Dr. Kiflu Ghebremeskel
His brother martyred for the independence of Eritrea and Reverend Dr. Kiflu Ghebremeskel was arrested one day before Eritrea celebrated it's 13 years of independence, on May 23, 2004! His brother, Haile-Melekot Ghebremeskel died in Sahel in 1983. We hear that Dr. Kiflu is kept in the prison Karcholli which was built by the Italians to incarcerate Eritreans/Ethiopians. He is kept incommunicado and we don't know whether he is alive, dead, paralysed, sick, blind or whatever.
Reverend Dr. Kiflu Ghebremeskel. A God-fearing man, a mathematics scholar and someone with great love for his people and country. Author of, amongst others, "Mihnatz Moralawi Seret Eritrea", "Building a Moral Foundation for Eritrea". Actually what Eritrea needs. The book is a must read for every one of us.
He dedicated the book to his martyred brother Mr. Haile-Melekot Ghebremeskel who died fighting for the liberation of Eritrea in Sahel in 1983. What would Haile-Melekto say in his grave about the torture, arrest incommunicado for 11 years of his brother.
Dr. Kiflu Gebremekel was arrested on May 23, 2004. He was taken from his home in Asmara, the Gejeret suburb, at about 5AM local time. Dr. Ghebremeskel was senior pastor and founder of Southwest Full Gospel Church and member of the executive committee to the Full Gospel Church of Eritrea.
Dr. Gebremeskel was a mathematics lecturer, department and facutly head at the University of Asmara until 1999. He has a Phd in Mathematics from Chicago University. He is held incommunicado probably in the old Italian prison carcere in Amsara. His wife and four children don't know where he is and whether he is alive.
I know Dr. Kiflu as a humble and very intelligent person. The last time I spoke him was hen he was here in The Netherlands.
Friends please compare the following link with what the Eritrean regime has been doing to our intellectuals, scholars. In the West, in The States they are respected, watch and listen the following link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFb6NU1giRA
In Eritrea they are jailed without end. What a waste of knowledge, what a waste of time! Investement starts with exploiting the knowlege and wisdom of the arrested Eritreans and not with fancy investment conferences.
"THE STRUGGLE OF MAN AGAINST POWER IS THE STRUGGLE OF MEMORY AGAINST FORGETTING"
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Millan Kundera (one of my favorites)
Lest We Forget Them! Our parents used to say "Niacha interesiE Amlach YiresiAni" (May God forget me if I forget you).
"The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, its history, Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long the nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was. The world around it will forget even faster……The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."
What surprises me is that when the Church in the diaspora doesn't even dare to mention the names of its pastors in public and pray for them. Only praying behind doors is not enough. We must act. Faith without action is a dead faith, says the Bilbe itself.
What surprises me time and again is that (MOST) people (Eritreans) who knew Medhanie, who knew the prisoners of concience I have been writing the last two weeks, don't dare to talk about them. They don't even say: "Oh, what tragic", or "I am really sorry for the family", or "May God break his/her chains" or "what can we do to help?" No, I am time and again astonished by the total silence of the Eritrea people. To stay in the metaphore of Kundera, they have chose to go dement instead of challenging totalitarian regime, challenging their memory against forgetfullness. Forgetfullness! That is what the Isaias Afewerki (PFDJ) regime is upto: he took them away from us and he is telling us "if you remember them, you will face the same fate". I undersand the silence of those inside Eritrea, but what about those of us who enjoy the full-fledge freedom in the west.
Please post quality pictures of the prisoners if you have; that is the least we should do. Let us not forget them till hopefully justice is done. They could have been one of us.
Share their sermons if you have. The regime tries to silence our journalists, our clergy, our politicians, our diplomats, our military, we should do everything to share the voice and pictures and movies we have about our prisoners of conscience.