Day: December 2, 2021

One of the pro-Ethiopian U.S. based journalist Hermela Aregawi accused twitter of targeting and suspending Pro Ethiopian voices.

Simon Tesfamarim, a target and a pro-Eritrean activist and supporter of Ethiopia also expressed disappointment over the unwarranted action taken by the Twitter.

Twitter has disabled the accounts of at least a dozen Ethiopians and Eritreans and their related groups.

The accounts targeted by Twitter are best known for their support for Ethiopia’s and Eritrea’s governments, and for articulating condemnations against the TPLF that has been designated as terrorist Organization by the House of Peoples Representatives.

These accounts also recently helped promote the #NoMore hashtag campaign against the West.

Among the accounts suspended is that of Eritrea’s Simon Tesfamariam’s. He is executive director of the New Africa Institute and one of the administrators of the Horn of Africa Hub page. His account had more than 36,800 followers.

Another account taken down was Horn of Africa Hub, a page started in October 2021 with 18.8 thousand followers that describe itself as “combating false, deadly narratives about the Horn of Africa,” including in Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, “and beyond.”

The page had been instrumental in promoting the #NoMore hashtag campaign, which became immensely popular with the Pro-government Ethiopian and Eritrean communities both inside those countries and around the globe.

More than 30 demonstrations have been conducted in Addis Ababa and in more than 30 countries around the globe which used the hashtag #NoMore.

On Tuesday, Press Secretariat of the Office of the Prime Minister, Billene Seyoum told the media that the government has a reason to believe that Twitter is targeting and suspending pro-Ethiopia voices that are raising awareness about the TPLF’s atrocities and its lies.

“We have shared with their policy team that we believe that Twitter has been infiltrated by TPLF sympathizers in the same manner that many democratic institutions and corporate spaces have been infiltrated” Billene indicated.

Source: Dehai Eritrea Online

The rapid expansion of AFRICOM on the African continent should be a cause for concern as African nations are quickly surrendering their sovereignty to the US. As the only country without a relationship to AFRICOM, Eritrea bears the brunt of US vilification. We must salute Eritrea’s ongoing project of national liberation.

The U.S. has built military-to-military relations with 53 out of the 54 African countries that include agreements to cede operational command to AFRICOM, the U.S. Africa Command. The broad network of AFRICOM military bases, as well as those from France and other world powers, are examples of how African states are surrendering their sovereignty through neocolonial relationships with Western countries. African self-determination and national sovereignty are impossible as long as the U.S. and its European allies are allowed to use military power to control African land, labor, and resources.

A major component of AFRICOM’s activities includes the indoctrination of African security forces through military training, including through the Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance Program (ACOTA) (formerly the African Crisis Response Initiative) (ACRI) ), Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) , International Military Training and Education (IMET) Program, and the numerous military exercises carried out by AFRICOM forces, including African Lion , Cutlass Express , Phoenix Express , Obangame Express , and Flintlock , among many other exercises, which have included participation from almost every African country. As Netfa Freeman pointed out in a recent article, “an indoctrination about the inherent goodness of the U.S.-European role in Africa accompanies this military training with blindspots about the true legacy of colonialism.”

The U.S. military uses the myriad security challenges facing the African continent as an important justification for AFRICOM’s existence, and the most prominent of these justifications is the threat that the U.S.-led “war on terror” is seemingly addressing. However, these security challenges and terror threats are actually driven in large part by the presence of foreign militaries on the continent. Before September 11, 2001, Africa seemed to be free of transnational terror threats . Since then, U.S. military efforts on the continent have grown in every conceivable way, from funding and boots on the ground to missions and outposts, while at the same time the number of transnational “terror” groups has increased in linear fashion . Despite this increase, extremist groups are active in less than 10 of the 54 countries in Africa. Justifications for AFRICOM’s presence on the continent, such as the rise of terrorist groups, ignore that the Pentagon and the CIA have recruited and trained extremists to fight as their proxies on many occasions.

It is clear that the African heads of state with working relationships with AFRICOM are surrendering their sovereignty and inviting a destabilizing presence.

Eritrea is the only country on the African continent without US military relations. In 1977, the last Americans at Kagnew Station, the U.S. military station in present-day Asmara, Eritrea, officially left the US’s listening post in the region. Kagnew was initially acquired through a deal with the Ethiopian government in 1943, an important geostrategic location for the US Navy during the Cold War. At the time, the Eritrean Armed Struggle for Independence against imperial Ethiopia (1961-1991) was ongoing; it was fear of heightened violence and warfare in Eritrea that led to the US’s ultimate and official withdrawal from Asmara and its closure of Kagnew in 1975.

This history is important in understanding the West’s contemporary vilification of Eritrea, as it is the only country on the African continent without a relationship with AFRICOM. We can’t and shouldn’t ignore the significance of this vilification as it relates to any African country’s sovereignty and the refusal to govern based on directives from the United Nations (or its allied entities). Eritrea’s defense forces are not only organized, but soldiers’ military training, skills, and expertise do not come from France, the United States, or any other major Western power. This is a notable difference from other African countries. Even the African Union’s standing army, the African Standby Forces, operates according to the UN’s notion of peacekeeping .

Today, a focal point of critique when it comes to Eritrea is its national service program, “Sawa,” which high school students complete in their final year (12th grade). In its conception in 1994, national service was supposed to be for a limited time period. However, conditions in Eritrea changed when the former political party of Ethiopia, the TPLF, an organization that initially claimed anti-imperialist aims , became a client to US interests in the Horn of Africa. This led to a border conflict and warfare from 1998 – 2000, which ended the period of peace between Eritrea and Ethiopia after formal Eritrean independence in 1991. Post-war, Eritrea was in a no war-no peace situation, whereby the specter of territorial infringement was a real possibility in a TPLF-led Ethiopia that consistently preached a vision of an Abay Tigray (Tigrinya for “large Tigray”) — a dream to expand into and occupy Eritrea, making it a Tigrinya ethno-state. For many, national service in Eritrea is ongoing.

National service is not a totally uncommon feature of modern day nation-states; countries from South Korea to Israel have national service, which include a military training component. But these countries are seldom critiqued for requiring military service of their citizens. The origin of Eritrea’s national service program, “Sawa,” in 1994 came from a need to give youth work post-war. Decades of colonialism and war left a nascent Eritrean society with purposefully destroyed infrastructures in an effort to de-skill Eritreans both technically and militarily. We can tie this to the US’s goal of “policy [and] security interests in Eritrea” when it sponsored the UN resolution to federate Eritrea with Ethiopia in 1952, setting off Haile Selassie’s imperial expansionist project in the Horn. These historical-political events are germane to understanding what it means for an African country like Eritrea, whose policies largely focus on developing human capital and capacity and protecting national sovereignty, and which chooses not to have US-European military relations.

It is helpful and interesting, then, to link Max Weber’s theory of states (and sovereignty), in which he posits that one feature of a legitimate state is a standing army, with how Jemima Pierre theorizes the manifestation of white supremacy and racism in Africa. What does it mean for African people to be organized and possess the military capabilities to defend themselves and their nation? We must eradicate the legacies of imperialism enacted through mechanisms like AFRICOM, which often manifest in unfounded accusations about terrorism and the levying of unjust sanctions . And we must salute and support Eritrea’s project of national liberation.

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Dina M. Asfaha is completing her doctorate in anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on medical practices and mutual aid pioneered in the Nakfa trenches of Eritrea during Eritrea’s liberation struggle against imperial Ethiopia (1961-1991), and how these social practices continue to inform the contemporary framework of Eritrean sovereignty.

Tunde Osazua is a member of the Africa Team of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) and the coordinator of BAP’s U.S. Out of Africa Network, which is the organizing arm of the U.S. Out of Africa: Shut Down AFRICOM campaign.

Source: Dehai Eritrea Online

General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo says the government will stabilize its refugee situation — for now. Europe and the U.S. may face a refugee surge from Sudan if they don’t support the country’s regime under the new military-led government, according to a top Sudanese general. Senior General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo told POLITICO that Europe and the U.S have little choice but to support the latest government to avert a refugee crisis — and he noted that Sudan’s borders are kept in check by the military, which is coming under criticism from the West for staging a coup. He made his comments as his country is buffeted by political turmoil. In October, military leaders took control of the Sudanese government and placed civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok under house arrest, drawing international condemnation. Last week, however, Hamdok was restored to his post under an agreement between the military and civilian government — a deal that failed to quell pro-democracy protests in Sudan and left western allies uneasy. “Because of our commitment to the international community and the law, we are keeping these people together,” he said, speaking via video-call from Khartoum, the country’s capital. “If Sudan will open the border, a big problem will happen worldwide.” The remarks play on the international community’s increasing wariness toward refugees. The EU in recent years has become loath to take in many migrants, unable to agree on how to distribute them throughout the bloc. And the U.S. dramatically slashed its annual refugee intake under the Trump administration, before raising it earlier this year. Dagalo said his message for Europe and the U.S. is to set aside their suspicions and regard him and Burhan as sources of stability, pointing to Sudan’s large refugee population. According to the United Nations, Sudan hosts over 1 million refugees from other countries. The international agency also notes that nearly 7 million Sudanese and South Sudanese people have been forcibly displaced, either within their own country or throughout the region. Dagalo, who serves as the deputy to Sudan’s top general Fattah al-Burhan, isn’t a trusted figure in international circles. As commander of the country’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Dagalo has long been linked by human rights groups to war crimes and other atrocities, especially in Sudan’s Darfur province. In the interview through a translator, Dagalo denied such allegations, saying he was the target of “fake news” campaigns. More broadly, western allies are skeptical of the Sudanese Army, which has yet to fulfill its promise to step away from politics and allow the country’s fledgling democratic movement to take root following the ouster of dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019. . •vp> A neighborly solution? The EU and U.S. have both strongly condemned the military’s October coup. The U.S. and World Bank swiftly paused their financial support to the country, while the EU threatened to follow suit. More recently, a spokesperson for the EU’s high representative in the Horn of Africa told POLITICO the bloc has registered its displeasure with Dagalo directly. “The EU has been engaging with [Dagalo] bilaterally in this capacity at several instances, messaging our support for the people of Sudan demanding a civilian government,” the spokesperson said. In response, Dagalo is making public overtures to assuage international concerns. He recently vowed to hand Bashir over to the International Criminal Court, where the former leader faces charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. And during his interview with POLITICO, Dagalo insisted the military will allow free elections in July 2023, describing the recent takeover as a “corrective action” in that transition. “We need elections. The country needs an elected president,” he said, justifying the military’s recent actions as part of their “duty” to prevent Sudan’s “collapse.” Moreover, Sudan’s army can help end conflict in neighboring countries such as Libya, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Eritrea, Dagalo claimed, arguing that Sudan — and its army — should be included in international discussions about the region’s future. “These are our neighbors, we understand each other so we can contribute to the solution,” he said. “We can play a big part in solving all this conflict around Sudan, because Sudan is in the center [of the region].” “Sadly the international community does not give Sudan the right attention in such big matters,” he added. “Their efforts are well appreciated, but I don’t think they will solve the problem.” Ongoing unrest Beyond his military activities, Dagalo, also known as “Hemedti,” has also come under scrutiny for his business connections. Reuters reported in 2019 that a company owned by Hemedti’s family was flying gold bars worth millions of dollars to Dubai, despite criticizing Bashir for lining his own pockets at the people’s expense. His office denied any link between the commander and the company. Now he is vowing to remain on the side of the Sudanese people, even as thousands of protesters take to the street to oppose his military’s ongoing involvement in the government. That pledge has been tested in recent weeks amid numerous reports of violence at pro-democracy protests. Earlier this month, the civilian-allied Sudanese Central Doctors Committee said 10 people were shot dead by security forces during protests against the military coup. Dagalo has pledged to conduct “a real investigation” into the matter and denied any military involvement in the violence, instead blaming “a third party.” The military, he argued, would have nothing to gain from such behavior. “In 2019, when we took the people’s side, we protected the peaceful protesters, otherwise millions would have been killed,” he said. Human rights groups, however, disagree. They argue military leaders bear responsibility for violence that has occurred against protesters and in the country more widely in recent years. “Over the last two years, only low-ranking officials have been prosecuted in a handful of cases of protesters killings,” Laetitia Bader, Horn of Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “The last two months offer a dismal reflection of justice delayed. If this legacy is to end, those most responsible for these cycles of abuses can no longer get away scot-free.” For Western allies, the situation is likely to only grow more complicated. While Hamdok, the civilian prime minister, has signed off on the political power-sharing agreement with the military, pro-democracy protesters continue to take to the streets in opposition. That has left the international community without an obvious leader to back. “If Europe is to maintain this stance, it will have to urgently find ways to square the circle of maintaining fidelity to democracy and healing the split between the prime minister and protest movement,” wrote Theodore Murphy, director of the Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “Europeans should bring pressure to bear to wring the maximum out of the military and treat the Political Agreement as a positive start to expand upon, rather than an end in itself.” Politico.eu

Source: Dehai Eritrea Online

The removal of Twitter accounts advocating for peace in the Horn of Africa shows the connection between the state and big tech companies. Freedom of speech is an illusion when communications are controlled by corporations which follow governmental dictates.

At approximately 5 am PST on November 29th, I awoke to an almost uninterrupted buzz of text messages from my cell phone. I turned to my nightstand, put my glasses on and quickly learned through concerned friends that my Twitter account had been taken down. Naturally, I logged on to Twitter. >From one account to the next, including my “burners”, I received an error message indicating that each account had been suspended. I was given no explanation.

How could Twitter take down all my accounts without any explanation? What did I do to deserve such an honor? It didn’t take long for me to discover that I wasn’t alone. Apparently, Twitter had suspended about a dozen other accounts from the Horn of Africa and its diaspora that had been associated with the nascent #NoMore movement.

What exactly is the #NoMore movement? On November 1st, a group of activists, fed up with almost a year of war between the US-backed Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the federal government of Ethiopia, initiated a campaign calling for “no more” war, “no more” support for TPLF by the US, “no more” disinformation by the mainstream media and “no more” sanctions on Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. Accordingly, these demands were popularly expressed in the hashtag #NoMore.

Almost instantly, #NoMore took social media by storm, leading to a first round of crackdowns by Twitter of popular anti-TPLF activists like Araya Tesfamariam, who had amassed almost 100K followers in about four months. TPLF, which openly admitted to starting the war on national TV, was, at the time, on the offensive and committing war crimes in the Amhara and Afar regions.

Rather than rein in TPLF and address the legitimate concerns of Twitter activists, the Biden administration and the Western media, which provided diplomatic cover for political support for a seemingly unaccountable TPLF, opted instead to double down in its support for the rebel force. Using misleading images from May 2021, televised CNN reports claimed that TPLF was on the “outskirts” of Ethiopia’s capital city Addis Ababa despite being more than 300 kilometers away.

These absurd claims led to popular anger and protest against CNN in Addis Ababa with protestors hoisting placards reading “No More” and “CNN Fake News”, followed by another round of protests only a day later in Washington, DC with almost identical placards. One week later, peace activists on Twitter, organizing themselves on messaging apps, held a Global Day of Action in 27 cities on November 21st exclaiming “No More” in solidarity with the Addis Ababa and DC protestors. I was among these activists. We used the @HornOfAfricaHub account to organize ourselves. The Black Alliance for Peace and the ANSWER Coalition joined us in the streets and provided messages of solidarity, some of which went viral on Twitter.

Since the November 21st action, #NoMore took Africa and the world by storm. The hashtag was so popular that it was not only the leading trend in Ethiopia but also in the US. The Head of Site Integrity for Twitter stated, “Safety is our top priority. In light of the rapidly changing situation in Ethiopia, we’ve temporarily disabled Trends to help reduce the spread of potentially harmful content.” How was the call for no more war and US intervention “harmful content”?

It is within this context that my accounts were taken down. The actions by Twitter were likely part of a second wave of the #NoMore crackdowns. It’s worth noting that only the night before my suspension, I used the hashtag #PasPlus in reference to a tweet about the unceremonious arrival French troops in Niger. “Pas Plus” means “No More” in French.

I, like many other activists in the Horn of Africa, would like to expand #NoMore to not only address issues in the region but also other parts of Africa. Many Africans believe #NoMore is the timely and necessary expression of resistance on the African continent. Imagine the power of 140 million people of the Horn (including Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea and Djibouti) leveraging their Twitter presence to take up other African issues that would otherwise go unnoticed due to lower population numbers and no unifying hashtag. Under #NoMore, millions of Africans are united on Twitter and ready to challenge deadly US militarism and the Western media narratives that manufacture consent for war on its behalf. We are essentially a roving digital army of peace. I believe that this is seen as a threat to US ruling class interests, which run diametrically opposed to the interest of the US masses.

As one of the many organizers behind #NoMore, I believe that I, and others like me, are being targeted because we are uncompromising proponents of peace.

Simon Tesfamariam is an Eritrean American medical doctor and writer living in New York City with a long history of organizing and activism within the global Eritrean community. He has lived, worked, and taught in Eritrea, volunteering in Eritrean hospitals and lecturing at the University of Asmara. He is currently co-organizing a webinar on how US sanctions will affect Eritrea and Ethiopia for Sunday, December 12, 3 pm Eastern.

Source: Dehai Eritrea Online

Asmara, 10 January 2022- At a public seminar the Eritrean Embassy organized, Eritrean nationals residing in the port city of Mombasa, Kenya, expressed readiness to strengthen participation in national affairs.

At the seminar, Mr. Beyene Russom, Eritrean Ambassador to Kenya, gave an extensive briefing on the objective situation in the homeland as well as regional developments.

Providing an extensive briefing on the opportunities and challenges created by the peace and cooperation agreement reached between Eritrean and Ethiopia in 2018, Ambassador Beyene said that the instability being witnessed in the region is the making of external forces that are not pleased with the promising situation prevailing.

Ambassador Beyene said that the external conspiracies will be foiled by the integrated resilience of the peoples of the region and peace and stability will prevail.

Ambassador Beyene also said that the unilateral and illegal sanctions imposed on Eritrea will be foiled by the strong resistance and resilience of the Eritrean people inside the country and abroad.

The participants on their part expressed resolve to strengthen organizational capacity and participation in national affairs.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea