Lately I learned that many politicians in Norway base their understanding and arguments about Eritrea on the PROBA Report “Press og Kontroll”. I briefly browsed through the report and found two major wrong assumptions.
First the report claims that there were approximately 28,000 Eritreans in Norway by 2019. It is well documented and even the Ethiopian Prime Minister, had openly expressed that many Northern Ethiopians were sent to the West including Norway as Eritrean Refugees. It is also documented that over 40% that seek political asylum as Eritreans in Europe between 2000 and 2018 are Northern Ethiopians. And it is documented at Norwegian Statistics that at the same period over 25000 applied for political asylum in Norway claiming that they are Eritreans. Therefore, at least 10,000 of the political asylum seekers are Northern Ethiopians.
Secondly, the report assumes that there has been split among Eritreans living in Norway and claims there are ‘supporters’ and ‘opposition’ to the Government of Eritrea. This is probably based or reinforced by the first wrong assumption. The fact of the matter is, that there is no such thing as supporters and opponents of the regime in Eritrea. The dividing line is between those that support Eritrean Sovereignty and those that oppose Eritrea’s independence.
Apparently the researchers have interviewed the Northern Ethiopians that are fundamentally against Eritrean independence. No wonder the report is full of the fabricated stories told by the Tigray Television and Radios.
The researchers may have been misinformed and mislead in 2020.
But it is very strange that Norwegian politicians refer to the report in today. When they can easily see the behavior of the so-called opposition. These Northern Ethiopians together with few collaborators are the ones that have been terrorizing Eritreans for a decade. They attacked Eritreans at their National Holidays, at Church and even private gatherings. Since 2023 the same group is burning down properties and attacking the police in broad daylight in Europe.
My call is simple, Norwegian politicians need to wake up and respect sovereignty of African nations, including Eritrea. Today there maybe around 20,000 Eritreans in Norway and as during referendum of early 90s over 99.8% of Eritreans support Eritrea’s sovereignty.
Above all Norwegian politicians should know celebrating National Day is not an issue of supporting or opposition of a regime.
We as Eritrean-Norwegians celebrate 17th of May and as Eritreans we celebrate 24th of May and other Eritrean National Holidays. These has to be respected.