Conversations with Eritrean Political Prisoners

In 2001, months after a devastating war with Ethiopia, a wide-ranging debate erupted within Eritrea over the conduct of leadership and the content of government policy, particularly around the 1998-2000 Border War with Ethiopia, which many thought could have been averted. Much of the criticism was directed at the president, Isaias Afwerki, who refused to implement a newly ratified Constitution or to permit the formation of political parties or to conduct national elections. This national conversation came to an abrupt halt in September when the government arrested its most prominent critics, shut down the private press, and smothered all public political discussion. This book revisits that debate through interviews with five critics—top government officials and former liberation movement leaders—shortly before they disappeared into the Eritrean gulag. Since then, none has been seen, heard from or accounted for. Nor has any been charged with a crime. As these conversations reveal, the speakers knew what was in store for them—arrest and indefinite detention. This is why they spoke with veteran journalist and long-time friend of Eritrea Dan Connell. This book not only opens a critical window onto that seminal moment; it signals the persistence of the dream of a democratic future for a remarkable nation whose promise has yet to be fulfilled.

Politics & Social Sciences

Dan Connell

Social Sciences

The Red Sea Press, Inc.

<p>Against All Odds is a firsthand account of Eritrea’s 30\-year struggle for independence from Ethiopia, which it won in 1991 with little outside support after defeating successive U.S.\- and Soviet\-backed regimes and overcoming drought and famine while working to unify and reform the society from which it derived its strength. A 1997 Afterword captures the optimism generated by these achievements. But a New Reappraisal recounts its slide into despotism after renewed conflict with Ethiopia and the dark years of isolation and repression that followed, the hopes raised by a 2018 peace pact and then dashed by another round of war. It concludes with reflections on how to break this cycle and begin the democratic transition for which so many fought and died.</p>

Against All Odds: 2nd edition with a new update & a reappraisal

History

Africa

The Red Sea Press

Women to Women: Young Americans in South Africa

Women To Women: Young Americans In South Africa

Africa Research and Publications

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Books by Dan Connell