300 million Euro. This amount…

17. It is indicated as 300 million!

Yes, it is 200 million and we are still in consultations with the EU…

18. The amount has not reached you yet?

True.

19. Eritrea spends most of its money on building the army, as we mentioned earlier. Are you going to spend these funds on development programs that help the Eritrean citizen directly. like education, health, agriculture, draught, fighting draught, all of these or you are going to keep spending on the army because you are anxious of external aggression? What are you afraid of?

The focus of Eritrea is on construction and advancement, and the transformation that happened in Eritrea until now. And the advancement that we have accomplished until now in Eritrea proves that the Eritrean focus is on development. For example, it is possible and we can talk on that field. Eritrea advanced a lot on the health sector. We, for instance, in what is called the millennium development goals, the goals of the millennium that was acknowledged by the United Nations, we advanced– we accomplished all the targets–until now, in education. In education, there is a significant development in Eritrea, And education is free in all levels in Eritrea. We… the investment of Eritrea in the agricultural sector, in the last fifteen years, and continues, is large compared to the Eritrean economy. And the Eritrean focus, all of it, the focus of the Eritrean government, in on development. Not focused on building an army. We fought the Ethiopians before and we came out victorious over them. Not only over the Ethiopians, but over Ethiopia and those who were behind it in the long war of thirty years. We have confidence, that we have the ability to defend ourselves, and we are not afraid…

20. Mr. Gebreab, some reports talk about imprisonment, stifling of freedoms, killing of some notable political personalities in the country. Is this information true, or does it have an elements of truth, or it is a lie?

Firstly, as I have explained to you earlier, it is possible that any state faces cases in issues of human rights. But the picture that is presented about the human situations and situation of human rights in Eritrea, it emanates from political positions against Eritrea. And it is exaggerated in a terrible manner. Therefore, this picture about Eritrea is not correct. And we are in the process of respecting the rights of the Eritrean citizens. And this is the basic objective for which we struggled in…

21. Another problem that faces you, that concerns many, particularly Europeans countries is the problems of immigrants and Eritreans who travel through Sudanese territories and Egypt then enter Libya in search of safe shores in the European continent. There are also refugee camps across your borders with Sudan. How is the situation of the refugees? And are you, I mean the government was not able to face these crisis… how, what is the situation, exactly?

Firstly immigrations is the phenomena of the era and a phenomena which applies to Africans and even the people in the Middle East. There are statistics that talks about twenty million people who are refugees, in 2014…

22. What is the number of Eritrean refugees?

A very small number, a very minimal number, with…

23. A thousand? Two thousand, or five thousand?

I mean, it may be less than two thousand, in a… I mean in a month. And this is not considered a big number because there were policies, also…

24. Twenty four thousand refugees every year!

Approximately…

25. A significant number, God bless…
    
    [Yemane couldn’t resist laughing at the irony and sarcasm.]
26. Isn’t it so? Labor force….

There is a decrease in this number, every year, but…

27. Let’s be frank, do you encourage this immigration because later on you collect what is called taxes or levies, taxation after they arrive…?

This are empty accusations against Eritrea. We prefer that the Eritrean people stay in their country and participate in the building of the modern country, and a strong country. This is the main objective as far as we are considered. But as you eluded, as I said, immigration is a phenomena, a phenomena not only [affecting] Africa alone or the Middle East, but also phenomena in European countries, there is immigration in Europe. It’s a phenomena of the era that I believe will continue. But we in Eritrea have a program, a program of, in a period from three to five years, we will resolve some of these developmental issues and give opportunities to Eritreans so that they can find all the opportunities in Eritrea. But there were also European and USA foreign policies, that encourage….

28. Let’s talk about external situation. What are the challenges that you face as a nation. You mentioned that you face problems. What are they, exactly?

The American aggression, in particular. The Americans, starting from the last century, the middle of the last century, from the fifties, they objected to the independence of Eritrea. Eritrea that was a colony of Italy…

29. But you have independence and Eritrea as a state is recognized. What is the problem?

The American policies didn’t change, yet, I mean until now. It didn’t change, until now. And we say…

30. Is it because the [Eritrean] revolution was leftist, communist, something of that nature, or other reasons?

The reasons, in our view, is the wrong policies of America, not only on Eritrea but in general throughout the region, and when we see the results of the American policies in the last quarter century, since the end of the cold war until now, and the spread of crisis, from Afghanistan across Iraq and other countries, and even currently in Yemen. And we see this American policy cannot bear positive results…

31. But the agreement that the USA reached with Cuba–after fifty years of boycott and severed relations–is it possible that you open communication channels with the Obama administration to end the American isolation or the American position about you?

We see that Cuba has its special situation and there are special relations between Cuba and the USA. Our situation is different, totally. It’s, there was dialogue and there was a relation at one time between Eritrea and the USA. Will there be a re-assessment of the US policies on Eritrea? We are waiting and we will see. But we see, what is required is not changing the policy of the USA on Eritrea, but re-assessment of the general policies [of the USA] in the Middle East region, and the Red Sea, and the horn of Africa.

32. The Eritrean government is accused by the UN that it participated in creating problems and instigating problems in Somalia, in Djibouti, in your neighbor Yemen, in Sudan, probably that is why this isolation is now imposed on you. Are you still encouraging revolutions, supporting parties that you see can create confusion in countries like Somalia, for instance, or Ethiopia?

Firstly, there is no accusation by the UN concerning a negative role of Eritrea in Sudan or Yemen…

33. Somalia…

There was in Somalia, but this was in 2009, the last UN report proves that there is no negative role by Eritrea in Somalia. And all countries in the Security Council…

34. Your position as of now regarding what is happening in Somalia, we would like to know?

Our position is clear and firm, and it didn’t change.. it is that Somalis should solve their own problems and there should be, they should be allowed opportunities to solve their problems on their own. Because all the interferences and all external attempts failed in improving the situation let alone bring a solution, Improving the situation in Somalia.

35. Your position on what is called the Arab alliance and the war against Yemen. Where does the Eritrean government stand?

We see that the situation in Yemen and the Yemeni crisis is part of a bigger crisis than this Yemeni crisis. It is tied to the issue of security and peace…

36. Are you with or against the interference?

I can give you [an answer]… but not in this simplicity or that easily. We were not against and we were not for. Our position is…

37. Neutral?

Not neutral also… we have a constructive and effective role, and active, in this issue. But we see the situation in Yemen is not isolated from the situation of the region in  general.

38. We heard that there was, that Eritrea was anxious about the situation, the Houthi phenomenon, in Eritrea. Is that possible?

No we don’t see… with Yemen, we have strong ties, and historical, with Yemen. Historically, culturally, interest, there are many things that tie us with, and we have a special relation with Yemen, and a strong relation with Yemen. And we do not take [partial] position on the Yemeni society. We are not with one side against the other in Yemen. We are with [all] the Yemenis, collective. But we see there should be a comprehensive solution for the issues of peace and security in this region.

39. You mentioned the issue of Sudan, we mentioned the issue of Sudan, your position on the division of Sudan, in brief because time is catching us up… are you for the building of the state in the South which is engaged in a [civil] war now?

We were for the unity of Sudan until the last moment, until the referendum in South Sudan, we are for the unity. And our position is clear and unambiguous to the two sides. After the independence of the South, of course, we were for building an independent state because this was the decision by the people of South Sudan..

40. Very brief, will the Eritrean policy change in relations to friends and neighbors? Positively?

It’s basically positive. We are with the region and we have strong relations with all countries of the region

41. Mr. Gebreab, thank you very much for the conversation, but time caught up.