‘Sweeping Other People's Doorsteps when their own is dirty"

By Gezmu Edecha

"How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."  

These famous verses of the Bible came to my mind as I watched while Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki was delivering his recent two-hour press conference. He stood before the cameras—not to reflect on the suffering of his people, nor to offer a vision for the future—but to wax philosophical rhetoric about global politics. It was a surreal moment, a president pontificating about world affairs while his own nation has been suffocating throughout his rule. When journalists pressed him for answers about Eritrea itself, he waved them off “No time now.” That response said everything.

Throughout Afeworki’s rule, Eritrea has never reflected the views of its people. ‘‘Afeworki’s Eritrea’’—is a land of closed borders, closed mouths, and closed futures.

In Eritrea, there is no constitution. No elections. No free press. No executive accountability. The country is held hostage under a single man’s grip. Afeworki’s claims the authority to criticize others while silencing dissent, crushing generations, building a de facto slave economy through endless conscription. But on what moral ground does he stand?

How can a leader who has done so little for his own people cast judgment on governments striving—however imperfect—they expended efforts to uplift their people?

Afeworki’s Eritrea Fiasco

I remember the early days of Eritrean independence—how full of pride and possibility the people were. The vision was bold: Eritrea as the “Singapore of Africa,” a clean, efficient, and disciplined country that would rise from the Red Sea coast as a model for post-colonial development. Eritreans had paid sacrifice enormously for that independence, and the world watched with admiration.

It wasn’t an empty dream. The Eritrean people are creative, resilient, and fiercely hardworking. They are known for their discipline, their love of country, and their drive to build. Only when their government honored those virtues—Eritrea could have stood shoulder to shoulder with the continent’s rising stars. Instead, that potential was betrayed.

Under Isaias’s leadership, Eritrea has become a garrison state. Not metaphorically—but literally. Young Eritreans are conscripted into endless “national service,” draining the vision, dreams, creativity and aspirations of the Eritrean youth in particular and people in general. Eritreans had dreams prior to independence—freedom, democracy, development, dignity, and the likes. Afeworki has put the fate of “ his Eritrea” into a fiasco!  

An Anecdote of Escape

I once met a young Eritrean named Selam in Addis Ababa, who escaped after years in Sawa. Her crime? Being an Evangelical Christian who frequently love to pray. That choice of her simply turned into two months of solitary confinement—and a lifetime decision to flee her homeland.

“I didn’t leave Eritrea to chase money,” she told me. “I left because I wanted to be treated as a human being.”

She walked for days through the desert, was held by traffickers in Sudan, and finally reached Ethiopia.

Selam is just one among hundreds of thousands of Eritrean youths. Every year, It’s a horrific experience that Eritrea’s brightest students who have visions for their country and family off on a perilous journey across deserts and seas. Many drown in the Mediterranean, perish in Libyan prisons, or vanish along smuggler routes. ”Afeworki’s Eritrea” has led the youths to end up in deserts and seas!

If not for Isaias’s iron-fisted rule, Eritrea’s young lives would not be lost. Those minds would not be perished. Worst of all, Afeworki dos not have any articulated policy—economic nor political for its people!

                                         Conversely, Ethiopia Is Rising

Just across the borders, Ethiopia tells a very different story—one of struggle, yes, but also of momentum and reinvention. While Isaias’s Eritrea remains frozen in fear, Ethiopia has emerged as one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies. From the massive GERD dam to the Green Legacy reforestation campaign, from joining BRICS to liberalizing its markets, Ethiopia is not just moving—it is leaping forward.

More than three million jobs were created in just two years. Ethiopia has built roads, railways, industrial parks, and launched a digital transformation initiative aimed at delivering services transparently. The private sector is growing, university students are graduating, and free elections—despite challenges—have become a reality.

This is not to say Ethiopia is perfect. But the difference with “ Afeworki’s Eritrea is sky high. While Eritreans are fleeing to escape endless conscription, Ethiopians are returning from the diaspora to invest in businesses, teach in universities, or simply be part of the momentum.

Let’s not pretend this contrast is coincidental. It is not the fault of the Eritrean people that their country has plummeted. Addis Ababa is booming. It is not the fault of Eritrean youth that they are scattered across refugee camps and detention centers in Europe, Israel, and Sudan.

Afeworki’s Eritrea—a country captivated by one man’s rule—a fiasco.

While Ethiopia generates clean energy, Eritrea generates fear; Ethiopia opens its borders for investment, Afeworki transfers arms, Ethiopian invests in its youths, while Eritrean youths still fleeing in mass where most of them sad to tell are drowning in seas and oceans.

Today, nearly a million Eritreans live outside their country. In Ethiopia alone, over 700,000 Eritrean refugees have found shelter and hope. This is not migration. This is exodus. But how many Ethiopians live in Eritrea? Almost none!

Afeworki - the Region’s Sole Exporter of Insecurity

Eritrea's tragedy under Afeworki is not only a national issue—it is a regional one. For three decades, Isaias Afewerki has been the Horn of Africa’s chief exporter of insecurity. From his long conflict with Ethiopia, his antagonism toward Djibouti, his interference in Somalia and Sudan, to his ongoing refusal to engage diplomatically, his leadership has destabilized the very region.

Imagine a different path, if Eritrea were a constructive player, it would built a Red Sea trade corridors, would deepen ties with Ethiopia, and create jobs across borders. Instead, the region has had to spend its energy managing antagonism and destruction orchestrated by Afeworki.

The Way Forward

There is hope for Eritrean people.

Eritrea’s strategic position, its rich culture, and its disciplined population still offer enormous promise—if liberated from Afeworki’s grip. With peace and integration, Eritrea could become exactly what it once dreamed of being: a gateway to Africa, a logistics hub, a vibrant Red Sea power.

Peace with Ethiopia is not a threat—it is the path forward. A common interest, shared energy, shared ports and shared dignity.

If Assab port revived as a regional port, Ethiopian and Eritrean youths would engage in startups together, if Eritrea exported power from Ethiopia’s GERD, these would leverage both Ethiopia and Eritrea to prosper. All of this is possible. But not under Afeworki’s whims.

Eritrean People Deserve Honour

The Eritrean people are not broken. They are not silent by nature—they have been silenced. They are not poor by fate—they have been impoverished by policy. Their future is not gone—it is simply waiting for a leader who will unlock it.

The world must stop looking at Eritrea as a failed state. It is not just a failed state. It is captivated state—one whose potential has been hijacked by a man who rules not for progress, but for repressive.

As Ethiopia rises and the Horn transforms, the world must listen not to the voice of Afeworki—but to the whisper of millions of Eritreans like Selam.

That is what made Isaias Afewerki’s latest press conference so tragic—and so telling. For two long hours, he lectured the world about geopolitics, history, and philosophy. But he never dared to look his people in the eye. Never did he address even once the endless exile of Eritrean youths. Never once spoke of hope, because he has none to offer.

In the end, his words floated into the air—detached, defensive, and ultimately futile. A total fiasco!

And when the cameras turned off, the exodus continued.

Note: The views expressed in this op-ed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of ENA.