“The Struggle of Man Against Power is The Struggle of MEMORY against FORGETTING Milan Kundera in the Book of Laughter & Forgetting PFDJ Should right a book on Festivals, Dancing and Forgetting... PFDJ-Ambassador Zemede Tekle is preparing for yet another Festival in Bologna while Eritrean mothers, fathers, wives, children, family are still waiting for the bodies of 366 Eritreans who perished in Lampedusa in October Last year... It is 9 Months after they died and Zemede Tekle made the promise. Amb. Zemede once again reiterated the GoE’s intention to repatriate, at its own cost, and as Eritrean culture demands, all the bodies belonging to the Eritrean victims of this tragedy for proper burial in their ancestral homeland. It has forwarded a formal request to the Italian foreign Ministry but it has yet to receive an official response. He has called for cooperation and assistance from the competent Italian authority. When asked if he had met with the families of the victims and survivors, Amb.Zemede responded that he had met some family members of the deceased but he had yet to meet survivors. He was also asked if his visit to Lampedusa was official or unofficial. Amb. Zemede responded that Italian authorities had been informed of his trip and that not only him, but also different Ambassadors for other African nations did arrive in the Island, e.g. (Morocco, Senegal, Cape Verde, Charge d’affairs of DRC). The interviewer described the situation as being very delicate since the families of victims have now to deal with the Government those victims were running from. Amb. Zemede insisted that this is a tragedy that has touched everyone and that it is, not only from a humanitarian (and/or) compassionate point of view, but also a moral and culturally-imposed duty – the GoE’s responsibility to take care of its citizens and guarantee proper burial of the victims of this tragedy, as well as to look after the requests of families awaiting the return of loved ones back home, in this moment of sorrow. On the other end, (that old fart) Alganesh stated that all survivors expressed no interest in meeting with the Ambassador and their only demand was about the return of the bodies to their homeland. She criticized the Embassy for arriving 10 days after the facts and she asked for the protection of all survivors. She doubted of true intentions of the Eritrean Government to repatriate the bodies adding that if the GoE’s request was genuine they would have moved much quicker. She continued saying that the GoE is making excuses about the Italian Gov. delay in responding and said that all the bodies had already been buried in Agrigento (Sicily). She also said that the return of 365 dead bodies to Eritrea would amount to a huge political and moral ‘slap in the face’. The interviewer (in the studio) asked if the families of victims (would-be asylum seeker) should fear retaliation from the Government of Eritrea. She said that the GoE regularly demand cash (50,000 Nfa) or black-mail families of those who have left. Hence, she said a similar fate awaits those who will claim those bodies, if they ever return home. Translation by Fuzum Afewerki @ FB shabait/news/local-news/17192-bologna-festivals-by-nationals-in-europe-since-1974-made-significant-input-to-the-armed-struggle-for-independence-ambassador-zemede-tekle
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 20:47:35 +0000
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