Terrorism: Not in our name!

It is to be recalled that due to the recent suicide bombing of July 7^th in London our community has been deeply shocked and consequently depressed by the use of terror and loss of life. We are equally saddened by the involvement of one individual allegedly to be British-Eritrean in another aborted attempt to commit a similar mayhem on July 21^st. It is, therefore, regrettable that the words Eritrea and Eritrean have been a focus of attention to the press and mass media, without paying due attention to the factual background information of the individual.

As everyone else, these events have been a shock to our community. Consequently, Eritrean community organisations which have been approached have expressed their views to the mass media, which as we understand have never been conveyed to the public, and even more annoying, our country has been wrongly portrayed. Whether this is deliberate or by coincidence is not clear to us all. The community would like to emphasize that Eritrea is composed of nine nationalities, where both Christianity and Islam live in harmony, as they did for centuries. This harmony is also manifested among Eritreans in the diaspora. We are deeply concerned by the mass media’s intention for not disseminating the factual information of the community and the nation. The saddest of all is that even one of the most informed, respected and distinguished presenters got it wrong.

It is our obligation, therefore, to bring to the attention of the public that Eritreans are law abiding people and history tells us that we have never opted to terrorist activities even in the most desperate moments of our liberation struggle. As a community we are aware that our country, Eritrea, is in the forefront of fighting terrorism, even before the West had its share.

As a community we are united as ever and we will not allow our community to be a breeding place for terrorism. We will work more than ever to disseminate information and create a strong and cohesive community, which can play a vital role in the society we live in. We affirm that we do not condone terrorism because we know that terrorism, whatever its intention, does not promote a just cause. We will work hard to preserve our good cultural values, which are the values of love, care, peace and hard work, despite the enormous social problems that we face. We condemn without reservation people who execute terrorist activities in the name of Eritrea and Eritreans here and elsewhere. We also believe that society is full of people who are vulnerable to external forces, which leads to eccentricity beyond the society’s norm and who do not represent the law abiding community.

We as a community would like to convey our appreciation to the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police’s handling of the situation, while maintaining good and strong community relations, which will be vital for future cooperation.

The community would like to take this opportunity to express its condolence to all the families affected by the suicide bombing on July 7^th.

Eritrean Community in the UK Eritrean Community in Haringey

266-268 Holloway Road Selby Centre, Selby Road

London N7 6NE London N17 8JB

Tel: 020 77007995 Tel: 020 8365 0819

Fax: 020 7700 6173 Fax: 020 8808 9219

12^th September 2005