Elsa Chyrum Awareness meeting and the “Walk of Witness”

During the months of September and October 2014 the Eritreans in Diaspora have been exceptionally active.  In the UK the following activities took place: On September 17, Meron Estifanos   flew all the way from Sweden and presented her trafficking and torture advocacy work in the House of Commons (the British Parliament). In the evening, the same day, she and Selam kidane conducted a Radio interview for ERENA in commemoration   of the 18/09/2001 the day   the G-15 and the private paper editors were incarcerated ushering in the era of repression perpetrated by PFDJ. Meron’s last visit was May 23, 2014 when she came to London to introduce her film “Sounds of Torture” at Keyworth Lecture Theatre South Bank University, London.  The film concerning ransom, torture, death and other forms of abuse in Sinai was so moving that people couldn’t control the sea of tears washing their faces.  

On 27 September 10.30 – 14.00) Berhane Gebrenugus of California USA organised a very interesting Brain Storm meeting at the hall of the International  initiative for Peace and discussed the timely issue of the role of the Diaspora today.  I call this Berhane’s second travelogue to UK from USA- . The first historical travel is when he came to London, invited a number of people for meeting that gave rise to the formation of CDRiE: Today is the most crucial time of Eritrea where the Eritrean communities the world over are trying to find their way and their place in an ever changing world – and build a humane and democratic nation out of the ashes of   repression and the destruction of the fabric of the Eritrean society, It is uncertain, unpredictable and frightening situation.  (More in part 2).

The same day at 3.00 – 7.00 pm Elsa Chyrum held her awareness creation meeting at Abrar House. Edgware Road.

On October 5 the newly established “Eritrean for Unity and Justice” UK branch (EUJ-UK) (Tewolde Vaccaro Initiative- who is now bedridden in Italy awaiting a life threatening operation),   organised a commemoration of the Lampedusa tragedy in Hide Park Corner.

On October 18, 20014:  The lay faithful of St. Daniel Comboni’s Cenacle of Missionary   prayer, based in Chiswick London walked  the “ WALK of Witness “ from Marble Arch to the House of Commons. Meeting at Hide park/Marble arch at 9.30 am marched all the way to the parliament and ended at 2.00 pm.   

The aim was to seek an immediate action from the UK government and the wider international community to help STOP Slavery and the evil of trading in Human Persons.  To that effect the invited guest MP Ms Fiona Mactaggart – Chair of All party Parliamentary group on Human Trafficking after welcoming the  marchers   expressed her satisfaction to address this rally and promised to do what she can to advance the welfare of refugees.    

As the marchers walk they were stopping people for signature and handed over a paper about the event which starts with a quotation that says, “

“Slaves no more but brothers and sisters”   pope Francis   The 3 ways to help 1. Pray for the traffickers & the victims.  2. Write to your MP (letters on Website) 3. Donate to support victims.

The walk ended in front of the House of Commons where several people gave solidarity messages. There was a representative from British Refugee Council, who explained the support they render to refugees.  A journalist from Darfur where she was imprisoned and tortured for working with Eritrean Refugees, a lawyer from Juba South Sudan and the  organisers of Stop Sinai torture,  Peter Cobbold, Aemro Iyasu and  the amazing Sister Natalia Gomes who was leading the prayers.  The meeting was concluded after all the talks. Fiona said she will be push for more help to refugees. It is unique that it was organised by the members of the main-stream British society and those who attended are from diverse cultures. London is a fascinating multi-cultural city where 300 languages are spoken every day.  The tireless worker Lul Seum, who was always good at giving recognition to hard work and sacrifice thanked all the marchers on behalf of Eritreans. The ideology of brothers/sisterhood, love and justice in the talk during the march and the evening  diner is so uplifting  it is worth to write in more detail about it in part 2.  

Rising to the challenge – The Elsa Chyrum Plea:

The meeting was called by Elsa Chyrum the director of Human Rights Concern (HRC)   to promote “The UN Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea”.  In short Elsa Chyrum highlighted the significance of these enquires. She said it is a unique opportunity to voice and recount the tortures Eritreans have gone through in the hands of PFDJ. It is a form of sharing the pain and suffering of the people of Eritrea with the international community through the medium of the United Nations.”  Indeed Eritreans belong to the family of nations who should condemn the gross human rights violations and give sanctuary to those who managed to escape.

So far the voices of the victims have not been heard.   Now they can be heard, the enquiry is there to listen to what the victims, their families, friends and all Eritreans who have a little sense of justice to speak out say. Also to give witness to the psychological and physical torture the victims are going through.   Hitherto, many parents and relatives have chosen to be silent because of fear, but silence is a killer itself, it torments people that is why there are many mental health problems including suicides amongst refugees.

 It is because of the tragedy in Lampedusa were 369 Eritreans including women and children were drowned that the world learned there is a serious problem in Eritrea.  But they don’t know much about it.   In order the International community take appropriate measures that goes to the extent of charging the Eritrean Government of “Crime against humanity” the atrocities must be substantiated and documented. And the inquiry commission is assigned to do that but they need people to come out and tell their stories.   Tewolde Tesfamariam (Wedi Vaccaro) in his successful worldwide tour had vowed to accuse the Eritrean Government of “Crime against Humanity”.  More than that it has become one of the burning issues among various Diaspora civil society organisations.

But more importantly the Eritreans themselves need to have all the documents in order to eventually put them in a library, sort of public records office, accessible to visitors, students of history and researchers.   It is the history of an African popular struggle - hijacked. It will serve a lesson to other people.  Besides, the history of the dark days of Eritrea can serve two fundamental purposes. The History to be preserved and thought in schools so that Eritreans will never forget about it and to make sure that such things will never happen again.    And secondly to realize that after all these years of pain, destruction of the fabric of Eritrean family and suffering there is no other way for the survival of Eritrean nation as thriving and prosperous nation except to shape its destiny in a democratic way. In this endeavour the Diaspora can play a very significant role.    They can participate in activities that brings about the rule of law, respect of human rights, freedom of expression and worship, secular governance guaranteed by the constitution.   

Elsa Chyrum came to believe that the inquiry commissions need cooperation from the Eritrean Diaspora because it is unlikely that the Government will let them enter Eritrea. And it is time to heed the plea of Elsa Chyrum and take full advantage of this unique opportunity for the sake of everybody including the international community.  .

 (To be continued in part 2)