ERITREA: A nation quietly enduring Rule By The Barrel Of The Gun
Opinion
Berhane M. Tekeste
9 May 2007
A lot has been said and written about human rights violations, freedom of religion, media restrictions, jailing of opposition leaders and arbitrary arrests of foreign and local journalists in Eritrea. But little or nothing has been said or written at all about the nature of the political apparatus that is at work in Eritrea and is responsible for these and other grave transgressions.
In Eritrea, democracy has been declared luxury item, dissent is treasonous, rule of law is taboo, press freedom outlawed, justice is imagination, parliament is wishful thinking, and the national constitution has been indefinitely furloughed (now nearly 10 years). Absent any or all of the above, what do you call a political apparatus that has been exercising absolute authority over and control of the country ever since Eritrea emerged as a politically independent and self-governing political entity 16 years ago in 1991? Call it whatever you want but it is everything but democracy, even remotely. What we have in Eritrea is the raw Rule By The Barrel Of The Gun coterminous with Tyranny and totalitarian rule. Strictly speaking, therefore, the term 'government of Eritrea' is a flattery because the group that is in charge in Eritrea is not governing but ruling the nation with an iron fist arbitrarily under the autocratic control of Essayas Afewerki.
At independence in 1991, the then EPLF (Eritrean People's Liberation Front) had it all: Popular support, Military might and organizational skills to maintain peace and order, secure the territorial and national sovereignty of Eritrea, to draft a national constitution and to transition the country into constitutional governance. That is why at the time the people nodded ok when the EPLF assumed the business of running the country as Provisional Government with its central committee as the legislative body. Two years later, the EPLF renamed itself PFDJ (People's Front for Democracy and Justice), managed to come up with a constitution and got it even ratified in 1997. But enter the border war, hopes for the implementation of the constitution and subsequent transition to constitutional governance were utterly shattered. Citing the border war as an excuse, the power of the people to run their government was usurped by a PFDJ group comprised of Essayas Afewerki as the head honcho and some handpicked figureheads posing as cabinet members, zonal administrators and commanders. That is all there is to the "government of Eritrea". The constitution was replaced by one-man, one-party totalitarian rule. Thence, even the mere mention of democracy or constitution could get one into trouble for it is considered blasphemy.
And what is the reaction of the people of Eritrea? Answer: Deafening silence. Unlike the common wisdom, silence is neither consent nor acquiescence in Eritrea. In Eritrea, silence means quiet dissent, disapproval, and cry for help. Silence also means quiet submission to the Rule By The Barrel Of The Gun. For, any thing else would be suicidal.
There are those that would like us to believe that silence means unequivocal support for the ruling PFDJ. Well, the best and only way to prove that is to let the people speak in an open, free, and fair election under the auspices of the international community. If the people of Eritrea were trusted to vote for the right thing in 1993, then shouldn't they be trusted to vote for the right thing this time around under the same conditions? The people of Eritrea were poor then and are poor today. So, poverty cannot be the measure of their mental sanity when it comes to making decisions over their political wishes? How about that for a change? This would be democracy in its simplest and most primitive form, not democracy in its metaphysical sense or its sophisticated forms seen somewhere else.
The country is not at war. The border war ended 7 years ago and the boder dispute has been conclusively resolved 5 years ago. The country is not in societal stasis. It moved on to its normal societal life including developments in all sectors relevant to its existance as a viable political entity. How does then democratic governance hamper the country's ability to defend, protect, and secure its territorial and national sovereignty?
Today, the people of Eritrea must want and accept what they get from the PFDJ rulers in Eritrea. It is the rule of the Hitlerian "The end justifies the means", "Who is not for me is against me" and the destructive politics of "My way or the highway". Eritrea has been turned into a country where the people have a lot to say but prefer to suck it up for fear of brutal retributions. Briefly, that is the essence of the political apparatus at work in Eritrea.
Author can be reached at bmtekeste@yahoo.com
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