Dear:
Dr. Abiy.
Looking forward: should we forget past crimes if Eritrea and Ethiopia reconcile?
Introduction
The steps taken by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to end the confrontation with Eritrea, that has lasted since the end of the border war between the two countries in 2000, is very much to be welcomed. So too has been the decision by President Isaias Afwerki to send a high-level delegation to Addis Ababa, to see how these initiatives can be taken forward. For two countries that have been locked in a military stalemate over their border, these are dramatic developments. [Prime Miniter’s Abiy’s visit to Asmara on 8th July is the culmination of this process. His welcome from the Eritrean people is sure to be genuine and enthusiastic.]
But what next? Assuming – and it is a big assumption – that the no-war, no-peace stalemate that has existed between the two countries since 2000 is ended, what can the people of Eritrea reasonably expect?
Freedom and democracy
The first – and overwhelming priority – is to restore the rule of law. Eritreans did not fight for their freedom from Ethiopia for 30 long years, only for it to be snatched away by their own government.
There were few enough liberties when liberation came in 1991. We have not forgotten how the disabled fighters were fired on when they marched on Asmara to demand better treatment. Or how the promises made to soldiers, who asked for their pay, were broken by President Isaias; their leaders killed or imprisoned. Nor will we overlook the president’s refusal to enact the Constitution, so carefully drawn up after extensive consultation.
But nothing comes close to the repression that descended in 2001. The G15’s demand, that the people had a right to all the freedoms guaranteed by the United Nations and promised by the EPLF down the years, were not only brushed aside, those who signed the appeal were rounded up and imprisoned. So too were the university students and journalists. We remember them, and the years of suffering they and their families have endured. They have been allowed to rot and die in jails, without hope of ever being heard in court.
Our first demand is therefore a simple one, return to the Eritrean people the rights that are theirs: the right to a Constitution they can appeal to, via an independent judiciary and open courts. Give us the free media that people enjoy around the world. End the ban on all parties other than the PFDJ. Hold free, fair and internationally supervised elections in which all parties can participate.
Crimes
Tragically, what the disabled fighters, soldiers, activists, students and journalists endured has now been visited on the whole nation. Indefinite National Service has trapped our people in a form of servitude so severe that it amounts to slavery. The UN Human Rights Commission has endorsed this judgement. This has resulted in an exodus. Men, women and children have fled abroad. Many have paid with their lives. Their bones lie bleached in the Sahara, their bodies washed up on the beaches of the Mediterranean. They have suffered indescribable torture at the hands of people smugglers in Libya and the Sinai. They have suffered years of exile, loneliness and deprivation, far from their families. The Eritrean diaspora – from Australia to America, from Israel to Ireland – exist in foreign lands, deprived of a country that is theirs by right. It is to the eternal shame of President Isaias and his associates that this has been allowed to transpire. Even worse is the evidence of complicity in human trafficking by the regime.
The question therefore arises: can these crimes be forgotten and forgiven? Two paths lie ahead, once democracy has been established. One would be for a senior member of the judiciary to draw up charges for President Isaias and his associates to face before Eritrea’s courts. If this was too contentious and divisive, then it might be possible to call on an international tribunal to be established to examine the evidence and impose appropriate sentences. The other possibility would be to accept that this would be too divisive for our nation, which has already suffered so much. We cannot ignore the trauma our people have endured, starting from the liberation struggle and lasting until the present time. The second option would require holding a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, at which past crimes could be openly acknowledged by those who perpetrated them, and then forgiven, but never forgotten.
Which way should we proceed? This is something that can only be answered by our people through a genuine, open debate, freely conducted. How this should be conducted is open to negotiation. Both paths have their merits; both paths have their flaws. What cannot be up for debate is that the past should be brushed under the carpet; that crimes against the Eritrean people by the regime will ever be forgotten. The question is only how to deal with the past in a way that leads away from division and towards unity. Our goal is a free and united people, living in an open and democratic country, at peace with its neighbours.
Best Regards!
Dr. Abiy.
Looking forward: should we forget past crimes if Eritrea and Ethiopia reconcile?
Introduction
The steps taken by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to end the confrontation with Eritrea, that has lasted since the end of the border war between the two countries in 2000, is very much to be welcomed. So too has been the decision by President Isaias Afwerki to send a high-level delegation to Addis Ababa, to see how these initiatives can be taken forward. For two countries that have been locked in a military stalemate over their border, these are dramatic developments. [Prime Miniter’s Abiy’s visit to Asmara on 8th July is the culmination of this process. His welcome from the Eritrean people is sure to be genuine and enthusiastic.]
But what next? Assuming – and it is a big assumption – that the no-war, no-peace stalemate that has existed between the two countries since 2000 is ended, what can the people of Eritrea reasonably expect?
Freedom and democracy
The first – and overwhelming priority – is to restore the rule of law. Eritreans did not fight for their freedom from Ethiopia for 30 long years, only for it to be snatched away by their own government.
There were few enough liberties when liberation came in 1991. We have not forgotten how the disabled fighters were fired on when they marched on Asmara to demand better treatment. Or how the promises made to soldiers, who asked for their pay, were broken by President Isaias; their leaders killed or imprisoned. Nor will we overlook the president’s refusal to enact the Constitution, so carefully drawn up after extensive consultation.
But nothing comes close to the repression that descended in 2001. The G15’s demand, that the people had a right to all the freedoms guaranteed by the United Nations and promised by the EPLF down the years, were not only brushed aside, those who signed the appeal were rounded up and imprisoned. So too were the university students and journalists. We remember them, and the years of suffering they and their families have endured. They have been allowed to rot and die in jails, without hope of ever being heard in court.
Our first demand is therefore a simple one, return to the Eritrean people the rights that are theirs: the right to a Constitution they can appeal to, via an independent judiciary and open courts. Give us the free media that people enjoy around the world. End the ban on all parties other than the PFDJ. Hold free, fair and internationally supervised elections in which all parties can participate.
Crimes
Tragically, what the disabled fighters, soldiers, activists, students and journalists endured has now been visited on the whole nation. Indefinite National Service has trapped our people in a form of servitude so severe that it amounts to slavery. The UN Human Rights Commission has endorsed this judgement. This has resulted in an exodus. Men, women and children have fled abroad. Many have paid with their lives. Their bones lie bleached in the Sahara, their bodies washed up on the beaches of the Mediterranean. They have suffered indescribable torture at the hands of people smugglers in Libya and the Sinai. They have suffered years of exile, loneliness and deprivation, far from their families. The Eritrean diaspora – from Australia to America, from Israel to Ireland – exist in foreign lands, deprived of a country that is theirs by right. It is to the eternal shame of President Isaias and his associates that this has been allowed to transpire. Even worse is the evidence of complicity in human trafficking by the regime.
The question therefore arises: can these crimes be forgotten and forgiven? Two paths lie ahead, once democracy has been established. One would be for a senior member of the judiciary to draw up charges for President Isaias and his associates to face before Eritrea’s courts. If this was too contentious and divisive, then it might be possible to call on an international tribunal to be established to examine the evidence and impose appropriate sentences. The other possibility would be to accept that this would be too divisive for our nation, which has already suffered so much. We cannot ignore the trauma our people have endured, starting from the liberation struggle and lasting until the present time. The second option would require holding a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, at which past crimes could be openly acknowledged by those who perpetrated them, and then forgiven, but never forgotten.
Which way should we proceed? This is something that can only be answered by our people through a genuine, open debate, freely conducted. How this should be conducted is open to negotiation. Both paths have their merits; both paths have their flaws. What cannot be up for debate is that the past should be brushed under the carpet; that crimes against the Eritrean people by the regime will ever be forgotten. The question is only how to deal with the past in a way that leads away from division and towards unity. Our goal is a free and united people, living in an open and democratic country, at peace with its neighbours.
Best Regards!
Eritrean justice seekers must be United!
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