Eritrea at a crossroads

“Eritrea at a Crossroads: A Narrative of Triumph, Betrayal and Hope”

Ch 1. Introduction

Eritrea, a small country with a strategic location in the volatile Horn of Africa, won liberation in 1991 through an armed struggle that had lasted 30 years, and declared independence in 1993 following a referendum. Having waged an epic struggle however, Eritrea today is littered with the shards of broken expectations, broken promises and broken hopes of freedom, justice, and progress. Twenty-two years past de facto independence, the Eritrean people continue to endure and Eritrea’s youth strive to escape the caprices of despotic rule, harsh oppression and perennial insecurity. Wrong policy choices and wasted opportunities have forfeited Eritrea’s potential to grow into a prosperous regional entrepôt and hub of industry, commerce and services and, instead, immersed it in a state of abject poverty and comprehensive insolation.

The land of modern Eritrea has a long history as a cradle and hub of the old Axumite civilisation. Eritrea at a Crossroads: A Narrative of Triumph, Betrayal, and Hope presents a brief outline of the evolution of Eritrea as an upshot of the colonial implant of the Westphalian order on African soil. It sketches Eritrea’s long journey to self-determination, impeded by constant acts of external intervention. It narrates a story of heroic triumph in struggle and of dismal failure in victory. It assesses the record of the post-independence government and makes the case for renewal and the reconstruction of a functional democratic state to meet the age-old yearnings of the Eritrean people for peace, freedom, justice and prosperity via real empowerment. As the alpha of eighteen chapters, Chapter 1: Introduction provides as a concise summary of each succeeding chapter.
ኤርትራ ኣብቲ ብህውከት ዚልለ ዞባ ቀርኒ ኣፍሪቃ ስትራተጅያዊ ኣቀማምጣ ዘለዋ፣ ሳላ’ቲ ን30 ዓመታት ዚተኻየደ ብረታዊ ቃልሲ ኣብ 1991 ሓርነት ዚጨበጠት፣ ኣብ 1993 ረፈረንደም ብምክያድ፡ ናጽነት ዚኣወጀት፡ ንእሽቶ ሃገር ኢያ። ይዅን’ምበር፡ ቅያ ዘበለ ብረታዊ ቃልሲ ኣካይዳ ከተብቅዕ፣ ኤርትራ ሎሚ ብስብርባር ናይ ዘይተማልአ ትጽቢታት፡ ናይ ዚተጠልመ መብጽዓታት፡ ናይ ዚበነነ ተስፋታት ሓርነት፡ ፍትሒ፡ ግስጋሴ ጋዕዝያ ትርከብ። ዕስራን ክልተን ዓመታት ድሕሪ’ቲ ክዉን ኵነት (de facto) ናጽነት፡ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ብሓለንጊ ምልካዊ ስርዓት እናተገርፈ፡ ዘይተኣደነ ጭቈናን ቀጻሊ ዘይቅሳነትን ይሳቐ፣ መንእሰያት ኤርትራ ድማ ካብቲ ኣደራዕ ኪሃድሙ ይጽዕሩ ኣለዉ። ግጉይ ምርጫታት ሜላን ዚባኸነ ዕድላትን ንተኽእሎ ምዕባለ ኤርትራ ናብ ሓንቲ ራህዋ ዚሰፈና ዞባዊ ማእከል ንግዲ፡ ኢንዳስትርን ኣገልግሎታትን ዓጊቱ፤ ኣምሳይኡ፡ ኣብ ታኼላ ናይ ዝባኑ ዚቐልዐ ድኽነትን ኣጠቓላሊ ተነጽሎን ደቕዲቑዋ ይርከብ።

ምድረ ዘመናዊት ኤርትራ፡ ከም መበገስን ሕመረትን ናይቲ ጥንታዊ ኣዅሱማዊ ስልጣኔ፡ በዓል ነዊሕ ታሪኽ ኢዩ። ኤርትራ ኣብ ቃራና መንገዲ- ታሪኽ ዓወት፡ ጥልመትን ተስፋን ሓጺር ስእሊ ኣመዓባብላ ኤርትራ፡ ከም ውጽኢት ናይቲ መግዛእታዊ ላቔባ ዌስትፋልያዊ ስርዓት (Westphalian order) ኣብ መሬት ኣፍሪቃ፡ ተቕርብ። ነቲ ብቐጻሊ ተጻብኦታት ግዳማዊ ምትእትታው ዚተዓናቐፈ ነዊሕ ጕዕዞ ኤርትራ ናብ ርእሰ-ውሳኔ ትድህስስ። ታሪኽ ጅግንነታዊ ዓወት ኣብ ቃልስን ዜሕዝን ፍሽለት ኣብ ዓወትን ተዘንቱ። ንመዝገብ ዕዮ መንግስቲ ድሕሪ ናጽነት ትግምግም፣ ንናይ ዘመናት ሃረርታ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ንሰላም፡ ንናጽነት፡ ንፍትሕን ንራህዋን ዜማልእ፡ ንህዝቢ ሓቀኛ ስልጣን ዜውህብ፡ብግቡእ ዚሰርሕ ደሞክራስያዊ ስርዓት ንምርግጋጽ፣ ኣድላዪነት ተሃድሶን ዳግመ-ህንጸትን ተነጽር።

ከም ቀዳመይቲ ናይተን ዓሰርተው ሸሞንተ ምዕራፋት ድማ፡ ምዕራፍ 1 – መላለዪ ሓጺር ጽማቝ ናይ ነፍሲ ወከፍ ምዕራፍ በብተርታ ተቕርብ።