Written by Administrator
Saturday, 19 April 2008
http://www.biddho.com/content/view/1088/82/
BERLIN (AFP) — The German publisher of a book claiming to be the autobiography of a former Eritrean child soldier which was later turned into a film admitted on Friday it contained major errors.
Munich-based publishing house Droemer said they have reached a settlement with a woman who filed a libel lawsuit contesting author Senait Mehari’s depiction of her as a brutal military commander in his book “Heart of Fire.”
Doemer conceded that plaintiff Almaz Yohannes never commanded a training centre for child soldiers or ordered children to be executed.
“Rather, she was a 12-year-old student at the Tsebah school” in Eritrea, the company said, adding: “It was a regrettable error.”
It said it would pay Yohannes damages without prejudice.
Mehari has drawn flak from several Eritreans who disputed the veracity of her book, which was published in 2004.
It tells the story of a nine-year-old girl who is pushed by her father to train and then fight with a rebel group against a rival liberation army in the early 1980s.
Mehari has since acknowledged that she never fought at the front or even fired a gun but said the story told in the book is nonetheless similar to the experiences of thousands of children.
A film based on the book and directed by Italian-born Luigi Falorni premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February
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At last the truth came out….Hurra. This is great , This is what I call justice from heaven. I say to those who attempted to misuse our Eritrean struggle`s history, “ You failed guys live with it“
Best regards
I gusse thier big mistek is they believe her much then the Eritra history.This ppl I hope they learened fm thier past.go Ertran fm germay
It is Great!
Well done Almaz and your friends (Btsotkn). I read the book of Senait Mehari and heared her interviews. I was just amased by her lies. How dare she says that she is a jew and traveled with a ship from Eritrea to Israel at the age of 7 inorder to be baptised in Israel as a jew tradition. She said her name senait came from Sinai ( a mountain in Israel) where she slept overnight with her father.
The whole book is full of lies. Now you exposed it.
I would like to say congtulations for all those who demonstrated in Berlin, Germany.
I just want to say thank-you to all fo you who worked so hard to correct this low life sckum lies.
what ashameful fictional story by senait about eritrean strugle just for the sake of a few bucks.
That Eritrea has long been under the brutal grip of the tyrannical regime of Isaias Afewerki is not only an open secret but also something tyrant Afewerki himself unabashed overtly brags about and even claims entitlement to.
Eritreans especially those abroad did not take that lying down. To the contraray. For years, Eritreans abroad have been waging noticeable albeit isolated struggles against Afewerki’s Tyranny as individuals, organized and unorganized groups all over the world.
But for lack of a coordinated action of the major players, disputatious political opposition groups, along which Eritreans were also split, this kind of resistance, though palpable, could not yield the desired effect: Shake Afewerki’s tyrannical grip on our country, Eritrea, to its inevitable demise.
At long last, it won’t, by all accounts, be a hyperbole to proclaim that anti-tyrannical Eritreans around the globe now see clearly that there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel.
In the recently, 5-11 May 2008, concluded successful meeting of 13 but basically all opposition forces(Eritrean Democratic Alliance or EDA), the participants unanimously agreed to set their differences aside and to unite in purpose in their struggle against the tyranny that has been reigning over our country and decided to direct, coordinate, and wage their actions in unison. To that effect, they came out with a unanimously agreed upon Charter, Leadership, resolutions, and conference communiqué. With that, the opposition forces have met the basic expectations of all anti-tyrannical Eritreans at home and abroad.
In essence and nature, the struggle of the people of Eritrea is anti-tyrannical. Hence, the tag ‘hzbawi Mehkete Antsar Milki’ in local language or ‘popular Resistance Against Tyranny, [PRAT]’ is only appropriate.
Democracy is without any doubt the socially tested, clinically proven, and readily available tyrannycidal Agent and sure-fire antidote against Tyranny. Therein lies the rationale behind the declared goals and objectives of the struggle of the people of Eritrea: For Democracy and Justice as provided for by constitutional governance.
Now that EDA has met our basic expectations, the question on the table is: How can we, Eritreans abroad, in practical terms, capitalize on the achievements of EDA in our anti-tyrannical struggle and what can we do in deeds and words to promote, publicize, agitate, and lobby for our common anti-tyrannical cause and rally Eritreans behind EDA’s achievements?
We at EritreaDaily put out a proposal to lauch a worldwide campaign dubbed ‘hzbawi Mekhete Antsar Milki’ or ‘popular Resistance Against Tyranny’ towards this end on Friday, 6 June 2008 (follow link at bottom of article) and presented it for discussion in a Paltalk room named: Eritrea Mekhete Antsar Milki Action Forum, in the presence of EDA’s head of information and NECS representative among others. In a very short notice the attendance was between 130-150 present.
Building upon our preliminary discussions and upon the suggestion of EMDHR, the next sessions to be held on Wednesday, 11 and Friday 13 June 2008 at 20:00 GMT, 2:00 PM EDT USA time, have the following, not necessarily in that order, tentative items on the agenda:
1.
Establishing local task force
2.
Launch Mekhete Antsar Milki website
3.
Taking advantage of upcoming national holidays, 20 June, 1 Sept. including the summer time festivals to launch Mekhete Antsar Milki campaign activities
4.
Mekhete Antar Milki, T-Shirt design, hat, head bands, wrist bands, pins etc.
Isaias Afewerki’s “brutal Machiavellian principle of ‘the end justifies the means’” is not limited to national issues only. Afewerki’s foreign policy is also guided by this same approach.
Eritrea’s efforts to seek harmony and peace between and among the nations in the Horn of Africa–Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan–and to strive for the stability and security of the region is a very noble cause that deserves all the credit and is worth every endeavor in the world.
But this noble goal, or end, does not justify the means; Afewerki’s egomaniacal and tyrannical unilateral actions and dictates. That is what’s getting Eritrea’s tyrant Afewerki into trouble with others including the US, not his ostensibly noble intentions.
Regional problems mandate regional solutions first and foremost and if necessary need to be reconciled with the interests of continental and international stakeholders. No one is and can be against Eritrea for trying to help the Somalis, the Ethiopians or the Sudanese. But every one is rightly against Isaias Afewerki’s tyrannical means of attaining this laudable goal because the end, regardless how noble it might be, does not justify the means.