Dear Eriterea.org. Asmarino. com, Visafric and all those other, Eritrean users of webside news and other mass-media,

Though the present Eritrean government officially recognizes only 9 or 10 Eritrean ethnic groups, there are other minor folk-groups or sub-groups that have been, deliberately, left out, due to, perhaps, political complications.

Take only the case of the IROB ethnic group.

Each Eritrean ethnic group has its own language, traditions and proudly preserved and protected cultural heritages.

In a society made up of so many and varied ethnic groups and cultures, each Eritrean person should face the reality of being one among many and behave accordingly.

Each Eritrean ethnic group, living within the geographically and politically recognized borders of Eritrea, has to be, therefore, respected, protected and given equal and full rights.

It is infact very detrimental and destructive when an individual, a group of individuals or an entire ethnic group claims to be somehow superior to others or sends recurring signs of occupying and anjoying an elite status within the Eritrean community.

Such attitude, very often, manifests itself through making discriminatory statements on other ethnic groups, alienating or ostracizing them and forming of oneīs own political and other groups and sticking to them.

I belong to one of those different Eritrean ethnic groups and have been living here in Berlin for the last 16 years.

Already during my first year, I noticed how a tiny group of Tigrigna speaking Eritrean highlanders here, scrutinized, discriminated, protected or ostracized each individual Eritrean or family that ended up landing in this beautiful city.

At that time, I did not have any clearly defined political orientation, apart from the fact of feeling an Eritrean, belonging to a particular Eritrean ethnic group and striving, as much as I could, for the end of the war in Eritrea and the obtaining of its independence.

To my big surprise, I soon realized that I was not totally accepted and not even recognized, by that group, as a "true Eritrean" simply because of the fact that I was not a strong supporter of the then EPLF.

Though the Eritrean diaspora here in Berlin was very small, at that time, and everyone knew everyone else, the discriminatory classification of Eritreans in terms of their ethnicity and political orientation, went on and is still going on as if Eritrea, now an independent country, were only theirs and the true Eritreans were only the Tigrigna speaking highlanders and supporters of the then EPLF and the present PFDJ.

If, as it has often been reported, the PFDJ itself claims that "THIS IS NOT ONLY A POLITICAL PARTY BUT A CULTURE" then one does not need to ask "WHOSE CULTURE" they mean.

In fact one does not have to wonder when a strong (or even opportunist) supporter of PFDJ, obviously a Tigrigna speaking highlander living here in Berlin, dared to declare (addressing the other ethnic groups) that: "WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT, WE ARE NOW YOUR MASTER AND RULERS".

All these petty behaviours and outrageous statements could be considered unworthy of any comment, but these some people, unfortunately, have been given (would you believe, from no other than the Eritrean Embassy or Consulate here in Germany) the authority to prove or disapprove of the "ERITREAN-ITY" of other Eritreans seeking to get an "ENTRY VISA", in order to visit their own native land and people after so many years of absence. These visas are not even easy to get due to a complicated system that requires that an Eritrean has to fulfil certain conditions to be fully recognized as such by these self-appointed "TRUE ERITREANS":

By the way, many of these officially authorized"OFFICIALS", were born and grown up somewhere in Ethiopia and can hardly speak their ancestersī language Tigrigna, but they are very adamants against other Eritreans.

Some others are nominally Eritreans who are struggling to prove their own and that theirs ancestersī origin and "ERITREAN-ITY".

It seems to me that, for these people, to be an Eritrean one does not have to be born as such but only become a PFDJ supporter and pay oneīs dues.

Very recently, one of these Ethiopean-born-Eritreans, had the audacity to confront and ask an individual originating from the very heart of Eritea (Barka / Gash / Setit), if this were "REALLY AN ERITREAN".

The Ethio-Eritrean got such a barrage of pungent answers, that, I think, will taunt him for the rest of his life.

I believe, this group of individuals would be more careful, or at least more diplomatic and less contemptuous towards other Eritrean ethnic groups, if the present Eritrean government, paricularly the members of the Eritrean Embassy or Consulate here in Germany, would show some more respect to and fully recognize all the Eritrean ethnic groups, regardless of their political orientations. The Embassy personnel should also seriously consider educating those individuals that, in the name of the Eritrean government, are destroying the very nucleus of the Eritrean society. The evil activities of such individuals should be either immediately stopped or otherwise one has to conclude that these activities are being carried out with the blessing of the ambassadorīs himself.

I have also heard that, this arrogant behaviour of the Tigrigna speaking Eritrean highlanders in general, and that of supporters of the PFDJ in particular, towards other Eritrean ethnic groups, is very common in every corner of the world where the Eritreans have gone to settle down.

Returning to Germany, I have to point out that, every time a member of the Eritrean Embassy or Consulate comes to Berlin (and it is very often), he / she restricts his/her visits to and holds meetings only with the groups of his/her supporters and never cares about the other Eritreans living here.

The question, logically, goes: "DOES THE AMBASSADOR OR THE CONSUL OF THE STATE OF ERITREA TO THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY" take care of the affairs of Eritrea (and of all the Eritreans) or "DOES HE ONLY" take care of the affairs and interests of the PFDJ government and those of its strongest supporters? I hope to get an answer from the Ambassador himself.

If we Eritreans, (including Ambassadors and Consuls) and regardless of our ethnicity and political ideologies, have not learnt and will never learn the true meaning of "DEMOCRACY", though living in one of the most democratic societies in the world, how on earth could we ever dare preach that message to our Eritrean brothers back home?

If most Eritreans abroad (and they are quite a few), after so many years of struggling together for our independence, are still divided on ethnic lines and have not learnt to think, talk and behave democratically, one has to state, though regrettably, that, "THAT POLITICAL PARTY THAT CLAIMS, AT THE SAME TIME, TO BE A CULTURE" had sent, from the very beginning, a wrong message to those whose "CULTURE" is represented by that party. That particular party or "CULUTURE", therefore, carries the whole responsibiliy of all that is happening in Eritrea today.

One should not wonder when we hear that individuals or group of individuals from various Eritrean ethnic groups are again taking arms to fight against each other.

GOD FORBID A RWANDA-KIND OF CIVIL WAR IN ERITREA!