Message on the Commemoration of First September 2024
Ambassador Andebrhan Welde Giorgis
The First of September 1961 heralded the qualitative transformation of the Eritrean people’s struggle for self-determination and laid the cornerstone for the war of independence. Today, the First of September 2024 marks the 63rd anniversary of the beginning of the armed struggle of the Eritrean people for national independence. It is thus a day of celebration that Eritreans commemorate every year with great pride. Our armed struggle traversed 30 years of ups and downs, including a bitter civil war, and achieved the independence of the State of Eritrea. It has already been 33 years since the triumphant conclusion of the armed resistance and 31 years since the formal declaration of sovereign statehood.
National independence has, however, failed to meet the expectations and fulfill the aspirations of our people for the achievement of sovereign power and the enjoyment of freedom, justice and prosperity. Nor has it brought about socioeconomic development, uplifted the livelihood of the people or enhanced the human condition and wellbeing of our society. In brief, our people have been unable to establish a constitutional government that administers justice, respects basic rights and freedoms, pursues prosperity, and vindicates the immense sacrifices of the finest sons and daughters of our people made during the arduous armed struggle.
Over the past 33 years of de facto and de jure independence, Eritrea has, as a matter of deliberate policy, been dragged backwards standing, according to most criteria, at the lowest rungs of the development ladder among the nations of the world. The imposition of a capricious rule of man has perpetrated severe domestic oppression, harsh repression and brutal suppression of dissent. Eritrea has witnessed the proliferation of prisons rather than schools, universities, hospitals and cultural centres like sports facilities. The rural areas of our countryside have been depleted of their population while our cities and ports lie in ruins. The cumulative effect of all this has been the contraction of agricultural production and the absence of a normal rate of population growth at home leading to the steady relative decline of the size of the Eritrean populace. This state of affairs bears serious implications for the future of the country in an international system characterised by the lawless logic of might is right.
All the development programmes and projects initiated, and policy instruments devised during the first half of the 1990s following independence were aborted one by one. A regimented coupon economy was instituted within the framework of a malevolent economic policy to ensure all-round social control. Let alone deliver development, the dysfunctional coupon economy has been unable to provide even the basic needs of the people and essential social services, such as foodstuffs, water, healthcare, education, energy, electricity, transport and communications. This has expanded and deepened a general state of extreme poverty. The government’s ban on the maintenance, reparation, renovation and construction of houses
for over twenty years has created an acute shortage of housing.
Lawless administration characterised by arbitrary arrests, indefinite detention, limitless national service implemented in clear violation of the provisions of Proclamation 82/1995, etc., has driven mass exodus. It is beyond contention that all Eritreans who have been forced to flee the country or to reside abroad are victims of the regime’s political and economic despotism. Indefinite national service, lack of proper education and the absence of gainful
employment have created utter despair of the possibility of a normal life or prospects of a prosperous future and pushed Eritrea’s youth to flee the country en masse.
Most Eritreans in the Diaspora, oblivious of the fundamental cause of their irregular migration, their reluctant flight from their home country and their attendant predicament in exile, have fallen victim to the divisive policies of the regime and the sectarian machinations of hostile foreign forces. Bitterly divided between regime supporters, regime opponents and passive spectators, they remain locked in constant bickering and reciprocal recriminations perpetrating an endless spiral of further splintering and fragmentation.
Oblivious of or indifferent to the regression of the country and the misery of the people, the regime supporters have turned into blind fans singing praises of the autocrat. Some in the self-styled opposition have lost their compass, abandoned the cause of their own country and people and made common cause with hostile foreign forces. Others have abandoned the ranks of the opposition and switched sides or have been coopted by the regime.
Still many others have even crossed redlines and resorted to aimless violence, brandishing the defunct federal flag of Eritrea in tandem with an alien flag. Whether wittingly or unwittingly, they have become outright tools of hostile foreign forces bent on reoccupying Eritrea, violating its territorial integrity, undermining Eritrean national identity, disrupting the unity of the Eritrean people and reversing Eritrean sovereignty.
On the occasion of the auspicious commemoration of the 63 rd anniversary of the launching of our armed struggle, I strongly urge for an immediate end to the aimless violence and reciprocal killings among Eritreans in the diaspora; implore those who fan the flames of violent attacks and killings to desist from their vicious activities; and call for dialogue rather than violence to mediate differences among Eritreans.
Violent attacks and intra-Eritrean violence in the diaspora operate to harm rather than advance the just political struggle to bring down the autocratic regime and establish constitutional governance and a democratic system of government in our country through empowering the agency of the Eritrean people. Eritreans must shun mob violence instigated and driven by an alien adversary and joined in by many non-Eritreans that maligns the image of the diaspora opposition, disrupts the unity of Eritreans, plays into the hands of the autocratic regime, and serves hostile foreign objectives.
I would like to reiterate that opposition to the predatory regime centred on Eritrean nationhood and the territorial integrity, sovereignty and security of the State of Eritrea is a responsibility and a democratic right of enlightened citizenship.
In this context, I would like to further reiterate that the objective of genuine national opposition, both at home and abroad, should be to strive to crystallise constitutional governance that (1) is based on the rule of law; (2) safeguards the basic rights and freedoms of the people; (3) builds human capital through modern science, technology and knowhow; (4) manages public finance, national assets and natural resources in an accountable and
transparent manner; (5) pursues socioeconomic development; (6) improves the livelihood of the people; and (7) safeguards freedom; administers justice; and creates wealth and prosperity.
As we proudly commemorate the auspicious occasion of September First today, let us strive
to realise the aspirations of our people for the rule of law, constitutional governance,
freedom, justice, security and prosperity.
Long live September First, the harbinger of an independent sovereign State of Eritrea!
Eternal glory to our heroic martyrs!
God bless Eritrea and the Eritrean people!
