open Democracy News Analysis - Eritrea: a cheap holiday in other people's misery, Edward Denison - Comments

mebrak on "Eritrea: a cheap holiday in other people’s misery"

mebrak — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 14:32:05 +0000

Very interesting article. It has to be said, every day people of Eritrea are an angelic gem and that the country is essentially like a hidden jewel.It's a pity that they cannot all, especially the young, aspire to all their dreams, given current political and inter-governmental circumstances and constraints. Freedom can never be measured everywhere by the same yard stick, which is usually eurocentric, but yes, Eritrea can and does deserve to be in a better place. Whether or not that will come about through 'awat ne haffash', the efforts of the liberation movement, or another force, or not, only time will tell. After all, Rome was not built in a day.

talesofamockingbird on "Eritrea: a cheap holiday in other people’s misery"

talesofamockingbird — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 13:30:34 +0000

Dear Sir

Thank you!

No need for me to get into details of my nation's misery.

You've done a brilliant job.

My only advise to you is, to never try to go back to Eritrea any more (at least till there is a change of a regime).

I look forward to reading more articles from you.

Semhar Habtezion

alexanderhowarth on "Eritrea: a cheap holiday in other people’s misery"

alexanderhowarth — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 13:39:26 +0000

i lived in eritrea and worked as a teacher for three years in different parts of the country. everything in this article strikes me as being true. people are scared to speak out, people are arrested and people are shot trying to cross into sudan. i have friends who have managed to escape and are now asylum seekers in western europe. life here is tough for them living on benefits and hand outs. none of them want to go back to africa (they'd most probably be shot for starters) because they see even in the poverty that they face here a hope that none in eritrea seemed to have when i left six months ago. a tragedy the government calls, 'awat na hafash' - 'victory to the masses'.

geokreuser on "Eritrea: a cheap holiday in other people’s misery"

geokreuser — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 17:25:37 +0000

As someone who has worked for nearly 3 years in Asmara it is a pity that a political dispute over a wretched piece of desert land where some poor and frigthened villagers dwell brings a whole country to the brink of war. We have had dozens of border disputes in the world, some of which have not been solved for decades. But that has not hindered the people to develop their countries, to communicate with each other, to form networks of trade and private business and prosper due to their hard work. The border issue of Eritrea/Ethiopia is a paper tiger, invented by both governments to strengthen their despotic power on their own people because they are afraid of them. Which country in the world puts citizens to prison because they want to visit their family abroad? Which government stops all private enterprises because they fear that someone might be more clever and earn the foreign currency the government is so eager to obtain (by virtually all means)? Which strategic planning is behind the closing of the one and only university in the country because the students have dared to question the policies? Where do we find substitute colleges with 5 m high barb wire fences around it, guarded by armed military far away from towns where students are kept like soldiers, where no free choice of subject is allowed? Where parents are put into containers for weeks because their children have fled to Sudan?

I cannot find any sign of democracy or justice in these political systems, I cannot find any argument why they should remain at their place and it becomes more difficult every day to find Eritreans who still try to defend their own leaders.

Both Meles and Isaias are of the same kin, they are dictators who will do everything to stay in power and who use the border issue for their own perverse goals. If a free trade and a free press would be established both countries would develop rapidly towards a multiculture-multi-ethnic and multi-religious society where everyone is allowed to integrate into this society with his/her own abilities and skills without the government interfering into everything. What can these governments do better than skilled and trained people, what achievements were made during the last 15 years of independence? Is it development that every 2nd person is a soldier, that 1 out of 10 is imprisoned, that 3 out of 5 are unemployed, that one quarter of the population is living in the diaspora and that the nation depends mainly on remittances send from outside back home?

Please, do not annoy me with propaganda, the border issue is unimportant for more than 90% of the population and the politicians have to find an excuse for their inability to bring the countries back to a normal and peaceful existence.

adulis on "Eritrea: a cheap holiday in other people’s misery"

adulis — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 22:55:37 +0000

It is disappointing to read a length article written by a person who claim to have lived in Eritrea for some years and put the MAIN issue reason behind the problem in Eritrea, with a few words within a bracket �(an issue over which the Eritrean government's position has been vindicated by international law, but to which the international community has not lent its support).�

The author does not have a clue what is in every Eritrean�s mind, heart and thought today and in the past 5-6 years. We want the border with Ethiopia demarcated once and for all so we can return to normality. We want our proud brothers and sisters that are doing their duty to guard the hard-won freedom of the Nation, be back to their homes. Who�s responsible for what we see in Eritrea today? You can�t blame the Eritrean Gvt alone. In fact it�s a wonder that the Country is still standing despite Ethiopia�s and its close friends, including US & UK, destabilisations policy. I wonder why you didn�t bother to tell the story on how the world betrayed Eritrea and Eritreans? Or is the article your way to tell the world: don�t travel to Eritrea�because the country would earn hardly needed foreign currency?

jen_h11 on "Eritrea: a cheap holiday in other people’s misery"

jen_h11 — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 15:12:57 +0000

I find it interesting to note that the author completely ignores the fact that from the Eritrean perspective, the country is still living with the war mongering Ethiopian wolf at the border. In addition, Eritrea still does not have a secure and demarcated border. The "final" and "binding" arbitration regarding the border demarcation that Ethiopia agreed to in the Algiers agreement is not to Ethiopia's liking: Eritrea got Badme. Therefore, Ethiopia has taken the unreasonable and unbelievable position that the final and binding border decision handed down by the Boundary and Claims must be negotiated FURTHER. Not even America, or some other western European nations, can claim that it protects individual rights, or a free press, or even a transparent government during the "war on terror," so why are small, desperately poor countries in Africa held to this higher standard?

dralem on "Eritrea: a cheap holiday in other people’s misery"

dralem — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 22:26:08 +0000

I find it ironic that two Europeans report that present day Ethiopians and Eritreans have essentially the same sentiments about the state of their respective countries today. In a Washintonpost article, one Stephanie McCrummen reports that the man on the streets of Addis, much like those in Asmara, openly state that even the Dergue days are preferable to what has befallen them since.

It speaks volumes about what has become to the once proud people of Ethiopia since two ego driven men decided to run their respective domains for their personal pleasure ignoring the sentiments of their own people.

My only disagreement with you pertains to your statement that "No one sets out to be a dictator". I assure you that Meles did set out to be a dictator. I have a sense that Isayas might have been motivated by the same sentiments.

Take care.

OneEthiopia

Eritrea: a cheap holiday in other people's misery, Edward Denison

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Edward Denison, author of "Asmara: Africa's Secret Modernist City", reports on the architecture and politics of a nation on its knees. Read the rest of this post...