Eritrea And The Shadow Of WikiLeaks

Somewhere along the lines of US embassy cables being laid bare on WikiLeaks, one could imagine the dark clouds behind the façade of Eritrea’s defiant image.  In fact, that is exactly what it was all time – a shop window for total control and defiance.   What has been leaked out now, like all the tiny cracks in any building, will eventually work itself in to weaken this outdated house of horrors.   

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is in a London prison now and one might ask, “For what reason?”  Had he been an Eritrean (inside Eritrea), he would be taken in for treason, be left to rot in prison or disappeared long before then.

Julian being in London however, the process is much more subtle.

Charles Savage has the following to report [guardian.co.uk]:

Charlie Savage of the New York Times looks at the legal tangle facing the US government in trying to figure out what law to charge Assange and Wikileaks with: 

A government official familiar with the investigation said that treating WikiLeaks different from newspapers might be facilitated if investigators found any evidence that Mr Assange aided the leaker, who is believed to be a low-level Army intelligence analyst – for example, by directing him to look for certain things and providing technological assistance.

If Mr Assange did collaborate in the original disclosure, then prosecutors could charge him with conspiracy in the underlying leak, skirting the question of whether the subsequent publication of the documents constituted a separate criminal offense. But while investigators have looked for such evidence, there is no public sign suggesting that they have found any.

Meanwhile, according to another government official familiar with the investigation, Justice Department officials have also examined whether Mr Assange and WikiLeaks could be charged with trafficking in stolen government property.

Stolen government property? Not exactly high treason.

He [Julian Assange] is in prison charged for an alleged rape and sexual molestation of two women.  In refusing him bail, District Judge Howard Riddle said:

…the Australian Assange's "weak community ties" in the UK, and his "means and ability" to abscond, represented "substantial grounds" for refusing bail.

It would be interesting to find out how references to ‘dodgy dossier’ documents and the word ‘sexed-up’ materialized in media space in relation to revelations about Iraq War and other highly confidential government files.  It looks like both (dodgy dossier and sexed-up) techniques are being applied to his case.

It is framed in real time and applied on one single individual by governments believed to have signed the Freedom of Information Act.  No wonder some other governments are not that willing to embed such laws into their legal system.  In either case, it is a gathering of unlikely friends united by one single enemy embodied in one person and it just doesn’t add up.  The archive material inside WikiLeaks is too massive to be dealt with but the exposure and the spot-lights they shine on is too important to ignore.  It is a call to make governments accountable – just plain simple and highly critical without even saying a word. 

We now have yet another witness (R. McMullen – former US Ambassador to Eritrea) how the Eritrean government operates in the name of national security and it just doesn’t hold water.  With all the powers they muster, they [Eritrean officials] will not hesitate to reduce the country to rubble.

The first wikileak (if you can call it that) in the Eritrean context was back in May of 2001.  It was a political document signed by 15 members of the Eritrean members of Parliament (known as the G -15 or the Reformers) sending out a wake up call to the people of Eritrea and demanding a party congress for a reformed government.  Another private letter, sent to the President of Eritrea, by another 11 Eritreans in the Diaspora (known as the G -11) was ‘allegedly’ made public by a pro-government website in early 2001.  Both events and the gravity of their importance were played out in public and discredited on grounds of national security. 

Some of those who took part in the former are dead or disappeared while the rest are not that keen to fight back or almost politically disabled to make any significant political impact.

Eritrean websites based outside Eritrea with all their colourful denominations have somehow managed to keep the fire burning.  Whether they can sustain internal or external pressure and pull the curtain to reveal the real theatre of power remains to be seen.

Those who support the Government of Eritrea might get overexcited by the latest developments and dig trenches for national security to fence off enemies.  Unfortunately, blaming others forever and inventing scapegoats isn’t a sustainable political business.  Prolonging injustice and generating conflict for personal gain and in the name of a totally helpless nation state is just plain stupid.