Biddho.com Eritrea - Rising To The Challenges! - Closure of Consulate Will Not Undermine Valuable Role of Eritrean-Americans

Africa News

News

Closure of Consulate Will Not Undermine Valuable Role of Eritrean-Americans

Written by Rahel Weldeab

Thursday, 04 October 2007

The current times can seem challenging for those Eritreans living broad, especially in the United States, when it comes to the constant smear campaigns against their country of origin. Today's lead example is the closing of the Eritrean Consulate in Oakland, California which officially happened on 1 October 2007. As Assistant Secretary for African Affairs to the United States, Jendayi Frazer, continues to show her ill-will towards the Eritrean people, she says that the closing of the Eritrean Consulate is “absolutely a reciprocal action.”

The anticipated outcome (according to her): to negatively impact Eritrea's ability to collect money from the Eritrean community. She claims that the remittances that Eritrean-Americans send to help their families in Eritrea and to trust funds, such as the Martyrs' family fund, is “to get weapons and to train fighters to go into Somalia.”

Smear campaigns launched by the US Administration has always been used to undermine Eritrea's sovereignty and its right to peace and development. She thinks that such baseless accusations will make Eritrea kneel down to US interests in the region. However, as previous smear campaigns have not made Eritrea kneel down, she thinks that scaring Eritrean-Americans by talks of Eritrea shipping arms to Somalia, Eritrea supporting terrorists, and the threat of putting Eritrea on the ‘State Sponsors of Terrorists List' will bring the 16 year old country to her knees.

Why such efforts from the American side? The reason is they find the resilience, perseverance, and steadfastness of the Eritrean people stressing. For the US Administration to target Eritrean-Americans is not something of a surprise; it is an open secret that they strategically target the Eritrean Diaspora in an effort to use them to pressure the Government of Eritrea to do its bidding. But nobody really expected for things to go this far.

By this far, I do not mean the closing of the Consulate Office, but rather Frazer's words that completely undermine the citizenship of Eritrean-Americans. Most of the Eritreans she refers to are law biding, tax paying citizens who have lived in the United States for more than 30 years, and with such comments as “Eritreans living in our country” and “Eritreans who are living in the United States,” she unilaterally denies their constitutional rights as American citizens. In fact, the closing of the Consulate does this as well. It is the right of Eritrean Americans to benefit from the services of the Consulate Office, as it is the right of every other community living in the US. However, it is assumed that closing the Consulate will ‘send a message to the Eritrean Government.'

Well Ms. Frazer, there is no need to send a message to the Eritrean Government; such messages have been sent in the past and so it is nothing new - it will not pressure the Government to make ‘significant changes.' What you should keep in mind, however, is that closing the Consulate Office will not separate the people of Eritrea from their country.

Whether you accept it or not, you should know that every Eritrean living abroad is his/her country's ambassador. There is no power that can change the love and unity Eritrean Americans feel towards their country and people.

Yes, the Eritrean people are the reliable source of national economic development and the participation of Eritreans in the Diaspora is vital in building of a strong economy. But attacking Eritrean Americans will not obstruct Eritrea's economic development. Eritrea's efforts to ensuring an independent and sovereign nation, and her efforts to be the master of her decisions within the framework of dynamic global development, will not adhere to Frazer's smear campaigns. Rather, it will only make Eritrea and her people stronger.

Frazer's words and actions portray her belief that by attacking Eritrean Americans, the Eritrean Diaspora, as it is a source of significant remittances, will be able to influence the Eritrean Government. Little does she knows, this money doesn't go to the Government but to the families of Eritrean Americans. More importantly, however, she doesn't realize that as Eritrea loathes violence and terrorism, the Government of Eritrea can prove to be the most reliable partner in the war against terrorism. Eritrea's foreign policy prioritizes the fostering of cooperative partnership as well as partnership programs in trade and investment. Moreover, Eritrea strives to ensure reliable regional peace through steadfastly overcoming any hostilities designed to pose obstacles to this end—including terrorism.

Things are getting tense in the Horn of Africa, whether referring to what is happening in Somalia, Darfur, or even within the borders of Ethiopia. The important role Eritrea has played and continues to play in bringing peace and security to the Horn is undeniable. Good relations between the United States and Eritrea can be enhanced if the US Administration plays its role in pressuring Ethiopia to cooperate and allow for the Eritrea-Ethiopia border to be demarcated according to the EEBC's final and binding ruling. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that the US Administration reviews its foreign policy towards the Horn of Africa; by supporting Ethiopia as an anti-terror ally, they only encourage Ethiopia to take aggressive action against Eritrea. The US Administration's obsession with counter-terrorism in the Horn of Africa should not undermine efforts to bring stability to the Horn.

The rights of Eritrean Americans have to be respected. As the Consulate closes, the valuable role that Eritrean Americans play as ambassadors to their country will not perish. Therefore, it is advisable that the US Administration stops attacking Eritrean Americans and, therefore, stops attacking Eritrea. There is much to be gained from Eritrea-US relations if the United States would recognize Eritrea as a vital partner towards the war on terrorism.

Comments

Add New

RSS

Only registered users can write comments!