Eritrea: Land ofCan-Do People!
(Yikealo! kikewn eyu

ERI-NEWSkemey zeykewn!)

Bi-Weekly Newsletter
Permanent Mission of the State of Eritrea to AUand UNECA
Press Section

National Service: A toolfor EconomicDevelopment, NationalCohesion and theDefence of Sovereignty

Volume 2, Issue 25

Eritrea still standing, still tall!
by Andre Vltchek
Eritrea; the African Cuba – country
that stands on its own feet.

Andre Vltchek is a novelist,
filmmaker and investigative
journalist who has coveredwars and conflicts in dozens ofcountries.

Inside this issue:

Eritrea – a proud and determinednation, which fought for a long 30
years for its independence, and in theprocess, losing hundreds of thousands of its sons and daughters during the struggle.

He visited Eritrea in December
2014, and published two articles on his visit on RT.com andPunchdown.org.

•19 January 2015

Here are excerpts from the twoarticles.

Eritrea – a country with its own
egalitarian development model,
working relentlessly for the welfareof its people.

Understanding Eritrea

Eritrea – a nation unwilling to sacrifice its citizens for the whims of theEmpire and its corporations.

To understand Eritrea is not easy. But
outside Asmara, everything is exposed; nothing can be hidden. Bothpoverty and the heroic attempts toeradicate it are right here, in my face.
Farmers are working hard; manyroads and electric grids are underconstruction.
But Western propaganda against
Eritrea is so mighty, that often even I
catch myself recalling its slogans,instead of concentrating on observing
the reality with my own eyes. And I
am professional: I have dedicated mylife to uncovering Western indoctrination campaigns!
I film and photograph, in order tocapture the truth, through my lenses.
After just a few days, a very clear
portrait emerges:

Contact Addresses:

All this is in direct contrast to the propaganda that is emanating from London
and New York, smearing the country,
and trying to portray it as an outlaw
state which supports terrorist groups inEast Africa, oppresses its citizens, andviolates all basic ‘human rights’.

Tel: +251-116620052
Fax:+251-116620011
Email:eritreanaumission@gmail.com
P.o.Box: 5527
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Eritrean Mission toAU& ECA@EritreaAU

Vol 2. Issue 25, 19 January 2015

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A Harmonious Nation with an IndependentDevelopment PathAccording to Elias Amare, an Eritrean intellectual:“Eritrea registered success, substantial
achievements, in what the United Nations defines as ‘Millennium Development Goals’, inparticular ensuring free primary education
for all; ensuring women’s emancipation andequality of women in all fields. In healthcare,it achieved a dramatic reduction in infantmortality, as well as the reduction of maternalmortality. In this regard, Eritrea is considered
exemplary in Africa; few other countries haveattained that much. So, despite all the obstacles that the country faces, the picture is positive.”to the predicted 80 percent in 2015.
We are talking about post-literacy and functionalliteracy programs, but above all, about how democratic the system really is. Not ‘democratic’ in termsof the Western perception, but democratic in termsof the participation of the people in decisionmaking; in developing the curricula, and the blocking of projects that would bring no benefits to thecommunities.
Life expectancy, according to Dr. Mismay Ghebrehiwet, the Adviser to the Minister of Health, went
up from 49 to 63 years, which is very high by African standards. There is a compulsory and free vaccination program, and all Eritreans are enjoying
almost free medical care, even medicine.

“Eritrea continues on the national independent path. It has a progressive view in building
national unity. Eritrea is a multi-ethnic, multireligious society. It has nine ethnic groups,
and two major religions: Christianity and Islam. The two religions co-exist harmoniously,
and this is mainly due to the tolerant culture,that the society has built. There is no conflictor animosity between the ethnic groups orreligious groups. The government and thepeople are keen to maintain this nationalunity.”•Great hope for the country and for thecontinent

Laying the Foundation for a Better Future
In Eritrea I see great hope for the country itself and •for the continent; I see education, hard work,
I stop the car and talk to several girls walking on themeticulous planning for a better future, I see a new
new Domhina Road, some hundred kilometers fromand sound development model.
Asmara. They are all from the 5th and 6th grades;
There are brand new schools and colleges, rural cheerful, laughing, optimistic:
medical posts, cancer and heart clinics, roads cutting“In our village we already have an elementarythrough the mountains followed by electricity poles.
school, and now we are walking to a seconThere are dams that are used for irrigation - impordary school, in a bigger village. We are goodtant elements in the ‘food security’ project.
at school; we love English and math.”
Eritrea is poor, but it is poor with dignity. And it isThe girls want to be teachers and doctors, but one
clear that it is getting better, its social indicators areresolutely aims at becoming an engineer, in order toimproving. Literacy is up from 20 percent right after
build bridges, roads and power grids for her
independence in 1991 (only 10 percent for women),country.
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Promoting Self-relianceIntegration

Eri-Newsand

Regional
on dialogue, respect and ownership of the development programs and the process.”

Dr. Mohamed Hassan, a former Ethiopian diplomat
in Washington, Beijing and Brussels, as well as an
MP representing the militant Belgian Labor Party,
explained to me, during our meeting in Asmara:“Eritrea is not a neo-colonial state. Eritrea isan independent state. Eritrea does not host any
military bases, any external forces. Eritrea has
the vision, and not only for Eritrea, but also forthe region. It is also promoting self-relianceand regional integration. It is also built on theideal: ‘let us use our own resources, and let us
build our independence. It means elevating thelife of Eritrean people, particularly those in therural areas.”
Elias Amare, adds more, along the same lines:“Eritrea has been insisting that its independence would be a genuine independence. It insists on self-reliance.” It doesn’t mean that Eritrea rejects direct foreign investment, for example. No. But when direct investment enters,
Eritrea wants it to be on equitable terms. For
example: Eritrea has huge natural resources.
Gold, copper, zinc to name just a few…. It
wants an equitable partnership. Many Westerncountries do not see all this favorably. And
that’s the main reason for the hostility Eritrea
is facing.”••

Dr. Taisier Ali is a Sudanese who lives in Eritrea for
15 years. He is the director of the Peacebuilding
Center for the Horn of Africa (PCHA). We sit downin his office, and try to analyze, why the Eritrean
model is so misrepresented abroad, or why it isignored by the Western mass media:

Equal Opportunity for All

In Asmara, I sit down for a talk with a senior
Eritrean diplomat, Tesfamichael Gerahtu, a former•Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
“Eritrea is peaceful and stable because of thegovernment’s ‘integrated development paradigm’ – equal opportunities for all, with a special concentrated focus on rural areas and areas that were previously particularly disadvantaged. We are improving the general andoverall quality of life… we are working on acultural transformation that would lead to thecreation of a ‘knowledge society’, where every
person is an owner of the development process. We are trying to build cooperation based

A Country with a National Project“When you talk about Eritrea, to the international community and the outside world, I think
it is one of the most misunderstood countries
on the whole globe… After coming here, I soon
realized that here, they have a sense of purpose, a ‘national project’, conceived and developed during the 30 years of struggle. We don’t
have to accept it, but at least they are determined to take their country from the point A topoint B. They face many challenges, but they
have always stayed on course.”
Crime-free

Crime is extremely low. I spoke to a Laotian eye
surgeon, Dr. Soukhanthamaly Phonekaseumsouk,
who has been performing cataract surgeries, formany years, in the deep countryside of Eritrea,
where batteries that are charged using the solar
system have been mainly powering her equipment.
Eritrea is number 2 in the world, per capita, in termsof the use of solar energy. The Doctor explainedthat she never felt unsafe, living alone, in the countryside or in the city; she was never harassed.

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A Victim of False Allegations

The West is also constantly using the accusations
that Eritrea is supporting terrorist movements allover the region.
Elias replies vehemently:“That is totally baseless and false. First of all,because of the nature of how Eritrea gained its
independence, the country is totally against
any religious extremism. It has been actuallytargeted by Islamist extremist groups for manyyears. Eritrea is a secular state: it does notmix politics with religion. It had been provenby many credible investigative journalists, that
there is no support for terrorism, coming from
Asmara; no support for Islamic extremistgroups, or for Christian extremist groups.”“Big powers do not want the Eritrean example
to be replicated in Africa. I say again, Africa
has huge natural resources. Big powers are
now trying to grab these resources. What will
happen if other governments in Africa were to
try to follow Eritrea’s example? It would definitely not be beneficial to great powers.”

The full texts of the articles can be accessed at:
http://rt.com/op-edge/216831-eritrea-africa-westconflict-propaganda/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/12/african-ideological-ebola-for-imperialists/

Vol 2. Issue 25, 19 January 2015