ኤርትራ ንኤርትራውያን! ንመን ድኣ…? ራብዓይ ክፋል

ኤርትራ ንኤርትራውያን! ንመን ድኣ…?

ራብዓይ ክፋል

ሰለስቲኡ ክፋል ናይዚ ዘልዓልኩዎ እዋናዊ ዛዕባና ላዕሊ ላዕሉ እምበር፡ ነቲ ምትኳስ ዘድልዮ ጡጥ ኢሉ ዝሓበጠ ቁስልና ኣይተናኸፍክዎን፡፡ እዚ ጽሑፍ ኣብ ማእከል መሬት ኢትዮጵያ ኣዲስ ኣበባ ኮይነ እየ ዝጽሕፎ ዘለኹ፡፡ ገለ ገለ ወሃብቲ ርእይቶ ኣብ ኢትዮጵያ ስለ ዘለኻ ኢኻ እምበር ወያነ ጽቡቕ ናይ ኤርትራ ከም ዘይደሊ ጠፊኡካ ኣይኮነን፡፡ ኣብ ኢትዮጵያ ዘለዋ ገለ ገለ ውድባት ንድሌት ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ኣብ ግምት ዘየእተወ ውዳበን ስነ-ሓሳብ ቃልሲ ዘለወን ኢየን፡፡ ኩሉ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ዋላ እውን እቲ ደጋፊ ዝበሃል ኢሳይያስ ይቐትልን ይኣስርን ሃገር የዕንዋን ከም ዘሎ ጠፊእዎ ኣይኮነን፡፡ ኩልና ለውጢ ንደሊ ኣለና፡፡ ምስ ወያነን መንግስቲ ኢትዮጵያን ኮይንካ ዝግበር ለውጢ ግን ኣይንቕበሎን ኣይንደልዮን ኢና፡፡ ዝብል ብኣፍልጦ ዘይኮነ ብስምዒትን ህልኽን ዝተወጠረ ሓሳቦም ወስ የብሉለይ ኢዮም፡፡ ስለምንታይ መንግስቲ ኢትዮጵያ ኣብ ጎድኒ ውጹዕ ህዝቢ ኤርትራን ንፍትሕን ድሞክራስን ዝቃለስ ዘሎ ደምበ ተቓውሞ ኤርትራን ማዕረ ዘበነ ቃልሲ ንናጽነት ሎሚ እውን ንሓርነቱ እንተደገፎ ከም ነውርን ሓጥያትን ዝቑጸር….? ነቲ ቀንዲ ሕቶኦምን ስክፍቶኦምን ድሒረ ብሰፊሑ ክድህስሶ ክፍትን እየ፡፡

ብወገነይ ሓደ ከረጋግጾ ዝደሊ ንዘይኣመንኩሉን ቁኑዕ ኢዩ ንዘይበልክዎን ሓሳብ ዋላ እውን መድፍዕ ይተኮስ ንጣብ ብርዐይ ኣየፍስሰሉን ኢየ፡፡ ብርግጽ ኣብ ኢትዮጵያ እየ ዘለኹ፡፡ ኣብ ኢትዮጵያ ዘሎ ሕጊ ነጻ ፕረስ ድማ ኣጸቢቐ ይፈልጦ፡፡ መዓልታዊ ኣብተን ዝሕተማ ብዙሓት ነጻ ናይ ግሊ ጋዜጣታት እንታይ ይጸሓፍ ድማ የንብብን ይርእን፡፡ ኣብ ስልጣን ዘሎ ወያነ ኢሂወደግ ኣብ ጉዳይ ኤርትራ ግጉይ ኣተሓሕዛ እንተ ተኸቲሉ ክጽሕፎን ክዛረበሉን ዝኾነ ዘሰክፍ የብለይን፡፡ ማዕረ ማዕርኡ እውን ግግይ  ኣካይዳታት ደምበ ተቓውሞ ኤርትራ ኮሓሒለ ዘይምስሉ ከትሕዞን ከጸብቖምን ሰሪሓን ሓሲበን ኣይፈልጥን ኢየ፡፡ ንዘይተቐበልኩሞም ጉዳያት ግጉይ መገድን ኣተሓሕዛንዩ ንዝበልኩዎም ሓሳባት ብሽፍንፍን ዘይኮነ ኣብ መሬት ኢትዮጵያ ኮይነ ደረተይ ነፊሐ ብግሉጽ ኣይፋሉን ኢለ ከም ዝምጉት ከዘኻኽር እፈቱ፡፡ ኣሽንኳይ ምዝራብ ምጽሓፍ ንዘይ ኣመንካሉ ወይ እውን ዘይተሰማማዕካሉ ግጉይ ውሳነ ምስ ዘሕልፍ ኣኼባ ኮንፈረንሳት ጉባኤታት ረጊጽካ ምውጻእ እውን ኣብ ኢትዮጵያ ኢና ርኢናዮን ፈሊጥናዮን፡፡ ሓደ ከዘኻኽሮ ዝድሊ ዓብይ ጉዳይ ኣሎ፡፡ ኣብ ፖለቲካ ነባሪ ረብሓን ሓባራዊ ጥቕምን እምበር ነባሪ ጽልኢ ዝበሃል የለን፡፡ ስለዝኾነ ጉዳይና ብዓይኒ ጽልእን ቅርሕንትን ኣይንርኣዮ፡፡  ናብ ዘልዓልኩዎ ዛዕባ ክምለስ፡፡

ስለምንታይ ብቓልስናን መስዋእትናን ድምጽናን ዘረጋገጽናዮ ክብሪ ሎሚ ኣብ ዋጋ ዕዳጋ ክኣቱ ተደልዩ፡፡ ስለምንታይ ኤርትራውነትና ብመንጽር ምውድዳር ምስ ህዝቢ ትግራይ ብፉሉይ እውን ብመንጽር ምውድዳር ህዝባዊ ግንባር ሓርነት ኤርትራን ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይን ክኸውን ዝፍተን ዘሎ? ኤርትራውነትና ህዝባዊ ግንባር ሓርነት ኤርትራ ዝሃበና መለለይ ታርጋና ኣይኮነን፡፡ ኤርትራውነትና እኮ ደምና ኢዩ፡፡ ንቓልሲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ዝፈጠረ እኮ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ኢዩ፡፡ ህዝባዊ ግንባር ሓርነት ኤርትራ መሪሕ ውድብ ናይቲ ናጽነትና ብቕልጽምናን ድምጽናን ንምርግጋጽ ዝገበርናዮ ቃልሲ እምበር ወሃብን ከላእን ኤርትራዊ መንነት ኣይኮነን፡፡ እታ ናይ ትምክሕት ጃህራን ኣነ ይፈልጥን ዝሕመረታ ሕማም ካንሰር ዝኾነት ትዕቢትና ካብዚኣ ኢያ ትነቅል፡፡ ሕማምና ሃገርን ውድብን ፈላሊና ክንሪ ዘይምኽኣልና ኢዩ፡፡ ሕማምና ኢሳይያስን ኤርትራውነትን ነጻጺልና ክንርእዮም ዘይምፍታና ኢዩ፡፡ ንሱ ስለዝኾነ ከኣ ብኢሳይያሲዝም ዝበሃል ቀታልን ኣዕናውን ተዋጋእን ስነ ሓሳብ ማሲና ሃለዋትና ምስሓግ ኣብ ጻዕረ ሞት ኮይኑ ኣሎ፡፡ ሕማምና ፈሊጥና መድሃኒት እንተዘይ ወሲድናሉ ድማ ትዕቢት ትወልዳ ንውድቀት ብዝብል ብሂል ተደሊስና መጻኢና ጽልግልግ ዝበለ ጥራይ ዘይኮነ ከቢድ ጸላም ዝጎልበቦ ጥፍኣት ምዃኑ ምስትብሃል የድሊ፡፡

ናይ ሳላሳ ዓመታት መስተንክራዊ ገድልናን መዘና ኣልቦ መስዋእትናን ክንከፍል ከለና፡ ንሕና ኤርትራውያን ኢና ብምባል ቃልሲ ከነልዕል እንከለና፡ ምስዚ ሕጂ ብስርዓት ህግደፍ ናይ ሓዋሩ ጸላኢ ኢዩ ዝበሃል ዘሎ ህዝቢ ትግራይን መሪሕ ውድቡን ብሓደ ኢና ተቓሊስና፡፡ ብሓደ ተሰዊእና፡፡ ብሓደ ኣብ ሓደ ጉድጓድ ተቐቢርና፡፡ ቃልስና ምስቲ መንነትና ሓግሒጉ ብኣፈሙዝ ጠበንጃ ኤርትራውነትና ዝመንዝዓና ስርዓት ሃጸይ ሃይለስላሰን ደርግን ኢዩ ዝነበረ፡፡ ቃልስናን መስዋእትናን ምስቶም ኤርትራ ምድረ-ባሕራ እምበር ህዝባ ኣየድልየናን ዝበሉ ገዛእቲ ኢዩ ዝነበረ፡፡ ቃልሲ ኤርትራውያን ብሄራዊ ጭቆና ዘይኮነ ናይ ናጽነት ሕቶ ኢዩ፡፡ ስለ ዝኾነ ብድምጺ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ክውሰን ኣለዎ ብምባል ኣብ ጎድኒ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ኮይኑ ዝተቓለሰን ክሳብ ምእታው ኣዲስ ኣበባን ስዕረት ስርዓት ደርግን ድሕሪኡን መስዋእቲ ዝኸፈለ ድማ እዚ ሕጂ ጸላኢኻዩ ዝበሃል ዘሎ ህዝቢ ትግራይን መሪሕ ውድቡን ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይን ኢዩ፡፡ እቲ ዝገርም ብጌጋ እውን ውድብ ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይ ኣብ ጉዳይ ናጽነት ኤርትራ ተማቲኡ ኣይፈልጥን ኢዩ፡፡

ስለምንታይ ድኣ ወያነ ኣይእመንን ኢዩ ዝበሃል..? ነቲ ብመትከል ኣሚኑሉ ንምዕዋቱ መስዋእቲ ዝኾፈለሉ ናጽነት ኤርትራ ተጣዒስሉስ ክወረና ይደሊ ኣሎ ዝበሃል፡፡ እዚ ክትበልዓ ዝደለኻ ኣባጉምባሕሲ ዛግራ በላ ብሽርሕን ጉርሕን ዝተባዕጠ ውዲታት ኢሳይያስን ናይ ጥፍኣት ጉጅልኡን ኢዩ፡፡ እስከ ቁሩብ ንድሕሪት ንመለስ፡፡ ብምስምስ ባድመ ኢሳይይስ ናይ ጽሉላት ውግእ ክእውጅ እንከሎ ቅድሚ ጥፍኣትን ደም ምፍሳስን ናይ ዕርቂ ተበግሶ ዝወሰዱ ስምምዕ ርዋንዳን ኣመሪካን እንታይ ኣበሳ ነይርዎ፡፡ እታ ዘቕረብዋ ሓሳብ ነናብ ዝነበርኩሞ ተመለሱ፡፡ ጉዳይኩም ኣብ ጠረጵዛ ኮፍ ኢልኩም ብምርድዳእ ፍትሕዎ ዶ ኣይኮነን ዝብል ዝነበረ፡፡ ቅድሚ ደም ምፍሳስ ነቲ ናይ ሰላም ሓሳብ ሓንጎፋይ ኢሉ ዝተቐበለ ንኢትዮጵያ ዝመርሕ ዘሎ ወያነ ኢሂወደግ ኢዩ፡፡ ብኣንጻሩ ኢሳይያስ ዝመርሖ ዋንነት ውልቀ ሓደ ንእሽቶ ጉጅለ ዝኾነ ስርዓት ህግደፍ ኮፍ ኢልካ ብሰለማዊ መንገዲ ምርድዳእን ምፍትሑን ተሓሲሙ ንፈታተን ሓይልና ይዕረቐና ኢዩ ዝበለ፡፡ ድሕሪ ማይ ናብ በዓቲ ስለምንታይ ኢሳይያስ ተንበርኪኹ ትፋኡ ክልሕስ ዝተገደደ፡፡ እቲ ዘሕዝን ዓሰርተታት ኣሽሓት ህይወት መናእሰያት ኤርትራ ምስ ጠፈአ፡ ማዕሪኡ ስንክልና ምስ ኣጋጠመ፡ ኣስታት ሓደ ሚልዮን ህዝቢ ካብ ቤት ንብረቱ ምስ ተመዛበለ ዕስራን ሓሙሽተን ኪ.ሜ (25 ኪ.ሜ) መሬት ኤርትራ ንኢትዮጵያ ኣረኪቡ ስምምዕ ሰላም ኣልጀርስ ክፍርም ሕንኽ ኣይበለን፡፡ ካብዚ ዝዓቢ ውርደት ኣሎ ድዩ……?

እቲ ዝገርም ግን ኢቲ ንኤርትራ ክወርር ይደሊ ኣሎ ዝበሃል ዘሎ ወያነ ኢሂወደግ ነቲ ብውግእን ኢሳይያስ ባዕሉ ዘረከቦን መሬት ኤርትራ ገዲፉ ንድሕሪት ኢዩ ተመሊሱ፡፡ ስለምንታይ ነዚ ባዕሉ ኣፍ ኣውጺኡ ዝዛረብ ዘሎ ጥረ ሓቂ ዋላ ዕረ እናጠዓመና ዘይንቕበሎ፡፡ ንፍተዎ ንጽላኣዮ ኣብ ኣእሙሮና ኢሳይያሲዝም መርዛም ስነ-ሓሳብ ቦታ ሒዙ ኣሎ፡፡ እንታዩ ኢሰይያሲዝም ስነ-ሓሳብ ኣብ ቀጻሊ ክፋላት ጽሑፈይ ብሰፊሑ ክድህስሶን ክትንትኖን ክፍትን ኢየ፡፡

ከም መጠቓለሊ እዚ ራብዓይ ክፋል ጽሑፈይ ሓደ ሓቂ ኣስሚረሉ ክሓልፍ እየ፡፡ እዚ ሓቂ እዚ ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይ ቅድሚ ዕስራን ሸሞንተን ዓመታት ብ1985 ብፈረንጂ ብካርዝማቲክ መራሒኡ ቀዳማይ ሚንስተር ኢትዮጵያ ዝነበሩ ነፍስሄር ኣቶ መለስ ዜናዊ ዝተጻሕፈ ኢዩ፡፡ ብረት ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ቁልቁል ኣፉ ኣይድፋእን!! ኣብ ዝብል 151 ገጻት ዝሓዘ ዓሚቕ ትሕዝቶ ዘለዎ መልሲ ንኤርትራዊ ንፐሮፌሰር ተስፋጽዮን መድሃኔ ዝተጻሕፈ ኢዩ፡፡ ቃል ብቓሉ እቲ ጽሑፍ…

ምሕዝነት ገስገስቲ ሓይልታት ኤርትራን ኢትዮጵያን ክረጋገጽ እንተ ድኣ ኮይኑ፡ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ዝመስሎ ነገር ክውስን ዘኽእሎ፡ ነጻ ዕድል ኣቐዲሙ ክወሃቦ ኣለዎ፡፡ መሰል ርእሰ ውሳኔኡ ብትኽክልን ምሉእነትን ከረጋግጽ ኣለዎ፡፡ (ብረት ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ቁልቁል ኣፉ ኣይድፋእን ገጽ 105 ቀዳማይ ሕጡበ)

ኣብዚ እዋን እዚ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ዕድሉ ባዕሉ ንኽውስን መሰል እንተድኣ ረኺቡ፡ ምሉእ ሃገራዊ ናጽነት ከም ዝመርጽ ፍጹም ዘየጠራጥር ኢዩ፡፡ ነዚ ሐቂ እዚ ካልእሲ ይትረፍ ስርዓት ደርጊ እውን ዝጠራጠረሉ ኣይኮነን፡፡ ኣብ ስደት፡ ኣብ ዓዲ፡ ኣብ ቃልሲ ዘሎ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ዝተዓዘቦ ዝኾነ ጋሻ ክርእዮን ክዕዘቦን ዝኽእል ግሁድ ጉዳይ ኢዩ፡፡ ሃገራዊ ናጽነት ኤርትራ ምርግጋጽ ካብ ደርባዊ ምዝመዛን ጭቆናን ንህዝቢ ኤርትራ ከናግፎ ከም ዘይክእል ግን ርዱእ ኢዩ፡፡ እዚ ማለት ግን ናጽነት ኤርትራ ዘምጽኣሉ መሰረታዊ ረብሓታት የለን ማለት ኣይኮነን፡፡ (ብረት ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ቁልቁል ኣፉ ኣይድፋእን ገጽ 105 ካልኣይ ሕጥበ)

ሃገራዊ ናጽነቱ ኣረጋጊጹ  ጽምኡ እንተረውይሉ ብድሕሪኡ ዝመጽእ ጭቆናን ምዝመዛን እንትርፎ ናብ ኤርትራውያን ገዛእቲ ደርብታት ናብ ካልእ ከውድቖ ኣይክእልን፡፡ ገዛእቲ ደርብታት ኤርትራ እውን ካብ ገዛእቲ ደርብታት ኢትዮጵያ ብዘይ ተፈለየ መንገዲ ጨቆንቱን መዝመዝቱን ምዃኖም ብጭቡጥ ብተግባር ክርዳእ ኢዩ፡፡ ስለዚ ድማ ንደርባዊ ሓርነቱ ዝሕንኩሉ ስምዒት ዝሸፈኖ ኣረኣእያ ዘይብሉ ነጻ ኮይኑ፡ ክቃለስን ብዘይ ጥርጥር ደርባዊ ሓርነቱ ክጓናጸፍን ይኽእል፡፡ (ብረት ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ቁልቁል ኣፉ ኣይድፋእን ገጽ 106 ካልኣይ ሕጡበ)

እዚ ቅድሚ 28 ዓመታት ቅድሚ ናጽነት ኤርትራ ቅድሚ ሓሙሽተ ዓመታት ብመርሕነት ውድብ ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይ ዝተጻሕፈ ጽሑፍ ኢዩ፡፡ ብረት ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ቁልቁል ኣፉ ኣይድፋእን!! ብኣንጻሩ እኳ ድኣ ባርዕ ፈጢሩ ህዝቢ ክዓስሎን ናጽነቱ ክጓናጸፍን ኢዩ፡፡ ግን ድሕሪ ናጽነቱ ምርግጋጽ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ንሓርነቱ እውን መስዋእቲ ክሕተት ኢዩ፡፡ ኣንቱም ብኢሰይያሲዝም መርዛም ስነ-ሓሳብ ዝተጠቓዕኩም ኣሕዋት ኤርትራውያን፡ እዚ ጽሑፍ ትንቢትዶ ክንብሎ ወይስ ነቲውዱዕ ኣካይዳ ህዝባዊ ግንባር ሓርነት ኤርትራ ምርኩስ ገይሩ ዝተዋህበ ትንታነ….?

ይቕጽል……….

ሚካኤል እምባየ (ኣራንቺ)

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”Reign of terror” during the expelled diplomat

The diplomat Eritrean Sweden expelled last week put fear in their fellow citizens in the Nordic region. Espionage, threats and blackmail forced them into submission, claims a defector in a unique testimony.

Nobody has ever told from the inside of the Eritrean embassy in Stockholm. But now describe a defector horrors Tekle Menghistu who was expelled last week.

– To spy on the opposition was his main task. He was very good at it – he is a high-ranking security officials, said Fidel Sium who worked closely diplomat from 2010 to 2013.

Tekle Menghistu must have had a spy network to control and suck out all Eritreans.

– Many helped him because they were afraid. Otherwise could relatives in Eritrea could get in trouble.

Central to the embassy is to require exiled Eritreans tax, for example, when someone needs a passport to apply for Swedish citizenship.

– I saw people crying and beans to get rid of, but they were forced to pay 30-40-50 000, says Fidel Sium.

He himself was a co-organizer of an annual festival in Stockholm, where thousands of Eritreans from all over Scandinavia. The 5-6 million it grossed ended up in the pockets of Tekle Menghistu and some others at the embassy under Fidel Sium.

2012 demonstrated dissidents against a festival guest – presidential adviser Yemane Gebreab.

– Just next Yemane and his SAPO Guards had Tekle Menghistu and his associates pistols and a Kalashnikov! Fidel claim Sium.

If someone came in, he would be taken out and shot, the diplomat should have explained.

He also led the slander and intimidation against opposition. Enemy number one is the Swedish-Eritrean senator Arhe Hamednaca (S) according to Fidel Sium.

Full defection Arens history can not confirm, but that can be checked right. Many observers also believe in the story.

– It seems credible. The tax is required in the whole world and there are reports of threats and violence from several countries. Canada deported the Eritrean Consul on just the basics, says Eritrea expert Kjetil Tronvoll.

The embassy would not comment on the criticism.

 

 

Israel ’coercing Eritreans and Sudanese to leave’

Israel is unlawfully coercing almost 7,000 Eritrean and Sudanese nationals into leaving the country at great personal risk, Human Rights Watch says.

They have been denied access to fair and efficient asylum procedures and detained unlawfully, a new report says.

Earlier this year, African asylum seekers in Israel staged mass protests over their treatment.

Israel says its policies on illegal immigrants and refugees comply with international law.

It insists that the Africans are not asylum seekers but economic migrants who see Israel as an attractive destination because it is the nearest developed country where they can find jobs.

’Illegal infiltrators’

Eritreans and Sudanese began arriving in Israel through Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in large numbers in 2006. By December 2012, about 37,000 Eritreans and 14,000 Sudanese had entered the country.

HRW says that over the past eight years, the Israeli authorities have employed various measures to encourage them to leave.

They include ”indefinite detention, obstacles to accessing Israel’s asylum system, the rejection of 99.9% of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum claims, ambiguous policies on being allowed to work, and severely restricted access to healthcare”, it alleges.

In September 2013, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that a 2012 amendment to an anti-infiltration law, which allowed for the indefinite detention of people for illegal entry, was unlawful.

In response, the Israeli parliament passed another amendment to the law in December that established the Holot facility in the remote Negev desert for those considered ”infiltrators”.

Hundreds of Eritreans and Sudanese have since been ordered to report to the centre, where they live in conditions that HRW says breach international law on arbitrary detention.

The Israeli authorities say they are not detained because they can leave for a few hours at a time. However, they are required to report three times a day and to be in the centre at night. The only way for them to secure their release is to be recognised as a refugee or leave the country.

In February 2013, Israel allowed Eritreans and Sudanese to lodge asylum claims in significant numbers. However, as of March 2014, the authorities had only reviewed slightly more than 450 ”detainee” cases, and the rejection rate has been almost 100%, HRW says.

africa-migrants-in-israel-protest”Destroying people’s hope of finding protection by forcing them into a corner and then claiming they are voluntarily leaving Israel is transparently abusive,” said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at Human Rights Watch and author of the report.

”Eritreans and Sudanese in Israel are left with the choice of living in fear of spending the rest of their days locked up in desert detention centres or of risking detention and abuse back home.”

HRW says Israel is violating the international principle of ”non-refoulement”, which forbids states from returning refugees and asylum seekers to places where their lives or freedom would be threatened.

In response to the report, the Israeli foreign ministry said: ”Israel treats illegal migrants entering its territory in accordance with international law, including the UN treaty on refugees.

”Illegal migrants are able to file a request to be granted the status of refugees, and can also appeal the decision by the Israeli authorities regarding their status to the Israeli courts,” it said.

Migrants had not been expelled, the statement said, adding that those who had left had chosen to do so ”of their own free will”.

 

 

 

One man’s hellish journey from Eritrea terror to UK sanctuary

Thousands of Eritreans risk their lives each year trying to reach the United Kingdom and one man’s successful journey meant suffering privations for three years
Click here to see the world’s most dangerous journey

He remembers running, a mad dash towards the hills as the ground rippled with the mushroom puffs of bullets. The soldiers were close behind, scrambling across the plain as he fled barefoot across the rocks.

These were Mehari Solomon’s first steps of what is considered the world’s most perilous migration route and already he had learnt that luck would be his most cherished companion.

It was October 2010 and Solomon’s sprint across the lunar landscape of northern Eritrea marked the start of a three-year odyssey to Britain that would see him chased by traffickers, forced to drink his own urine, held at gunpoint by smugglers and cross the Channel in the back of a lorry carrying chilled cabbages.

Solomon’s story, far from unique, is a very modern tale of migration, his journey articulating the increasingly desperate scramble from one of the world’s most rapacious regimes to a place that Eritreans regard as the promised land.

That October morning, Solomon gazed back at Me’eter prison where he had spent nearly two years, living beneath a vast tent with almost 500 other prisoners of conscience caught during the government’s crackdown on Eritrea’s minority churches.

Me’eter military jail was one of Eritrea’s most notorious, certainly its most remote. Encircled by mountains, watchtowers and wide thorn bushes designed to rip a man to shreds, escape was considered impossible. Inmates died from the extreme heat. Others were tortured to death.

But that morning Solomon made a break for freedom. ”Twenty-four of us were sent out to collect wood with a detail of armed guards. I started to move discreetly to the edge of the group and just ran to the left. They started shooting and chasing me.”

He ran all day, pausing to wrap his shirt around his bleeding feet, living off strips of bread made from sorghum flour that he had wrapped around his body. For three days the 20-year-old picked his way south, circumventing military checkpoints, past the town of Shieb and on to Ghinda, where he flagged down a passing lorry and hitchhiked to his birthplace, Asmara.

For several months Solomon laid low with relatives in the city’s northern suburbs. But the net was tightening. Periodic sweeps were conducted by the military to seize ”dissidents” on the run. In February 2011 his luck expired and he was picked up by the military and sent to the Wia military camp near Massawa and from there spent 18 months working in a government metal factory near Asmara.

Solomon began plotting the next stage of his escape to the UK. The UN believes that almost 4,000 Eritreans a month are secretly fleeing the repressive rule of the country’s dictator, Isaias Afewerki; hundreds of thousands have already left. A sophisticated black market trade has evolved to facilitate such massive migration. The trick is knowing who you can trust: spies are everywhere. In May 2013 Solomon successfully obtained fake identification papers for 10,000 nafka (currently £400) and caught the bus west, towards the infamous army checkpoint at Teseney. Failure to convince the guards can mean death. ”Months earlier five men were taken to the market square and shot,” he said.

eritreaSolomon survived and travelled to the town of Omhajer, a 50-minute walk from the Sudanese border. At nightfall he and a guide set off. Solomon recalls he could see the silhouette of sentries, the observation posts and the nests of machine-gunners. ”We headed between two security huts. To the left was internal security, to the right the border guards.”

His fixer turned back and Solomon crawled between the watchtowers whose border guards have been instructed to shoot on sight. No one knows how many migrants have been killed or kidnapped by corrupt Eritrean military officers along this stretch.

Another danger soon materialised. Armed gangs from the Rashaida tribe, operating as human-trafficking syndicates, scour the border region. Eritreans caught are taken to Egypt and sold to Bedouin tribes who have been consistently linked to cases of rape, torture and the execution of Eritreans.

Solomon walked 12 hours through the night, traversing 50km before being taken by Sudanese soldiers to Shagarab, the United Nations refugee camp which held around 29,500 people. Finally, Solomon should have been safe. But Shagarab had become a magnet for traffickers. Solomon recalls being sized up by Rashaida gangs walking to the ration centre. ”They stared, looking if you were strong enough to make them good money. Once there was a woman and they picked her up; she was screaming but they still took her.”

When collecting dung for fuel, Solomon witnessed several kidnappings. ”There were two girls walking ahead, 15 metres from us. Suddenly these pick-ups came speeding towards them, very fast. They began running, but the pick-ups cut them off and took them.” Solomon reported the incident to a camp official, but never discovered what happened to the victims. He assumed that they were taken north to Kassala, the Rashaida’s principal trafficking hub in Sudan, and sold as sex slaves.

The situation deteriorated. Four months before Solomon arrived, the UN confirmed it was ”seeing rising incidents of abductions and disappearances of mainly Eritrean refugees … in and around refugee camps.” In 2012, 551 people disappeared from Shagarab. In his 20 days inside the camp, Solomon believes at least 10 people were abucted.

There is anger among Britain’s Eritrean community that international agencies were too slow to protect them. Afwerki Haile, of London-based religious human rights charity Release Eritrea, said they wrote to the UN last year demanding answers, but had yet to receive a response.

At the start of June, Solomon was warned by other Eritreans to leave the camp after his role in furious clashes with the Rashaida over the abductions. Although the traffickers withdrew, they pledged to return and wreak vengeance. ”I was told we would be murdered.” Solomon and around 100 other Eritreans paid 500 Sudanese pounds (currently £55) to a local people-smuggler who claimed he could evade the Rashaida. Even so, it was potentially dangerous.

”A previous group of 14 men and women had been attacked, one was shot in the leg and the kidnappers got some of the women.” Solomon left Shagarab on foot, navigating the fast-flowing river Atbarah at night by small boat, a crossing that has seen up to 20 refugees drown in previous attempts.

From there, Solomon caught a bus north, passing through New Halfa, a route that risked fake checkpoints manned by bandits who, Solomon said, were keen on Eritreans because they were vulnerable kidnapping targets.

Even in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, Solomon learnt there was no respite from traffickers. Smugglers patrolled the city. The Sudanese government, in concert with the Eritrean, sanctioned frequent raids to repatriate migrants. Melissa Fleming, UN spokesperson in Geneva, admitted they were deeply concerned over the recent forced returns of Eritreans from Sudan. Solomon spent nearly four months keeping a low profile. Finally, word reached him that a reliable smuggling network could take him to Libya. His family wired $1,600 and one September night last year Solomon and 250 other Eritreans boarded a crowded DAF truck and, crossing the Nile, lumbered towards the Sahara.

Soon the road became a sandy track, the vehicle became frequently stuck in the dunes, its occupants ordered to dig it out with shovels. By day three, Solomon remembers feeling very weak. There was no room for food on board, just the water he sat on. On day five the truck stopped so a passenger could bury her dead son by the side of the track. ”When someone looked like they were about to die they passed us shovels ready to bury them.”

It took six days to reach the Libyan border, including a 48-hour wait after the vehicle broke down. Mechanical failure routinely precipitates death for Eritreans crossing the Sahara. In April, nine illegal immigrants died among 300 abandoned by smugglers in the Sudanese-Libyan desert. Haile said: ”A month ago we heard that another 30 people were left to die in the desert.”

They were met at the Libyan border by a squad of heavily armed traffickers, apparently working in tandem with corrupt border officials. Within three days Solomon’s water supply ran out. By that stage, everybody was drinking their urine to survive. ”I was the last one to start. We all thought we were going to die.”

Solomon described how his fellow travellers had changed. They looked different, their skin crinkled like leather, eyes sunken. Solomon says his voice became a hoarse whisper until he could barely speak.

On their 12th day in the desert, several pickups arrived with fresh water. ”That saved my life, I was convinced I was going to die,” said Solomon. Sixty hours later they arrived in the Libyan town of Ajdabiya, where they were ordered to squeeze even more tightly together while cartons of washing powder were stacked around the truck perimeter, blocking the migrants from view. Solomon had heard how a similar ploy involving cement had gone wrong, crushing 30 Eritreans to death as they lay in the back.

They set off again, travelling another 10 hours along Libya’s coastal highway. Solomon counted eight checkpoints. Each one could spell a depressing end to his journey. If caught he would be sent to one of Libya’s 19 migrant detention centres, which are packed to overflowing and rife with allegations of mistreatment. A recent investigation by Human Rights Watch found inmates who had been locked in shipping containers, beaten, whipped and hung from trees.

They reached Tripoli at dawn and were effectively placed under house arrest by heavily armed guards. ”It was like a prison, they were extremely ruthless. We were not allowed to make a sound or be seen.” His traffickers demanded more money and Solomon’s relatives wired another £1,000. Five days later Solomon was herded into a van at gunpoint and released at night by the coast, possibly near the port of Zuwara, a major hub for clandestine Mediterranean crossings.

They were ordered in single file into the dark water and towards a boat. ”There were no lifeboats, no food, it was very crowded.” In total, 240 – mainly Eritreans – crammed on board and they set off towards Europe. It was a well-worn route. Around 13,000 Eritreans have made it across the Mediterranean to Italy so far this year, according to the UN, more than the total for all of 2013.

After 12 hours at sea, Solomon became anxious as the waters grew choppy. Just three weeks earlier 350 migrants, mainly from Eritrea, drowned when their boat sank off Lampedusa, his destination. More than 1,000 migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean this year. Eighteen hours after leaving Libya, Solomon said that people around him began crying with joy. An Italian coastguard vessel was sighted ahead; he had reached Europe. ”Everyone began shouting, praising God.”

From Lampedusa, Solomon was flown to Bari by the Italian authorities and from there caught the train to Milan, where he spent a month with contacts from the Eritrean diaspora. In early November he caught another train and kept heading north, to Calais. He joined a group of Eritreans living beneath a tarpaulin shelter off the Rue des Garennes, 800m from the port.

After four days, he jemmied open the door of a lorry parked in a nearby industrial zone and climbed inside with six other Eritreans. From midnight to 5am they lay in silence among a cargo of chilled cabbages. Then the vehicle began moving. They never said a word as they crossed the Channel. After an hour the truck stopped, Solomon opened the rear doors and ran. ”I had no idea where I was, but I was smiling.” He accosted a passerby and asked how to reach Croydon, site of Lunar House, where he could claim asylum. The Home Office sent him to Cardiff and, seven months after arriving, granted him asylum.

Last week, as he sipped a cup of coffee in a cafe in Newport and recounted his journey to the Observer, Solomon took a phone call. Grinning, he announced: ”That was my agency, they’ve got a job for me. Starting tonight!”

 

 

 

Sweden shows a diplomat from Eritrea

A diplomat from the country of Eritrea in Africa are forced to leave Sweden. This is a way for Sweden to show their discontent with the government of Eritrea. But we do not know what the Swedish government is really unhappy with.

Diplomats are people who work for their governments in another country. And the person who worked at the now expelled Eritrean embassy office in Stockholm. But now he must therefore leave Sweden. It decided the Swedish Foreign Ministry, Foreign Ministry today.

So far we do not know why Sweden has expelled the Eritrean diplomat. It can be due to several things.

Dawit Isaak
The Swedish-Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak has been locked up in prison in Eritrea since 2001 Sweden wants Eritrea to release him and let him go home to Sweden.

To pay
Many Swedish-Eritreans commits have complained about the Eritrean embassy. They feel that they are forced to pay money there in a special tax, otherwise they may not help with passport and other important papers from the embassy.

Espionage
There are Eritreans who have fled to Sweden who believe that staff at the Eritrean embassy spying on them.