Author Archives: bhillenbrand

News of Ethiopia

Posted on July 15, 2011 | Leave a comment

Ethiopian News Notes

compliled by Barry Hillenbrand 

Meles Jamming with the Chinese
In search of new markets and sources of natural resources China has been making lots of friends in Africa with its foreign aid and trade. But it has also been helping some of the more repressive regimes in Africa with a Chinese specialty: controlling the press. The Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association (EFJA) has demanded that China put an end to its complicity in jamming Ethiopian Satellite Television and other reputable broadcasters such as the Voice of America and Deutsche Welle Amharic Services.

Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT), which recently resumed transmissions to Ethiopia after nearly two months of interruption, claims that the China has been providing technology, training and technical assistance to Ethiopia to enable it to jam ESAT’s transmissions to Ethiopia. After investigating the matter, EFJA has confirmed the allegations with sources inside and outside of Ethiopia.

Kifle Mulat, President of EFJA, noted that stifling freedom of expression and undermining efforts to spread democratic values in Ethiopia sets a bad precedent in the whole of Africa. “Ethiopia is not only the seat of the African Union but also a historic symbol of freedom in Africa as the only African nation that has never been colonized. Aiding tyrants to stifle their people and block the free flow of information is tantamount to committing unwarranted crimes against the freedom-loving people of Africa that are making sacrifices to exercise their inalienable rights and free themselves from corrupt tyrants who are hampering progress in the continent,” Ato Kifle said.

Print journalists detained
Ethiopian authorities have been holding a newspaper columnist according to local journalists. Reeyot Alemu, a regular contributor to the independent weekly Feteh, was expected to spend the next four weeks in preventive detention under what appears to be Ethiopia’s sweeping anti-terrorism law. Alemu is the second journalist picked up and held without charge in less than a week and taken into custody at the federal investigation center at Maekelawi Prison in Addis. Deputy Editor Woubshet Taye of the weekly Awramba Times is the other journalist arrested. 

IN JAIL: Journalist Reeyot Alemu

Local journalists said they believe Alemu’s arrest could be related to her columns critical of the ruling party. Alemu’s June 17 column in Feteh criticized the public fundraising methods for the Abay Dam project, and made parallels between Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.  

Ethiopian authorities said that the two journalists it detained planned to sabotage the country’s power and phone lines and recruit others to work with arch-foe Eritrea to destabilize it. “The group was caught while plotting to sabotage electricity and telephone lines in an attempt to wreak havoc in the country,” according to Demelash Woldemikael, assistant commissioner of the country’s federal police. Ethiopia’s sweeping anti-terrorism law criminalizes any reporting authorities deem to “encourage” or “provide moral support” to groups and causes the government labels as “terrorists.”

Alemu was picked up at a high school in Addis Ababa where she teaches English, according to the  journalists. Police then searched her house. Ethiopia has six journalists currently behind bars, behind only Eritrea as the nation detaining the largest number of journalists in Africa. Eritrea holds at least 17 members of the press in its secret prisons.

No days of rage
A group calling itself the Ethiopian Youth Movement set May 28 as the “day of rage” against what it said was Meles Zenawi’s authoritarian regime. The day was chosen to coincide with the 20th anniversary celebrations of  victory of Ethiopia’s ruling party. Online networks and the blogosphere claimed that thousands of Ethiopians had subscribed to the cause, giving rise to feeble hopes of a rare challenge to Meles’s hold on the Horn of Africa country.

But on the appointed day,  tens of thousands of people turned out in Addis to fervently celebrate the ruling party, the  Ethiopian People’s Democratic Front, in a  brief — but colorful — party. At Meskel Square throngs chanted praises of Meles in a solid show of support. The Opposition, which may be brave on line, was nowhere to be seen.  No Arab Spring in Ethiopia.

THREE CHEERS FOR MELES: Pro-government demonstration on 20th Anniversary of Meles' victory

Writes former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia David Shinn, “Since the beginning of the Arab Spring, protest in Ethiopia has been muted.  The government-controlled radio and television have given limited coverage to the protests in North Africa and the Middle East, but persons with access to satellite TV are well aware of the issues. There have been reliable reports of increased arrests of persons who support the political opposition to the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front. Ethiopia keeps a tight rein on any group that threatens EPRDF control in the country.”

Commuted Sentence for Mengistu’s men
Ethiopia  has commuted the death sentences of 23 of former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam’s top officials convicted of genocide in 2008. Their sentences were reduced to life imprisonment. Mengistu and dozens of others were sentenced to death for the murder of thousands during a 17-year rule that included famine, war and the “Red Terror” purges of suspected opponents. The ex-president and his senior officers were convicted after a 12-year trial that ruled that Mengistu’s government was directly responsible for the deaths of 2,000 people and the torture of at least 2,400 others.

Ethiopian President Girma Woldegiorgis announced the act of clemency following an appeal for leniency by a panel of heads of religious institutions, as well as an expression of remorse by those convicted. The group does not include Mengistu, but comprises several high-profile figures from the Mengistu-era such as Legesse Asfaw, known as “the butcher of Tigre,” former vice-president Fisseha Desta, and former prime minister, Fikresellassie Wogderes. They have been behind bars since 1991 and have publicly apologized for their crimes.  Mengistu, who has lived a life of comfortable exile in Zimbabwe since he was driven from power in 1991, is unlikely to face any punishment as President Robert Mugabe has refused to allow his extradition.

Egyptian-Ethiopian Détente?
For over a decade during the regime of Egyptian President Mubarak, no Egyptian Prime Minister had visited Ethiopia. But on May 12 Egyptian PM Essam Sharaff arrived in Addis Ababa to join Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi for discussions that took place on May 13 at the National Palace.

At the end of the discussions an Egyptian journalist raised a question — is there a problem between Egypt and Ethiopia? The Ethiopian Prime Minister responded unequivocally, “There is no problem between Egypt and Ethiopia that cannot be resolved by Egypt and Ethiopia.” The Prime Minister further assured him that the state of relations between the two countries is good. “Our position is clear. We want to work in cooperation with Egypt for mutual benefit. We have no intention or policy that is designed to hurt others. We told this to the Prime Minister in our discussion,” the Meles  added.

BROTHERLY EMBRACE: Meles welcomes Egyptian PM Essan Sharaff

The Ethiopian government has achieved what was previously thought impossible: to convince Egypt to rethink its long held position over the Nile River issue. Egypt reiterated that it positively accepts the construction of the dam on the Nile River. Several months ago this stance from Egypt would have been untenable. “We told him in our discussion that Egypt played an obstructive role to our plans to use the rivers. But now we have observed a positive change of attitude,” Meles noted.

Ethiopia has expressed willingness for the “international experts” panel to assess the impact of the dam upon Egypt. “On the part of Ethiopia there is a 100 percent belief that the dam will never have a negative impact on Egypt. The international experts can thoroughly evaluate it. We are willing to form an independent technical group composed of our experts, Egyptians and other international experts. The delegation was happy when we forwarded this idea,” said Ambassador Dina Mufti, spokesperson of the Ethiopian Foreign Minister.

Ethiopian TV puppets
In April CNN’s African Voices service ran a story on Bruktawit Tigabu, co-creator of Ethiopian children’s TV show “Tsehai Loves Learning.” For millions of Ethiopian children, it’s the most cherished moment of their day: a wide-eyed, smiling giraffe hops in front of them, crooning funny songs in a language they can understand. The beloved sock puppet, known as Tsehai, is the star of a ground-breaking TV show that’s been revolutionizing childhood education in the east African country. Think Ethiopian “Sesame Street.” 

The brainchild of Ethiopian educator Bruktawit Tigabu and her husband Shane Etzenhouser, “Tsehai Loves Learning” is the only children’s TV show in Ethiopia in Amharic, the nation’s official and most widely spoken language. The show uses puppets and animation to teach young Ethiopians about sanitation and hygiene as well as the importance of culture and honesty. “They don’t realize that they’ve been taught on TV,” says Tigabu from her cramped studio in suburban Addis Ababa where awards share space with the paraphernalia of puppetry. For more on the show and several long  and informative video clips from CNN’s interview with Bruktawit, see http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/04/26/ethiopia.bruktawit.tigabu/

Adoption Freeze
Voice of America reported in March that Ethiopia is cutting back by as much as 90 percent the number of inter-country adoptions it will allow, as part of an effort to clean up a system rife with fraud and corruption. Adoption agencies and children’s advocates are concerned the cutbacks will leave many Ethiopian orphans without the last-resort option of an adoptive home abroad.

Ethiopia’s Ministry of Women’s, Children’s and Youth Affairs has issued a directive saying it will process a maximum of five inter-country adoptions a day, effective March 10. Currently, the ministry is processing up to 50 cases a day, about half of them to the United States. A copy of the directive provided to VOA says the reduction of up to 90 percent in cases will allow closer scrutiny of documents used to verify a child’s orphan status.

NO LONGER SO FAST: Ethiopian adoptee and proud father with U.S. citizen papers

Ministry spokesman Abiy Ephrem says the action was taken in response to indications of widespread fraud in the adoption process. “What we have seen so far has been some illegal practices. There is an abuse. There are some cases that are illegal. So these directives will pave the way to come up with [safeguards],” said Abiy Ephrem.

American couples often pay more than $20,000 to adopt an Ethiopian child. Such amounts are an enormous temptation in a country where the average family earns a few hundred dollars a month. U.S. State Department statistics show more than 2,500 Ethiopian orphans went to the United States last year. That is more than a ten fold increase over the past few years, making Ethiopia the second most popular destination for Americans seeking to adopt overseas, after China.

More land deals
Saudi Star Agricultural Development Plc, a food company owned by billionaire Sheikh Mohammed al-Amoudi, said it plans to invest $2.5 billion by 2020 developing a rice-farming project in Ethiopia. The company, based in Addis Ababa, leased 24,711 acres in Ethiopia’s western Gambella region for 60 years at a cost of $9.42 per hectare annually. The company plans to rent an additional 290,000 hectares from the government.

INDIA'S NEW RICE BOWL: Indian worker transplants rice on a new foreign-leased farm in Gambella

The project forms part of Ethiopia’s plan to lease 3 million hectares, an area about the size of Belgium, to private investors over the next 2 ½ years. Critics have argued that domestic farmers are being dispossessed and the country shouldn’t rent land cheaply to foreign investors to grow cash crops when about 13 percent of its approximately 80 million people still rely on food aid. “There is lots of land in Ethiopia, especially in the lowland areas,” said Chief Executive Officer Haile Assegide. “So, if you develop this lowland area and make Ethiopia self-sufficient in food, I see no problem.” Karuturi Global Ltd., an Indian food processor, plans to produce commodities including palm oil, sugar and rice on 312,000 hectares of rented land in Ethiopia.

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Posted in News of Ethiopia

Books

Posted on February 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

The Peace Corps as History and Remembrance

A Peace Crops veteran and fine journalist casts his eye over the first 50 years of Peace Corps

When The World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and Its First Fifty Years
By Stanley Meisler
Beacon Press 2011
$26.95

Reviewed by John Coyne (Addis Ababa 62–65)

ETHIOPIA RPCVs WILL BE SURPRISED and delighted to know that Stanley Meisler’s concise and thoroughly informative history of the first 50 years of the Peace Corps, devotes a full chapter to the Peace Corps Volunteers of the old Empire. This chapter entitled “The Fall of the Lion of Judah” begins with this ominous paragraph:

For better or worse, no country has ever felt the impact of the Peace Corps as much as Ethiopia did in the 1960s and 1970s. A generation of educated Ethiopians grew up in which every member had been taught in high school by at least one Peace Corps Volunteer, and probably many more. These educated Ethiopians spoke English better than any generation that came before or afterward and pondered modern and democratic ideas that were both exciting and subversive in the hoary empire of Haile Selassie I. A case can be made that the Volunteers contributed to the revolution that brought down the emperor. But the Peace Corps has never boasted about this.

Stan Meisler, a reporter with long experience with the AP and the Los Angeles Times, came late to the Peace Corps. “I was not there at the madcap, exciting, glorious beginning. I started my work at Peace Corps headquarters just after the election of Lyndon B. Johnson to a full term as president, a year after the assassination of President Kennedy.”

Stan had misgivings about working for the government, as any reporter might, but the Peace Corps was different. “It was,” he writes, “an oasis of idealism and goodness in the vast Washington bureaucracy. Everyone, even Washington correspondents, loved the Peace Corps.”

In his tour, he would make a half dozen lengthy — a month or longer — trips to evaluate Peace Corps programs: twice to Ethiopia, twice to Cameroon, and once each to Tanzania, Senegal, Gambia, Ghana, India, and Iran. After the Peace Corps, and for three decades, he was a foreign and diplomatic correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. Knowing Stan from his tours to Ethiopia and at Peace Corps Headquarters, I’d say if anyone is capably of writing about the agency, it’s Stanley Meisler.

His history of the first 50 years of the agency follows two paths. One path is the work of PCVs overseas based mostly on his own evaluations and exhaustive research over the last two years; the second path follows the policy and political maneuverings in Washington, D.C. with its various power struggles, political appointments, and wily decision making. These back room and background stories come from persons with firsthand knowledge of how it all happened.

Stan is at his best when discerning what he observed during his evaluation tours and later saw from afar when he was working for three decades as a foreign correspondent in Africa and Latin America. Not much gets by this guy. Like any good reporter, Stan has done his homework and it shows. His history of the Peace Corps, When The World Calls, is full of nuggets of information which he develops into interesting and insightful stories. As someone who has made a passion, a hobby (some might call it an obsession) out of the agency, I was surprised by what I didn’t know about the Peace Corps, the back stories, let’s call them, of what really happened at HQ. Meisler has gotten to a lot of folks who are still around to tell tales of the good (and not so good) old days.

Meisler tracks the agency over these five decades, beginning with Shriver. He ends his book with Aaron Williams, the current Director, a former PCV in the Dominican Republic. But Stan focuses his history mostly on themes, flash points, the worth of the PCV overseas, and what RPCVs have accomplished, then and now, in their host country and here at home.

The titles of his chapters show where Meisler is going and what interests him.

Sarge’s Peace Corps (Chapter 2)
Americans Invade Dominican Republic   (Chapter 6)
The Militant Sam Brown (Chapter 11)
The Rich Lady in Her First Job for Pay (Chapter 13)
200,000 Stories (Chapter 14)
The Quiet Bush Years (Chapter 17)
Does the Peace Corps Do Any Good? (Afterward)

For obvious reasons I zoned in Chapter 14, as the telling of Peace Corps tales has been the focus of my Peace Corps interest for some twenty-five years. With Marian Haley Beil (Debre Berhan 62-64) we have been tracking Peace Corps writers as if we were the Emperor’s long ago palace cheetahs. Stan is kind enough to recognize our efforts (thank you, Stan!) and single out three fine memoirs by RPCVs: Mike Tidwell (Zaire 1985-86); Ellen Urbani (Guatemala 1992-94); and Barbara E. Joe (Honduras 2000-04) to show the range of experiences, the range of hardships and triumphs, and the range of age of Volunteers. These memoirs show us old Ethiopian PCVs, as well as the rest of the world, where the Peace Corps is today.

These memoirs, he sums up, “reflected a changing Peace Corps. By the 1980s, the Peace Corps had become an elite institution of Americans working in remote sites, often alone, coping with poverty and inertia, doing the best they could to change what little they could . . . . All in all, based on the evidence in these memoirs, the most recent Volunteers struck an old evaluator like myself as a heroic band.”

Thanks, Stan, for telling us how it was and how it is and for bringing our stories home.

John Coyne (Addis 62-64) is the editor of www.peacecorpsworld.org and the Manager of Communications for The College of New Rochelle. His next novel, The Caddie Who Won the Masters, will be published in the spring of 2011.

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Adventures in two worlds

An Ethiopian-American writes a powerful and touchy narrative of a father’s odyssey and a son’s journey of discovery

How to Read the Air
by Dinaw Mengestu
Riverhead Books 2010
$25. 95

Reviewed by Janet (Danzl) Lee (Endeber 74–76)

EACH DAY AS I WALKED to and from the Segenat Children and Youth Library in Mekelle, where I recently spent five months volunteering during a sabbatical from my job as a librarian in Denver, I passed by Sefra Jeganu, the Heroes’ Residence. The compound housed wounded resistance fighters who were instrumental in the struggle for democracy and self-determination that ultimately led to the toppling of the Derg, the military government that deposed Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974.  The compound was a complex maze of family units built from chiseled rocks. Although the wheel-chair bound men — and some women — were were guarded and cautious about me, a ferengi, the children welcomed me into their modest homes and spoke openly about their fathers’ injuries and their daily lives. Sefra Jeganu was just one of many daily reminders that I witnessed of Ethiopia’s war-torn recent past.

As a PCV during the time of the overthrow of Haile Sellasie and the first two years of the Derg, I was aware, albeit naively, of the terror that surrounded me.  Now many years later, I am only beginning to understand the depth of that terror. And so I welcome the fresh voices of young writers such as Dinaw Mengestu who are telling the tales long ignored outside of Ethiopia. Dinaw’s new book, “How to Read the Air,” is not by any means a war novel, but aspects of war and struggle permeate the story as the narrator, Jonas Woldemariam, an American of Ethiopian ancestry attempts to work through issues of his failed marriage by reconstructing the last road trip that his parents made together from Peoria, Illinois, to Nashville, Tennessee,  prior to the dissolution of their own marriage.  Like many of the Ethiopian Diaspora, Jonas’ father, Yosef, fled Ethiopia during the Red Terror and ultimately found his way to the United States, leaving his young bride, Mariam, to follow several years later. Their courtship had been brief and dramatic occurring “under a backdrop of fiery speeches and frequent gunfire in the last days of the monarchy.” This separation contributed to the distance the couple felt between them, as did the difficulties of reuniting in a foreign land with a new language and unusual customs. One can safely assume that the addition the baggage of the war itself, which divided countrymen from each other based on politics and lineage, further disconnected the couple.

In reality, Jonas knows little of his father, a man who along with dozens of other men and boys was imprisoned in an cell outside of Addis after the Derg took power. He was released with no explanation. Over the course of two months he was transported to a port city in Sudan in a small truck and eventually fled Sudan tucked into a box on a ship. It is no wonder that Yosef had dreams of boxes until the last days of his life. And it is no wonder that Jonas felt a void that his absent father left behind, unspoken gaps of personal history that haunted his own sense of who he was and his relationships with others.

Dinaw seamlessly weaves the original journey taken by Jonas’ parents thirty years earlier with the ongoing journey Jonas takes immediately after his father’s death. Jonas has become a masterful storyteller, first retelling personal stories of refugees and immigrants as a clerk in a legal aid office, later as an English teacher at a prep school. It is at the legal aid office that he meets Angela, his future wife. She has her own share of issues and inadequacies, compounded by the stories and half-truths that they tell each other. Throughout it becomes difficult even for Jonas to tell where the truth ends and the fiction begins, the illusion become so much a part of his being.

The recounting, or more accurately the fabricating, of Yosef’s exodus from war-torn Ethiopia through Sudan to the U.S. is the book’s strength. After the death of his father, Jonas explains his absence from class to his prep school students by telling his father’s story. But this is not just his father’s story. It is the story of so many Ethiopians who fled the peril of a brutal dictatorship. The students are enthralled and the story becomes urban legend, exaggerated in each subsequent retelling.

This is a complex, yet beautifully written, book, uniquely African and uniquely American. Copies of “How to Read the Air” will join “The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears” on the shelves in the Book Club room of the Segenat Children and Youth Library, in Mekelle, Ethiopia.  An eager generation of young readers awaits.

Janet (Danzl) Lee recently joined Yohannes Gebregeorgis for five months in setting up the Segenat Children and Youth Library in Mekelle, Ethiopia.  Her frequent blogs have been posted on the following facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Segenat-Children-and-Youth-Library/161388783881687

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Books by Friends

Three of our colleagues have recently written books of considerable interest: two about Ethiopia and the other not

The Lion of Judah in the New World
: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and the Shaping of Americans’ Attitudes toward Africa

By Theodore M. Vestal
Praeger 
2011
$44.95

TED VESTAL WAS ON PEACE CORPS/ETHIOPIA staff from 1964 to 1968 and then went on to a career as a professor of political science at Oklahoma State University where Ethiopia remained the center of his studies and his writing. His latest book, which comes out this month, traces the legacy of Haile Selassie in forming attitudes in the United States towards Africa. As Sergeant Shriver travelled Africa in the early ’60s in search of countries which might be interested in accepting Peace Corps Volunteers, most of the leaders he met with were newly minted and largely unknown Presidents and Prime ministers who not too many years earlier had been independence fighters struggling in the bush.  The exception was Haille Selassie who for many Americans was the face of  Africa. In his book Ted traces how Haille Selassie used his fame and prestige to forge an important alliance with America. He also discusses American relations with Ethiopia. It’s all studded with fascinating vignettes — Chief Justice Earl Warren offering Haille Selassie lunch at the Supreme Court, for example — which always makes Ted’s books so intriguing.

The Evolution of the Ethiopian Jews: A History of the Beta Israel (Falasha) to 1920
by James Quirin (Bati 65–67)
Tsehai Publishers 2010
$29.95

THIS SCHOLARLY AND VERY THOROUGH book first came out in hardback in 1992, but has been updated and is now available in paperback via Amazon. For those of us interested in the history of the people we used to call the Falashas and are now called the Beta Israel, this study traces them from their origins in the shadows of history to the early 20th century.

Cockeyed
by Richard Stevenson, aka Richard Lipez (Debre Marcos 62–64)
MLR Press
 2010
$14.99

RICHARD LIPEZ HAS HAD a long and successful career as a writer including the great success of his Donald Strachey mystery series that were written under the name of Richard Stevenson.  Strachey is a gay private detective who, as all good fictional PIs, gets entangled in engaging characters who make the book worth reading. Dick Lipez’s book is more than just worth reading, it is, as Tony D’Souza  (Ivory Coast 2000–02, Madagascar 2002–03) writes in his wonderful review found on that essential Peace Corps web site, PeaceCorpsWorldwide.org, “a precious and glittering page turner.” So much so, says D’Souza,  “I’m still trying to shake the glitter off of my page turning fingers.” But the book is more than pure entertainment.  D’Souza  cleverly links Lipez’s work with Christopher Isherwood’s The Berlin Stories. They both have important points hidden away under that glitter.  So do read D’Souza’s review, then order the book.

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More Books about Ethiopia and Eritrea

In the last few months Ethiopia and Eritrea have generated more of books than we can review in the HERALD. Here is a list of some of the more interesting ones.

Famine & Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid
By Peter Gill
Oxford 2010
$27.95

Steve Chesebrough (Asmara 62-64) sent us an email alerting us to a book review of Famine & Foreigners by Peter Gill which appeared in the Wall Street Journal in September last year.  We love when readers help us. Wrote Steve of the book:

This read to me like an interesting case of Telling It Like It Is. I was wondering if you thought commentary like this would be of interest to the readers of The HERALD? Possibly it will seem too controversial to discuss or publicize.

Well, we don’t want to run the full review here, but you can check out the review “The Hazards of Doing Good” at the WSJ site.

Steve declined our offer to review the book for the HERALD: “Gee whiz – I think the last time I did a book report, I was in the 8th grade!”  But he sure was on to something. We read the book. The book is an excellent recounting of the struggles over aid to Ethiopia, and raises the wider issue of whether humanitarian aid throughout Africa and the developing world has done very much good. The book has been widely reviewed and produced articles arguing the merits and demerits of aid.  See, for example, the review “How little changes: Foreign aid, a hostage to fortune“ in the Economist; as well as an extensive review, “Abused by Hope,”  in the New Republic. Or better yet, buy the book and review it.

Ciao Asmara: A Classic Account of Contemporary Africa
by Justin Hill
Abacus  2002
$16.25

Several friends, including a former student from Eritrea, called this book to our attention. It was published nearly ten years ago, but is still in print in paperback  and available from Amazon. It is the story of a young aid worker who takes up a offer to teach in newly independent Eritrea  in 1996. The book is described as a bittersweet  love letter to a country Hill grew to admire during this period of transition. As one reader put it: “All tragically believable. Scarcely a vapor of hope for so many.” Considering how little comes out of Eritrea today, it’s worth the price.

Eritrea
An Africa in Focus Book
by Mussie Tesfagiorgis
ABC-CLIO 2010
$85.00

This book runs more than 400 pages and provides sources documents and commentary on the history and culture of Eritrea. A bit academic, but for those interested in studies of Eritrea, this is the (expensive) book to buy.

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Click on the book cover or the bold book title to order from Amazon and Ethiopia & Eritrea RPCVs, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance

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Posted in Books

Historical Notes

Posted on February 8, 2011 | 2 Comments

Picture Puzzle

The death of Sargent Shriver in January jogged loose memories — and old pictures. And we all know old pictures can be puzzling

Name the PCVs, left to right, at the mystery location.

THE DAUGHTER OF Joe Kaufmann, Peace Corps/Washington’s first Director of Training, has been in touch with Ted Vestal (Staff 64–66) recently about some Peace Corps celebrations she’s been involved with. She sent Ted a photo that was taken in Addis Ababa in October 1962. That’s her father in the center. Sarge is unmistakable on the right. But is that young Harris Wofford second from left? She asked Ted if he could identify the PCVs in the picture. He can’t, nor could he figure out where it was taken. Does anyone recognize the young men or the locale? The picture must have been taken was during the Shriver visit that included his famous dinner with Haile Selassie when he petted the Emperor’s pet lion, Tojo. If anyone can help, we’ll forward the info to Kaufmann’s daughter, Marcia Krasnow, who lives in the Boston area.

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Posted in Historical Notes

Fiftieth Anniversary I

Posted on February 8, 2011 | 3 Comments

Seven months and counting down to the 50th Anniversary Celebrations in Washington

Lots of work has been done. More is awaiting. And it all adds up to a promise of a great time in Washington

Planning for the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps continues. Big events will be taking place in Washington the weekend of September 22th through 24th. For those wanting to come to Washington to join with RPCVs from all over the country who served in many nations, reservations are still available for rooms at the Crystal City Marriott for our group. This is the Marriott (and, as we said before, be careful because there are many other Marriotts in the Washington area)  that will be the headquarters hotel for Ethiopia&Eritrea RPCVs. For details on how to get reservations see:   http://eandeherald.com/2010/12/15/fiftieth-anniversary-2/

Please notify us that you are coming
If you are planning to come in September and want to join in the Ethiopia/Eritrea festivities — and who wouldn’t? — do send an email to C.J. Smith Castagnaro (Harar; Debre Zeit; Addis 65-66) telling her of your plans so that we can make our plans. She has received about 70 R.S.V.P.’s so far. She is acting as registrar for our events. When the time comes she will collect the fees necessary to get the programs going. That probably makes her Registrar/Treasurer.  Her email is: cjsmithc@verison.net She’s waiting to hear from you so she can put your name on the list to make sure you included in all the interesting (and fun!) events.

Other colleagues, under the direction of E&E RPCV President Marian Beil (Debre Berhan 62-65), are hard at work planning events for the meeting. Nancy Horn (Addis Ababa 66-68), program chair, is working with Shlomo Bachrach (Staff 65 to 67) to plan the grand Saturday Morning Program which will be held at the Marriott. At this program some speakers will bring us up-to-date on Ethiopia and Eritrea. We’ll have other talks and presentations about Peace Corps and our RPCVs. Nancy has looked at the suggestions made in the comments section of the last issue of the HERALD. She and Shlomo are eager to hear more suggestions about what sort of presentations you would like to have that morning. Music, Art, readings? Please send a message with your ideas to Nancy at Horn.N@worldnet.att.net or post them as a comment on this story. She is eager to hear from you.

Programming for hospitality room presentations
We are looking of a volunteer to help organize some programs for the Hospitality Room. Lots of people would like to give talks, make presentations, show slides, and who knows what else. There will not be time for them all during the Saturday Morning Program, but some of these can be made in the Hospitality room at other times.  If you want to help organize this, please send a message to Marian Beil at: marian@haleybeil.com

Help with the dinner
Judy Smith (Asmara 63-65) is working on organizing a dinner for us at the Ethiopian Embassy on Friday night. She could use some volunteers to help out as the event gets closer and, of course, will need assistance the night of the dinner. Please contact her at smarmayor@aol.com

Training Group Reunions
Planning is also proceeding on reunions for individual Training Groups during the 50th Anniversary weekend. For example, Don Schlenger (Waldia 66–68) is interested in getting his group — Group VII Utah 1966-1968 — together that weekend.  Recently he received an email list of members of Group VII from Marian to help him with organizing the reunion. She is happy to share email lists with the contact information we have for RPCVs from the training groups with anyone interested in organizing a Training Group reunion.  Please contact her for those.

Also if anyone is planning a Training Group reunion, please  let us at the HERALD know and we would be delighted to share that information with everyone. Ultimately we will publish a schedule of events and would want to include a list of the Training Group reunions.

Based on the scheduling so far by us, the Peace Corps and the NPCA, we are strongly recommending that all training group reunions be scheduled for Saturday afternoon — September 24th.

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Posted in Fiftieth Anniversary

Fiftieth Anniversary II

Posted on February 8, 2011 | 1 Comment

Memories of Eritrea

The U.S. Embassy in Asmara is looking for RPCVs to record some recollections of their time in Eritrea

The HERALD recently heard from Scott Rasmussen, the Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Asmara. He would like to put together a project which would record the recollections of PCVs who served in Eritrea. Says Scott:

Asmara: as we remember it

As you may know, the current relationship between Eritrea and the United States is stressed. Despite this, of course, many everyday Eritreans still like the U.S. So the  purpose behind this project is to show that the relationship between the people of the United States and the people of Eritrea runs long and deep. Many Eritreans I’ve met still speak fondly about their great memories of PCVs. My hope is that by showing PCVs talking about their experiences here we can show that the feeling is mutual.

Eritrean roads: a driving thrill

Scott is not entirely clear about how he would do this project. He says that he thought about “somehow having the RPCVs record a short video, perhaps 3–5 minutes long, of themselves describing their time in Eritrea: what they remember, what they enjoyed, people who were important to them, projects they thought were particularly important, etc.” Perhaps RPCVs could find some old pictures to illustrate their memories and they could be used in the video. Scott would show the videos in Eritrea and even perhaps provide copies to people who would be interested. Think of it as a version of YouTube. If you are interested in the project, contact Scott directly at: rasmussensr@state.gov and he will take it from there.

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Posted in Fiftieth Anniversary

Fiftieth Anniversary III

Posted on February 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

Two Anniversary Events in March

UCLA and the University of Wisconsin will host discussions, music, dance, parties, all as part of the 50th Anniversary celebrations

LOTS OF ANNIVERSARY EVENTS AND PROJECTS are already underway in cities across the U.S. Many of these events are being planned by local RPCV groups, such as the one in Seattle. Everybody wants to celebrate even if they can’t get to Washington. And it seems some folks are not even willing to wait for  September to celebrate. They are partying now.

Two very notable events are taking place in March.

Chris Matthews

On March 2–5, UCLA will be sponsoring a commemoration of Peace Corps’ 50th anniversary. UCLA trained a number of Peace Corps groups including a fair number of groups that went to Ethiopia. The commemoration will include a panel discussion mc-ed by MSNBC host and former PCV Chris Mathews who served in Swaziland from 1968 to 1970. There will be exhibitions, films, and other festivities as well. For more information check out: http://www.facebook.com/UCLApeacecorps50th. Or send an email to Kate Kuykendall at kkuykendall@peacecorps.gov

Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams

On March 24 to 26 the African Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin at Madison is hosting an event to honor Wisconsin’s 50-year involvement in Peace Corps.  UW has put together a very impressive three-day program that will bring musicians, artists, story-tellers and thinkers to campus to celebrate and reflect on the legacy of Peace Corps in Africa. Several fascinating panel discussion programs are scheduled. Both former Volunteers from all over the country and a wide spectrum of participants with ties to Africa are scheduled to attend. Events will include panels, discussions, StoryCorps interviews, art exhibits, dance and a keynote speech by current Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams (Dominican Republic 1967–70). Check out the ambitious schedule on their web site.  This looks like a winning event. You can find that information and register to attend at: http://africa.wisc.edu/peacecorps/registration.html

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Posted in Fiftieth Anniversary

Fiftieth Anniversary IV

Posted on February 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

A Sound Project

A broadcaster is looking for some sound bytes. The more obscure and exotic the better. This may be for Public Radio after all

RECENTLY WE HEARD FROM AMY MAYER, the daughter of a PCV who served in what was then Ceylon from 1962 to 1964. Amy is a freelance public radio producer and writer who is convinced that there exists a treasure trove of audio recorded by PCVs in a variety of countries over the past 50 years. She writes that “in honor of the milestone anniversary in 2011, I am seeking RPCVs with audio who would be interested in sharing their recordings. I’d like to produce a documentary that presents the Peace Corps through those recordings you made, and interviews I conduct with you.”

Recordings can be in any format (she will digitizing them) from any country, any time period and in any language. Local music, festivals, celebrations and other events would be perfect sounds for this project. If you would have recordings you’d like to share with Amy, contact her via email (amy@amymayerwrites.com) or call her at 413-773-8904. She asks that you include in your email your country and dates of service, where you currently live, the format of your recordings (cassette, microcassette, reel-to-reel, digital, etc.) and, to the best of your memory, approximately what might be on your recordings.

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Posted in Fiftieth Anniversary

Friends

Posted on February 8, 2011 | 2 Comments

Doro Wat with a side of mash?

Teff may be the Ethiopian staple food, but potatoes offer tremendous nutritional  advantages. An RPCV tells how American expertise and technology are helping Ethiopia’s potato farmers raise better spuds

by Charlie Higgins (Haik 69–71)

Higgins in 1969 Peace Corps facebook

When my wife, Judy, and I were Volunteers in Haik in 1969, potato yields were less than 50 hundred-weight-per-acre [cwt/acre]. In the 40 years since, the population of Ethiopia has grown from 20 million to 80 million, but sadly the potato yields per acre are the same. Small farmers with only three or four acres in the high mountains have only potatoes to feed their children after the grain is used up and before the next harvest comes in. But because Ethiopian farmers use ground storage — or even store a few potatoes under the bed — upwards of a half of their crop can be lost to insect damage. This is a disaster in a country where forty percent of the children do not receive enough calories. Because potatoes produce more food per square yard than any other crop that can be grown at altitudes up to 12,000 feet, increasing potato production could alleviate some of the hunger and malnutrition problems in Ethiopia. This has already been done in China and India. The green revolution has come to Ethiopia for grain crops but not for potatoes.

Increasing potato production
Four years ago, while I was on a USAID Farmer to Farmer visit to Ethiopia, I saw an empty potato tissue lab used for the propagation of seed potatoes that had been built with USAID funds — your tax dollars. Construction was incomplete and they did not have clean clones to start production.

Bechard, right, sharing coffee with farmer and Ministry of Agriculture officials in Asfew

Over the past four years, I have seen improvement come to Ethiopia little by little thanks to the hard work of a team of people from the University of Wisconsin, Heartland Farms, Walther Farms of Michigan, Michigan State University and North Dakota State University along with Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture Potato Researchers. They all jumped at the opportunity to help Ethiopia potato farmers. We were able to help get clean clones for the lab, and Ermias Abate, the tissue lab manager, received training in the U.S. with Dr. Amy Chirkowski at the University of Wisconsin — who also made a trip to Ethiopia in March to provide advance training to Ermias. The University of Wisconsin and Michigan State University have provided Ermias with germ plasm of late blight tolerant clones that can be tested and crossed with Ethiopian high yield varieties of potatos. Dr. Gary Secor and the disease and tissue labs at North Dakota State University taught Ermias how to clean diseases from field tubers to produce clean clones. Drs. Chirkowski, Russell Groves, Felix Navarro, Jiuan Palta and many others at the University of Wisconsin provided critical training in lab management and screen house production. Now the lab is producing, and the screen house is full of clean seed production, and the Ethiopian potato research team now has email support from the best minds in the U.S.

Potato farming in Gojam: basic cultivation, superior varieties, great yields

AND SO, WITH GREAT PLEASURE, last November I watched an Ethiopian farmer harvest a crop of a new high-yield variety of potatoes with a team of oxen. These new varieties were selected by the Ministry of Agriculture Potato Researchers from true seeds from the International Potato Center (known by its Spanish acronym, CIP) in Peru and developed for sustainable farming in developing countries. The new potato varieties made by Ethiopian researchers CIP true seeds  can yield 300 cwt/acre compared to less than 50 cwt/acre from the local varieties.

Solving the storage problem
As I mentioned earlier many farmers lose as much as half of their crop each year during ground storage. To reduce this loss, on-farm potato storage is being designed and built with assistance from this project as well.  The storage can be built by the farmers with locally available materials.

Ethiopia has a wealth of sunshine. There are nine or ten months of sun and then it rains about 40 to 50 inches in two or three months during the rainy season.  Many farmers are replacing their thatch roofs with tin, and the tin roofs with some black cloth and clear plastic can become excellent potato and other vegetable dehydrators — a system that Steve Schewe (Gambella, Addis 69-71) helped design. The U.S. team is supporting the on-farm development of these solar dehydrators, and is encouraging Ethiopian nutritionists to develop recipes with dehydrated potatoes that can be made into nutritious soups by adding boiling water. The dehydrated potatoes can be made from damaged potatoes, and be  can be stored for years. If the rainy season fails to arrive, dehydrated potatoes could add to the food security for these small farm families.

Next on the to-do list
The next step will require the development of a micro-loan program so farmers in Ethiopia can contract for clean seed potatoes, fertilizer and pesticides.  The micro-loans would be repaid with cash, dehydrated potatoes or potatoes for the local school breakfast program.

Do it for the kids: potatoes give children a head-start

The ultimate purpose
In remote mountain villages children of migrant workers are left with relatives for months at a time while the parents search for work. The director of one school told us that some of her students, children of migrant workers,  get only one meal per day and only attended school two to three days per week. Jason Walther and Nancy Poynter of Walther Farms are funding a school breakfast program to help these children more directly.

In the U.S. test scores increase significantly if children have breakfast available at school. With the aid of Fred Bechard (Dessie 69-71), now a retired superintendent of schools in Maine, and other RPCVs of the XII group (1969 to 1971) a pilot school breakfast program will be tried in a small school in Gumet near Secala in Gojam. The local farmers have volunteered to support the school breakfast program with donated potatoes to pay back micro loans for clean seed potatoes of improved varieties.  Richard Pavelski of Heartland Farms, who has helped fund of the Ethiopian projects, advised in setting up the tax deductible Ethiopian Sustainable Food Project at the Community Foundation of Central Wisconsin to manage the funds.

Charlie Higgins, Ph.D., is Director of Research & Development for Heartland Farm in Hancock, Wisconsin, and Walther Farm in Three Rivers, Michigan. The two farms total nearly 27,000 acres.

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News of Ethiopia

Posted on February 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

Ethiopian News Summary

compiled by Barry Hillenbrand (Debre Marcos 63–65)

The Great Ethiopian Land Grab (Continued)

For more than a year Ethiopia has been selling its farm land to the highest bidders, primarily large foreign argo-businesses eager to get their hands on Ethiopia’s fertile soil, large labor force and attractive export possibilities. The biggest players seem to be Indian companies, with the Chinese and Pakistanis not too far behind.

Land sale: farmland being examined

This month, Ethiopian Agriculture Minister Tefera Derbew visited India on an official visit and put more land on the block. Said Tefera, according to a report in a UK on-line site: “So far, we have transferred 307,000 hectares of land to foreign and domestic investors. Some 79 percent of this land has been transferred to Indian companies. This land is on 70-year lease. We are now proposing to transfer another 3.6 million hectares of land to investors from overseas. And I am confident that more than half of this 3.6 million hectares will go to Indians.”  That land equals about half the size of Punjab state, India’s main grain-growing region. “How much land will actually go to Indian investors depends entirely on the interest of investors. If they come and take all the land, then also we will be very happy. Indian investors are very welcome in Ethiopia,” said Tefera, who must be a very happy man indeed. According to Ethiopian numbers, Indian firms have invested $4.7 billion in Ethiopia’s farm sector. A good hunk of that cash has gone into land for sugar cane production, including crushing facilities. The Ethiopian government is quick to point out that all this agro-investment is producing jobs. Chadha Agro, PLC, one India’s largest agro-business corporations, was granted 22,000 hectares in Oromia State and will get an additional 78,000 hectares after its performance on the first land grant is assessed.  The company claims that it will employ 35,000 full and part-time workers.  For stories about the land grab in the Indian Press see: http://bit.ly/eEgKx5 and http://bit.ly/ezrBeh

But all the land is not going to large agricultural companies. A story in AFROL News which quotes an U.S. Embassy cable released on Wikileaks, African leaders, like former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasansjo and Djiboutian President Ismael Omar Guelleh and the former Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, have received land grants.  For all the complicated details and some pointed comments by the U.S. ambassador about these deals see : http://bit.ly/eWqQTZ

Birtukan Mideksa steps down

Opting out of politics: Birtukan Mideksa

In a blow to opposition politics, Birtukan Mideksa, leader of Ethiopia’s opposition party, Unity for Democracy, and the country’s most charismatic political leader (sorry, Prime Minister Meles), has decided to step down as party president a mere four months after she was released from prison where she had been serving a life term.  Her decision was announced in the press.  The wide understanding was that the terms of her release and pardon included a provision that she would refrain from political activity. The seeming withdrawal of  Birtukan from the political arena will only strengthen the iron grip Meles’ ruling party has on politics.  See http://bit.ly/emxVpq for more details.

Price Control Mess

In an effort increasing food price inflation, the Meles government surprised the nation on Ethiopian Christmas eve, January 6, by imposing price controls on many basic items like meat, bread, rice, sugar, powdered milk and cooking oil. The government said that the controls were in response to price gouging by shop keepers. World food price have increased in recent months and the government claimed that merchants were taking advantage of “the market disorder.”

Well, what the new controls seemed to have brought about is more disorder. While it is true that buyers, especially low-income people, may have benefited from the freeze, the price controls also caused conflict in the markets thought-out the country.  Market women claimed that they could not make a profit selling at the capped levels. Fist-fights broke out in some markets over the interpretation of the controls.  Economists said that fixing prices is not the way to lower food prices or curb inflation. In November inflation was 10.2 per cent and 14.5 per cent in December.  For more, see a good Voice of America report: http://bit.ly/fB3vMR as well as a report from Bloomberg at  http://bloom.bg/htWUMg Also see on the effect of the freezes on suppliers from Kenya: http://bit.ly/goAzgB

Corruption on the line

Everyone knows Ethiopia has problems with corruption. Ethiopia also has problems with its tele-communications system. Last month the two problems were linked when Tesfaye Birru, the  former CEO of the former Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation and 16 employees of the corporation were found guilty of corruption by the Federal High Court. They were involved in a bid rigging operation involving Eriksson Electric which won a $47.4 million contract for a turn-key project to supply and install  mobile phones networks. Tesfaye was arrested in 2008 and has been in jail ever since — but hardly idle. He completed his Ph.D. by defending his dissertation via teleconference with professors in Germany. It’s unclear whether the equipment was supplied by Eriksson. See http://bit.ly/fP8krD for more details.

Over the road HIV/AIDS work

Fighting HIV/AIDS: long distance truck drivers

The Federal Transport Authority is setting aside special funds, up to 2 per cent of its budget, to fighting HIV/AIDS among truck drivers and their assistants. According to the latest UN report on HIV/AIDS, truckers and intercity bus drivers formed 22 percent of the client base of sex workers. And a 2009 government survey from mobile counseling and testing clinics in 40 towns located on the major transportation corridors that link Addis Ababa to Ethiopia’s borders found that 25.3 percent of the sex workers who received the clinics’ services were HIV-positive. The new funds will provide for condom distribution and also for care for drivers and their families who are suffering from the virus. See http://bit.ly/ij2gR6

Haile Gabrselassie is back. Really. For sure.

Back in the running: Haile Gabrselassie

After the confusing events in New York this fall when Haile Gabrselassie dropped out of the race midway and declared that he was giving up competitive running, the news about the runner has been confusing at best. But recently Haile has been direct and pretty clear about his future. He told Reuters recently that he is back to his daily routine of running, in two sessions, 35 km/day. “One of the things I want to tell people is that I am not making plans to retire,” Haile told Reuters. “Now I am preparing for London 2012.” He will be running in the Tokyo marathon on Feb. 27.

But does Haile, 37, have any plans when he does finally retire? Of course, he said, “”I want to do something for Ethiopia, for Africa, for myself, my family and my people. You know, what is the best to do to pay back those people who were supporting me all these years. To be involved in politics as prime minister, as president, minister if this gives something back, then why not?”

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News of Eritrea

Posted on February 8, 2011 | 2 Comments

Eritrean News Summary

compiled by Barry Hillenbrand

The Gold Rush (Continued)

We love the story about gold mining in Eritrea, as readers of the HERALD may have noticed. Mostly we love it because gold mining is a rare example of the government and private business actually releasing reliable information about Eritrea. So late last year we told you that the first gold was smelted and produced at Bisha, the mining operation run by Canada’s Nevsun Resources Ltd. Now comes news that Australia’s Chalice Gold Mines was granted licenses for two new exploration sites covering 830 square kilometres in Eritrea.  The story has all sorts of numbers — real numbers — in it. The Aussie project is said to hold 1 million ounces of gold.  See http://bit.ly/eiYuiv for the Reuters story. And be assured we will run more stories about gold.

Wikileaks on Eritrea — Part I

As someone whose career as a journalist has benefited from being on the receiving end of leaks, I usually have a fair amount of sympathy for leakers. But the recent massive leaks of State Department cables by Wikileaks seems problematic to me. When a leaker targets an abuse of government or an issue which the pubic should better understand, I’m all for publishing information from classified documents. But the Wikileaks release of thousands of documents was so undifferentiated and massive — and often reckless in its compromising innocent people — that it falls in a whole new category and raises serious questions. But that said (and the HERALD is not the place to debate the issue), the cables make interesting and often fascinating reading. The folks at American embassies do a professional and thorough job of reporting. And for those of us interested in Eritrea, the reports are a treasure trove since we get so little reporting out of Asmara. Several cables from Asmara make particularly interesting reading:

One purloined cable is a report of a the arrest and interrogation of an Eritrean who was clearly known to the Embassy officials who made the report. This Wikileak release edited out names and other key material which might have  identify sources. The arrested Eritrean told Embassy officials that he “was placed in a cell approximately 40 feet x 38 feet with about 600 other prisoners. He stated the conditions were so cramped, it was not possible to lie down and barely possible to sit. He was held there for one month before being interrogated. He was interrogated on two separate occasions by members of the Eritrean National Security Organization (ENSO). On both occasions the interrogator beat him.”

The Eritrean reported that “After the two interrogations, he was not questioned again, but returned to the crowded holding room. Prisoners were fed 2 pieces of bread three times a day and allowed to use the toilet twice a day. A bucket in the middle of the room served as a toilet between escorted bathroom breaks, but it constantly spilled and contaminated the room with urine and feces. Many prisoners could not talk due to the lack of water, their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths from thirst. He said prisoners believed ENSO had placed informers in the prison cell to gain additional information. Family members and friends were allowed to bring food to prisoners. One of his friends smuggled in a notebook and pen with a tray of food, and he chronicled his experience in two versions, one for the Embassy official and another for the Ambassador. He smuggled the diaries out also using the food trays.”

This Eritrean said that “the ENSO personnel regularly tortured prisoners. His cellmates were Eritreans who tried to flee the country, military deserters, common criminals, and Protestants (presumably of unregistered denominations). He stated they could hear the screams of people being tortured and he witnessed ENSO staff bringing back badly bruised and bleeding detainees to the holding room. On one occasion, he observed ENSO officials beating a man with a rubber hose on his bare feet. Another time, when he was allowed out to use the bathroom, he passed a shipping container and saw a man sitting with his arms tied and raised behind his back. His feet were tied together and a wooden pole was placed beneath his knees.”

As if this were not disturbing enough, the Eritrean told the Embassy that “for a few days, approximately 35 boys, aged 8–13, were confined with him. Asked why they were arrested, the boys said they had crossed into Ethiopia, but Ethiopian soldiers caught them, and, after feeding them and giving them new clothes, sent them back to Eritrea, telling them they were too young to cross by themselves. Upon returning to Eritrea, the boys were arrested and taken to [prison name redacted] and later to another prison. He said ENSO personnel also beat the boys and told the adult prisoners not to talk to the boys or to each other about why they were in prison or about their beatings.”

This Eritrean was released after five months with no explanation for his release or detention. Said the Embassy cable: [he] “was angry and nearly broke into tears a of number of times [when talking to the Embassy official.] He said although the physical abuse and deprivations took a toll on his body, it was the psychological abuse of being packed in with so many other people, not knowing when the next beatings would come, and believing he could be killed, that was the most damaging.”

Wikileaks on Eritrea–Part II

President Isaias: Casual autocrat

A 2008 cable from then U.S.Ambassador Ronald McMullen to Washington offers some fascinating tidbits of information, gossip, and reporting about the personality of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki.  The cable was not  a full-blown bio of Isaias, but merely a collection of facts, some worthy of an “Entertainment Tonight” segment, others more mundane. The best of them:

Why Isaias hates Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles
“Isaias and Meles, brothers in arms during the 1980s, are now blood enemies. Why? In 1996, while returning from a vacation in Kenya, Isaias, his family, and his inner entourage stopped in Addis, where Meles offered to fly them back to Asmara in one of his aircraft. Isaias accepted the offer; en route the aircraft caught fire, but managed to turn back and land safely in Addis. According to someone who was on the aircraft, an infuriated Isaias accused Meles to his face of trying to kill him and his family. Isaias has not trusted Meles since.”

Holy than Mao
 “Isaias has berated the Chinese ambassador in Asmara for China’s embrace of market capitalism. Isaias was sent to China by the Eritrean Liberation Front for political commissar training in the 1960s, where, according to the Chinese ambassador, ‘he learned all the wrong things.’ Isaias was turned off by the cult of personality surrounding Mao, but apparently internalized Maoist ideology.”

Hot temper
“At a January 2008 dinner he hosted for [an American Congressional delegation] and embassy officials, Isaias became involved in a heated discussion with his Amcit [American citizen] legal advisor about some tomato seedlings the legal advisor provided to Isaias’ wife. Isaias complained that despite tender care by his wife, the plants produced only tiny tomatoes. When the legal advisor explained that they were cherry tomatoes and were supposed to be small, Isaias lost his temper and stormed out of the venue, much to the surprise of everyone, including his security detail.”

Thin skinned
“Isaias asked to be named the patron of the World Bank-funded Cultural Assets Rehabilitation Project (CARP). When individuals involved with CARP published the book ‘Asmara: Africa’s Secret Modernist City,’ it failed to include a note of thanks to CARP’s patron. Isaias was miffed and shut down CARP.”

The casual autocrat
 “In November 2008 U.S. Embassy officials] visited Tselot, [Isaias’ home village] and saw no indication that the village has received any special favor from Isaias. Like most Eritrean villages, it has electricity but no running water or sewer system. Gaunt cattle and untended donkeys roam the village. Afwerki, [Isaias’ father] is said to be buried in the village cemetery, but officials could not locate his grave. Isaias’ immediate family is rarely featured in the state-run media and keeps a low profile. Although his portrait adorns many shops in Asmara, there is no cult of personality in Eritrea. Isaias often appears in the media clad casually in slacks, jacket, open-necked shirt, and sandals or loafers. He rarely travels in a motorcade.”

But he is careful about security
“Isaias has an aversion to talking on the telephone and frequently sleeps in different locations to foil a coup or assassination attempt. During the winter months he spends most of his time in Massawa rather than in Asmara. When dining in restaurants, Isaias will often switch plates with a subordinate, apparently to avoid being poisoned, according to the Qatari ambassador.”

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Posted in News of Eritrea