When we last read madote.com, it had told us (on 11/27) that Ali Abdu had returned to Eritrea*. Now, madote.com is saying nothing happened on Monday except that a handful of “terrorists” threatened to kill MoI employees , that the government gave them–the terrorists, that is, safe passage (“they were not apprehended for their terrorist actions”) and let’s just now wait for the government to give us the results of its “thorough investigation.”
If madote.com had any contacts with the employees at the Ministry of Information, it would know that the rebels who took over the ministry were not “terrorists”: they did not inconvenience their “hostages” much less “threatened to kill” them. A fine terrorist one makes while allowing his hostages to go about their normal business–making phone calls, emailing, and then interviewing the “terrorist.” For a media outlet that is presumably interested in facts and uncovering the truth, it is sad that its idea of truth is to uncritically accept whatever government officials spoon feed it.
As for the promise madote.com has been spoon fed that the government will conduct a “thorough investigation”, well, the list of “thorough investigations” that the government promised and didn’t deliver on is quite long. Remember that “thorough investigation” that the “Eritrean National Assembly” promised regarding the G-15 that was going to be made public to the people? That was in February 2002. Remember that “thorough investigation” that would come following the assassination attempt on Simon Gebredengel? That was 2007. The “thorough investigation” that was coming after the brutal murder of prominent businessman Mohammed Hagos Saleh? That was in July 2008. Keep waiting, madote. If you get one, it will be similar to the last time another groups of “terrorists” were given safe passage, the British assassins who were plotting to kill Isaias Afwerki. And they would have succeeded had it not been for the vigilance of an Eritrean “woman taking a shortcut home through an adjacent out-of-service salt flat”, remember that? And the “thorough investigation” that talked about poisoned-tipped arrows?
* We specially liked that madote.com had “corrected” that Ali Abdu had arrived in Asmara on November 27 at 3:00 PM. No, actually, it was 3:00 AM. It is like a kid writing in his diary that Santa Claus didn’t climb down the chimney at 3:00 pm, it was actually 3:00 am. You gotta admire that kind of attention to detail, don’t you?:)