What did the EPLF promise the Eritrean people?

Resoum Kidane

24/05/2005

 

 

The Eritrean Liberation Army liberated Eritrea on 24 May 1991 and everyone hoped to see a free democratic state of Eritrea.   Since then May 24 has been Remembrance Day  to honour the memory of people who had given their lives during the liberation struggle.  It is also to remember the suffering of our people for a century under colonial rule.

 

Historically,  the foundation of the EPLF  was  not only to free the country from the Ethiopian occupation but also  to  liberate the Eritrean people from  social oppression  and to ensure the sustainable development of the country through  democratisation .

 

This was reaffirmed by the General Secretary of the EPLF Isseyas Aferworki in an  interview   with Stuart Holland MP who was Labour Shadow Minister for Overseas, 1984.   Afeworki explained  why the EPLF split from the ELF  in the following words:

 

What people were doing before 1970 was to democratise the nature of the ELF organisation from within, bring new ideas, and criticise their practices…  Unfortunately the ELF leadership resorted to physical liquidation of all people who were coming with new ideas. This physical liquidation within the ELF intensified the opposition.   Finally there was no other choice except to break away from this organisation and found a new organisation which could meet the demands and aspiration of the people  (p.130)

             Firebrace, James ( 1984)

 

In the 1970s EPLF had a broad support among the Eritrean  people  because of its  clear vision for the future of independent Eritrea.   One of the active member of the Eritreans for Liberation in North America described  the  EPLF's promise  for the Eritrean people  in the following words:

"We were told that the only salvation for our future nation was the Shabia. Only the Shabia would create a just and democratic state, free from exploitation, where all Eritreans could participate equally".

Afwork, Azieb  (  2002)

 

The EPLF adopted a National Democracy Programme at the Organisation's first congress in 1977.  It guaranteed that on achieving independence it would secure the formation of a multi-party state.  In 1990, Aferworki told  the EPLF Radio Service, ( VOM)  that a single party state is an obstacle to the sustainable development:  

 

 

 

The EPLF has already underlined its commitment to create a multi-party system in Eritrea. A one-party system wills neither enhances national security or stability nor accelerates economic development. In fact a one party system could be a major threat to the very existence of our country.  For these reasons we will have to avoid these malaises in tomorrow's Eritre

 

1990, Adulis

 

Shortly after the referendum since  it was not possible to form a constitutional government immediately, the EPLF became an interim government for four years,  until a constitution could be drafted, and elections held in 1997.  This interim arrangement was accepted by the public on trust without thinking that it would leave the government in power, without elections,  for the next 14 years.

 

A year after the formation of the interim government in April 1994 a Constitutional Commission was formed to draft the Eritrean constitution.   It was ratified on May 23, 1997 but to this day has not been implemented.   The general election, which should have been held in the summer of 1998, was postponed because of the outbreak of war between Ethiopia and Eritrea in May 1998.  

 

Following the Algeria agreement in July 2000, the Constitutional Commission, senior government officials and the public raised the issue of the implementation of the constitution and election.  The Commission wrote a letter to President Afewerki, in October 2000.

           

Eritrea has a most sacred document of the nation. This constitution represents the consummation of the Eritrean struggle, which was fought for self-determination, democracy, social justice, and the rule of law. It was crafted with the participation of the people and was ratified by their elected representatives. It is the people's document and no one has the right to suspend it or otherwise tamper with it

 Bereket Habte Selassie, January 20, 2001.

 

Thereafter the National Assembly promised to hold elections before the end of 2001.  Mr Mahmoud Sherifo, the Vice President of Eritrea, the Minister of Local Government was -appointed Chair of the Committee to Draft Electoral Law.

 

 However there was no goodwill from the hard line leaders of PFDJ, and public attention was diverted from focusing on any election by the  arrest of 12  of senior reformist members of the Central Council (legislative body of PFDJ) and the National Council.

 

The Eritrean National Assembly neither protested when Mr Mahmoud Sherifo, who was Chair of the Committee to Draft Electoral Laws was dismissed by the President on 7th February nor did it condemn the illegal arrest of their Parliamentary colleagues on 18th September 2001.

 

Since the crackdown on the reformist movement, the PFDJ ruling party has not hesitated to suppress the protests of Eritrean people against the ruling elite depriving them  of fundamental rights.

 

According to reports from various governmental and non- governmental organisations Eritrea has a poor record on human rights. The latest report from the US State Department report dated 2005-04-25, alleged that there were numerous politically motivated detentions of those who had spoken out against the government in 2004. (US State Department 2005)

 

It is exactly 20 years since Abdul Rahman Mohamed Babu presented a paper on the Eritrean people's liberation struggle at a conference which was organised. by UNA in 1985,in London. He emphasised  that the Eritrea people had never been ruled by force.

(Forward, 1985)

 

However, the PFDJ has  failed to draw the lessons from the  Dergue regime’s experience or from the popular uprising against the repressive systems in the former Soviet bloc.

 

After Eritrea was liberated in 1991, Abdul Rahman Mohamed Babu (1)  and other former supporters of the Eritrean people's right to independence  anticipated   a new democratic  state of Eritrea.  If Babu were alive  he would be disappointed as are other former supporters of the Eritrean people's right to independence.  Their protest was voiced in a petition on 18th September 2003.  A former friend of Eritrea expressed his disappointment in the following words:

 

 Many of us who supported the Eritrean people in their long struggle for independence now watch in horror as President Afeworki and his acolytes Have closed down the press and imprisoned students, journalists, senior government ministers and anybody else who challenges their dictatorial rule.

Andy Gregg, Independent, the (London), May, 2004

 

The autocratic nature of the PFDJ ruling elite has a long history going back to the formation of the EPLF in 1970.  Since then the EPLF - now the PFDJ -  has not had a culture of democracy and political tolerance .  There were calls for  the restoration of democracy within the EPLF in 1970-73, 1975-76 and 1977-79.  These democratization movements  were known  by  the names of Menka (2)   Bitsay (3)  and  Yemanawyan (4)   Menkiskas.    None of them succeeded to make the EPLF a democratic organisation. In fact all their leaders and their supporters were condemned as anarchist, regionalist, rightist or ultra-leftist.   Because of this allegation they were killed.  According to Teclai  Ghebre-Mariam (Teclai Aden ) (5) the security department killed no fewer  than 3,000 persons  between 1973-1980 .

 (Andu, Gebrekal )

 

In 1979 the undemocratic culture of the EPLF was criticised by one of its mass organisations based in North America.  This protest movement in history of the EPLF's is known as   Na  Semien America Menkiskase.( North America Movement) .  Its leader Mengistab Issac "committed suicide" mysterious murder and the organisation withdrew from the EPLF.   One of its members,   Azieb   described   the EPLF in the following  words  

 

        "Shabia has a long history of killing its own people. Had  the ELF-NA (6) been in the field in Eritrea, they, too would have been  Shabia victims, just like Menka"

.               Afwork, Azieb  (  2002)

 

There was also a similar story of suicide or mysterious murder in 1979 until the recent death of Andemicheal Kahsay (7)  However the ruthless repression against members of the EPLF by the leaders during the liberation struggle did not cease despite protests. In April 1993 there was strong protest from the Popular Army. Unfortunately this also failed.  As a consequence around 3000 leaders and supporters of the Popular Army were arrested.   Some of them are still in detention in the notorious colonial prison of Adi Quala after 12 years and an unspecified number has since disappeared.   In 1994 another  mutiny took place  this time by the war wounded heroes  but this too was crushed  by force. When all this happened there was no strong suppoty from the EPLF members.

 

 

There were periodic rifts within the EPLF leadership from  the 1980s. One such led to  the mysterious murder in 1985  of Ibrahim Afa  who was distinguished military leader.

Another  manifestation of  conflict among the EPLF leaders occurred when Haile Woldenstea  (Duru) the Head of Political Department and architect of the EPLF’s political ideology, was moved after 15 years to the Department of Finance. With the exacerbation of the rift, for the first time since 1979 the reformist members of the PFDJ started to challenge dictatorial style of the President.    In the open letter the reformists  criticised the lack of democracy under Isseyas Aferworki's  leadership.  Because they criticised the president in an open letter, they were accused of treason in relation to the Ethiopian-Eritrean border war and arrested without formal charges

.

 

 Since their arrest the power has been  further concentrated in the hands of the president and the PFDJ ruling party. It is time now for  EPLF ex-fighters and old members of the EPLF mass organisations (Hafash wdbat) to re-evaluate their unconditional loyalty to the EPLF leadership.   Sadly on the 14th  anniversary  of independence day, the hopes for democratic development and an end to the 30 years fight for liberation have still not been realised..

 

 The Eritrea people must learn  lesson from the betrayal of their hopes by the  EPLF leaders.  It is a time for the former veteran revolutionary leaders of both the EPLF and ELF to admit their past mistakes and  apologise to  the Eritrean people for the crimes they have committed against the fighters and the  people

 

I end by appealing to all Eritreans to condemn  the suffering of our people under the dictatorial PFDJ rule. Help alert the international community to the tyranny of the PFDJ.

-

 

GLORY TO OUR MARTYRS

 

 

Notes

 

 

(1) Abdul Rahman Mohamed Babu [1924-1996] a Commentator on African Affairs for 8 years a member of the Tanzanian cabinet and was secretary to the International Initiative for Peace in Eritrea.

 

(2)Menka Menkiskas : The leaders of the movement were then liquidated in a very brutal manner. Some of the leading elements of the group (sometimes known as Menka.) who were killed by Essayas and henchmen included

 

1)Yohannes Sebhatu; 2) Dr Russom; 3)Tareke Yehdego; 4)Mussie Tesfamichael; 5)Afeworki Teklu; 6) Habte-Selassie; 7)Aberash Melkie; 8) Dehab T/Tsion; 9) Habte Kidane (gorrilla), and 10) Debessai Ghebre-Selassie.

Source Ghebre-Mariam (Teclai Aden),

 

(3) Bitsay Menkiskas  was  one of these democratization movements which   led by Goitom Berhe (bitsay), a law graduate of Addis Ababa.

Goitom and his groups  tried to form an underground movement called 'the Eritrean Revolutionary Party'  in 1975/1976 during this period  the party translated a number of Marxist works to Tigrigna (eg Dialectical Materialism, Four Essays of Philosophy, About the Proletariat Party) .  All the literature was then collected and burnt. The suspected ring-leaders of the anti-Essayas movement of progressives were arrested and, later butchered.

The victims included: 1)Goitom Berhe; 2)Mesih Russom;3) Tewolde Eyob; 4)Teclai Ghebre-Kristos; 5)Michael Bereketeab; 6) Haile Yohannesom; 7) Samuel Ghebre-Dingil; 8)Bereket Haile; 9) Memhir Tecle Habte-Tsion; 10) Alem Abraha and others.

 

1975/1976 the author of this paper  was  in the Information department and  I remember that when Haile Menkorias  translated a number of  Marxist works to tigringna (eg, State and Revoltion , The Communist Manifesto,   two step backward and one step forward and some of Mao works which I could not  remember the title exactly, and  we did all the process of printing and package of the pulication althought   it was  not allow to read them because we were ordinary members.not only this but also

.if you tried to read some of the  Marx works, you would be in target on these days

 

 (4)Yemanawyan   Menkiskas  as the continuation of the  democratization movement  this   movement against corruption  in 1977-1978 when most of the town liberated by the EPLF .  Among those persons killed for having said a word or two in criticism against corruption of the ruling clique were-. 1) Dr Eyob Ghebre-leul, educated in the USSR; 2) Mehari Ghirma-Tsion, educated in the USSR; 3) Ghebre-Michael Meharizghi; Addis Abeba university graduate; 4) Hibret Tesfa-Ghaber; 5) Kidane Abeito; 6) Fissehaye Kidane (Germen); 7) Haile Jebha, former EPLF interrogation section chief; 8) Araya Semere; 9) Ammanuel Filansa; 10) Solomon Wolde-Mariam, key EPLF leader between 1970-1977, and, others. Mogos Fassil, Addis Ababa law graduate, narrowly escaped death by fleeing from gun-point

 

 The author  of this paper  was  a memeber  of EPLF from 1975-1993 and  knew  some of them  not only by name but personal all the following : 1)Goitom Berhe; 2)Mesih Russom;3) Teclai Ghebre-Kristos 4) Dr Eyob Ghebre-leul, educated in the USSR; 5) Mehari Ghirma-Tsion, educated in the USSR; 6) Ghebre-Michael Meharizghi; Addis Abeba university graduate; 7)  Kidane Abeito; 8)  Haile Jebha, former EPLF interrogation section chief; 9) Solomon Wolde-Mariam, key EPLF leader between 1970-1977.  

 It was sad  that   most  people like me ordinary members of the EPLF we  do not know anything they were killed in the late 1970s.

(5 )Teclai  Ghebre-Mariam (Teclai Aden),  was member of the Central Committee of the EPLF from 1977 until he deserted to Ethiopia in 1980  and   also the chief of the department of crime (Helewa Sewra). . Accordin to Teclai Aden , Sewra Helewai Sera is the Gestapo section of the EPLF assigned with task of arresting, torturing and killing elements who oppose the leadership clique

 6) Eritreans for Liberation in North America (EFLNA) :

 The Association of Eritrean Students in North America reformed from EFLNA and is now the mass student organization in the U.S. representing the EPLF, the vanguard of the Eritrean struggle.]

 

 7) Ex-fighter Andemicheal Kahsay the Eritrean ambassador to Italy passed away yesterday Wednesday August 13th at 5:00 p.m. in the afternoon after he encountered an accident earlier that afternoon.
http://www.dehai.org/archives/dehai_news_archive/aug-sept03/0230.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

 

 

Afwork, Azieb (2002) Shabias Lies and Betrayals

http://news.asmarino.com/Comments/December2002/AziebAfworki_19.asp

 

Andu,  Gebrekal  (  ). EPLF an inside story (special issue) Februry, 1981 (full text of the statement  of Teclai Ghebre-Mariam (Teclai Aden) By Gebrekal Andu ...
www. dekebat-eritra.com/News_Octob10.html -   Visited   on 17 May 2005

 

Adulis (1990) Interview on wide -range issues with EPLF Secretary General Issaias Afewerki. In Adulis vol vii, no 8 October 1990.

 

Awate Team  (2004) Documents/ Interviews: the chronology of the Reform Movement (From Our Archves) Sep 18, 2004

http://awate.com/artman/publish/printer_3629.shtml

 

Awate Team  The Chronology of The Reform Movement
www.awate.com/artman/publish/article_3629.shtml

 

Dan Connell (1979) Eritrea support and the left danger

Reprinted from Guardian , December 15, 1979

http://www.mltranslations.org/US/eflna.htm

 

Firebrace, James and Holland, Stuart  (1984)

Never Kneel Down,

 

Greggy, Andy (2004) Letter: Eritrea's ordeal

Independent,  The (London) May 24

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi  -_qu4158/is_200405/ai_n12789344

 

Habte Selassie, Bereket  (2001)

The disappearance of the Eritrean Constitution and its impact on current politics in Eritrea

http:// news.asmarino.com/Articles/2001/01/bhs-20.asp

 

US State Department:

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2004
Released by the February 28, 2005

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41602.htm

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