Vol 23. No.97 Saturday, February 4, 2017 Pages 8, Price 2.00 NFA

Annual precipitation levels in Eritrea, and the Horn of Africa region in general, are not always plentiful. The main rains tend to be erratic both in terms of spatial distribution and frequency particularly in cyclical years when the overall volume is below or near normal. There are also years when the region is struck by severe, even if localized, droughts.

The ecological fragility of the region thus makes it incumbent on governments to funnel public investment on water infrastructure for irrigation, pursue multi-layered programmes and packages of food security as well as engage in purposeful and planned storage/prepositioning of supplies for lean years.

These considerations have indeed prompted the GOE to chart out, especially since 2005, a comprehensive and long-term programme of food security to ensure, at the minimum, adequate/surplus food supplies both at the house-hold and national levels in normal years and to mitigate the effects of drought in bad years. This coherent and multi-faceted strategy has helped the country offset crop shortfalls in a couple of years in the past decade when the harvest was essentially poor.

Nonetheless, the harvest in Eritrea has been bountiful this year for a variety of reasons. The Bahri (eastern escarpment) rains in autumn 2015, the short rains in the highlands in the Spring of 2016 and, more importantly, the main Kremti rains between June and September 2016 were abundant in terms of geographical distribution, frequency and timing. These tallied well with crop harvesting cycles and patterns contributing to almost a bumper harvest.

In the event, it is baffling to see grossly inaccurate and bleak projections and reports of the food situation in the region that also portray a “severe crop shortfall in Eritrea”. Benign concerns are of course always welcome. But there are also reasons to believe that this seemingly innocuous campaign may have been conceived by certain quarters for malicious ends.

Ministry of Information2 February 2017

Asmara

Press ReleaseEritrea: Status of the

Harvest this year

A Senior Eritrean delegation headed by Foreign Minister Osman Saleh that also included Mr. Yemane Gebreab, Head of PFDJ Political Affairs, and Mr. Hagos Gebrehiwet, Head of PFDJ Economic Affairs, returned home concluding a three-day visit to the Russian Federation.

During its stay, the delegation conveyed President Isaias Afwerki’s message to President Vladimir Putin and held wide-ranging discussions with the Russian Foreign Minister, Mr. Sergei Lavrov, on bilateral cooperation as well as regional and international issues. The delegation also met the Minister of Agriculture

Enthusiastic preparations are underway in Massawa City for the commemoration of the 27th anniversary of Operation Fenkil.

The commemoration due to take place from 9 to 12 February would feature cultural and sports programs, community gatherings, exhibitions and other activities.

The liberation of the port city of Massawa in February 1990 witnessed the demise of the Ethiopian forces of occupation at the hands of the heroic fighters of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF).

The branch of the National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students (NUEYS) in Anseba region is providing training in Adi-Tekelezan regarding electricity and solar energy installation, among others.

The Head of the NUEYS branch in the region called on the participants to make good use of the opportunity being provided to them. Moreover, Ms. Helen Tewoldebrhan, Head of the branch office in the sub-zone, on her part noted the significance of the training in nurturing resourceful youth.

An Eritrean delegation headed by Ambassador Araia Desta, Eritrea’s Permanent Representative to the African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa , has participated in the 28th AU Summit held from 22 to 31 January in Addis Ababa.

The delegation presented a report pertaining to Eritrea’s position and firm stance on the issues discussed at the Summit. As regards peace and security, the Eritrean delegation underlined that the recent proliferation of terrorism in Africa took place in the wake of regime-change exercises by external powers resulting in State failures. The delegation further stressed the need for active cooperation for restoration of the sovereignty of the affected countries, and combat the recurrence of such destructive intervention.

Moreover, the Eritrean

Senior eritrean Delegation ConCluDeS ViSit to ruSSian FeDeration

PreParationS For oPeration Fenkil Commemoration

training ProgramS For

the Youth

eritrean Delegation PartiCiPateS at au Summit

and the Vice-Minister of Education as well as department heads of the country’s Ministry of Trade and heads of various companies.

During the meeting with the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Alexander Tkachov, the senior delegation conducted discussion on reinforcing technical cooperation in the agricultural sector.

The Minister commended Eritrea’s principled position and support to Russia’s position regarding a number of regional and global issues and reiterated the Russian Federation’s readiness to enhance cooperation with Eritrea.

In a press briefing they gave, Minister Osman Salih and Minister Sergei Lavrov underlined the significance of the senior Eritrean delegation’s visit to the Russian Federation that is expected to strengthen the growing ties of cooperation between the two countries.

delegation reaffirmed Eritrea’s commitment to contribute its share for the promotion of peace, security and cooperation in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea region, as well as the continent as a whole. (For the full text of the intervention by Ambassador Araia see page 7)

The Summit adopted programs calling on the AU to focus on important issues, introduce structural adjustment and avoid external intervention in the implementation of the set goals.

During the Summit, Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamoat, Foreign Minister of Chad, was elected Chairman of the AU Commission replacing the outgoing Chairperson, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.

President Alpha Condé of the Republic of Guinea was also elected Chairman of the AU replacing the President of Chad, Idriss Deby. Meanwhile Morocco which withdrew membership in 1984 has been readmitted as the 55th member of the African Union.

2Vol 23. No.97Eritrea Profile, Saturday, February 4, 2017

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Sara Alem

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LayoutAzmera Berhane

Sara Alem Aida Johar

Mr. President, best wishes to you and to our readers on the occasion of the New Year. What are the key GOE development plans for this year?

First and foremost I would like to convey my best wishes, even if somewhat belated, for the New Year to the Eritrean people at home and abroad.

Energy has for long remained a priority development program for the government. Indeed, electricity supply constituted the biggest challenge facing the nation’s development plans from the outset. The Hirgigo power plant was thus constructed almost immediately after independence early in the 1990s to catalyze sectoral developmental plans. For a variety of reasons, including timely maintenance failures, the status of the energy sector and electricity supply in the past few years have been dismal.

The main priority now is to embark on sustainable expansion of energy services. This will require both the development of new supplies and more efficient utilization of current energy resources.

Efficiency must be a core objective. The first measure taken to promote efficiency is to charge the real cost of energy. Secondly, major investments are being made to restructure the national electric power supply system. New, higher voltage lines are being installed in the electrical grid in

loCal meDia interView with PreSiDent iSaiaS aFwerki: exCerPtSThe four-hour long interviews were broadcast live by Eri-

Tv/Radio last week. Profile will serialize a condensed version of these Interviews starting from this issue.

order to increase transmission and distribution efficiency. The challenges of distributing electricity on a nationwide scale through a single interconnected system are massive of course. The notion of expecting the Hirgigo Power plant to provide electricity to far off areas such as Tesseney, Omhajer, Sel’a, Assab, Qarura, cannot be cost-effective and feasible.

The Hirgigo power plant was initially supposed to produce 120 megawatt of energy; output decreased overtime due to maintenance bottlenecks over the years. Now, installation works are underway for the 50 Megawatt generators that will be added to the system pursuant to purchase agreements signed with a Chinese company in the past. There is also a new, additional, project in the pipeline for 120 Megawatt diesel power generation. Electricity outages and shortages – the cement factory in Massawa could not, for instance, operate at full capacity - that affected our development plans in the past have thus been removed.

The cluster of agricultural and food processing factories in the Western Development Zone - notably in Gerset and Fanco, Kerekebet, Tessenei, Ali-ghider – other developmental programmes, Sawa.. etc, are currently receiving continuous electricity supply. This has been secured through stand-alone power plants in the region. Haikota, Akordat and Sel’a will be connected to this network shortly.

Eritrea’s energy strategy is also anchored on diversification. The options and prospects for renewable energy -.i.e wind, solar and geothermal – are good. The renewable energy projects underway are expected to bolster existing power generation by some 80 Megawatts. Solar energy is economical and utility scale wind and geothermal resources may provide a cheaper alternative to the current diesel-generated electricity. Recognizing this, we are investing substantially in solar energy development and in wind and geothermal energy studies. Geothermal energy development in Eritrea will have an important input in alleviating expenditure on foreign currency while safeguarding the environment from adverse impact of fossil fuels. The project will advance work beyond the survey stage toward eventual project development in the future.

Given the key role energy has in maintaining and increasing the quality of life, these efforts need to be supported by all those involved in Eritrea’s national development process.

In summary, for an emerging, developing country such as Eritrea, alternative, renewable sources of energy represent an extremely effective component within broader national development goals, and they directly and positively impact the lives of our citizens. Our development plans are in place to support new projects while augmenting existing ones, in doing so we are hoping to raise the current 70-80 megawatt of energy produced nation-wide to 200 megawatts; 80 from renewable energy and 120 from the existing ones.

Investment in water infrastructure is another government undertaking of high priority. Initially, we have to secure the national demand for potable water, and then we need to have water for industrial purpose as well as livestock and agriculture. This is a scheme that has been in the works for a long while. Recently built Gergera and the Teqera dams (including Mai Nefhi) are located within the environs of Asmara. Good rainfall in 2016 has contributed in these dams amassing substantial amounts of water. But the crucial point of reservoirs is not amassing water; the issue is how to utilize it. We have also collected a lot in Kerkebet Dam. Over-all, in the years 2015-2016, these new reservoirs have harvested a total of 250 million cubic meters of water. But the challenge of the optimal utilization of the water harvested has not so far been fully addressed. There is another big project of dam building underway in Gahtelay. When this is finalized sometime in 2017, the aggregate volume of water collected will be around 300 million cubic meters. Our water

infrastructure building scheme is intertwined with our approach of the three development zones; the West, the East and the Highlands. The water structures we build must ensure meeting the demands – potable, industrial and agriculture – in all the three development zones respectively. The issue of water is seized, by dividing it into three developmental zones. The West, the Highland and the East, and each of these zones are envisaged to be self-reliant. The Gergera Dam can for instance be partially diverted and utilized to supply Hazemo in view of the huge potential of agriculture and demand for water in that area. Simultaneously, we can build water pipelines eastwards to supply Korbarya and Dekemhare; westwards to cater for Mendefera as well as Tsilma. Asmara’s water needs can also be supplanted by similar network of water pipelines. In 2017 these reservoirs are expected to supply not only Asmara but also other urban areas. The Gahtelay project which is already in the pipeline is expected to be finished this year. This will distribute water, all the way to the Northern Border with Sudan to small reservoirs in the region, and is highly expected to provide secure water to the inhabitants of the region.

All in all, these three developmental regions have to secure water and continuous energy supply. Efforts to realize these goals will continue in this current year. We can confidently say we have the necessary projects already implemented or near completion that ensure the fruition of the aforementioned goals.

The building and maintenance of road infrastructure plays a paramount role in enhancing socio-economic development, commerce and greater interaction between the different national constituent groups. At the moment,

road transportation is largely in reasonable shape, and it is the dominant mode of transportation for moving goods and passengers. However, there are acute limitations in air and marine transportation facilities which remain incongruent with the country’s locational advantages and endowments.

What we are endowed with and what has been put in place need to go side by side. This makes the rehabilitation and expansion of airports and ports imperative. In view of the stiff competition in the airlines industry, our focus initially will remain in developing the domestic and regional routes. Our developmental plans in the eastern and western zones must be bolstered by putting in place vital air transport infrastructure; notably through building/upgrading airports in Massawa, Sawa and Tesseney.

In terms of maritime transportation, the location of our two ports makes them well positioned to render services to a wide range of potential partners. Government policy in this regard is to increase the use of the two ports for the transit of goods, and to create, in the long-term, a transportation hub involving all modes of transport: liner transport: roads and railways infrastructures.

In general, our development efforts in energy, water, and transportation are closely correlated with the necessity to further improve our health and education sectors. In 2017, programs will be introduced that will provide better health and education opportunities to our citizens. It should be mentioned that Eritrea has witnessed commendable success in its health sector services over the years but, such success should not be a recipe for inertia or complacency; the need to continuously renovate and improve should be in place as well.

Part i

3Vol 23. No.97Eritrea Profile, Saturday, February 4, 2017

1. At the request of Ethiopia, the Secretariat of the IGAD Sector Reform Program (ISSP), on 16 December 2016, presented a briefing to the Security Council Committee, established pursuant to resolutions 751 (1992) and 1907 (2009) concerning Somalia and Eritrea.

2. The briefing was conducted in closed consultation, in an informal setting, on “the multiplicity of serious transnational security threats in the IGAD region”. The IGAD Secretariat circulated a “Confidential Draft” on the subject matter at an earlier date to the United Nations Security Council with the caveat that the circulated report included “preliminary findings only”. We are told that the “full report is scheduled for April 2017”.

3. In the “Confidential Draft”, IGAD announces that it launched in April 2015 a “Transitional Security Threats Initiative (TST) to promote cooperation between Member States, as a first step towards the establishment of a regional TST Centre”.

4. Eritrea welcomes the establishment of the TST Centre as well as its precursor; the IGAD Security Sector Programme (ISSP). Back in 1994, when IGAD was revitalized and its remit broadened to include a robust framework of regional security cooperation to prevent and resolve intra-State and inter-State conflicts, Eritrea was an ardent advocate and proponent of this notion. Eritrea maintained then – as it does now - that the aspirations and associated architecture of regional economic cooperation will remain fragile and unsustainable until and unless Member States create effective mechanisms of preventing and resolving costly conflicts that may arise within and between them. In the event, Eritrea believes that the TST can indeed constitute, under appropriate circumstances, a vital component in the tool box of the envisioned mechanisms that the region has to chart out to deter turmoil and funnel the region’s substantial capacity and endowments in the pursuit of national/regional economic development.

5. Unfortunately, these lofty objectives were and remain compromised due to the short-sighted and harmful policies of the Ethiopian regime. In its dogged desire to “isolate” Eritrea, the Ethiopian regime continues to violate fundamental tenets enshrined in the IGAD Charter to block Eritrea’s resumption of its activities in the organization. Sadly, IGAD’s rotating chairmanship has been monopolized by Ethiopia since 2008

IGAD’s Inappropriate Submission on Eritrea to the UNSC

to serve this selfish purpose and in breach of the normative practices of the organization.

6. Under these anomalous circumstances, it is clear that IGAD’s purview and programmes in general, and the presumptuous contents and recommendations of the Confidential Draft in particular, cannot have any relevance or credence in regard to Eritrea. As a matter of fact, the section on Eritrea contains nothing other than Ethiopia’s usual, worn-out, invective against the country though it is packaged this time, rather disingenuously, in “IGAD’s” garb.

7. Operative Paragraph 7 of the Confidential Draft states that the document was compiled by an “Independent Research and Evidence Team operating under the auspices of the ISSP”. This oblique clause conceals the fact that one of the principal entities involved in the preparation of the Report is SAHAN Research – an outfit founded and directed by Matt Bryden, the former Chairman of the Somalia-Eritrea Monitoring Group (SEMG) who was later discharged from his duties by the UN under compromising circumstances. As it is well-known, Matt Bryden was the principal author of the fabricated SEMG report in 2009 accusing Eritrea for sending 2000 troops to Somalia. This was the primary justification for imposing UNSC Sanctions Resolution 1907 (2009) on Eritrea. Ethiopia is thus trying to bring back to the scene, through the back-door, the discredited Matt Bryden in its desperate attempts to induce the extension of the unwarranted UNSC sanctions against Eritrea.

8. For all these reasons, Eritrea strongly objects to the submission and consideration of the Confidential Draft by the UNSC; even in an informal setting.

9. The Draft report is replete with gross misrepresentation of facts and events in its substantive section on Eritrea. While it asserts, in several operative paragraphs of the Draft Report, that the ONLF and Al-Shabab have “tense and hostile ties… given their divergent ideological perspectives”, the authors bend backwards to insinuate Eritrean “proxy support to Al-Shabab using the ONLF as a conduit”. The desperate ploy is transparent indeed. The SEMG has established, for four years in a row, that there is no support to, or linkages whatsoever, between Eritrea and Al-Shabab. Ethiopia’s primary motive of commissioning and submitting, at this point in time, the Confidential Draft to the UNSC under the convenient umbrella of IGAD is thus to cast aspersions on

this indelible truth.

10. The Confidential Draft describes activities and operational modalities of several armed Ethiopian opposition movements. Then it proceeds to dub “some of them”, without specifying which ones, as “terrorist organizations” simply because “that is how they are seen by Ethiopia”. This is despite its admission, in the same breadth, that “they are not designated as such by the United Nations”. The authors of the Draft do not apparently know, or they have deliberately ignored, the fact that most or all of these groups were coalition partners with the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) party both during the armed struggle against the Mengistu regime or in the subsequent transitional government that they all set up in the aftermath of the fall of the latter.

11. The worst part in this sloppy depiction is the outrageous attempt to associate Eritrea with “the provision of improvised explosive devices (IEDs)” that these groups reportedly employ in their military operations. To dramatize this point, the authors stress: “Eritrea’s propagation of this expertise is therefore of serious concern to the region”. As explained above, literally all of these groups were former comrades-in-arms with the regime in Ethiopia in earlier times. These devices and other methods of warfare are in fact their stock-in-trade. To gloss over these realities in order to weave trumped up charges against Eritrea underscores the ineptness of the authors of the document as well as the inveterate malice of the Ethiopian regime which has and is unscrupulously using the IGAD forum to advance its sinister agenda against Eritrea.

12. The Draft report has a full chapter on Ethiopia. In this chapter, it talks about purported military/terrorist threats that Ethiopia faces. But it does not probe or discuss Ethiopia’s sponsorship or involvement in acts of destabilization against its neighbours. Ethiopia supports several subversive and terrorist organizations against Eritrea, including the Al-Qaeda trained Eritrean Islamic Jihad and other armed groups such as the Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization (RASDO), the Kunama Liberation Front, and the Saho Liberation Front etc. Several of these groups routinely issue press releases and communiqués from Ethiopia on subversive/terrorist acts conducted against soft targets in Eritrea from their military bases in Ethiopia. There is no reference to these matters in the Draft Report on “Transnational Terrorist Threats” in the region. Equally important, the

Draft

Report is silent on Ethiopia’s continued occupation of sovereign Eritrean territories in violation of international law; its pronounced policy of “regime change” in Eritrea; and, the periodic acts of aggression it commits against Eritrea in spite of their grave ramifications to regional peace and security.

13. Operative paragraph 8 of the Draft Report states that the “Team personnel worked in close consultations with government officials from concerned Member States”. It further reveals that “with the knowledge and consent of Member States, team members travelled to Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia”. It even talks about the travel of one member of the Team to Tanzania although the latter is not, and has never been, a member of IGAD. The Team did not however travel to Eritrea although it dedicates a full and invective chapter of its Report to Eritrea. This act alone speaks volumes on the credibility, impartiality, objectivity and professionalism of the Team and its work.

14. Not satisfied with all these hollow accusations against Eritrea, the Draft Report dedicates three operative paragraphs to Eritrea’s presumed “violations of the UNSC arms embargo”. In the first place, this is not within its purview as

there is a full-fledged UNSC body – the SEMG – tasked with carrying out the job. Still, the Draft Report recycles a spurious story to cite the interdiction by a French naval vessel on 20 March 2016 of a “stateless dhow in the Indian Ocean carrying significant quantity of weapons, including 2,000 Kalashinkov-pattern assault rifles, sniper rifles, and general purpose machine-guns and anti-tank guided missiles”. The Draft Report then states: “the French authorities assessed that the weapons originated in Iran and were likely destined via Eritrea for Somalia and/or Yemen… If so, the shipment constituted a potential violations of resolution 1907(2009) …”. How is Eritrea responsible for arms that originate from Iran that may be destined to Yemen or Somalia? This is too trite to merit any response and only underscores the fallacy and nefarious motive of the whole report.

15. In conclusion, Eritrea has been the victim, in recent years, of repeated trumped up charges and falsified reports by hand-picked” expert groups” to advance the political agenda of harassment of certain powers. This unwarranted witch-hunting of Eritrea once and for all has to end and Eritrea urges members of the UNSC to terminate the sanctions regime.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs27 January 2017

Asmara

Fake News is the daily staple, the bread and butter so to speak, of the Indian Ocean Newsletter in its periodic “news stories” on Eritrea and the region as a whole.

The Newspaper has also the habit of packaging its fabricated stories as “factual events” emanating from “knowledgeable” intelligence sources. This is a simple ploy to imbue credibility to its false stories that are mostly based on innuendos and/or deliberately floated at times for the purposes of pure disinformation.

In keeping with this pattern, the Newspaper alleges in its edition of 27 January 2017 last week (No 1443) that the Director of Sudan’s Intelligence and Security Services, Gen. Mohamed Abbas, “conducted a secret lightening visit to Asmara”, on 10 January this month, to meet with his Eritrean counterpart in “Khartoum’s efforts to persuade Eritrea, at the bidding of Saudi Arabia, to break with Iran and the Houthis”.

This story is glaringly at odds with the actual facts, current realities, and the political dynamics of the region. But the Indian Ocean Newsletter is not in the business of publishing validated and verifiable stories and will continue, as ever, to churn out patently false news.

Ministry of Information31 January 2017

Asmara

Press ReleaseIndian Ocean Newsletter:

Peddling False News on Eritrea

4Vol 23. No.97Eritrea Profile, Saturday, February 4, 2017

Natnael Yebio W.

I can say that I have always confused RSVP with SRPQ that appear in invitation cards. It was later that I learned that the last acronym stood for Senatus Romanus Populusque or something like that which has something to do with the Roman Senates in the past. Do they want me to wear a toga?

But now I know that the first acronym means, “reply please” in French. To be frank I never replied and I didn’t see the reason why, for in our culture you don’t tell your host that you are not coming. And if you decide to go anyway, taking your friend along is not considered a breach of propriety. After all, the host is there to give out everything he/she has in the house and is prepared for any eventuality.

Another term used in invitation cards is Regrets Only. Although it is very clear to anyone, sometimes it makes you think that it had a different interpretation, like, for example, you call your hosts to tell them how much you regretted spending the night with them when you should have stayed home playing with the cat.

Add to this instructions [which say to the effect that you should] that tell you to wear casual or formal dress, to bring the invitation card and present it at the gate, to come with your spouse, but not your kids etc., you feel a bit uneasy.

Time for a story!

Yonas, the foodie and a bachelor by choice, was once given an invitation card by a friend who instructed him in no uncertain terms that he should be there at 1 pm. “Let us respect time” it concluded.

Being a very time conscious person he arrived at the site at 12:45 and was ushered in to an empty hall with a few cooks and members of the organizing committee moving here and there. For all they cared, he could be a wedding feast nut who could not contain his feelings. He waited for one hour to see the hall half-full and another half-hour for the organizing committee to become aware of the guests. Even though the bottles of Suwa and soft drinks sat quietly on the table, no one was allowed to touch them until the priest says grace. The bride and

g r o o m arrived at 2:30 pm. The guests were only able to eat at 3. It was a buffet with a long and tortuous queue. Yonas has seen people returning

to their tables heaping their plates with all kinds of food. When his turn arrived, there was no trace of food on the banquet table. It was gone-bad food management plus unbridled gluttony. “What is this craze with food that blinds men to their noble mission on earth? Have they not heard that humans do not live by bread alone?” Murmurs the wit. If it had not been for some kind-hearted people who understood the Gospel words above, he would have left the feast with an empty stomach and an everlasting grudge.

Most of the time the food we eat at formal invitations are not good. That’s why people flock to the table that dispenses drinks. I have a feeling that Eritreans relish drinks more they do food; and

whisky is their favorite. Otherwise one

becomes fed up

i n

the e n d

with ham and cheese

that are served at most receptions in Asmara.

Speaking of cheese, it is said that the French have about 300 varieties of that smelly stuff. Yonas tasted some of them during the 14th July celebration at the Alliance Francaise of Asmara. First, food and drinks are served, followed by more food and drinks.

Those who are satiated express their gratitude and leave. But those who know the secret prefer to stay. Besides, they know how to wait. Yonas is one of them. He plays the vulture. Finally, the long awaited cheese, the well-reserved Gaelic invention which gladdened the palates of European monarchs in the past, arrives and the invited guests become restive. With determined steps they approach the table where le fromage is displayed. It is a gastronomic masterpiece-La Gruyere (tastes

like garlic), Camembert (tastes like ricotta), cow cheese, goat cheese, sheep cheese (taste like brine), and cheese that smells like rotten eggs, that tastes like eye ointment and feels like cork (apology to the gourmets). Apparently you eat it and feel like medieval hero but your breath stinks so much that your spouse may end up deciding to join the French Foreign Legion just to stay away from you. “One of the reasons I am not married is” says Yonas, “I can eat all the cheese I want.”

But the most exquisite food that had left an everlasting impression on Yonas’s taste buds was served to him by one of his friends in a neighboring country. As he sat in the living room with a friend he brought along, they waited for the sumptuous dinner to arrive. Then the waitress trotted in carrying half-full glasses of Coke and bowls of peanuts. “What is going on?” Yonas asked himself. Has the friend received a dispatch regarding some kind of policy change attacking good food as yet another decadent bourgeois culture? But Yonas the experienced foodie again played the vulture. He waited.

But when his host took him to the adjacent room and showed him a documentary film on the triumph of the Bolsheviks, his heart sunk. Whatever the situation, he was determined to wait.

When the film came to an end and the room was lit again, they were shown to a vast hall filled with all

The Foodie Affair

sorts of food to feast one’s eyes on-roasted fish, smoked fish, caviar, steak tartar, fried potatoes, roasted meat, fondue de Bourguignon, various kinds of pastry, fruits, drinks, enough to fill the stomachs of a full regiment of a Cosack army. “Aha! So he was trying to test our will power right from the start?” said Yonas to himself. His friend who congratulated himself for deciding to wait felt like singing the international.

That was a long time ago. And the stomach has a tendency to forget just as much as does the mind.

Something similar to the old experience was in one way or another repeated at a reception given at the Roof Garden restaurant on the fifth floor of the National Insurance Corporation of Eritrea.

When Yonas first saw the site, with its Irish pub, he thought it was some sort of a night club. With an invitation card in his hand (he couldn’t put it in his pocket given its size) he marched to the place and presented himself.

The restaurant was being inaugurated. He was told by some of the organizers that Chinese and Indian dishes were available any time. The idea of inviting people was simply to introduce them to the shapes of things to come. Based on this he was served with all types of food that would make a Five Star restaurant chefs turn green with envy.

5Eritrea Profile, Saturday, February 4, 2017 Vol 23. No.97

“Jennifer. Peter. Fatima…Thomas…Fikre.” One by one, Ms. Iliana, the elementary science teacher, called out our names. One by one, we slowly rose from our seats and nervously shuffled to her desk to collect our recently graded exams. Slothfully, single file, and heads down, we must have appeared like prisoners on a boat inching our way toward the end of the plank.

Ms. Iliana was a challenging and demanding teacher, fully dedicated to her craft. She was also a strict and, no-nonsense disciplinarian, like a drill sergeant. When she said class started at 8:00 am, it meant for you to be in your desk, with books open and pens at the ready by 7:55 am. If the clock read 4:05 pm, and class was actually slated to end at 4:00 pm, there was hardly a flicker of movement or an attempt to pack up. No chance. Class ended when Ms. Iliana said so. And it wasn’t enough to simply attend her class; we were expected to sit up straight and to participate. Chewing gum? Passing paper notes? Whispering jokes behind her back while she wrote on the chalkboard? Fuhgeddaboudit. Unless, that is, you wanted to be assigned to some tedious task during lunch hour, kept after school in detention, or “drafted” into the school’s campus beautification program (i.e. picking up garbage around the playground).

On top of this, Ms. Iliana was a difficult grader. Very, very difficult. In fact, rumour had it that no student had ever received a score above 90 percent on any of Ms. Iliana’s exams – and she had been the school’s science teacher for 16 years.

Thus, it was with a great sense of trepidation that I approached her desk to collect my exam. Thomas, one of the top students in our entire grade, slowly passed by me as he solemnly trudged back to his desk. He was beet-red and I could see his eyes welling up. Fatima and Peter, now slouched in their chairs with similarly disheartened faces,

Silemntay mieti zeykone (Why is it not 100)?: A Story about Lessons

seemed to have hardly fared better. “This can’t be good,” I muttered quietly.

Collecting myself, I extended my hands to receive my exam. My palms were moist and sweaty and my hands shook nervously as I grasped the paper. As I turned around to return to my chair, I made a brief eye-contact with Ms. Iliana. She gave me the smallest of smirks before matter-of-factly stating, “Good.”

Good? What was she talking about? I was totally confused. “Is she mocking me?” I wondered. “What type of schadenfreude was this? How could she smile and take pleasure at the misfortune of her students?”

Like a seasoned poker pro keeping the faces of their cards hidden from competitors, I held my exam close to my chest as I glanced down to see my grade. I was taken aback. “Wow,” I said quietly before going over the exam several times to make sure the marks tallied up and to ensure I wasn’t hallucinating. It was like a shopper who had mistakenly been given too much change after paying the cashier. But there was no mistake! As I moved back to sit down, I broke into a wide smile, pumped my fist (like Jordan after sinking that buzzer beater against Utah in Game One of the 1997 NBA Finals), and whispered, “Yes!” I was elated. I received a 99 on my exam.

The rest of the school day seemed to pass by in a blur. I could hardly focus on any of my other classes, since all I could think about was how excited I was to show my mother my exam. Ms. Iliana was a strong believer in family involvement within education and she required that all students get their assignments, tests, and homework signed by their parents. Students usually dreaded the practice, but I was a firm supporter that day.

When I arrived home that evening, my mother was still at work, and so my older sister prepared dinner for me and my two brothers. The macaroni and cheese was so delicious that I ate two heaping helpings, and the juice – you know, the frozen juice that only required you to add water – tasted extra sweet. Afterward, we went out for a quick game of footy in the neighborhood lot, before washing up and then heading to bed.

That night, I could not fall asleep. I just lay there staring at the ceiling with the radio playing in the background. I was so excited about my exam and sharing it with my mother. Although I left the exam on the fridge for her to look over, I decided I would stay up to see her no matter how late she arrived. A single mother of five, my mother worked three jobs and often came home very late at night after a long day or extremely early in the morning

after the night shift.

Screeeech. The front door opened as my mother made her way in. It was nearly midnight. Her keys jangled as she tossed them onto the table and I heard her distinct footsteps in the hall near the kitchen. Excitedly, I jumped out of bed and raced down the stairs. My mother was seated, still wearing her nursing uniform, scanning the large stack of mail. Bills. Bills. Ads. Ads. Bills. As I came into the kitchen, she looked up surprised. “What are you still doing up?” she asked.

“Hey, mama…we had an exam with Ms. Iliana. I need you to sign it,” I explained.

Furrowing her brow, she put down the envelopes in her hand. “Bring it over…and also pass my glasses from the purse.”

She took the exam and then looked at me, before putting on her reading glasses. She slowly navigated her way through the exam, closely reading every question, poring over all of my answers, and analyzing Ms. Iliana’s comments. I simply stood there, wearing my black and yellow Batman-embroidered pajamas, with my arms crossed, and a wide grin stretching from ear to ear.

After what seemed like an eternity, she turned over the last page and placed the exam on the

table. She took a final glance at the exam before shifting her attention toward me. I just stood there, proud as a peacock and eager to soak up the seemingly imminent plaudits. What transpired, however, shocked me and is something that I will never forget.

“Silemntay mieti zeykone (why is it not one hundred)?” My mother demanded, pointing at the 99 circled in red ink at the top of the front page.

“Huh? I got 99,” I responded. “She must be confused,” I thought to myself.

“Yes, you did. And why is it not 100?” She repeated.

“Mama! It was the highest grade in the class,” I pleaded, my voice rising slightly.

“And why is it not 100?” She asked again, this time even more assertively.

I just stood there, perplexed and without an answer. After a brief pause, my mother grabbed her pen and signed the exam. Then she turned to me.

“Excellent. I’m proud of you. But I want you to be the best you can be. I don’t care about the scores of the other students. Just yours. Never be satisfied with anything that you do. There is always room for improvement. Okay?”

I nodded in agreement. She then gave me a hug and walked me to my room. Although they would take some time to fully sink in, the lessons I learned that night have been amongst the most important of my life and they have served as important guiding principles in everything that I do.

Aim high, do not settle, and never be satisfied. Today is about being better than you were yesterday, and tomorrow is about being better than you were today. If it is bad, make it good. And if it is good, make it better.

Thanks, mama.

By: Fikrejesus Amahatsion (Ph.D)

6Vol 23. No.97Eritrea Profile, Saturday, February 4, 2017

7Vol 23. No.97Eritrea Profile, Saturday, February 4, 2017

Mr. Chairman,

Allow me, at the outset, to convey to you and this august Assembly the warm greetings of your brother H.E. Mr. Isaias Afwerki, President of the State of Eritrea.

I also wish to join previous speakers in extending my Delegation’s gratitude to H.E. Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, President of Sierra Leone/Current Chairperson of the Peace and Security Council, and H.E. Ambassador Smail Chergui, Commissioner for Peace and Security of the AUC for presenting the Report.

My Delegation is cognizant of the magnitude of the peace and security challenges facing our continent as well as the ambitious but achievable vision of creating an integrated, peaceful, and

interVention bY h.e. ambaSSaDor araia DeSta, heaD oF Delegation on the ‘rePort oF the PeaCe anD SeCuritY CounCil on itS aCtiVitieS anD the State oF PeaCe anD SeCuritY in aFriCa at the

28th SeSSion oF the aSSemblY oF heaDS oF State anD goVernment oF the aFriCan union

prosperous Africa.

Mr. Chairman,

I wish to intervene on a few issues contained in the Report.

As reflected in the Report, sadly the scourge of terrorism continues to wreak havoc in our continent. While there are several underlying causes to the phenomena, the recent proliferation of terrorism in Africa came in the wake of regime-change exercises by external powers resulting in State failures. This behooves us to cooperate for the restoration of the Statehood of the affected countries, and resist the recurrence of such destructive interventions.

The need for strengthening cooperation and enhancing the capabilities of States and relevant regional and international organizations to combat terrorism

cannot be overemphasized. It is also imperative to get rid of unjustified restrictions imposed on some States that could undermine their capabilities to fight the scourge.

In this regard, it is worth noting the recommendations of the 11th Meeting of the Focal Point Representatives of the African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism (ACSRT), that was held in Algiers from 14-16 December 2016. The meeting expressed concern “[o]n the matter of sanctions debilitating the efforts of some AU Member States to fight terrorism [and] recommended that the AUC initiate discussions with the relevant UN and International bodies to review the situation in the light of the escalation of Terrorism and Violent Extremism situations globally.” My

Delegation calls upon the AUC to work for the implementation of this recommendation.

Mr. Chairman,

The Report alludes to the cooperation provided by the AUC to member states for delimitation and demarcation exercises. My delegation appreciates this endeavor and wishes to emphasize that it is equally important to enforce the Peace Agreements as well as delimitation and demarcation Decisions that the African Union has committed to guarantee. Failure to do so will continue to deny our Peoples the opportunity for peaceful coexistence and cooperation.

The goal of ‘Silencing the Guns in Africa by 2020’ necessitates, inter alia, addressing the root causes of violent conflicts,

peaceful resolution of disputes and enforcement of arbitration decisions. This in turn requires the reinvigoration of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), and most importantly the PSC. In this vein, my Delegation strongly supports the reform proposals included in the report of the H.E. President Paul Kagame and adopted by the Assembly.

Mr. Chairman,

In conclusion, I wish to use this opportunity to reaffirm Eritrea’s commitment to contribute its share for the promotion of peace and security and cooperation in the Horn of Africa and Red Sea Region, and across the African continent.

Thank you31 January 2017,

Addis Ababa

my hospital in France to come here. I was actually supposed to stay here for two years but you see, here I am after 6 years and 3 months.

How is Eritrea compared to other places…?

I think definitely Eritrea is the safest country of all the places I worked in. Speaking in terms of motivation of students and dedication, I am 100% sure that Eritreans are the ones. As a teacher it is rewarding to see students stimulus and the hunger to learn. In terms of development of the health system, of course South Africa is better off and in Uganda, only Kampala but outside of the capital, nothing compared to the case of Eritrea.

I think its developing slowly but constantly, if you look at the MDGs, Eritrea is one of the only country to achieve those in maternal health and child mortality. But I have to say the first time I came, I didn’t have a good impression on the situation of the health and specifically on anesthesiology in Eritrea. There was some standards which were

“Eritrea Has to Make Our. . .continued from page 8

not met, but I can see that over the years, in terms of anesthesiology, things have improved. I hope that my graduates will be the drivers of progress and I believe that anesthesia in Eritrea has become safer and more human.

I heard that you are not only teaching…

People called me at night when they have critical cases at the hospital. It was very challenging. Some cases we lost, some we saved. I remember one young girl who was on a ventilator for more than three weeks, in deep shock and everyone gave up on her but we didn’t, we struggled for her. She then recovered and is now living, working in Asmara and she is completely healthy!

I have been working at different hospitals in ICU, maternity, and the main hospitals of Orota, Halibet, and Sembel. My contract is a 40 hours a week one but I never worked 40 hours my whole life. Between teaching at the School and working at hospitals.

The ‘Hear-Says’ from colleagues in Europe…

They say “Are you crazy?” they

have a complete wrong perception on Eritrea. Some even think that there are radical Muslims, that it is so dangerous. Even when we bring visiting lecturers, the first question in mind is: “Is it safe to go?” But honestly, if you compare it with Nairobi or Juba, well there is no hesitation and even now, if you asked me to walk at night in Frankfurt or Asmara, I definitely choose Asmara.

Health as a human rights…

Back in Germany, I wasn’t happy about the hierarchy within the medical sector. For me medicine is a teamwork and if you think that you can do it alone it won’t work. You need the cleaner, the aid nurse, the doctor all working into one team. This is medicine to me and I didn’t want to live in this type of hierarchy where a doctor will think of himself superior than others.

The so-called developing countries should be at the same medical level as the developed ones in terms of health care, and instead there is a gap of about 30 years and its shouldn’t be this way. For me health is a human rights. Human rights is for everybody and not just for

developed countries. So I am driven by a mixture of curiosity, willing to help and learning from other cultures and my passion to teaching.

Lessons learned from your experience in Eritrea…

My students are actually the role models, they are hardworking and smart. They are very motivated, what can you ask more? And they are very attached to their country. Many of them went for short courses to Germany and they came back. If they wouldn’t, I wouldn’t take them there if I didn’t believe in them in the first place.

Actually, what motivates my students is the possibility that they have to learn more and to enroll themselves in PhD Programs. They believe in the development of the country. These are the things that keep you here. I never met any of my students or colleagues who said “I don’t want to live here”. They are all attached to Eritrea but of course, inspiring them is imperative.

It’s important that Eritrea becomes self-sufficient and make ourselves not necessary. There

are enough Eritreans who can do the job and we have many of them who already are teaching.

Of course I can come here as an anesthesiologist, do my job, make as many surgeries as possible and then go back. Of course, I will save lives but what stays in the country? So it’s better to do half of the patients and train people at the same time. I believe that we have people who can do the teaching and there are enough anesthetists now. So it’s not that sad that I am leaving as they can do it on their own.

Last words…

I thank the Eritreans for their friendliness, their welcoming, their cooperation, Prof. Tadesse Mehari from Higher Education, my students who motivated me most. Prof. Ghirmai and Prof. Berhane, all for the cooperation and friendliness that made me feel comfortable here and made me stay. And I am glad to witness the progress.

Thank you for Today’s interview and for inspiring others!

You are most welcome.

8Vol 23. No.97Eritrea Profile, Saturday, February 4, 2017

Dedication, passion and compassion are words among many others which can describe Dr. Traudl Elsholz, a woman with a strong vision of what development means and what teamwork means in achieving successful results. These are the values that Dr. Traudl shared with her students, colleagues and friends while working in Eritrea for the last 6 years at the College of Health Science and local hospitals. As her farewell approached, it was a must for Eritrea Profile to hear her story. Here is a snapshot of our conversation.

“Eritrea Has to Make Our Help Unnecessary”Mela Ghebremedhin

Dr. Traudl, can you tell us a little about yourself?

I am from Germany, from a modest family and as a teenager I was very much involved in the 68 movement in Europe. I used to go to different protests such as against the Vietnam War, showing my support to liberation movements and also went to some protests organized by Eritreans in Germany during the independence struggle.

Student life…

I wanted to study medicine at first, but in Germany, studying medicine was expensive and very selective. Thus, I decided to firstly go for orthoptists and, later on, going into ophthalmologic. Well, I started working as an aid-nurse on night shift while studying during the day, I was immersed in the world of emergency and ICU and I realized how I was interested in intensive care and anesthesia. So, the work I was involved in during my studies is what drove me towards this field

of intensive care medicine and anesthesiology which became my specialty.

Working in Africa…

I have always been interested on working in the African continent, so as soon as I could, I went to South Africa and worked at a hospital in a so-called ‘homeland’, a black township in 1993 until 1995. It was just before the election, so it was a very interesting period. I went briefly back to Germany and then I decided to work in France and I passed a French exam allowing me to work for governmental hospitals in emergency medicine, ICU and anesthesiology.

From 1998 to 2004, I went back to the African soil and worked in Uganda where I was part of a team in building up programs at the University of Science and Technology in Burara. I did postgraduate trainings for doctors and anesthesiologists as well as a course in anesthetics assistants and officers. I was also opening an

ICU there. Again back to my old post in France, in the meantime, I became a lecturer for the WFSA, which is the World Federation of Societies of Anesthesiologists (WFSA) and we did short courses on trauma management and how you build up an ICU amongst others. Its first National Congress took place in 2004 in Asmara.

First steps in Asmara…

I was invited to give lectures at the congress with two other colleagues and during my time I met the late Saleh Meki, Minister of Health. He gave me a very good impression on the country. It’s at that time that I noticed how anesthetists were motivated and eager to learn more.

Later on, there was a pilot project to send two people from CIM, a German governmental institution on migration and development for two years to Eritrea to see if they can help with anesthesia and with ICU. It was a two years contract and I came with a colleague, Anja Schneider,

an ICU nurse and myself as an anesthesiologist. We started working together with the newly graduated in anesthesia, we had a department with few masters and we made more emphasis on the practical side. The students were heavy headed but missed the practical side.

In those two years, we met with Martin Zimmerman (Head of ERA Germany), and there was a longstanding project since 1993 in health which started with Eritrean Relief Association in Germany by Prof. Dr. Spilker, he was inspired by Eritrean diaspora to come here and help, they had a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Health. Then again, Prof. G. Geldner took over in 2008 where he started helping with the Master of Sciences program in anesthesiology.

In 2010, I came back and we started that program with Martin Zimmerman and Prof. G. Geldner, the project ended after two years and I was supported by ERA to this day. Martin managed to raise funds through the Eritrea Health Association – EHD and with the support of a group called “Ilse Kröner-Fresenius Stiftung”.

Your department…

My department was created within the College of Health Science here in Asmara. All colleagues were nice, cooperative

and welcoming and the same applied with the Ministry of Health and colleagues from other hospitals. We don’t lose the context with the practice. So we have a half day at the hospital and the other half at the school. We also started an MSc program in anesthesia as well as ICU and nursing. These are very important courses for the country.

We trained according to the needs the Ministry of Health. We have a whole range of people aged between 24 and 58, as for those who were doing anesthesia during the war with little training and they did it and they are now enrolled in training to upgrade their knowledge. Besides, we have bachelor program in anesthesia, we are now in the 9th batch, and by now we have 87 bachelor graduates in anesthesia. When I came they were about 25 anesthetists in the country on diploma basis and about 12 expatriates mainly from Uganda, Sierra Leone and Rwanda. Therefore I think that the number 87 isn’t bad.

Why Eritrea?

I was curious to see the country from what I heard about the history of it. I was pleased not just by the country but mainly the people when I first came in 2004. They were very motivated and keen to learn. You know when you are a teacher and you see students asking you to give more, to challenges you, that’s fun and inspires you tremendously. I was encouraged by the students. I actually had four farewell parties from the master graduates, the current students, colleagues and the college. I just love them.

When I got offered the job to install the department, I just couldn’t hesitate for a second and left my job on unpaid leave from

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