‘What does the bomb attack in Tesseney tell the world?’

In today’s media ‘the word terrorism’ is being degraded and over used. Especially, after 9/11, western countries and in particular the US is distorting the meaning and essence of terrorism in pursuing aggressive national interests, thereby violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of small and weak states. The catastrophes in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia are the results of the said terrorism. Different countries define terrorism differently; however, all definitions share some common points like Killing innocent people, installing fear, intimidation and others.

For Eritrea, terrorism is not a new phenomenon that came after 9/11. Eritrea, being located in a volatile and unstable region, has been encountering terrorist attacks from different neighboring countries. Even before the independence of Eritrea, the Eritrean People Liberation Front, withstood and eliminated terrorism from the area controlled by the freedom fighters. Right after 1991, the independence of Eritrea, some bankrupt politicians from neighboring countries tried their best to destabilize the new born country. These people who stood firmly to weep the Eritrean people have been committing the worst crimes they can on Eritrean civilians. These acts of desperation include, killing farmers and herdsmen who were living in the western parts of the country. In 1994 and 1996 the terrorist attacks were so intense that the Eritrean government was forced to take some measures to protect its people and their prosperity.

All those desperate moves were meant to cripple the Eritrean economy that was gaining momentum, and to disturb the peace that Eritrea was enjoying. The brutal killing of one British farmer in Gash Barka who was investing his money in raising livestock and farming was meant to hinder the flow of investors to Eritrea.

Terrorist attacks in Eritrea are underreported for the people of Eritrea are already engaged in another fruitful war – war against poverty. There has been continuous mine planting in the western parts of the country that resulted in damages to civilians and their property. There have been continuous time bomb attacks in different places. One example of this is, the terrorist attack on the eve of Independence anniversary Day in 2005 in Barentu, a town in the western part of Eritrea, which left many dead and wounded.

And recently terrorists supported by the minority regime in Ethiopia have killed two civilians and wounded eight by a bomb blast in Tesseney, a town in the western part of Eritrea. And after two days, a bomb blast blew a public passengers bus leaving two women dead and wounding others.

The government of Eritrea was and is handling the situation patiently. The paradox is the US has been pointing its finger at Eritrea to put it in the list of states that sponsor terrorism. The misguided perception of the US administration on Eritrea’s stance on terrorism was partly due to the minority regime in Ethiopia. The ruling party in Ethiopia, as a continuation of its efforts to weaken and isolate the Eritrean people has been engaged in defaming Eritrea as a terrorist state. But the reality is Eritrea does not support terrorism. In fact it is a victim of terrorism.

When I heard some politicians libeling Eritrea as a terrorist state, I related it to Victor Hugo’s phrase of ‘anti – victim society’ in his renowned book ‘les miserables.’ The writer called the then existing society of France as ‘anti victim’ for abetting the trouble makers to cause maximum pain on the victims. Similarly the accusation of Eritrea in regard to terrorism is nothing but an absolute anti – victim and libelous act.