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Vol 20. No. 25 Saturday, 25th of May, 2013 Pages 8, Price 1.50
NFA
EritrEa- ShiEld of rESiliEncE and nobility of Work
The official ceremony marking the 22nd anniversary of Eritrea’s
Independence was colorfully ob-served yesterday in Asmara.
In a speech he delivered on the occasion, President Isaias
Afwerki underlined that the games of hos-tile plot witnessed over
the past 15 years were basically aimed at sapping the
nation-building pro-cess through fomenting crises, and
The Eritrean Ambassador to China, Mr. Tsegai Tesfatsion, has
been assigned as Eritrea’s non-resident Ambassador to Australia,
and presented credentials to Ms. Quentin Bryce, Governor General of
Australia.
During the presentation ceremo-ny, Ambassador Tsegai delivered
President Isaias’ message to the Australian Government vis-à-vis
his readiness to exert stepped-up endeavors towards developing
re-lations between the two countries.
Ms. Quentin Bryce on her part voiced Australia’s readiness to
foster the historical ties between the two countries, and
wished
President Omar Hassan Al-Beshir of the Republic of Sudan
conveyed message of congratula-tions to President Isaias via
tele-phone in connection with Indepen-dence Day anniversary on the
23rd
Presidents Vladimir Putin of Rus-sia, Janos Ader of Hungary,
John Dramani Mahama of Ghana, Yow-eri Museveni of Uganda, Kim Yong
Nam of North Korea, Dr. Mohamed Morsy of the Arab Republic of
Egypt, Anibal Cavaco Silva of Por-tugal, Pranab Mukherjee of India
as well as Queen Elizabeth of the UK respectively sent messages of
congratulations in connection with Independence Day observance.
In their respective messages, the leaders wished President
Isa-ias good health, as well as peace
thereby trying to hold the nation hostage.
The President further explained that despite such conspiracies,
the Eritrean people and their leader-ship were in a position to
accurately and timely define their options. He went on to highlight
the fact that the nation’s priorities have been focused on
all-round and unrelent-ing nation-building endeavors, in
Official ceremOny Of 22nd anniversary Of eritrea’s independence
Observed cOlOrfully
addition to giving the necessary attention to safeguarding
national sovereignty. (For full text of the
sudanese leader cOnveys message Of cOngratu-latiOns tO president
isaias via telephOne
Ambassador Tsegai good luck in his career. Moreover, the senior
Australian official wished Presi-dent Isaias good health, as
well
as peace and prosperity to the Eri-trean people in connection
with the 22nd Independence Day an-niversary.
ambassadOr tsegai tesfatsiOn assigned as eritrea’s rOving
ambassadOr tO australia
President’s speech, see on page 3)Military parade, cultural
perfor-
mances and calisthenics show by
students added color to the cer-emony which lasted for about 2
hours.
mOre messages Of cOn-gratulatiOns flOw in
cOnnectiOn with inde-pendence day Observance
of May 2013.President Al-Beshir expressed
appreciation for the development accomplishments Eritrea is
regis-tering under the leadership of Pres-ident Isaias, and wished
him good
health, as well as peace and bright future to the Eritrean
people.
In the telephone conversation, both leaders expressed the two
countries’ readiness to further en-hance relations of
partnership.
and bright future to the Eritrean people.
In his message, President Vladi-mir Putin pointed out of the
devel-opment of Eritrean-Russian ties is significant for the
benefit of both peoples and the prevalence of peace and stability
in the African continent.
Moreover, President Mukherjee expressed conviction that
bilat-eral ties between Eritrea and India would be fostered in a
way that benefits the two nations and their peoples.
Special
Issue
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2Eritrea Profile, Saturday 25th of May, 2013
Published Every Saturday & WednesdayManaging Director Azzazi
Zeremariam
Acting EditorAmanuel [email protected]
P.O.Box: 247Tel: 11-41-14Fax: 12-77-49
E-mail:profile@ zena.gov.er
Advertisement: 12-50-13Layout
Saba Tesfatsion
As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the OAU/AU un-der the
theme “Pan Africanism and African Renaissance”, and soberly ponder
on where our continent will be positioned in the global pecking
order 50 years henceforth, I per-sonally believe that the
tribulations of our past and the enormity of the multi-faceted
challenges that we face at the present should not, in any way,
eclipse Africa’s immense potential and higher prospects for
vigorous, sustained, and all-round-ed progress in the next fifty
years.
True, the balance sheet for the past fifty years is not rosy or
en-tirely positive when our continental performance is gauged in
compara-tive terms against the most essen-tial economic, political
and social indicators. Among other things, Africa’s share of global
trade re-mains at a pittance 3% foreign in-vestment continues to be
skewed to the extractive industries; intra-State and internal
conflicts contin-ue to wreck havoc to our societies; poverty,
deprivation and diseases afflict the majority of our citizens; and,
our innovative potential con-tinues to be eroded by debilitating
brain drain. In a nutshell, margin-alization, with all its
economic, po-litical, security and social ramifica-tions, has
remained Africa’s lot for the better part of our existence as a
community of independent States.
But this rather grim history should not cast its dark shadow on
the new, brighter, narrative that we aspire to enunciate and see
crystal-ized in the next tranche of fifty years of our collective
voyage. This will,
of course, require the articulation of appropriate and visionary
policies, strategies, and programsof action at the three,
complementary, pil-lars of our continental institutional
architecture: the Nation-State; the Regional Economic Cooperation
organs, and the African Union. Needless to emphasize, articula-tion
of new or revised policies, programs and institutional
arrange-ments will depend on critical ap-praisal of our
performances in the past as well as in a proper and real-istic
reading of developments and trends in the wider global
environ-ment. In this spirit, let me briefly outline Eritrea’s
perspectives in the modest hope of contributing to the animated
debate that is already on the offing at this important histori-cal
juncture.
1.Independent National Policies:The vivacious perspec-tives
espoused by the Casablanca and Monrovia Groups when the OAUwas
established in 1963 have perhaps lost their original luster in our
contemporary times when there is almost universal consensus on the
indispensability of the Na-tion-State as the constitutive ele-ment
of any regional association of any kind. Indeed abstract econom-ic
considerations ofoptimization or rationalizations of economic
growth are not the sole determinant factors in complex societies
where national, ethnic, cultural, histori-cal identities and
psychological dispositions, affiliations and loyal-ties have far
higher importance and transcend purely material econom-ic calculus.
So, in all probabilities, Africa will not coalesce into one single
polity fifty years henceforth. The nation states, and the regional
economic blocs, will remain as the constitutive elements of the
Union and the key fulcrums for economic development and social
progress. What will require further articula-tion is therefore the
policies and programs that are enunciated at the three distinct
pillars in order to en-hance better synergy and compli-mentary;
issues that I will revert to, later. In as far as the nation states
are concerned, the experience in the past fifty years has largely
been that of dependence on dominant external players for
inspiration and policy direction. In terms of eco-nomic
development, African coun-tries did not have much latitude to
President Isaias Afwerki’s Message To The Chair-person Of Au
Commission On The Occasion Of 50th
Anniversary Of The Establishment Of OAu/AuPurposeful Action To
Unleash Africa’s Full And Latent Potential
In accordance to the request forwarded to all African leaders to
share their views and messages on the occa-sion of 50th anniversary
of the establishment of OAU/AU, here follows the full text of
President Isaias Afwer-ki’s message to the Chairperson of AU
Commission.
chart out their own models respon-sive to their own situations
outside the “orthodoxies” preached by the Breton Woods
Institutionsand/or other benefactors. Polarized ideo-logical
perspectives within the global context of the Cold War in a bipolar
setting further informed and determined the political dis-course
and models of political governance and State institutions in Africa
for the best part of the last fifty years. This must change for
Africa to regain its soul, map out its own development path and
raise its global status. Global eco-nomic trends are also
indicative of substantive changes in the mak-ing. Asia and Latin
America will increasingly become prominent players on the global
scene in the next half century. The opportuni-ties and latitude of
action that this may afford to Africa are factors that must feature
in our thinking as we fashion development approaches and political
models of good gov-ernance that are better suited to our own
specific realities.
2. The Peace and Security Ar-chitecture: Peace and security are
clearly pre-requisites for any eco-nomic development and for the
welfare of our peoples. Conflict prevention and resolution indeed
remains Africa’s Achilles heel to date. The rationale for concerted
action primarily to prevent con-flicts and to resolve them
effective-ly when and if they erupt is thus too palpable to merit
elaboration. Both through its Constitutive Act as well as through
subsequent resolutions and Protocols, the African Union has
supplanted the traditional OAU principle and praxis of
“non-inter-ference by any member-State in the internal affairs of
another” with the concept of “non-indifference” in cases of
“genocide, ethnic cleans-ing and crimes against humanity”. The
African Union has also cre-ated the necessary institutions-the
Peace and Security Council, the Conflict Early Warning System, the
Panel of the Wise, and the African Standby Force-to bolster its
tasks of peace-making and peace-build-ing. The wars in Somalia,
Libya, Cote d’Ivore, and Mali however portray a different narrative
than what is suggested in the premises and operational structures
of the AU’s peace and security archi-tecture. The primary actors in
all these instances were and continue to be external powers; the
agendas are also primarily extraneous and not always and
necessarily aligned with the interests of the peoples and nations
concerned or with Af-rica at large. The fact that AU’s peace-making
and peace-building
efforts depend on our external partners for much of the
financ-ing needs is a factor that accounts for this anomaly. Larger
issues of structural dependence, the prolifer-ation of foreign
military bases and other alliances between individual African
countries and major exter-nal powers- AFRICOM has bases or military
prepositioning presence in 35 African countries today-are other
deeper malaises that will re-quire adequate remedies if Africa’s
peace and security architecture is to maintain its independence and
for Africa to act solely on the ba-sis of its jurisdictional
prerogatives and considerations.
3. The Regional Economic Blocs: Geographic contiguity, higher
cul-tural affinities, economic compli-mentary and scale, and, vital
secu-rity interests are among the main parameters that have
historically promoted the establishment and consolidation of
regional econom-ic associations in the continent. As Africa’s
political union is an ideal that can only be contemplated in the
distant future, the RECs must constitute the primary building
blocks for much closer political, economic and security
associations for the foreseeable future in what has been termed as
the modular ap-proach to ultimate African political unity. But the
recent trend seems to gravitate towards the creation of new RECs
that have overlapping memberships and mandates-IGAD, EAC, CENSAD,
SADC, COME-SA etc. The potential wastage in resources and efforts
that unregu-lated regional configuration might incur might thus be
a task that warrants sober appraisal in order to formulate workable
formulas in the future. On a more substantive level, the RECs are
the most ap-propriate vehicles for aggressively pursuing Africa’s
air, sea and land connectivity. While much is being done along
these lines, national and regional investments must be funneled in
accordance with clear-ly calibrated objectives and timeli-ness to
ensure progress in all the regions within specific timelines.
4. Africa’s fault lines and emer-gent problems: As we
contemplate modalities and timelines of re-gional economic
cooperation and African unity, the reality in indi-vidual African
countries remains exceedingly worrisome due to the deepening
centrifugal tendencies of ethnic/religious polarization, disharmony
and strife. These are grave fault lines that have corro-sive impact
on the fabric of our so-cieties and efforts of nation-build-ing.
The remedies lie, among other things, on inclusive policies and
programs of even development and social justice that our
individual governments must pursue with req-uisite seriousness and
consistency. Myopic policies of institutionaliz-ing ethnicity as
well as ill-advised practices that perpetuate the polar-ization of
society along ethnic and religious lines for electoral or other
short-term gains must thus be dis-carded if we really wish to
cultivate the social harmony in our societies that is critical to
internal stability, economic progress and sustainable
development.
5. Forging strong links with the Diaspora: Africa’s Diaspora-in
the broadest sense of term-is not only very large in numerical
terms. But the Diaspora can also act as vital source for
investment, technical expertise and genuine partners for joint
development particularly with countries of African Diaspora
preponderance. The next fifty years may indeed turn out to be
auspi-cious times for reversing the brain drain of the past.
6. AUs enhanced global advo-cacy: The AUs primary functions in
the next fifty years will not re-volve around devising policies and
institutions of immediate Af-rican political and economic unity.
The tasks of economic integration will remain to be delegated to
the RECs.But the AU can perhaps play a greater role in its advocacy
of our continent’s vital interests in the ar-eas and negotiations
of fair trading regimes, climate change and other major global
issues that impinge on Africa’s developmental trajec-tories and
challenges. The AU will become more relevant and potent if it
focuses less on ambitious struc-tures and programs of continental
unity that will not be realistically achieved in the timeline in
ques-tion and more on an effective di-vision of labor with the RECs
for functions and objectives that can be better realized at the
respective local levels.
In conclusion, Africa’s rich en-dowments and resources, its
de-mography, the advantages of the ICT revolution and
globalization, the cumulative investment of Af-rican countries in
their human capital, and realistic and achiev-able programs of
infrastructural development and connectivity that Africa has
already embarked on and that can be accelerated in the coming
decades can allow Africa to make steady and meaningful progress in
the next fifty years.
IsaiasAfwerki
President of the State of Eritrea
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3Eritrea Profile, Saturday 25th of May, 2013
The Eritrean people at home and abroad
Dear guests and participants
First, I would like to congratulate the Eritrean people and
friends on the occasion of the 22nd Indepen-dence Day anniversary
and that of the 20th since the nation’s acces-sion to sovereignty.
And I commend those who made major contribution in organizing this
auspicious event, namely the National Holidays Co-ordinating
Committee, students, youths and EDF members.
My special thanks and welcome also go to our Sudanese brothers
here in our midst for this great event, along with my best wishes
for unity, stability and prosperity.
The meaning of this historic Day is to be explained not merely
over the past 20 or 22 years, but also stretches over a period of
60 years. Eritrea was entitled to become a sovereign nation right
after the Second World War. However, the country was forced to stay
under so-called ‘trusteeship’ for 10 years, i.e. ‘colonialism
through proxy,’ in a bid to satisfy the appetite of the then
prevailing ‘world order’ and the interests thereof. Although we
habitually refer to “Ethiopian colo-nialism,” the fact remains that
such a phenomenon amounted to surro-gate colonialism under the then
ex-isting world order. And this because the Ethiopian authorities
of the day lacked the potential to meet the as-sumed criteria.
When the Eritrean people achieved independence in 1991 through
undertaking heroic resis-tance against successive accom-plices of
the Cold War and paying enormous sacrifice, thereby ensur-ing
national sovereignty in a legal
process, the emerging world order under the hegemony of the USA
did not leave room for Eritrea to enjoy the benefit of national
sovereignty. The scenarios of fabricated border disputes and
hostile attempts aimed at undermining Eritrea’s sovereignty
witnessed after independence were not sudden instances. And the
fact that our sovereign territory has re-mained under occupation
for about 15 years with the connivance of an external power fully
attests to this. Hence, our 60-year-long struggle for independence
and sovereignty has not yet come to an end, thus characterizing the
uniqueness of the current Independence Day an-niversary under
conditions of inces-sant external animosity on the one hand, and
the strength of our united resistance on the other. Glory to the
steadfast Eritrean people!
Ladies and Gentlemen,The games of hostile plot wit-
nessed over the past 15 years were basically aimed at sapping
the nation-building process through fo-menting crises, and thereby
trying to hold the nation hostage. Despite this, however, we were
in a position to accurately and timely define our options. Our
priorities have been focused on all-round and unrelent-ing
nation-building tasks, while at the same time giving the necessary
attention to safeguarding national sovereignty. However, such a
stance caused apprehension among enemy quarters.
• The major and open crime in this regard pertains to the fact
that our sovereign territory under occu-pation still remains to
fall outside the domain of development oppor-tunities, in addition
to the continued acts of military aggression resulting
from the violation of agreements and supremacy of law. It is an
open secret that the sole superpower of ‘the prevailing world
order,’ i.e. the US Administration, has impeded the United Nations,
including the Secu-rity Council, from taking the nec-essary
measures towards ensuring Eritrea’s sovereignty. We are also well
aware of the ploys designed to trap us in public relations gimmicks
through the involvement of various collaborators so as cause
confusion and buy time in a bid to give cover to such acts of crime
and terrorism.
• While the illegal sanctions reso-lutions imposed on Eritrea 4
years ago on the basis of defamation have already been laid bare,
attempts to give them new lease of life through concocting cheap
acts of lie are but in vain.
• The organized crime of human trafficking with a view to
draining the country’s human capital and di-luting popular
resistance to external conspiracies has, in open mock-
President Isaias Afwerki’s Ad-dress On The Occasion Of 22nd
Independence Day Anniversary
ery, not only exposed many of our youths to loss of
opportunities but also to miserable plight. Moreover, futile
attempts have been made to portray as if the nation’s youths are
resorting to migration in order to ‘avoid’ the National Service
Pro-gram and economic hardships; and this not to mention the cheap
acts of trying to implicate Eritrea with ‘accountability’ in
connection with human trafficking.
• Still more hostile attempts were made to expose the Eritrean
people to poverty and other forms of hardship, and thereby incite
acts of popular restlessness and sap the implementation of the
country’s major development programs, be-sides trying to obstruct
remittances to citizens inside the country.
• It is also a usual enemy attempt to polarize the Eritrean
society with a view to creating conflict and in-stability, and thus
undermine the popular resistance drive against anti-Eritrea
agendas. One can easily
discern that such externally funded cheap acts have been abetted
by paid agents and institutions, and that conspiracies of this kind
are be-ing fully exposed.
•It is also worth noting that hos-tile psychological campaigns
aimed at creating diplomatic isolation, im-posing cultural
contamination and undermining the popular resistance momentum, and
the like, have but given rise to added strength to the national
resistance drive.
Ladies and Gentlemen,As I have already outlined, the
value of our freedom and sovereign-ty is to be gauged not only
in terms of the intensity of enemy conspira-cies but also in light
of the corre-sponding popular resistance against such a scenario.
It is equally worth emphasizing at this juncture that we don’t need
to pay undue attention to acts of sabotage and conspiracy but
rather remain focused on strength-ening our resistance and
furthering all-round national development.
We have acquired added potential and streamlined a number of
devel-opment programs for 2013 through surveying our resource
capacity vis-à-vis the necessary expenditure thereof. Beyond
referring to details on this auspicious occasion, further
explanation would be given on the opportune moment through the
na-tional media outlets.
Still, as the rainy season is on the onset, the nation needs to
reinforce ventures in this connection, in ad-dition to the ongoing
community-based soil and water conservation, as well as other
agricultural activi-ties.
Glory to Our Freedom and Sov-ereignty!
Glory to the Eternal Legacy of Our Martyrs!
Victory to the Masses!
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4Eritrea Profile, Saturday 25th of May, 2013
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5Eritrea Profile, Saturday 25th of May, 2013
Gateway to Africa
Gatew
ay to A
frica
EritreaShield of Resilience and Nobility of work.
On the Occasion of the 22nd Eritrean Independence Day,
Eritrean Airlines Congratulates the people of Eritrea and its
Defence Forces.
As always, Eritrean Airlines continues to give its best services
for a
fair price to and fromAsmara
Dubai, Khartoum, Jeddah,Cairo and Rome.
For further information call Eritrean AirlinesTel: +
291-1-125500/125501/124111
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6Eritrea Profile, Saturday 25th of May, 2013
Rahel Asghedom
Eritrea’s Independence Day an-niversary is not celebrated for
the sake of enjoyment, but the cele-brations conducted each year
have a deeper meaning of nationalism, of unity, of commitment and
stead-fastness and of course of standing for one’s dignity. The
celebrations are just ways of reflecting the re-lief achieved as a
result of great martyrdom which ultimately shat-tered the plights
and tolls caused by colonial powers. Dignity comes from conducting
a dignified act and that act in turn gives one the exact degree of
dignity one deserves to have. Eritrea’s Independence Day
celebrations are meant to honor the hard won victories to the
extent of befitting degree. The 22nd independence day anni-versary
celebrations has continued for about a week featuring differ-ent
entertainment programs that cover open music shows, carnivals,
communal gatherings, drama and other artistic performances staged
at Bahti-Meskerem Square, Cin-ema Roma, Cinema Asmara and in the
main streets of Asmara. As a continuation of the celebrations that
has been underway for about a week, the official celebration of
22nd Independence Day anniver-sary just started at 4:30 pm of May
24th 2013. Starting from the very beginning of the afternoon hours
of that dignified day a number of eager nationals started to flock
to Asmara stadium. The stadium’s po-dium was occupied with a number
of participants who took their seats holding flags and banners.
As the National marching band started to beat dreams and play
oth-er musical instruments, the cheer-ful crowd accompanied them
with ululation and with worm claps. The drum beats of the marching
band was a signal that the official cel-ebration is about to start.
Ms. Luul Ghebrab, chairperson of the Nation-al Holidays
Coordinating Commit-tee approached to give an opening speech. “This
year’s Independence Day anniversary is being momen-tously
celebrated under the theme ‘Eritrea-shield of resilience and
no-bility of work’ this theme signifies the people and government
of Eri-trea’s sturdy values.” Ms, Luul said “It is well evident
that the people of Eritrea have held fast to their shield of
fortitude, traversed ordeals and rested its full trust on its
internal re-sources to the reconstruction of the country, while
resolutely rebuffing external conspiracies.”Accompanied with
ululation and ceaseless claps of the participants, President Isaias
Afwerki takes the venue to deliver a speech. He start-ed his speech
by expressing appre-ciation to students, army members, and artists
who made due contri-bution to excitingly celebrate the 22nd
Independence Day anniversa-ry. “Eritrea as a nation deserved to
achieve its sovereign right during the World War II, but was forced
to be yoked into proxy colonization of super powers just to satisfy
their vested end. Despite all these, the people of Eritrea stands
victorious resisting against all odds,” said the president. “The
intensity of Independence Day anniversary of 2013 is mea-
sured with the unyielding chal-lenge of the Eritrean people
against all plays. Not derailed from the pri-mary goal of
safeguarding the na-tion, we have been engaged in the realization
of all-rounded nation building program,” the president added. (For
full text of the Presi-dent’s speech see on page 3)Colorful
military parade shows accompanied with somersaulting of airplanes
added color to the al-ready magnificent event. Follow-ing this
show, a song was presented by Yohannes Tikabo and Dawit Teklesenbet
aka Shilan that tries to describe the true manning of iden-tity and
the very essence of having a national flag. The message it tries to
convey could roughly translated as “Our flag is not just a banner
or a piece of cloth and thus it cannot
Official Commemoration Of The 22nd Independence Day
AnniversaryRepor
tage
be ruined, bleached or tattered even if exposed to water and
scorching sun.”Other songs in different local lan-guages were also
staged. A vivid calisthenics movements presented by a large number
of students was also another delighting and in-structing program
which grabbed the attention of the participants of the celebratory
event. All the col-orfully dressed students were busy to convey
messages of significant value through mimes. Despite ups and downs
one could harvest the ultimate fruits of hard work through adhering
to the setout plans is the overall idea presented in the mime.
Following the mime activities, re-nowned Eritrean singer, Bereket
Mengestab approached with his song which tries to highlight
that
utmost priority should be given to nation’s sovereignty for
anything apart from it is just a secondary issue. A musical drama
staged in Hidareb language titled, “Egurha” just next to Bereket’s
song is all about challenges could not hinder or weaken us but are
rather tools that could strengthen our endur-ance to combat any
eventuality. A group of Sudanese singers were also participated in
the occasion and presented a song in unison. While the song was
being staged the audience gave them whistling appreciation. Above
2,000 students and around 40 mothers filled the football field to
present impressive calisthenics movements with the accompani-ment
of a song by Saied Brahanu and Senait Amine. Comedian Yo-nas
Mihretab with a child of about eight years of age acted as
con-ductors to a marching band that comprises musician mothers as
its members. “Our hut” a song by a group of four singers is what
fol-lowed next to the comic acts of Yo-nas and his group. A song in
Tigree language by Helen Meles was also staged setting the vivid
calisthenics movements of multitude students as its background. The
colorful movements of the stu-dents still continued. “Whether I
live or die, I am always in its em-brace and in its soil” is the
general theme of the song presented by He-nok Teklay (Nago). This
song was the cover to the basket of presen-tations staged in Asmara
stadium from 4:30 Pm to 7:20 Pm. The of-ficial celebration of
Independence Day anniversary of 2013 in which President Isaias
Afwerki, ministers, senior PFDJ Officials, regional
ad-ministrators, religious leaders, for-eign dignitaries, Eritreans
from the Diaspora and other invited guests took part was then
concluded with the national anthem.
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7Eritrea Profile, Saturday 25th of May, 2013
A. Mesfun
Freedom is man’s inalienable right. If you don’t possess it, it
is obvious that you try to attain it by all means. And when
Eritreans were oppressed and harassed for almost a century they
chose to fight for liberating themselves from for-eign subjugation
and colonial oc-cupation.
Successive colonialists sup-pressed and exploited Eritreans.
Italians oppressed the people of Eritrea. The British also in
con-spiracy with the super powers of the day handed it over to the
UN, which in turn gave the country to Ethiopia, under the cover of
fed-eration. And then Ethiopia gained absolute authority to govern
Eritrea on the basis of: ‘We seek the land not the people’, famous
saying of Haileslasie, those days Ethiopia’s Emperor.
Eritreans started to fight with deep conviction of practicing
their legitimate and legal right for self-determination and the
desire to build free and independent Eritrea. And then Eritreans
started their peaceful struggle on the basis of their inalienable
rights to state hood.
Despite the fighting against the annexationist policy of
Ethio-pia especially in 1950s, Ethiopia continued its act of
brutality and crimes against the Eritrean masses. And as such acts
only accelerated Eritreans’ choice of armed struggle a means for
securing their sacred national goals.
Following 30 years of armed re-sistance, the people of Eritrea
mili-tarily defeated the Soviet-backed communist regime of Ethiopia
in 1991. After 30 years of armed struggle and great sacrifices and
agonies Eritrea achieved its inde-pendence and started the
initiation of its reconstruction drive and eco-nomic
emancipation.
The growth of independence from its initial declaration and
dis-covery of life in a new sovereign country is something
meaningful, for the people who paid their lives and passed through
horrendous colonial epochs. Thus they met all challenges
confronting the nation they helped to create.
Heroically the Eritreans who fought a protracted war with little
or no external assistance crushed and defeated the strongest army
in Africa in May 1991; an army which was equipped with the
sophisti-cated armaments and supported by two most powerful
nations. It was
against this backdrop of power-ful enemies that Eritreans made a
strategic decision to transform the traditional guerrilla warfare
into a dynamic and massive people’s revolution, which depended on
its own resources and creative abili-ties. The institutionalization
of these skills and creative vision at the core of the revolution
played decisive and crucial role in deliver-ing the long-awaited
liberation on 24th May 1991.
24th of May 1991 marked the end of a long feudalistic and
aris-tocratic Ethiopian colonialism in Eritrea, and in this month
the Eri-treans as one and indivisible peo-ple recount the united
resistance, devotion, suffering and tribulations experienced under
successive co-lonial rulers. The epic of struggle won ultimately
the cherished goal of national freedom.
May is also the month, in which Eritreans remember and honor all
those woman and men, who were wounded, injured, blinded,
para-lyzed, and limped during the fierc-est war of independence.
These are Eritrean’s most revered veteran fighters who made the
unparal-leled history in the ridges, hilltops, plains, and
mountains of Eritrea. Those are the brave sons and daughters of
Eritrea who made the strongest black army in Africa lay down its
arms in total defeat, wave its white flags, and flee in disarray.
They stand for courage, faith, and perseverance.
But the struggle for this Day, the day that enabled us in
abso-
lute terms to absolutely possess the unassailable right, was not
a simple war and sure the lovers of freedom who shook off their
slum-ber and took up arms to fight the enemy knew that the war
would be the bloodiest. They knew that some of them would not live
to see the freedom they were fighting for, but still they went on
struggling with a vision of a free Eritrea.
After the liberation, Eritreans chose to accredit the freedom
they won in the rule of law and decided to hold a referendum. Then
Eri-trea officially became a sovereign country and a member of the
inter-national community through a UN supervised referendum two
years later, in which citizens inside and outside the country
overwhelming-ly voted 99.8% for independence.
Subsequently Eritrea com-menced on with the task of build-ing a
prosperous and democratic nation worthy of the sacrifices made for
its liberation, which is the biggest challenge compared to those of
the previous period. Un-der the prevailing world economic order in
which poor countries are finding it increasingly difficult to
compete with the industrial nations of growth is indispensable. For
this reason Eritrea started to experience applying the canon of
self-reliance in the pursuit of development goals.
Many governments, including those liberation movements who
captured the reins of state authority with the support of rural
peasant populations, once safely ensconced
in power in the capital cities, turn their focus in to
alleviating the daily problems of the cities and majority rural
population. In the end, these regimes limited them-selves and ended
up with failure and eventual demise.
Learning from these realities and experiences, the Government of
Eritrea is working hard to bring about economic transformation that
is launched from the develop-ment of remote rural areas. The
philosophy that it follows is one that gives more attention to
knowl-edge based on the realities of the society and the practical
nitty-grit-ty of daily life rather than super-ficial book-based
knowledge; it is a philosophy of social justice that gives primacy
to the welfare of the human being.
As a continuation of the recon-struction and economic growth
drive that began after indepen-dence, currently the nation is
un-dertaking numerous development programs across the nation.
Build-ing and expansion of infrastructure throughout the country,
in spite of the high cost involved, insuring sustainable and
equitable develop-ment and provision of quality ser-vices have been
given priorities. Through the various development programs, now the
nation have managed to build national capac-ity rather than waiting
with folded arms for and enterprises which have gained valuable
experience that would no doubt consolidated and fully mature with
time.
Laying its foundation on a well
May 24: The Day That Broke The Yoke Of Servitude And Inaugurated
The Glories Of Freedom
built and hard paid for indepen-dence, Eritrea with the
government that has become the true embodi-ment of its people goals
and aspi-rations directed itself towards the way of economic
prosperity and harmony. After Eritrea was offi-cially recognized a
sovereign and independent nation, the first mis-sion of the
government and its people was to rehabilitate the war-torn and
ravaged country and lead it towards full development. The
rehabilitation performance was un-paralleled as has been registers
in the revolution for independence. The resilience dedication and
its peoples’ strong feeling of national-ism were well in place.
However, Eritreans would al-ways celebrate their independence,
while at the same time vigilantly and valiantly foil all repeated
ag-gressions and invasion attempts. Once again, all ordeals
directed towards Eritrea were foiled and shuttered, crushed against
the solid rock of Eritrea’s unity and the re-silience of its
people.
In all, this month holds special significance to the Eritrean
people. It was this day that marks Eritrea’s freedom and the end of
the long and bitter struggle involving enormous sacrifices. Ever
since, Eritreans of all walks of life have been cel-ebrating the
day in special patriotic manner; it symbolizes their identity and
dignity as a people capable of being the masters of their destiny
of the day that broke the yoke of servitude and inaugurated the
glo-ries of freedom.
-
8Eritrea Profile, Saturday 25th of May, 2013
Sirak Habtemichael
22 years may be a lot when it comes to the age of a human
be-ing, yet considering the experience of a country as a state, it
is just as young as tomorrow. Just like any other country in the
world, Eritrea has its own stories to tell, stories of resilience,
gallantry and bravery that have made its vision of inde-pendence
and post reconstruction endeavors a reality.
This is a story of the nation that emerged from the rubble of
colonial-ism to prove to the rest of the world that its vision goes
far beyond self-assertion. Just with the right ingre-dients of
unity, self-determination, the people of this nation have been
constantly on the move from gain-ing independence against all odds
to promoting national development in all its facets. This is the
story of suc-cess of Eritrea.
It has become a sacred duty of Eritreans to base their freedom
on altruism, unity, stability and secu-rity achieved through the
enormous sacrifices made by its citizens, a tradition all have
cherished and pre-served for decades if not centuries. They have
build upon, reaffirmed and recreated a collective Eritrean culture
and values that enables them to accomplish incredible feats,
val-ues such as commitment, heroism, self-sacrifice, and
patriotism.
Comparing the people of Eritrea with other people of a similar
com-position; the historical background and culture of reverence
for one an-other in the Eritrean community and the appropriate
ideology of national unity pursued by the EPLF has made Eritreans
among the most solid and exemplary people in putting tighter a
strong national unity.
Over the past 22 years of indepen-dence the government in line
with goals of supplementing freedom, so-cial justice coupled with
the rich ex-perience it acquired in the struggle had implemented
successful multi-faceted programs to lay a solid foun-
dation for development and econom-ic emancipation throughout the
land. Among the government’s greatest achievements is the
construction of roads to serve leading networks for ensuring even
development of its rural and urban sectors and thereby promoting
its tourism industry.
Today, and more than ever, one would be blind to travel to any
cor-ner of the country and not notice the development programs
moving forward at full speed ahead. And of course topping the list
of stake hold-ers in the efforts towards promoting development in
Eritrea are members of the Eritrean Defense force ‘the
Warsay-Yikealo’, yesterday’s brave guardians in maintaining
national sovereignty and territorial integrity and today’s vital
source of the coun-try that boasts its human resources who will
selflessly carry through the vision of building a modern
nation.
One of the most vital factors in drawing out the roadmap for the
development of national economy is the provision of an efficient
infra-structure. Among the government’s major achievements besides
linking the two ports of the country –Assab-Massawa, is the linking
of the As-mara and Massawa via a new road the
Serejekha-Ghatelay-Shebah Road to grant another access to and from
the two cities. But the efforts to link the entire country with
road network to provide more efficient services did not stop there
as the process shifted quickly to other ar-eas of the country.
Another task has been the con-struction of schools, health
institu-tions, offices, housing and other services rendering
buildings even in the most remote parts of the country, which
continues to be in progress. These developments defined the
self-reliance of the Eritrean people.
Eritrea’s fundamental asset is its human resource, which is why
among the government of Eritrea’s top priorities remains to be the
pro-vision of Education for all and by improving and promoting the
edu-
cation system and radically intro-ducing up-to-date scientific
methods and approaches. In its bid to accom-plish this; new schools
have been opened in remote areas that previ-ously lacked
educational institutions over the years of independence.
In line with the endeavors to pro-vide equal educational
opportunities to all citizens, the government has also made a
massive investment in nurturing a literate society competi-tive in
the world of science and tech-nology and one that can cope with the
requirements of the modern ages are well in progress.
Within the framework of these projects, equipped with modern
computers, the Warsay Ykealo School in Sawa has been opened to
provide students with education skills that will enable them to
up-grade their standards of education and gain professional
expertise. Be-sides, the establishment of various colleges in
various corners of the country specially located to support the
subject matter of the colleges, is one of the biggest steps taken
in the human resource development en-deavors of the country.
Between now and independence statistical report indicates on the
provisions of hospitals and health centers made all over the
country is by far unmatched by any nation that has been independent
for a period of only just a little over two decades. Eritrea’s
cumulated experience over the years of colonialism and even more
significant its people’s own historical conviction and evolution
has enabled it to bring together a nation which enjoys its unity in
di-versity, heralding in the rise of one people and nation, which
embodies a number of ethno lingual groups, faiths, and
cultures.
Several African and other coun-tries, which started with high
hopes following their attainment of inde-pendence or conclusion of
victori-ous revolutions, are cases in point. The experience of such
counties has been the replacement of old ex-
ploiters by new ones, deterioration of national economies and
peoples standard of living; all experiences of failure.
To repeat such experiences would amount to making all our costs
and sacrifices worthless and condemn-ing ourselves and future
generations to further wars and suffering. How-ever, the country is
not condemned to repeat such mistakes.
Good intention alone, however, is not sufficient. Other counties
failed not for want of good will. To bring about independence, we
needed po-litical programs, military strategies, and strong and
mature organizations. Similarly, to build a modern and just
society, we need a sustainable po-litical program based on clear
prin-ciples and an effective broad based organizational structure
to enable the full participation of everyone. The purpose of this
program, “A na-tional charter for Eritrea,” is there-fore, first,
to clarify the basic guide-lines needed for our future national and
democratic journey; second, to identify a political program which
can effectively guide a broad-based national and democratic
movement; and third, to develop the appropri-ate organizational
procedures and basic principles for such a political program.
It can be concluded that after in-dependence, the government of
Eritrea’s policy of guaranteeing the provision of a balanced
distribution of economic development and social services in all
corners of the coun-try gave greater meaning and grav-ity to the
national unity that was al-
Eritrea: 22 Years And Emerging
ready solidified through the struggle fought together in
martyrdom.
The domestic vision of the people and government of Eritrea is
to build a nation in which peace, justice, de-velopment and
intensive productiv-ity prevail. To realize this vision, however,
Eritrea’s internal peace and harmony was not enough. The existence
of stability at regional and international levels was also crucial.
Emanating from this positive out-look therefore, Eritrea’s foreign
re-lations policies that aim at promot-ing a partnership of mutual
benefit and progress both at regional and global level have been
successfully realized.
Achieving the colossal task of establishing national
independence and ridding off aggressive forces from its land
signaled the closing of one chapter in the history of Eri-trea and
the opening of another: the chapter of building a peaceful, just
and prosperous society, which was by far more difficult and more
com-plicated than the past task of achiev-ing independence. This is
the history of the nation that emerged from the debris of
colonialism to prove to the rest of the world that its vision goes
far beyond self-assertion and nation-al development against all
odds.
22 years have elapsed since the people of Eritrea traversed a
long and bitter path to realize the lofty objectives of their hard
earned free-dom. Today, and more than ever, Eritrea finds itself on
the verge of a new chapter in its history, with its nationals
becoming masters of their own destiny.
-
9Eritrea Profile, Saturday 25th of May, 2013
By: Seare Habtemichael
Freedom is life. The right to freedom, for that reason, must be
the right to life, the right to existence as equally as any other
creature in the World of homo sa-pience. And that is why freedom is
regarded as one of the basic human rights. Once individuals, or
people as a collective, are de-prived of this basic right, their
human dignity and or their very being has been bargained away.
Hence for a people’s life to exist, they must pursue struggling to
se-cure this right.
Naively enough, however, if any people expect their freedom to
be bestowed to them by oth-ers, they would suffer its grave
consequence. Hence they would be obliged to defend for their
freedom and independence or oth-erwise they would be ready to
re-main dependent and despondent. This means they must bow down and
kneel down under the mercy of others. This, ultimately, indi-cates
that they have denied their very being as humans for the rea-son
that they have sold their free-dom, and that is why many chose to
enjoy freedom.
However, in an endeavor to se-cure freedom as the basic right,
one needs to pay the maximum for it. Someone may think that the
cost of it may be a token amount of money, and some others may
think that this basic right costs some precious metals, yet the
true freedom takes the lives of thou-sands of precious individuals
just like the case of the current free Eritrea.
Hence , in the case of Eritrea, the ones who love freedom the
most have paid their most valuable life for the sake of their
people; paving the way for the good life of their freedom-loving
people. This is what is known as martyrdom as martyrdom is the “act
that proves one’s devotion to one’s people, and a virtue that
demonstrates how far one can serve a lofty cause to delegate
sacrifice of one’s beloved possession.”
Once again, assume that some-one, in an attempt to please you,
presents you with the most pre-cious material gifts such as
pre-cious bracelets of silver, gold, or diamond, would you think to
present him/her something in re-turn? Of course; if you can, why
not. What about for someone who paid his/her life for the sake of
you as in the case of Eritrean mar-tyrs? This is the heaviest
sacrifice; hence, Eritreans are expected to
Freedom: The Most Valuable Basic Right
carry the heaviest responsibility to please them. At least we
have to keep the promises of our loved martyrs. But then again one
may ask to know the promises we have for our martyrs. We have many
promises but for today I would like to highlight about one of them:
We have the promise to defend for our homeland because we have the
obligation to take care of our national sovereignty.
As the matter of fact, we Eri-treans have fought a series of
wars against invading enemies which, ultimately, took thousands of
pre-cious Eritrean lives. For this rea-son, in the wars before and
after independence, there is no Eritrean family that has not
suffered the pains of wars. There is no family that has not lost a
loved one for the noble cause of our martyrs. Every Eritrean has
missed his/her dearest one, a brother or a sister, a cousin or
aunt, lover or a friend, a mother or father. And no one de-nies
that these loved ones fall for the sake of their people’s freedom;
they sacrificed for our betterment.
Hence, I am reminded of a cer-tain proverb: “A good turn
de-serves another in return.” Our martyrs gave their precious life
for the sake of our freedom; for the sake of our existence, on
be-half of us. They paid their pricey life for the betterment of
their people. They, therefore, deserve our heartfelt respect and a
pro-found glorious memory that has to be passed on from generation
to generation with dignity. Yet, this is not enough. We have much
more to do in order to please our beloved martyrs.
-
10Eritrea Profile, Saturday 25th of May, 2013
Triggered
Quotes
Inspired
Teklehaimanot Yemane
My Ultimate Gift: Independence And The Ultimate Freedom Of
Access To Education
Rivers of Consciousness Social:
http://www.facebook.com/riversofconsciousness | Contact Address:
[email protected] SMS Message to: +2917261231
When I was a kid, right before our independence, which is before
I joined to school,I used to sing a littleTigrinya songwhich says
like:
“xhafuleyaybln e-yeAnbbuleyaybln e-yeSala‘Edley’kmehar
e-ye.”Which is literally translated into
English as:
“I won’t say write for me?I won’t say read for me,I will be
educated with ‘My
luck’.”
Mistakenly I used to say ‘Edley’ when I was supposed to say
‘Wd-bey’. In Tigrinya language ‘Ed-ley’ means my luck and ‘Wdbey’
means ‘My Unity’ which refers to the united and committed Eritrean
Fighters for Independence. As a kid this did not make any
differ-ence to me, to make it worse I was not even sure what does
it mean ‘to write and to read’ or what does it mean by Unity nor
did I have any idea about the Organized party that was struggling
for a brighter day to come; I did not even know what does it mean
to be educated. I was simply singing this piece of song in the
middle of nowhere, where the words write, read and education were
not in the list of my vocabu-lary.However, I remember it very well
that this was my favorite song as a kid.Looking after my goats/kids
from the top of the mountains of one very rural village I used to
say it a number of times a day. As my mother tells me about this,
she used to cover her face in tears whenever she hears me
singing
this song. She would say, ‘how and where on earth will you be
able to go to school, my poor son … pray so as the Eritrean
Fighters may ar-rive very soon and you would be lucky enough to go
to school?’ She would not stop wiping her eyes un-less otherwise I
stopped singing. Unconsciously, I used to trigger her to cry, but I
did not understand that entire situation.By that time ‘Wdbey’/ the
Committed Eritrean Fighters, the EPLF (Eritrean Peo-ple’s
LiberationFront) were mak-
ing critical struggle for indepen-dence. That means part of
Eritrea was under the last few months of colonization, while
majority of the land was liberated.I got this fact from my late
perception pertaining to the struggle, but my little mind of that
timewas not conscious of this thing.
In no time Eritrea as a whole was liberated and a new life has
begun, that is life of Eritreans in an independent Eritrea.The
remark-able day, May 24 marked as the beginning of the new graph to
be sketched in the historic, but newly gainedcanvas. But for a
little kid who just started following his kids on the mountains,
the word Inde-pendence or ‘Natsnet’ in Tigrinya would be vague for
it has a vast un-told history behind it.Nevertheless I have
unforgettable memories of that time, memories that re-flect the
value of independence in my parent’sand people of their age’spoint
of view.
Seated in the upperfloor of a building, looking at the
decorated
city through the window of one room,I was lost in memories. The
colorful lights, art works, ban-ners, paintings, flags, long strips
of green, red, yellow and blue colored garments, representing our
flag, they all look very awesome. This is an every year memory
since that very Independence Day,May 24, 1991. Every year the day
is celebrated in a better and brighter manner, the cities colorful,
the people very happy, and the Medias dedicated to the reflection
of the
national struggle for Independence and the national development
ef-forts done after Independence. Focused at the long strips of the
colorful garments that run down a tall building in front of me, I
was thinking about what exactly I could remember from the events
that happened before twenty-two years, events that are related to
in-dependence. It was hard toremem-ber, but there is something I
could not forget; I remember myself ea-gerly looking at people of
certain trait leavingEritrea in groups and rows and there was
immeasurable sense of happiness that I can see on the faces of our
mothers and fathers.That was by the time when the soldiers of the
Derg Regime were going away from Eritrea with bare hands, 100%
frustrated and in despair. It took me few days to understand those
traits of people were from other lands who came here to invade us,
to make our land part of their territory, killing and oppressing
our people, however, our fighters have beaten them in
May 24 Trigger: What is Independence/‘Natsnet’ for you? What
memories do you have about Independence?Wishing you a Happy
Indepen-dence Day, for the 22nd year of Independence.“As our
parents tell us, during colonization there was no freedom even to
go for a fresh air walk in our own land. It was also impossible to
walk during night time. There were not any means of opportunities.
Independence made it possible, which I can say it is like being
free from a shell of darkness and for me Independence is a freedom
of everything. The opportunities like education, security and
having a brighter future are granted us by Independence.”_ Mercy
Bereket, from EriTel, Debarwa“We don’t seem to have enough words to
explain this. It would be better to say Independence is everything
for a brighter life as it is.”Tmnit and Senait, from Polytech,
Asmara“Wow … thank you ma Friend. Independence is one of my life
experiences but not easily explain-able life memories for me. Let
me try if I can put my experience in two words. Independence as
much as the cost you spent to gain it, it costs you to preserve it.
It’s not one specific time event that you gain it and then period.
It is expected to be felt as it happens in you. It needs to be
lived no matter what the situation is. To be preserved for the
future with its natural test...Happy Inde-pendence Day!”_
NatsnetTewelde, from EITOne aged father contemplating about all the
years of colonization said,“Independence changed a journey of One
Year to one day. And it is a stage for national development and
prosperity.”
What did the Martyr die for?For a jewel embedded on the eastern
coast of Africa, graced with a star-studded sky and moon hanging
low, seemingly within reach...for the right to walk the streets in
pride, to dance with joy and beat drums mys-teriously patterned
after a beating heart. The gift is immeasurable.This Martyr is a
woman with resolve. She bore her children on the battle grounds,
one hand on her weap-on, the other nursing her child. Her chin is
set de-terminedly to bring freedom to her next generation of
children. Outfitted like the male Martyr, she stood by him…ready to
defend, to die in order to live, through her offspring. Never
questioning her journey to free-dom, she lived by the thought that
living in bondage and oppression would never do; when her man
be-came dispirited or weary, she gently reminded him of the
principles that brought them to that moment; she knows deep in the
marrow of her bone, in every fiber of her being…with every breath
and heartbeat - that the wars repeatedly waged on their beloved
country, had to be met with immovable spirit and determina-tion,
not fear. Her sandals, broken straps, hanging by a thread, were not
a deterrent, nor her continu-ous thirst a concern…she was driven to
move forward with the goal in full view -because in her mind’s eye
she could see a victorious homecoming; she could hear the faint but
growing drum beat, she could see the circling dance – mimicking the
never ending circle of life, infinite and strong. She knew that
Love never dies, but survives - and that in their ashes the message
would be clear…written in the sky, the earth, and the sea…the voice
is softly spo-ken yet carries the thunderous power of a will
united, “We will not die, We will live, our Forefathers land will
remain in custody of future generations and Sov-ereignty will
remain ours, no matter the cost”. What do I know, being a diaspora
Eritrean woman, raised abroad? I know my Mother. Honoring our Noble
Martyrs with Love, Passion, and Humility!
GelilaYoftahe – [email protected]
“Injustice in the endproduces independence.”_Voltaire“If money
is your hope forindependence you willnever have it. The onlyreal
security that a manwill have in this world is areserve of
knowledge,experience, and ability.”_Henry Ford
many fronts, leaving them with no option except to leave our
land once and forever. Being aninnocent kid, I tagged them as
selfish animals and to our fight-ers as ‘Tegadelti’/The Fighters,
which is my favorite until this very recent time.
After few months of the re-markable day, one bright morning my
mother approached me, her face glowing witha wide smile and said,
“My son, your wish is granted and you along with your sister and
your brother will go to the city to join to school, there is
unlimited access to education. Be ready my son, your father will
take us all.”These were the first words toward my educa-tional
enlightenment…Complet-inga journey which used to take our fathers
one year in only one day, we reached the city. Enroll-ing in one
school, we officially startedschooling and all form of
consciousness began through education.In the schools, thanks to my
History, Geography and Civics teachers who taught me to clearly
understand what was behind our struggle for indepen-dence. I wonder
how soon this opportunity has come. Within very few months I was
lucky enough to join to school. And thinking it from now I would
say this was a declaration of Inde-pendence within Independence.
Out of all my twenty-two years of educational journey in an
in-dependent Eritrea, now as a for-tunate Eritrean I calculated My
Ultimate Gift as the best breed of Independence and the Ultimate
freedom of access to education and educational consciousness. I was
born in the darkness of colonization and ignorance and luckily
grown up in the lights of independence. Understanding the cost of
this huge gift, I have come to know that my individu-al
responsibility is limitless and my very soon vision is to build
educationally, technologically and professionally competent youth
through my action plus reflection principle. Preserving My Ultimate
Gift, Contributing to the National Development Projects and
building an all sided conscious youth are my all times to-do list.
For My Ultimate Gift is the gift of all Eritrean youth, I also
believe that thisto-do listi-sour top all time responsibility. Live
Long Eritrea, Live Long ‘May 24’,our Independence Day, for
everything else will live along with you.
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11Eritrea Profile, Saturday 25th of May, 2013
Bethlhem Teame
“Women, wronged in one way or another, are given the
overwhelm-ing beauty of endurance, the ca-pacity for high or low
suffering, for violent feeling absorbed, final-ly tranquilized, for
the radiance of humility, for silence, secrecy, im-pressive
acceptance. Heroines are, then, heroic.” Elizabeth Hardwick (1916 -
2007), u.S. writer.After a long and tedious journey the girl
reached her destination. She released a sigh of relief. Al-though
she wouldn’t admit it she was scared to death every time the bus
stopped at the checkpoints. Now she has reached her father’s
hometown she relaxed a bit flex-ing her muscles and stretching her
limbs. She asked one of the villag-ers standing by for a direction
to her grandparents and the woman offered to take her there
herself. Upon reaching the house of her grandparents whom she has
met briefly only few times she couldn’t control all the pent-up
emotions that were buried inside. She was crying as she announced
her arrival to her surprised grandparents and their neighbors. Pain
controlled all her system; she couldn’t con-trol her emotions as
they rushed all over again. Her grandparents and everyone else
rushed to wel-come her but they also knew she was a bearer of a bad
news. The death of her family and the cruelty of their death was a
shock to her old grandparents but they couldn’t even cry and mourn
the death of their beloved ones properly, afraid it might be
interpreted otherwise by the officials of the Derg and their sly
spies. Village life seemed much more terrible than the city,
everything was done in hush-hush and fear seems to rule firmly. But
despite this numbing feeling of fear the people were courageous and
contributed their best to the fight for independence this way or
the other. Preparations for her departure were made in secret; she
was to leave the village at nightfall with two other youngsters
from village whose house was set on fire by the soldiers of the
Derg, accused of supporting the ‘wonbedei’ – the rebellious. Her
grandmother didn’t shed any tears as she said her fare-well but
encouraged and motivated her. ‘Only if I could be young like you, I
would fight and eradicate these barbarians out of my land.’
‘Avenge your family’s death’ she whispered to her as unreleased
tears threatened to spill out. Say-ing farewell to her only family
alive was the hardest thing to do. The prospect that she might not
see them ever again made the parting such an even unbearable
sorrow. Her grandfather was an old frail man but that moment he
sounded a boy in his twentieth as he tried to pass on some
techniques he knew on how to handle a gun. Using his cane to
demonstrate, he gave her some techniques hoping she will make a
great warrior. They show-ered her with a rain of blessings,
beseeching the heavens to always keep an eye on her. Through hidden
shortcuts and secret paths the girl reached her destination, a
destination where she could start her life afresh. For the first
time in six months she breathed a sigh of relief in the lib-erated
lands of her country. Sitting on a big rock she stared ahead at the
vast land stretched ahead of her, the beautiful land and its
friendly peace loving people. She asked out loud to the vast land
ahead of her, ‘Do you know how many people have died for you and
how much blood has been shed for you? How mothers are tortured and
abused while their children are killed in front of their eyes? Do
you realize the sacrifice that has been made for you? The precious
lives you have demanded? Just for you!’“Manjus!” somebody from her
unit called out for her. Manjus meaning kiddo has become to be her
nick-name among her comrades. She was the youngest in her unit and
despite their effort to assign her in a relatively safer place
other than the battlefield their effort has been to no avail. She
wanted to fight and nothing, absolutely nothing will stop her. Her
determination re-flected in everything and anything she does, and
her ultimate determi-nation is to fight in liberating her country.
Her determination has cost her so many punishments but finally they
all gave in to her re-quest to join in the fight and that has made
her the youngest mem-ber of her unit and she was chris-tened
‘Manjus’.Life as a ‘Manjus’ was tough but as the youngest one she
was a bit spoiled and she met a lot of broth-ers and sisters in the
absence of her family. The sound of her rich and deep laughter that
has eluded her for a long time was now her special signature. Her
loud hoot
of laughter was a contagious and it spread quickly like a rapid
fire, any com-rade within a radius of her presence and laughter has
to laugh without even knowing what she is laughing about. And
slowly with the course of time her deep wounds started to heal
although they left hideous scars behind. Every now and then she
would remember that hatful day where she come running from school
only to see her whole family mur-dered cold bloodily for no crime
at all but for being Eritreans. She remembers how her family didn’t
get a proper burial and mourning, she missed her little brother and
her mother’s warm, loving embrace, her older brother’s
protec-tiveness. She might be called a ‘Manjhus’ but when it comes
to the battle-field she was a lion-ess of the jungle. She runs,
jumps, fights and roars like a lioness. In a battlefield she is
fear-less and fearsome and never wavers in a face of danger. She
charges forward with determi-nation and purpose, for the same
purpose her father left home leaving his fam-ily unprotected, the
same purpose her mother and brothers shed their blood, same purpose
she left home and her grandparents, for the same purpose her
comrades are paying their life and their blood, for the same reason
limbs and eyes were being paid, yeah for the same pur-pose of
liberating Eritrea and its independence. Manjus was no superwoman
she was all flesh and blood, she hurt, cried and agonized. She was
shot two times but this didn’t sag her sprit or falter her steps
but moti-vated her even more. Every time she was hospitalized she
heard that first sound that opened her eyes and gave her a purpose
in life, “Live, live and show your ene-
mies, what your anger can do, live and avenge your family’s
death. Live and show your enemies what their fate would be for
conquering
our land and murder us at a whim.” Live!” And this will fill her
with brand new energy and determi-nation. She was ready to pay her
youth, parts of her body, blood and her own life to secure
liberation and freedom so as no other person would come from school
to see his/her parents killed with the en-emy bullets, so as no
family would have to be separated, so as no one would be tortured,
imprisoned and killed. Manjus has dreamt of meeting her father and
a life of happiness and peace with him but she didn’t raise her
hopes up either. Majus knew how unpredictable life is especial-ly
in the fields, life was never sure here, this moment one might be
alive and the next he/she is a mar-
‘Manjhus’-Lioness Of The Jungle
PArT II & fInAl tyr, a hero and a heroine who have paid
their dear life for a great cause. But she never has stopped
praying for the heaven to keep an eye over
her father. She wanted to see his face at least once. And one
sweet day her prayers were answered and she met her father. Manjus
met her father and her best friend’s brother who told her to ‘live’
in the liber-ated areas of Eritrea; both fight-ing for what they
believed in. Her father has changed a lot and he seemed to have
aged greatly when compared to the loving and caring father in her
memory, but again a lot has happened since they saw each other. She
has longed for this day next to the day Eritrea gets lib-erated
from the yoke of coloniza-tion. Father and daughter cried in each
other’s arm, they cried in sor-row, they cried in happiness and
they cried in determination and promise.
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PHOTOGRAPHY DIVISION
EritrEa- ShiEld of rESiliEncE and nobility of Work
