Last month the Twitter-savvy, Kubur Minister of Information/Chief of Staff of the Only (President’s) Office, Yemane “Charlie” Gebremeskel attended a panel discussion in the European Parliament on “Development” in Eritrea. For the House of Cards fans, The “Doug Stamper” of Eritrea.
Smiles all around
In a country where you cannot even say the word ‘Parliament’ in public, Yemane Charlie came from Asmara to participate inside a democratic institution, whilst stifling it back home. Oh the irony. Let’s just say if I had never heard of Eritrea, I would have wanted to immigrate immediately and leave the west. All panellists patted themselves on the backs praising the good work being done, with one briefly acknowledging the “claims of human rights abuses.” Charlie played it well; he looked and acted the part, convincing all but four in the entire room. You’d think he was used to attending weekly Parliament debates.
Brian Hayes an Irish MEP chaired the meeting and looked so proud to be sitting next to the good Minister, it was almost funny. He encouraged participants to visit Eritrea, if he can everyone else can, right? Paul Donaldson, the CEO of Danakali Company even claimed “there is no corruption in Eritrea.” Little does he know about the parents who often carry a bag full of cash to prisons or human traffickers, to free their children. And Christine Umotoni the UNDP representative who chooses to ignore the credible UN’s COI conclusions of “crimes against humanity” showed a magazine on Eritrea with a little boy on the front cover, clinging on she said the need to “bring back a human face to the issue of Eritrea, to remind people they are human beings in Eritrea.” If only she could tell that to her partners. John Weakliam, CEO of VITA praised the work being done and the “partnership with the government and people.” What does partnership with the people look like exactly? He went on to claim “Eritrea is the first to say we don’t want handouts.” Perhaps he forgot the 200 million euros that they accepted from the EU. And my favourite quote, “No one is left behind, that is the ethos of the country.” Rumour has it he has not always been on The Corleone’s good books and yet years later both he and Charlie sit on the same panel playing the game. Oh, how things change. In a country where there are no independent researchers or academics and where information is highly censored. With a regime that is known to manipulate information to “serve the truth” one cannot be too confident with “development” claims.
The happy gang showed up to support Kubur Minister. From the European “independent journalist” that yelled, “Europe should learn from Eritrea” which got Charlie smiling. To the Ethiopian brother who claims to be fighting for human rights in Ethiopia and said most of the refugees seeking asylum are Ethiopians claiming to be Eritrean and that Eritrea is “the best in the region” when it comes to human rights. In response to a question Yemane referred to him as “Mohamed” with confidence. Our Doug Stamper is a busy man. Baby-sitting an unpredictable and calculating robot, as well as gearing up for a much-anticipated Season 5 of House of Cards. To add to this, it seems he is also busy juggling telepathy.
A young refugee who recently left Eritrea was just what Charlie did not need. Exposing the impartiality of the event he said, “this presentation doesn’t make sense to a young man like me who left two years ago” and “You look like ministers of the Eritrean government” to the other panellists. He urged the rest of the panellists to not just talk about the positives but use their influence to pressure the government to respect human rights. “Obviously, there are gross human rights violations” and concluded, “we are the ones that fled the same government you are talking about.”
Who for, you say?
Admittedly some of the presentations were impressive and had mentioned some achievements that should be acknowledged such as the work on the dairy and potato industry. Let’s call it a little post-Corleone taster.
It was a biased event and the panellists conveniently did not mention the indefinite military conscripts that work in these companies. You would think that having an event inside the European Parliament there would have been at least one panellist with a different opinion. Not one mentioned the enslavement of the youth that is pushing them in Europe’s deadly waters. But I guess if the key speaker has no interest, why would they?
When there are, thousands forgotten in prisons and have turned pale and even lost their eye sight (due to a lack of sunlight), when thousands are enslaved, starved and armed, in refugee camps, have drowned, been tortured, held for ransom, organs stolen and even beheaded, who is the “development” for? Going back to Christine’s comment on “the human face”. Well they too are.
For instance, will @hawelti tweet about the recent reports of young people shot at and many killed whilst trying to cross to Sudan? Perhaps a message of condolence to the families? Or the usual silence whenever tragedy hits. Maybe the CIA block his account every now and then. Could be.
Too many questions
@hawelti, if you could reply on Twitter, these are some of the questions:
(I don’t know where you will find the time to answer all these questions, being the Chief of Staff to the only office and now thanks to Ali Abdu, you have a double load. But I’ll try and keep it short and sweet).
- As convincing as your presentation was to those outside, how are you convincing the teenagers inside the country (including those in containers, underground prisons and risking your shoot-to-kill policy) that staying inside is better than dying at sea? (so they can enjoy the development)
- Where are the thousands that are missing in prisons throughout the country, one of whom is US-born Ciham Ali Abdu, the 19 year old daughter of your predecessor who disappeared when he defected 4 years ago?
- What happened to the implementation of a constitution your president mentioned in his speech a few years back?
- Why don’t we have a Parliament? And if we do, when and where do they meet?
- When will there be an end to the enslavement of the youth, under the disguise of “national service”?
- Why is there no free press? And where are the journalists that disappeared?
- Do you fear sharing the same fate as your predecessors, Beraki G.Selassie (disappeared in 2001), Naizghi Kiflu (denied the right to be buried in his country) and Ali Abdu (his daughter, father and brother were arrested upon his escape)?
But then again had these questions been asked, as an accomplished spin doctor of “Eti Seb’ay” or “He who must not be named” you would have succeeded to preach to the converts that honoured you and the gullible travellers.
Oh, Mr Stamper one more thing, if telepathy gets too much you can always teleport back to the real world. People aren’t so bad.
Zara Tewolde-Berhan 