Ch 18. We Didn't Do It For This!

You were good fighters in the field. We were very proud of you and full of hope. You won the war and brought us independence. We were elated. However, a dozen years on you have made our life more miserable! Having lived under Italian, British, federal and Ethiopian administrations, let me tell you son, that your administration is incompetent, you manners uncouth and your currency worthless. It is a cruel irony that we are worse off today under the rule of our own children.

– Sheka Yohannes Weldeabzgi

ኣብ ሜዳ ንፉዓት ተጋደልቲ ኔርኩም። ብኣኹም ኣዚና ሕቡናትን ሰብ ምሉእ ተስፋን ኔርና። ኣብቲ ኲናት ስዒርኩም ናጽነት ኣምጺእኩምልና። ተፈሲህና ኔርና። ይዅን’ምበር፡ ድሕሪ ሓደ ደርዘን ዓመታት፡ ህይወትና ብዝያዳ ዚኸርፍሐ ጌርኩሞ። ኣብ ትሕቲ ምምሕዳራት ጥልያን፡ እንግሊዝ፡ ፈደረሽንን ኢትዮጵያን ነቢርና፤ ክነግረካ ዝወደይ፡ ምምሕዳርኩም ዘይብቑዕ፡ ኣገባብኩም ግዕዙይ፡ ባጤራኹም ክብረ-ኣልቦ ኢዩ። ሎሚ፡ ኣብ ትሕቲ ግዝኣት ደቅና ኣብቲ ዚኸፍአ ክንወድቕ፡ ሕሱም ግርምቢጥ ኢዩ።

– ሸቃ ዮሃንስ ወልደኣብዝጊ

The concluding chapter, Chapter 18: We Didn’t Do It for This expresses the author’s sense of profound deception and disappointment, shared by many veterans of the independence war, at the present predicament of Eritrea and the Eritrean people. It decries the betrayal of the Eritrean people by their own government, the desertion of the promises of freedom, democracy, justice, and prosperity, for which the armed struggle was fought and great sacrifices made. The chapter signals the need for a fundamental rethinking of Eritrean politics and for reform to reconstruct a functional state, in line with the ethos and transformational goals of the armed struggle.

እዛ ደምዳሚት ምዕራፍ፡ ምዕራፍ 18፡- ምእንት’ዚ ኣይተቓለስናን! ነቲ እዚ ደራሲ፡ ምስ ብዙሓት ገዳይም ሓርበኛታት ኲናት ናጽነት ብሓበራ፡ በቲ ንኤርትራን ንህዝቢ ኤርትራን ዘሳቒ ዘሎ መንቀራቕሮ ዚስመዖም ዓሚቝ ጓህን ሓዘንን፡ ትገልጽ። ነቲ መንግስቲ ኤርትራ ኣብ ልዕሊ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ዚፈጸሞ ክድዓት፣ ነቲ ጥልመት ናይቲ ምእንትኡ ብረታዊ ቃልሲ ዚተኻየደሉን ዓበይቲ መስዋእትታት ዚተኸፍለሉን መብጽዓታት ናይ ናጽነት፡ ደሞክራሲ፡ ፍትሕን ራህዋን፣ትነቅፍ። እዛ ምዕራፍ’ዚኣ፡ ምስቲ ባህግታትን ኣቐያሪ ዕላማታትን ብረታዊ ቃልሲ ዘሳኒ ምዕሩይ መንግስቲ ንምህናጽ፣ ኣድላዪነት መሰረታዊ ለውጥን ዳግመ-ቅየሳ ፖለቲካ ኤርትራን፡ ትሕብር።

Eritrea at a crossroads

Ch 18. We Didn't Do It For This!