The Pseudo PFDJ Cartel
I do advice you not to waste your time reading the Eritrea AlHaditha garbage of December 1st 2009, just gaze at the dim face of the bloody dictator, indicators counting down to last day, scroll down and look at the picture of a new found celebrity, a Muslim student wearing Khimar, headscarf, apparently the only one of her kind in the graduating batch, stare at the back-ground, at the people seated in the same picture, enjoy watching the lost rainbow, guess if you can lift up your brows to face Ahmed Raji.
The liberation of Eritrea was brought through blood and sweat; with the sacrifice of tens of thousands of martyrs, we would never give up until the dream of “our” martyrs is realized, says a Tigrignization Project’s lame logic.
‘What was that dream in the first place?’ A New-Born Eritrean would wonder.
Was the dream of the martyrs about micro dams installed over broken hearts, or about the horrors of constant border wars? What else? What about the martyrs’ nightmares about the most corrupt justice system in the planet?
As the UN Security Counsel moves towards imposing sanctions against the Eritrean regime, the west would naturally grope around investigating potential Ahmed Chalabi for post-Isaias Eritrea—they would do that for the purpose of fomenting the overthrow of Isaias Afwerki. The West is fed up with the antagonistic adventures of their own bad-boy, their old friend Isaias Afwerki. On the other hand, Isaias is determined to punish the West for not heeding his frequent “awyat”, carrying his wares to the political marketplace of the West. He is mad because the West is favoring Ethiopia’s Weyane as a reliable ally to the destabilized and whimsy Eritrea.
When Isaias went crazy on the West, he examined whatever means was at his disposal just to make Uncle Sam think twice before preaching the western values of democracy and human rights. Lately he invited Iran to the Eritrean shores of the Red Sea only to show the West how far he could go knocking them off. On his side, Iran’s Ahmedinejad is happy pursuing the cat and mouse game against the USA, hundreds of miles away from Bushehr nuclear research facilities and power plants.
Since the stubborn Isaias has gone wild beyond remedy, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton would not spare advising the bad-boy that the USA has little patience for his arrogance and that the ball is still on his court. But, Would Isaias stop fueling the conflict in Somalia? Would he leave the USA alone to do its business in the Horn of Africa? That wouldn’t be the Isaias that we know, blind as he is, speaking with a forked tongue, telling the media that Eritrea will witness democratic elections “maybe” after forty or so years.
Deep in his heart, Isaias knows that he might be able to impose drastic changes in the country during the upcoming forty years. The Tigrignization Project is underway; the micro-dams might grow to macro flyovers. He would want to keep changing the demographic landscape by means of ethnic cleansing, land confiscation and systematic impoverishing of our people; the UNHCR is advised to find a place on the surface of the earth to relocate, or rather, dump the Eritrean Refugees stranded in the Sudan for over forty years. All of that while the Sudanese officials are being flattered to accept integrating the Eritrean refugees to help them forget what they lost in Eritrea,
The Northern Sudanese elite, ruling over Sudan since its independence 1956, are obsessed with the threat coming from the East in case the Beja-tribes (including Eritrean Beni-Amir tribes), rise up to have a word on their domestic issues and stop kneeling down to the Shimali masters. The Darfuri rebellion against the Shimali’s monopoly of power and wealth is enough lesson for the Sudanese regime to reiterate “Let sleeping dogs lie.” All these measures pave the road towards a pure Tigrigna State in Eritrea; the confused, helpless community in Eastern Sudan that is controlled by the Central Sudanese Government in Khartoum, a willing accomplice.
An Eritrean Chalabi in labor.
The leaders of the West are not happy with the Eritrean regime and they must look for whatever entity to replace it. The favorite entity would seek soft-landing in Asmara and refrain from violent dealings. The Pseudo PFDJ Cartel and a small trailer have been lobbying the Western powers and panhandling in Western corridors to ride and influence the actions and decisions that the West might consider against their falling cousin. The Cartel has developed very cunning methods to persuade the West; they shed crocodile tears for the lost democracy while at the same time they stretch their hands under the table to grasp the raging fires of the Tigrignization Project, to prevent the torch from dropping in the hands of the Eritrean Democratic Alliance (EDA).
The Pseudo PFDJ Cartel would not spare a single trick to push the international community into treating their Eritrean rivals like they treat the Taliban, specially the Eritrean Solidarity Front (Tadamun). They forget it is a national resistance group with large constituency. They want to render Bashir Ishaaq et al running fugitives, forcing them to hide in caves or refugee huts, even though the lowlanders see Tadamun as the last ditch left for them to save what is left of their dignity, lands, identity and historical legacy.
Referring to the Pseudo PFDJ Cartel and the small trailer as such has reasons. Questioning fingers rise when names of the cartel leaders are mentioned, take any name of any who was part and parcel of the PFDJ when hundreds of innocent Eritreans were dragged out of their homes and made to disappear. Only capricious justice would allow such suspected individuals to ride the power train to Asmara before facing the International Court of Justice in The Hague, for one day. Leaders need to clear their names prior to longing for renewed power and control; remember, the children of the victims of the night raids that were committed by the PFDJ Thugs around 1995 have grown up and are desperate to find out what happened to their loved ones. Those who acted as high-ranking officials and ministers in the PFDJ regime (at the time when massive human rights violations befell the innocent residents of Keren and other Urban centers) must have some sort of magnanimity and come out from hiding behind the bright history of ex-ELF-RC leadership and confess, Tegagina (we made a mistake), then seek reconciliation.
Weldeyesus Ammar, the Chairman of the Joint Committee of the Three Merging Parties, the seleste ihwat (Three brothers), has declared the Beginning of the End with great fanfare. He also gave his last word calling upon Eritreans to “stop petty squabbles” asking them to “organize themselves for action.” Tewedeb. No one knows whether this “Beginning of the End” would pave new roads to a blip in our history or usher us to the second republic of death. An interviewer, Michael Abraha, didn’t have enough time to ask Mr. Ammar what he meant by “petty squabbles”, the interview was over and it was the last word.
Unfortunately, the recent political developments, the ongoing constructive, eye opening debate on awate.com, is tagged as petty squabbles. The EDA statement condemning the exclusionary nature of the Brussels Conference is tagged as petty squabbles. And the goals of Eritrean Tadamun organization that demands equal citizenship rights is also as such. What is democratic here ya ustaz Ammar? Is it the same game played all over again? Normally speaking, democracy welcomes petty squabbles and tolerates counter views; ‘correct me if I am wrong’ as awate forum gurus would say.
If the International Community it seeking regime change, it is required to look before it leaps. Eritrea has its own Chalabis who are ready to smuggle the designs of the West and of their Eritrean comrades through a narrow-secret windows into Asmara. They close their eyes to the open doors of the Eritrean Democratic Alliance (EDA) which is a representative organization embodying the diversity of the Eritrean nation.
Regime Change Possibilities.
Many parties are yearning to witness the collapse of the Isaias regime. The West is wishing to get rid of the steady headache that Isaias is causing them in the region. The neighboring countries spearheaded by Ethiopia are repeating, “Every dog has its day,” while they wait for that day. The Eritrean people can’t wait to say “finally justice!”
One day we will watch ERI-TV or read Gedab News that Isaias is captured and is on his way to the International Court of Justice; or just like Saddam Hussein, he would walk to the gallows. Alas, that cannot happen with words only, deeds need to follow.
The West seems frightened of similar previous experiences in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia where good willed attempts went wrong thus it replaced the rule of dictatorships by the rule of the gun. Thus, the West is not expected to mobilize armed forces to change the Eritrean regime. That is the task of the Eritrean people.
The neighboring countries would care less of what befalls the Eritrean people as far as they are not causing havoc to their respective internal affairs. The hollow threats that the Eritrean regime used to direct to the neighboring countries has now decreased; Isaias is busy trying to find out how to feed his large army.
The Eritrean Resistance forces, including Tadamun, Salvation Forces, Kunama-Afar and the recently rebellion in Eastern Akele Guzai would have to be serious and struggle in unison if they are going to make a difference. All these forces combined would need decades to liberate the entire Eritrean land, village after village, if they keep moving on a small step, Rawh Makanek, over and over. There would be no light on the horizon unless they develop a robust resistance force by following the tactics of the old ELF as the tittle-tattle goes.
The Eritrean Peoples Party EPP of Weldeyesus Ammar is seemingly handling the game professionally—in the daylights they would preach the peaceful means of regime change, the soft landing mechanisms for the sake of fooling the West, and at night they have been distributing papers inside Eritrea urging the Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF) to rise up against the dictatorship. Ammar’s new friends like Mesfin Hagos (former minister of defense) might interfere to flatter with their old comrades and beg them to tie up the crazy bull Isaias Afwerki so that the soft landing strategy could bear fruits. Note that the cunning Hassen Al-Turab has done it this way in June,30, 1989; he would crack jokes with his friend and brother-in-law Sadig Al-Mahdi, then Prime Minister of Sudan, while preparing the Kober Prison to accommodate him along with his entire cabinet members the next night.
My advice goes to the Ammars or whatever group(s) that is seriously considering to topple the regime to do it in a style: Wes Ilka Aytimles. No one minds as far as caging Isaias Afwerki is concerned, but the terms and conditions should apply, the average Eritrean who rapturously love his homeland and respects it is not so naïve any more. Due to the traumatic backstabs experienced under the empty banners of “unity.” fears must be considered; as the saying goes, a man terrified of snakes would be scared of a rope. Bragging “stop petty squabbles” and “organize yourself for action” would not help alleviate the deeply held fears of the people, there remains a wide gap between the thinking of the opposition leaders and the expectations of the people across the ethnic divide that indicates an ethno-cultural strife.
A coup d’état might be the best possible strategy to rescue the Eritrean people from the utter hell on earth that Isaias has created, but, beware that a minor mistake would change the political landscape beyond recognition; it would be hard, if ever possible, to fetch the nine or ten beans once the cord is slashed, then it would be Oromai Eritrya.
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