By Youth Action Network – Australia (YANA) Dec 12, 2002, 6:08pm
A young disabled man with no arms or legs in a wheel chair. Many possibilities on how he may have lost them. “War” comes to mind. “May be during the third offensive” you wonder. “A car accident”? Try again. “A work place related casualty perhaps”? “A mine explosion”? Have you considered a PFDJ disciplinary action gone wrong?
They call it Helicopter. It has many versions. Warsai has a nickname for every version. “Pat Man” “enQurOb” “meEleb hamema”. Warsay tries to make a joke out of it all, how would they survive otherwise? Laughter is the only medicine they have and it does not cost them money. Where would they get money any way when they are used as slave labour for PFDJ? It would not even be surprising if PFDJ made laughing a criminal offence punishable by “helicopter”.
Are you sure you want to know what “Helicopter” is? Get ready to puke.
Helicopter or Batman: Both arms and legs jointly tied up together behind the back. The victim is hanged on a tree or a pole blindfolded resembling a Bat hanging on a tree. The “Batman” can become a “meEleb hamema” very easily, just apply sugar and coat the victim’s face and head with sweetened water or any thing that attracts flies and insects. The victim may be kept like that for hours if not days. Many become paralysed their arms and legs amputated or go insane as a result of such tormenting experience. If after all this, one is still in control of his sanity and dares to speak out and complain, he probably will face “miSigaE”. Execution in cold blood, another innocent young soul lost for no reason. PFDJ’s officers from Hell never run out of torture methods. Types of punishments inflicted on poor Warsai are endless, for reasons as ridiculous as oversleeping in the morning. Even in Military standards, these punishments can only be described as brutal and barbaric.
And then we have the Ministry of SHAME (MoS), concealed behind the name Ministry of Education, and The National Union of Youth & Students. Both working hard to create ways of how to best enslave the youth and students of Eritrea. Threats, intimidations and continued harassment are what these two organisations do best. “If students don’t report to SAWA, the ministry will not be responsible for the consequences”, warns MoS. Have these two arms of PFDJ ever been responsible for anything decent?
They fail to admit that the majority of those who have been called to report to SAWA have already completed their duties. They have complied with their part of the deal and it is now the Government that needs to keep its promise. The youth have every right to question and make their views heard regarding policies that effect them directly. Some of those who have been called up have served more than 6 or 7 years already. The government gives only empty promises to set them free. The most productive years of their lives have been lost.
Youth of Eritrea are not running away from their responsibilities, but from the evil, brutal and corrupt officers of PFDJ. It is the Government of Eritrea that is running away from its responsibilities and from accountability for the atrocities committed against Eritrea’s new generation. The Dictator Isayas Afeworki, in a recent interview, rather than address the issues, he promises more rounding ups. He gives his soldiers the green light to break into houses in the middle of the night terrorising innocent families and children. Why don't you Mr. DIA, try going after your corrupt officers?
Oh, of course you can’t, because you guys help each other. They protect your Dictatorship; you provide them with the resources to “rape” the nation.
What we have in Eritrea is an envious government that does not want to see young people succeed, achieve and be the best they can be. A ruling party that thinks, since they have lived their youthful life in mountains and as gorilla fighters, the youth of a liberated Eritrea should live to suffer too. They have forgotten that all the sacrifices of the past were so that the youth of today can have better life and opportunities.
One of the things PFDJ intentionally is doing is suck the energy out of the youth, kill the feeling of nationalism in their hearts. Today's youth only have one goal, to flee the country. They feel as if they are strangers in their own land. Their hopes and dreams have been shattered, totally destroyed, thanks to PFDJ; our youth feel they have nothing to offer any more. They feel as if their life has become a burden on their families and the society. Suicide rate is alarmingly high among them; many more suffer from mental problems. We call upon all Youth and Student organisations around the world to jointly say to DIA, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. And we renew our calls to all Eritrean women organisations to break the myth that women are PFDJ’s most loyal constituency. This is a myth PFDJ wants to promote to stop you from coming to the aid of your sisters, daughters and mothers, victims of Sawa rape camp.
NO MORE RAPE NO MORE TORTURE NO MORE SLAVERY
Youth Action Network – Australia (YANA)