By Amanuel Biedemariam

For Eritreans, the very existence of the nation as recognized by the UN is a testament to how victorious, hard working, independent, resilient and self reliant people that they are. The reason being, Eritrea was a condemned nation by the British, US, Italy and others from existence. These nations collectively decided that it would serve their interest if they make Eritrea a part of Ethiopia and imposed unnatural annexation of Eritrea by Ethiopia. As a result Eritreans were forced to endure untold hardships, immeasurable lose of life and years of instability. Millions became refugees and scattered. Eritrea’s chance of becoming a viable independent nation was severely degraded to below zero. Eritrea became a barren-dry-land due to successive brutal puppet Ethiopian regimes that wanted the land and not the people. As a result, after independence, Eritrea was forced to dig-out from the deep dark-whole into what it is today; an oasis in the middle of desert and thorny bushes.

Hence, the true measure of Eritrea’s successes needs to be looked back to the start of Eritrean revolution in 1961. The seed of independent Eritrea was sown then. At that time the wise leaders and the people of Eritrea decided to organize, arm and embark on a political awareness program unseen anywhere. That became the basis and a trajectory to the success that is Eritrea today. If one says Eritrea is the only independent nation in Africa today, it is a fact without exaggeration.

Eritreans are pragmatic and hard working people that faced the devil that is the West and won handedly without bowing to any one-nation or entity. Eritreans are smart people that know true freedom can only be attained with grit, determination, commitment and perseverance. They know what winning and victories meant from the inception of the revolution. They know what it entailed to ensure perpetuity. Hence, the liberation fighters-then sacrificed in ways that are impossible for the average person to imagine. They travelled in the harshest of climates, and the most difficult of terrains almost barefoot. They embarked on a national health and education programs in caves and under bushes. They build factories for products that they desperately needed in areas that are not ideal. They became masters of their destiny by doing many things creatively.

They embraced the public and in return the public embraced them-tenfold creating a harmonious partnership that is the foundation for the unity amongst Eritreans that exists nowhere-else in the world to date. They supported each other while building institutions that can stand the test of time. They worked hand-and-glove with villagers and farmers to create a farming partnership that expanded Eritrea’s agricultural capacity to ensure food security and expand the agro-industry for export. They developed indigenous mechanisms to build infrastructures in ways unseen anywhere in Africa. Eritrea turned every challenge imaginable into opportunities. Above all, Eritreans were able to accomplish all these miracles with joy and unparalleled generosity. All around the world Eritreans were supporting the war for liberation efforts while lifting one another from dire situations and dangerous places around the world. They were sending monies in everyway possible. Even the strictest of Ethiopian rulers were never able to control Eritreans from supporting their families.

This is proof that Eritreans are determined to leave poverty behind once and for all. There is also one undeniable fact here. If Eritreans waited to be saved by anyone, their hands will still be raised in prayer like a statue without a country or even history. With that knowledge in mind, Eritreans have done all they can to rely on Eritreans entirely to save and sustain them in good or bad. Eritrea has seen it all. For Eritreans drought, hardship and war is not new, in fact, it is has been a way of life thus-far. However, above all Eritreans have a very high hope, determination and confidence that their hard work and sacrifices will payoff for certain. And it is paying off big time.

The combination of principled approach to life and determination to-set their own destiny is bearing fruit. Their grateful and humble nature is making life easier because they are able to be thankful to the small victories that they have been able to amass into a gargantuan. Eritreans have learned that there is no small victory because they know when one kid plants a tree it is the cumulative effect that greens the country. They know one micro dam can change the life of a village in many ways and it is that knowledge that propelled them to build one of the largest dams in Africa in Gerset. This is taking place throughout Eritrea greening a nation that was once a desert due to neglect. Mountains are being terraced to reforest and protect the soil from erosion.

All these happen because there is harmony, understanding and cohesion amongst all the people. There is a great understanding amongst all Eritreans that the greatest resource Eritrea has is her people. Therefore, the focus has been-and-remains to be health, the successful nurturing of her pupils and education without exception and no matter where. To achieve that, Eritrea in her short existence has built schools and clinics in every village. There exists all types of social services in every part of Eritrea. The success Eritreans achieved in a short time is miraculous considering the hostilities that has been mounted against Eritrea. Consequently Eritrea is rich with all types of resources. And relative to the rest of Africa, Eritrea’s achievement is a standard that may never be reached!

This is a brief narrative of what Eritrea is about. Eritreans are not and will no be measured by the standards that the bigoted Westerners have set for Africans. They will not be cornered into the stereotypes of Africa that is hungry and dependent on handouts from the West. That is what Eritrea fought against in-principle and won independence. Self Reliance is a motto Eritrea breathes, eat and live by. Self reliance is not a proclamation for show or dogma; it is assurance to the very existence of Eritrea.

That is why it was perplexing to see a white South African Martin Plaut report about Eritrea based on fabrications, innuendo’s and assertions in order to create a new narrative of what Eritrea is or isn’t. Martin Plaut went to Ethiopia, a country at war with Eritrea, and reported stories about Eritrea based on the direction of Ethiopian authorities and proclaimed there is famine in Eritrea. Due to the sensitivities of naming the draught situation it took countless of reports for the UN to declare famine in Ethiopia and Somalia. Yet, Plaut took it upon himself to declare famine on Eritrea. How deceitful is that? The UN uses five categories to determine famine and the UN did not even place Eritrea in the list of countries affected yet, Martin Plaut took it upon himself to declare it.

To buttress his claim, Plaut sited, “satellite imagery from a weather monitoring group,” as if satellites can look inside a village or a home; noted personal accounts from people he spoke to in the Ethiopian side; sited Susan Rice’s insinuation that there may be famine that Eritrean authorities are hiding and flew with that.

This clearly shows Martin Plaut of the BBC and ilk are not journalists. They are agents of government-media organizations that are determined to create wars, instability, and hatred-based killings amongst people of a nation. They are agents of destruction, mayhem and genocide. They are experts at creating falsehood and misinformation in countries and governments of interest. They are brutal media mercenaries unconcerned about the people and issues they are reporting about. It is about the agendas they try to further. In this case, it is to make a long standing case against the government of Eritrea. To show pattern of civilian abuses so they can take actions as they have in Libya and other places.

It is not necessary or a standard for the BBC and other Western media organizations to send reporters in order to do due diligence and provide facts for the reports they give anymore. Instead they are relying on second and third hand information and report, as if it is factual information. And unfortunately, there is no scrutiny or penalty for gross misrepresentations these agents of evil spew regularly.

Martin Plaut is a South African-byproduct of the apartheid-era that thinks nothing about the suffering of the African people. If he did, he would have dared to look into his own homeland and cry for the suffering of his people that are facing starvation, the highest HIV infection rates and deaths due to AIDS related diseases. He would have gone to the shanty towns and face the inequalities his predecessors are subjecting South Africans into. Or he could have talked about his current residence UK that was mired by riots stemming from economic hardships. Instead Plaut-BOY found it convenient to talk about the only African country that found proven answers to poverty. How sad!

Let this be known to Plaut; Eritrea has reached a platform that no African country has reached strictly by relying on her self. There is also nothing Plaut or ilk can do about the riches of Eritrea poses. In addition, there is nothing Plaut can do to change the path of success Eritreans have created. And nothing he can do about the impenetrable unity amongst Eritreans. There is also another fact Plaut-BOY needs to know. Eritreans never abandon their own like he abandoned his African “brethren.”

All Eritreans need to expose the agents of evil BBC, Plaut and their hired Eritrean agents like Amaniel Iyasu!

The United Nations may have sounded the alarm about soaring global food prices, but in Africa a string of bumper harvests and a changing diet means the political fallout may be more muted than to past price bumps, reports Ed Cropley from Reuters.

On the financial side, a little bit of inflation will help push up domestic debt yields in the region’s frontier markets, making bonds more attractive to foreigners and thereby giving currencies a boost.

But in contrast to the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s global food index hitting 2008 crisis levels last week, maize, Africa’s predominant staple, is showing few signs of stress, suggesting a repeat of the unrest of two years ago on the continent is unlikely.

South Africa, its biggest economy and maize grower, has just harvested its heaviest crop in 30 years and maize prices are 1,281 rand/tonne — 22 percent above a 2010 low but only just over half a record 2008 high of 2,240 rand.

The supply story is much the same in many other states in Africa, where food makes up a much larger chunk of the average inflation basket than developed countries, making their economies far more susceptible to food supply crunches.

A five-year fertilizer subsidy programme has caused steadily rising crops in Malawi, which had a surplus of nearly 1 million tonnes in August compared to consumption of 2.5 million.

Zambia had a maize export surplus of 1.1 million tonnes in November after its second record harvest in two years, based on good rains and growing investment in the farming sector.

Even Niger, which needed $250 million in food aid last year to help feed 10 million hungry people, said last week favourable weather had put it on course for its best cereal crop in 20 years, with a forecast surplus of 1.5 million tonnes.

“In most of the countries, we’re not seeing any meaningful food inflation. It’s trickled higher in Kenya, but if you look at the other countries, it hasn’t really moved materially,” said Leon Myburgh, an Africa economist at Citi in Johannesburg.

TENSIONS

Given Africa’s huge diversity, its 53 countries and its propensity to snatch unrest from the jaws of stability, it is too much to say, however, that it is insulated from the political risks implied by the rising global cost of food. Food price riots hit Algeria last week, and in September, 13 people were killed in street fighting in Mozambique after the government hiked bread prices 30 percent by axing subsidies it could no longer afford in the wake of a wheat price spike.

But in Kenya, which saw inflation rise to 4.5 percent in December from 3.8 percent a month earlier amid fungal damage to its wheat crop, the chances of political fallout are diminished by the country’s changing diet since the 2008 shock. According to agriculture officials, eating habits have shifted from traditional maize and wheat to include more rice, potatoes and local vegetables such as amaranth. Potatoes are now Kenya’s second-most popular foodstuff.

SHIFTING INTERESTS

Traditionally, investor interest in east Africa’s biggest economy has been limited to equities because of an idiosyncratic way of calculating inflation that was scrapped last year in favour of a more orthodox, IMF-approved formula. That outside preference for stocks may now change, especially if — as with other countries — its bond yields continue to track up, widening the spread with low-yielding U.S. and European debt.

Kenyan 3-year debt is now yielding 5.9 percent, against just 2.8 percent in August when, as with most frontier African markets barring Zambia and Ghana, domestic debt was not worth the currency risk or hassle and cost of trading.

In Nigeria, the yield on the 3-year bond has soared to 11.5 percent from 3.5 percent in March as the government spent its way through nearly $20 billion of “rainy day” oil reserves.

And in Uganda, 3-month T-bills are now yielding more than 7 percent compared with less than 4.5 percent for much of last year — although a currency at record lows against the dollar is deterring foreign interest.

That currency weakness will spur inflation in the longer term, putting more pressure on the central bank to head off the increases — something it has been reluctant to do since the emergency crisis-related easing of 2008/09. For outsiders, that balance between moderate inflation that stimulates healthy bond yields, and runaway price increases that damage overall economic performance, will be crucial.

“There’s been a huge amount of policy accommodation in Africa, and understandably, a reluctance to roll that back very quickly,” said Razia Khan, head of Africa research at Standard Chartered in London. ”But at the same time the inflation outlook is not going to be that favourable. The big question is ‘Do domestic yields rise fast enough to compensate for that or not?’ If it’s not the case, you’re not going to see sizeable investor interest.”

Claiming that the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has stated that famine and starvation is mounting at the global level and that it is worsening, lie-disseminating networks posted such a claim which media outlets subsequently reported as it is.

The issue calls for in-depth and serious handling, as well as rectification; and hence a number of facts need to be clearly spelt out at this juncture.

What is not surprising, however, is that in line with their habit of uttering nonsense, the same quarters have tried to place Eritrea among the ranks of those countries hard-hit by famine.

Although Eritrea has not yet achieved a lasting food security, it has been ages since it freed itself from the ‘club’ of food aid seekers.

No food aid has been channeled to Eritrea over the past couple of years by FAO or through its sponsorship. Even in the year 2009 when food shortage occurred due to natural causes, there was no handout of ‘pane’ to the nation. At a time when Eritrea is reaping bumper harvest in 2010 and has succeeded in ensuring reliable food supply for 2011, trying to list it in the category of those countries worst-hit by famine in 2010, one can but only say: “Shame to its authors and mouthpieces.”

Ministry of Information

Asmara

16 October 2010

The European Commission Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO) has raised a red flag over the worsening food security situation in the Horn of Africa.

Karel De Gucht, European Commissioner in charge of development and humanitarian aid, attributes the disastrous situation to the terrible potential of climate change.

“Large parts of the Horn of Africa have had less than 75 percent of normal rainfall this year, having already endured a series of severe droughts. The population can no longer cope with such extreme and protracted hardship which often comes on top of conflict situation. As a result, more than 16 million people desperately need help,” he said in a statement released by ECHO.

Initial optimism occasioned by forecasts of El Niño rains were thwarted when November proved largely dry. El Niño refers to a periodic warming of temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, far from East Africa’s shores but with impacts on the country’s rainfall and weather patterns.

Samuel Mwangi, acting assistant director of Kenya’s national weather forecasting services explains that El Niño has been linked with greater rainfall during the annual “short rains” in East Africa, between October and December.

ECHO warns that if the December rains are below average, parts of Kenya may suffer irreparable damage.

ECHO regional information officer Daniel Dickinson told IPS, “In the face of the unfolding drought situation, ECHO is providing 50 million euros in humanitarian aid to vulnerable drought-affected people in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. The rains have failed and people have exhausted the coping mechanisms which they had and urgently need help.”

Kenya’s minister for special programmes, Naomi Shaban, issued a similar warning in mid- December over the worsening food security situation across the country.

Speaking as she flagged off relief food worth $80,000 donated by Telkom Kenya and World Vision Kenya, Shaban said ten districts across the country are facing an imminent crisis in relation to food insecurity.

“Unfortunately, the country has experienced another season of failed rains which is expected to increase the current levels of food insecurity. Although Kenya’s food security is still on the borderline, many districts are at risk of sliding into an acute food and livelihood crisis. This situation is made worse by high food prices,” Shaban explained.

In Kenya, Dickinson says it is estimated 3.8 million people currently rely on humanitarian aid and the situation is worsening. with acute malnutrition above 20 percent in five districts.

The government of Kenya has increased its monthly spending on relief food to $1.3 million per month to assist those facing starvation. In early 2009, the government declared the unfolding food security situation a national disaster, stating that 10 million Kenyans were unable to access food.

In Ethiopia, ECHO reports indicate with several consecutive crop failures, the nutritional situation in that country has deteriorated badly and is expected to worsen further.

The story unfolding in Somalia is similar, with the situation aggravated by ongoing conflict. In Uganda, ECHO indicates 2.2 million people in northern Acholi and Karamoja regions face food insecurity.

According to Famine Early Warning Systems Network (which issues alerts on food insecurity) poor rains in November have revised prospects for widespread food security improvements that were expected to manifest toward the end of December in Kenya.

Those set to be adversely affected include pastoral households who already face unrelenting prices for food, an outbreak of cholera and heightened conflict over limited pasture and water in drought conditions.

However, Mwangi says sections of the country have experienced increased rainfall as predicted, which means good harvests will be recorded in certain areas.

“It must be pointed out that the poor performance of rainfall is not widespread across the country. There are areas that will still record good harvests from the rainfall received during the season.

In Coast, Northeastern, Eastern and Central Provinces, the rainfall was characterised by heavy storms in the second half of the month. This significantly enhanced the total rainfall amounts recorded in these provinces,” Mwangi says.

It is not clear whether good harvests in these areas will cover the predicted shortfalls in the rest of the country. Source: (IPS)

Robert Wood, Deputy Spokesman of the US Department State said during a press briefing that food security is a priority to Secretary Clinton.

Asked what America plans to do on the worsening food situation in East Africa Mr Wood replied that the matter is of big concern to the United States.

He explained that the US is trying to provide resources not only direct on a bilateral level, but also by supporting international organizations.

The spokesman points out that it will take more than resources from the United States to address the problem. He calls for the assistance of other nations in order to deal with the serious food security problem in Africa.