On 5 July in Rome at the exit from a restaurant the ambassador of the State of Eritrea,
Petros Fessazion, was attacked by some people, almost certainly his countrymen
are tired of a repressive regime that denies the fundamental human freedoms.
But with the Ambassador Petros, there was probably Yemane Gebrehab, number two of the dictatorship
in power in the former Italian colony, was seriously injured in his cheekbone.

 But Rome hospital where he was admitted is not anyone by that name.
That gave false names to avoid being recognized is very likely, but it obviously
is not. Moreover the presence of Yemane was planned in a number of initiatives in Europe
where the “vice-dictator” did not appear. Massimo Alberizzi writes Petros and Yemane,
which once had condemned him to death and made kidnapping in Somalia.

EDITORIAL
Massimo A. Alberizzi
Nairobi, 14 July 2017

Cari Yemane and Petros , I wish to express my sincere regret for the events you have seen involved in Rome on 5 July: the policy methods can not and should not include violence. But unfortunately in your small but proud country exasperation against a brutal dictatorship and inhuman is mounted dramatically. Perhaps this incident will make you think about the consequences of your choices and your methods of “governance”.

As you know, I criticized (and critic) hard your diet with the power of ideas, as centuries of Western culture have taught us, and I regret that it is you, dear Yemane, has ordered against me a sentence of death sentence. Also because I do not believe that with your death, or mine, you can solve the problems of Eritrea. In 2017 we can not continue to govern a country (among other things beautiful as yours) with abuse of power and an iron fist.

Put dissidents in jail , you have militarized society, force your kids to a military service, you have gagged the press, prevented democratic development and you’re isolated from the world seeking alliances with the most sinister countries on the international scene: why?

Yemane Gebreab during a speech at the United Nations in Geneva

You have built a regime of terror, an inhuman society without a Constitution, based on fear, arrogance of a ruling group – of which you are a part – controlling and canceling students and intellectuals, torture and death. Why all this? What is your goal? Are the leadership of a beautiful and fascinating country that could have been an example to follow, a model for all of Africa. But you also deceived journalists who have helped you win your war. I can no longer visit Eritrea since you made me stop and a few months later I have sentenced to death for my articles criticizing your transformation: from freedom fighters in bloody dictators.

Yes, Yemane, I could go to a judge here in Italy, denounce you and tell you, that man ended up in hospital in Rome, are the one who ordered my kidnapping in Somalia, where they escaped execution only because I knew those they had to be my murderers.

The dictator Isaias Afeworki (left) and his side Yemane Gebreab

I managed to save myself, Somali Islamistshave pardoned me, but you and your friends have reprimanded them because they had let me go. Now you are in Italy with his head smashed, they tell me, and when you get out of that hospital (if you’re still recovering) will return to Eritrea. A massacre back your boys? To prevent him from escaping from the country? The propaganda of your regimen argues emphatically that all is well in Eritrea, everything is perfect. But you, us, we know that is not true.

Where are my friends in Petros Solomon Haile Woldensaye, Mohammed Sharifo, former ministers, or Isaac Dawit, a journalist, to name a few, arrested and put in some red-hot lowlands dell’infuocato jail? And Aster, the wife of Petros? You also deceived her, a freedom fighter, a companion of your weapons.

Petros Solomon during a UN intervention, immediately after the liberation dellì’Eritrea

After the arrest of her husbandand other ministers and leaders, September 18, 2001, she went from the United States where he was studying, she returned to Eritrea in December 2003 with Isaias Afeworki agreement, your president. He had guaranteed that she would not be harmed. Instead just got off the plane the henchmen of the regime arrested her. Her children, the children of Petros (Simon, twins, Zerai and Hanna, and Meaza), they waited in vain for their mother outside the terminal. Who knows what the camp is over Aster. I wonder how do you trick your comrades, your brothers, who, Yemane, during the war of liberation you called Monkey, your nickname with which I had known then.

Aster Yohannes and Petros Solomon at the time of their marriage when they were both leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Eritrea

And now I fear for those who are suspected of having assaulted. If you send them back to Eritrea they will be sentenced to death. Of course, after a good dose of cruel torture, that they may serve as an example for other dissidents. It should prevent them from being extradited to Africa.

And you, dear Ambassador Petros Fessazion , remember when before the release of 1991 were in Italy to represent the Popular Front for the Liberation of Eritrea and all we journalists were defending your fight for freedom? We made a tragic mistake to believe in a leadership that would become a tyranny. Unfortunately, you have learned well the techniques of fascism, who has ruled the painful Fascist. You have become the symbol of all that’s wrong in Africa.

The Italian Ambassador to the State of Eritrea, Petros Fessazion

The last time we met – less than a couple of years ago, during a conference in Carrara – I asked you to intercede with the dictator Afeworki because I took off this cumbersome death sentence. I’ve also invited to flee to take refuge in Italy. “I will defend,” I promised. Think: is not an escape treason. It ‘a betrayal remain, denying the principles that inspired your revolution: liberty, equality, progress and brotherhood. An invitation which I renew today, July 14, the day of the storming of the Bastille, the French Revolution party whose principles should inform any politician of this planet: flees, abandons that bloodthirsty regime.

Petros and Yemane, both know so much of what happens in Africa and if you could help to resolve the crisis at least understand them. A country like Somalia is destroyed, thanks to wicked Eritrean political support to Islamic Shebab. Why do you who declared liberal and secular have you allied with the Somali bloodthirsty terrorists?

Yemane, strength; escapes too. Ask for political asylum in Italy, denounced the misdeeds of the regime. You will return to Eritrea in triumph and not as a cowardly murderer, would you use today. Run, run.

Massimo A. Alberizzi
massimo.alberizzi@gmail.com
twitter @malberizzi