Escape from Eritrea
The BBC World Service had a harrowing documentary on the plight of those who escaped the giant prison known as Eritrea.
Labels: Eritrea
posted by Brian @ Friday, April 24, 2009
6 comments
Black Star Journal
Commentary on the news, culture, sports and current events of sub-Saharan Africa from someone who's lived there.
The author served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa.
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Friday, April 24, 2009
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6 Comments:
How convenient of the BBC, it would not tell you the reason why there are so many conscripts in a war footing for a long time
http://www.slate.com/id/2178793/
or who is flooding Africa with arms.
http://tinyurl.com/djt9yu
The western world can not be hypocrites and lecture Africans about democracy and rule of law while they are the very people that manipulate and break the rules.
Eritrea has made it clear long time ago that it wants to be self reliant and reject food aid except in emergencies, this has not made it favourite with donor countries and NGO's ,which both have self interest in perpetuating their business interests
http://www.qsl.net/eritrea/eritrea_2.html
http://tinyurl.com/cf3coh
http://www.qsl.net/eritrea/eritrea_2.html
No one is arguing the situation is ideal, but if the so called international communities are conniving to keep the two countries in constant war footing by not fulfilling their obligation of enforcing UN ruling of the border commission (because Ethiopia is doing their proxy war with somalia).
What is Eritrea meant to do? Demobilize their people and be invaded by any excuse like their neighbouring Somalia ?
Or Demobilize their people and revert to the likes of their basket case neighbour Ethiopia, where despite being the recipient of the highest aid in the world (More than $30 billion in 20 years) yet have 12 million in perpetual famine ?
The report is politically loaded and deliberate.
May be they prefer to see Africans scavenging for food in the streets of London and Calais because they have no jobs and no purpose in their countries.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2003977.stm
As far as I am concerned, Eritrea is doing a noble thing, if anyone wants to criticize, they should start with so called international community on why they would not enforce the international rule of law that they always like to point out.
Second is why is Eritrea being penalized when it comes to aid because it refused food aid but is amenable for cash for work programs ?
And if the western media and are so keen to find where the horror is, it is with the henious regimes that they give red carpet treatment, position and diplomatic cover to. May bee the BBC needs to explain why it is not reporting this ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VJka6q16Os
http://tinyurl.com/cern3e
http://tinyurl.com/ysmvtc
http://tinyurl.com/cg4ygx
Simon, Did you listen to the documentary? It has nothing do with them rejecting food aid nor does it contain criticism of the regime for doing so. Furthermore, the BBC has reported on the stories you claim they've ignored.
brain the bbc is openly bias and support the opposition group Eritrean opposition groups are the minority in Eritrea i say 5% the majority of Eritreans 95 % support the government full stop this audio is not news worthy because it was purposely made to go into the direction of the opposition members so it bias its funny to so many lies for example the Eritrean government pays for spies come on man they isn’t that clever and for sure they don’t have the hard currency for that. then they say they can’t trust their own families in Eritrea listen brain why can’t it be the majority of people support the government simple and plain yes it sound boring but its true there is no conspiracy believe me i now they don’t have the currency for that especially now in the recessions but the Eritrean people are still going to support the government
and it’s no surprise to me Eritrean in western countries talk bad about the government how else are they going to get accepted into western countries i.e. permanent residents without a good reason tell me it’s all constructed this human right abuses yes Eritrea is not perfect but it’s totally been blown out of proportion with disproportion punishments telling mean that whoever spewing these lie has a hidden agenda and doesn’t really want to solve the problem
awet nefshe
Awet: Perhaps the reason the BBC has to interview exiles outside Eritrea is because they and other news organizations are not permitted to operate freely inside Eritrea.
Allow me to explain something. If Eritrea succombed to self-serving foreign business entities, such as the IMF, we would not have been witnessing this incessant wave of media attacks on Eritrea.
"Top 10 refugee producing countries in the world."
Why aren't there reports that "everyone is escaping" from Mexico? If all of those "Eritrean refugees" were "escaping" Eritrea, why is it that most Eritreans return to their country every year? Why isn't that "reported?"
Almost all Eritreans that want to leave their home, plainly and simply, want to leave for economic reasons. This is a fact. These "reporters," rather than reporting, are for whatever reasons, fishing for anything negative about Eritrea to disseminate.
Another question that needs to be asked is what are the immigration policies of refugee receving nations? For instance, I know that it is much easier to get into the United States claiming to be a "Eritrean refugee." Is there any way of confirming of these immigrants are indeed from Eritrea, rather than from Ethiopia, a country that suffers over 10 million people dying of starvation? The main reason that Eritrea is targeted is that Western countries have strategic interests that goes against Eritrean interests but the GOE is not licking any boots! The stance by the Eritrean Foreign Minister, Ali Abdu, is shared by the overwhelming majority of Eritreans: "Eritreans kneel on only two occasions, when they pray and when they shoot."
With a country that is repeatedly said by the western world to be "tiny," doesn't it have a right to defend itself and it's territorial integrity? And if it's government deems it necessary for a draft to bolster defense, especially in the volatile HOA, does it not have a right to do so?
And now, on to Eritrea being a "giant prison."
It's interesting to me that some entities seem to care or, at least, care enough to cry alligator tears for Eritreans, when related business interests are affected. Where were these entities during the Haile Selassie and Mengistu Hailemariam reigns of terror in the region?
I would like to assure the genuine readers that Eritrea, it's people and it's government are working hard towards freedom.. TRUE FREEDOM.
And to the self-serving Western business and political entities DO NOT WEEP FOR THE WORLD TO SEE, ERITREANS KNOW ABOUT YOUR ALLIGATOR TEARS!
Brian, if you're really concerned for Eritreans:
Vous n'avez pas, Brian, le monopole du coeur.
I would have wrote that in an African language born out of an African alphabet system but you wouldn't have understood what Eritreans speak!
"Vous n'avez pas, Brian, le monopole du coeur."
Mon cher Bordoli, je n'ai rien dit au contraire.
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