SA Amb.: 3 More Decades & Eritrea Will Bring Life To The Horn! Lol!
8 April 8, 2013
'Eritrea brings life to the horn' was the title of Ambassador Iqbahl Jhazbhay's article that appeared on SA's newspaper City Press published yesterday. Right away, the author posted this on his facebook page: "My tentative reflections on Eritrea, which appeared today in the South African Sunday newspaper, City Press. I prefer my original title: ERITREA'S PAINFUL ROAD TO PROGRESS. Your feedback on the article below will be appreciated! https://www.facebook.com/iqbalau " You got it sir! Now below is the feedback you solicited.
WADR, you're not serious Ambassador, professor, sheikh Iqbal Jhazbhay! One cannot bring life to others before one brings life to oneself! Eritrea cannot bring life to the horn before it brings life to its own nation first?
Mr. Ambassador, in the first few paragraphs of your article, you submit: "Firstly, as an untapped frontier, with the right investment and development partners, Eritrea will be a changed country within the next three decades."(Emphasis editorially inserted)
You are not talking about Eritrea changing for the better in a decade, 2 decades, but 3 decades. 3 decades may be the time frame the good ambassador thinks it takes for the rest of the world to be wrong and Eritrea tyrant and tyranny in Eritrea to be right? Other than that, count all the decades you want, Eritrea will not move toward the better but worst as long as Eritrea is under the tyrannical grip of Isias Afareki.
Two decades ago at national independence, Eritrea was labeled hope in the horn and the US even dubbed Eritrea tyrant 'George Washington of Eritrea'. Two decades later, today, Eritrea tyrant popped up as a curse and a bully in the horn! He steered the country not toward success but disaster, politically, diplomatically, economically, and otherwise.
Ambassador Jhazbhay, quit clowning, get your facts straight, and avoid intellectual dishonesty, stop regurgitating what you get fed by Eritrea tyrant's agents on mass exodus of Eritrean youth, the tyrant's isolation, and the nature of the tyrant.
As you correctly noted, Eritrea is bestowed with nearly all that one would expect from Mother Nature: Mining bonanza, marine treasures, pristine beaches, strategic location, and 100s of Islands, etc. So, there is nothing wrong with the people and country of Eritrea except that Eritrea is a nation held hostage by an armed gang called Isias Afareki who has turned Eritrea into a Gangland! This is a fact: Eritrea tyrant isias has no other legitimacy but the barrel of the gun! Now add to that the tyrant's recent order and distribution of AK-47 machine guns to all able Eritreans up to and beyond 50 years hence turning the country into an armed camp.
Eritrea is the only country in the entire world without a parliament, governance by any constitution, never had national elections, just to mention few. Only African country sanctioned by the AU! Eritrea tyrant was sanctioned at the request of the AU including SA! And when the first round of sanction was imposed, res.1907/2009, the AU including SA welcomed it. And later, when the second round of sanction was imposed, the resolution, res. 2023/2011, was passed unanimously including SA, which at the time was a member of UN Security Council. Mr. Ambassador, this is just a humble reminder. Now why would your country SA support a UN Sanction against Eritrea tyrant that you wrote was based on mere allegation, sir? Why would SA support a UN Sanction against Eritrea tyrant for refusing to bow to external power? Never mind, you are only regurgitating what you were fed by the agents of Eritrea tyrant, what a shame!
By the way, Eritrea tyrant has been hit with Sanctions under UN Chapter VII for being a threat to international peace and security not merely for supporting Al Shabab in Somalia, you know that? The UN sanctions entail not only military but also travel and finances of the tyrant, sir.
As far as Eritrea tyrant's relationship with the AU: Well, Isias has called African head of states baboons, puppets of the US, and instruments of Neo-colonialism. The tyrant has called for the AU to be annihilated and re-organized. Eritrea tyrant is way far from being committed to the principles of the AU! AU's constituent charter clearly states that no one shall be a member that comes to power by unconstitutional means? Tyrant Isias has made a mockery of that?
Change in Eritrea is not about time frames, investors, and partners but about governance about which the ambassador says nothing because it would kill the article!
You reprimanded the west for hitting Eritrea with being a single-party state! Well here is news for you ambassador: There exists no political party in Eritrea at all. Eritrea is a single(one)-man not a single-party state! The first and last time that a political party existed, PFDJ-the empty acronym that Eritrea tyrant goes by, was exactly 19 years ago this month! That, together with above mentioned lack of vital institutions of a sovereign nation this is indeed unique to Eritrea?
In Eritrea, isias Afareki is the employer the rest, like ministers, ambassadors, regional administrators, generals are employees that Isias hires and fires at will. Isias is the law, the judge and the executioner. No one is above Eritrea tyrant isias!
You rightly ask "So why is it then, one may ask, that despite the country's potential as a relatively stable investment destination in the otherwise volatile Horn of Africa, companies and tourists have not been arriving in droves?" The answer is simple: Because no one, including Eritreans, wants to invest in a Gangland and UN sanctioned state?
"But external efforts to sanction and stunt this young African country's growth by promoting "regime change" have not succeeded." So, what is preventing growth and why another 3 decades till fruition then?
"But part of the problem this young nation faces is that most of its economically active population is in uniform. Eritrea keeps its young men in the army to fend off aggression from Ethiopia." That is intellectually dishonest. Being in uniform is not that of concern, but being in uniform indefinitely is what we have in Eritrea. And that without salary or any legal regulation!
As far as aggression from Ethiopia, the tyrant himself, in interview with Aljezeera, has stated that Ethiopia has no legal reasons to attack Eritrea and that he is not in war-footing with Ethiopia either.
There are no border skirmishes with Ethiopia and if there were it is not uncommon between two neighboring countries that had a history of border dispute. One can cite a number of such scenarios in the Middle East for example or Asia, the Indian subcontinent?
The Eritrea Ethiopia ruling has to be implemented by both countries. Neither country has implemented that ruling so far?
People seeking greener pastures abroad has always been the case and there is nothing wrong with that but not en masse as is the case of Eritrean youth!. There are no jobs in Eritrea! The only job is as the ambassador correctly stated indefinite military conscription without salary and being abused as free labor under the guise of 'national service' and that is why the Eritrean youth is seeking green pastures abroad. The other most compelling reason is the fact that Eritreans cannot live as human beings even without a job in their own country because there reigns inarguably brutal tyranny in Eritrea, which is what Eritrean are fleeing from, sir.Moreover, in other countries people that seek greener pastures abroad are not criminalized nor do they leave their country risking being shot at the border as in Eritrea!
It's time the distinct and painful story of Eritrea, a country that fought 30 years for national independence but now has been taken hostage by a brutal armed Gang, Isias Afarek, reaches the eyes and ears of Africans including ambassador Jhazbhay of SA.
Ambassader Jhasbhay's article appears complementary to story of the two Belgian researchers that appeared on EriTv recently and spoke of Eritrea as if it were heaven on Earth both in content and timing. Check it out here
About Iqbal Jhazbhay
Dr. Iqbal D Jhazbhay is Professor at the University of South Africa’s (UNISA) Department of Religious Studies and Arabic, and a previous Director of the Unisa Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies. He holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa and, studied Arabic and Islamic sciences in Cairo, Riyadh and Manchester.
His research interests include Islam in Somaliland and Somalia, South African Islam, Sufism, Political Islam, South African foreign policy towards North Africa and the Middle East, international relations and Islam.
He was a visiting scholar at Princeton University and London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies.
He has authored the book, Somaliland: An African struggle for nationhood and international recognition, some twenty-one academic articles and chapters on Islamic thought, Somaliland and South African foreign policy.
His book on the Horn of Africa and Somaliland, has received the accolade of “a major scholarly success” (Prof Ali Mazrui). It was reviewed as “highly original” and ‘’breath-taking’’ (Prof. Hussein Adam) and is seen as ‘’authoritative’’ by the doyen of Somali Studies, Prof. Ioan Lewis.
See Foreword and full book reviews at:
http://nuradeen.com/resources/Somaliland-Forward.pdf
http://www.nuradeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/book_review_hussein_sl.pdf
http://www.nuradeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/BookReviewFromJournalOfMiddleEastAndAfrica2010.pdf
http://www.nuradeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/SomalilandBookReviewByIoanLewis.pdf
Prof. Jhazbhay is a member of the sub-committee on International Relations of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s governing party, and its newly-formed ANC International Relations Rapid Response Task Team. He previously served on the ANC’s Commission for Religious Affairs. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Institute for Global Dialogue –an International Relations think-tank established by former President Nelson Mandela.
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