Asmara Eritrea - November 19th 2005

 

To show my sympathy with those Eritreans that gave their lives for their country, I start the day with a visit to Asmara's Martyr's Cemetery, not far from the Italian War Cemetery and the St. Michael Church. The well tended graves with white marble stones, some decorated with flowers are divided in four sections: one for every round of war. One section still empty, as if another round of war is still expected.

Next to the Martyr's Cemetery is the Italian Cemetery, well tended as well, with bougainvillea, conifer trees and marble statues watching over, or mourning the death. A lady responsible for the maintenance of the cemetery, walks with me, showing me the elaborate tombs of the former Italian colonizers.

I spend the day walking through Asmara. Visiting friends and family, enjoying the climate, Asmara's architecture and its people, inviting me in to watch the interior of the buildings. Asmara is blessed with many places of worship: Orthodox (Coptic), Muslim, Catholic, Protestant, even a Synagogue.

Religious and non religious organisations in the US and EU are repeatedly accusing the Eritrean authorities of persecutions of members of the Full Gospel, Rema, Hallelujah, Philadelphia and Baptist Church, Jehovah's Witnesses and Pentecostals, standing up for the rights of a few hundred co-religionists. I do not doubt the fact that there have been arrests. But those arrested were punished because they were defying the Eritrean government, undermining the principles of the State of Eritrea, and refused to abide by the Eritrean laws, and not because they were Christians.

Some of these religious groups regard the government of God, to prevail over and above the government of Eritrea. And if you combine this fact with the current 'no war, no peace' situation, with bad neighbor Ethiopia lurking on the border (some groups use their religion as excuse not to fulfill their national obligations), it should not be difficult to understand that there is no legal base in Eritrea for a faith that questions the authority of the Eritrean government, nor for those who refuse to take up arms on religious grounds.

Besides, please be reminded that faiths like Full Gospel, Rema, Hallelujah, Philadelphia (!) and Baptist Church, Jehovah's Witnesses and Pentecostals were "imported" from the US (the EPLF referred to them as "imperialist-created new counter-revolutionary faiths" already in 1977). And the US is not popular in many parts of the world. The US is considering themselves the "good guys", but are they really? There is growing doubts. The Eritreans are smelling a rat when they observe US influences. I cannot blame them. The US has proven to warship dollars and oil in the first place, and US shareholder values come before US moral values.

Most convincing examples: the US, the "world's biggest polluter", has rejected the Kyoto protocol as damaging to its economic interests. The “terrible cost of the war in Iraq” is measured in the lost lives of US soldiers. 1,000 dead American soldiers weight more than 10,000 dead Iraqi children. Terrorism was sponsored by the US when it was profitable to them, until terrorism turned against the US, and now has to be eliminated. A US "war against terrorism", trying to tear out its own sting.

Most Eritreans think the US is pro Ethiopia. It was the UN, prompted by the US, that denied the right of self-determination to the Eritrean people in 1950 and ignored these rights of the Eritrean people in the decades that followed, just like the US ignores its rights in the last decade. In the last years of the 1961-91 war of independence the EPLF and the civilian population suffered severe casualties by US-made cluster bombs. US alley Great Britain sold off her industry and cableway for scrap in the few years they 'administrated' the country.  

Eritrea is a small state (4 million) protecting itself against a larger enemy (80 million) Ethiopia. And therefore specific religious groups cannot be exempted to do their national duties for it would be unfair to those doing their national military service. Besides it would be open to abuse, if the Eritrean government would exempt specific religious groups, according to their faith, to take the military training, or to defend their country in case of a war.

To eliminate possible dangerous groups, the Eritrean government has forbidden several (non traditional and anti governmental!) religions and closed its churches, just like the US tried to eliminate communist influences in the early decennia of the 20th century, and is now giving Muslims a hard time (Guantànamo and Abu Graib) since Osama Bin Laden is woven into their national psyche.

The reason is the same: "state security". Just like US citizens have to respect US laws and regulations, the Eritreans have to respect the rules and regulations of their government. There is nothing barbaric in arresting citizens that don't respect the rules and regulations.

It is barbaric to close one's eyes,  remain silent when thousands of people are killed in the recent (and still lasting!) Eritrean Ethiopian conflict, or by starvation due to agricultural adversity, worsened by these wars. The US must be stopped playing games with the lives and destinies of the people of Eritrea and Ethiopia and the Middle East.

The UN should stop hiding its head in the sand like the ostrich, and fulfill its legal mandate to demarcate the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia. It abandoned the legal rights of the Eritrean People in 1951 under US pressure. It is abandoning the legal rights of the Eritrean people in 2005. Under US intrigues, wanting to dominate the world in a way that it chooses, intervening when its economic interests are at stake, and closing its eyes for the misbehavior of its alleys.

So Pentecostals and Jehovah's Witnesses, members of the Full Gospel, Rema, Hallelujah, Philadelphia and Baptist Church, please pray for all the victims of barbarism: in Iraq, the Middle East, the Horn of Africa. For the casualties of the war, those that survived but are severely handicapped, poor widows with children, millions on the edge of starvation, and not just for those with a US identity, or those who were arrested, preaching that the authority of God prevails to the authority of the Eritrean government (!)

During my visits to Eritrea, I have seen little evidence of persecutions (actually I saw NO evidence), so there is a good reason to assume that those who spread the news about arrests are pro Ethiopian interest groups, fabricating, misguiding or at least exaggerating facts to manipulate the public to archive their own specific goals: trying to weaken or eliminate an Eritrean government that is unwilling to kneel down to Ethiopian and US pressure to accept the process of unification of Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Instead of any evidence of arrests of Christians, I have seen numerous examples of people affected by the war, that is still a threat to the region, supported by the winks and nods of the US, allowing Ethiopia to get away with its refusal to accept the decisions of the Boundary Commission.

EU / US / UN : Start supporting peace, stability and cooperation in the region. To live in peace is also a human right! There is 80.000.000 people in East Africa waiting for this right. May God forgive you for your silence when 100.000 men and women were killed in the recent rounds of Eritrean - Ethiopian wars!

Pray Jesus will give those affected by the Eritrean Ethiopian wars a sense of His comforting presence. Pray Christians worldwide will plead with God on behalf of their suffering brothers and sisters in Eritrea and Ethiopia. Pray the Holy Spirit will move to stop the senseless wars on the Eritrean - Ethiopian border, as well as the other US military movements and interventions around the world!

  

Patriots Cemetery - Asmara Eritrea.

Italian Cemetery - Asmara Eritrea.

Grain market & Kidane Mehret Church - Asmara Eritrea.

Greek Orthodox Church - Asmara Eritrea.

Offices and bar - Segeneyti Street Asmara Eritrea.

Market Square - Asmara Eritrea.

Kulafa Al Rashidin Mosque - Selam Street Asmara Eritrea.

Nda Marian Coptic Cathedral - Arbaete Asmara Street Asmara Eritrea.

Theological School - Mariam GMBI Street Asmara Eritrea.

St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral - Harnet Avenue Asmara Eritrea.