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ANFET’s Official Rebuttal to the 2026 New Year Interview of PIA
By ANFET Editorial Desk
Asmara did not receive a national address this New Year. It received a two-hour and twenty-two-minute geopolitical monologue in which Eritrea—the country whose fate hangs in the balance—was granted only thirty-seven minutes of recycled slogans identical to those delivered for the past thirty-five years. The rest of the broadcast was consumed by sweeping commentary on global superpowers, American politics, regional conflicts, and the internal affairs of nations far beyond Eritrea’s borders. It was a performance that revealed a leader more interested in analyzing the world than addressing the collapse unfolding at home.
Eritreans watched as their own national crisis was reduced to a footnote. No acknowledgment of the economic paralysis gripping the country. No recognition of the mass exodus draining the nation of its youth. No explanation for the indefinite conscription that has become a generational prison. No roadmap for political transition, institutional reform, or national healing. Instead, the people were treated to a familiar script—abstract theories, conspiratorial narratives, and a worldview that places Eritrea’s destiny in the hands of foreign powers rather than its own citizens.
The moment that defined the entire interview came at an end. When asked whether he had any final message for the Eritrean people, he did not speak to the nation. He did not address the youth, the families, the workers, the refugees, or the soldiers. He reminded the journalists that they “forgot to ask about Somalia and Yemen.” It was a telling moment: a leader who speaks as if he is a UN envoy or AU commissioner, while the country he governs sinks deeper into crisis. A leader who imagines himself a regional strategist, while Eritrea edges toward failed-state status—whether through neglect or deliberate design—risking a future where it becomes a protectorate of neighboring states or international bodies.
Eritreans are no longer fooled by the theatrics. They know that a nation cannot be governed through annual monologues and geopolitical fantasies. They know that leadership is measured not by the ability to analyze the world, but by the ability to confront the suffering of one’s own people. They know that thirty-seven minutes of recycled rhetoric is not governance. It is abandonment.
In response to this vacuum of leadership, ANFET presents a clear, people-centered national agenda—twelve priorities that reflect the urgent needs of Eritreans everywhere: constitutional governance, an end to indefinite national service, economic stabilization, peaceful regional relations, the release of political prisoners, a solution to the refugee crisis, transparency in national resources, national reconciliation, modern education, a functioning health system, accountable local governance, and responsible management of natural wealth. These are not slogans. They are the demands of a nation that has endured enough.
But this moment is not only a reckoning for the government. It is a test for the opposition. Eritreans will not accept another year of fragmented activism, scattered initiatives, and reactive statements. The people are demanding a credible alternative, not commentary. ANFET issues a direct call to all opposition leaders, civic actors, and political organizations: assemble a unified national platform by the end of 2026. Not a conference. Not a symbolic alliance. A real platform—structured, disciplined, and measurable. By January 2027, Eritreans must be able to look at the opposition and see achievements, not excuses. They must see a political force capable of leading the nation out of crisis, not merely responding to interviews.
The question next year must not be, “What did he say in his interview?”
It must be, “What has the opposition built?”
The era of waiting is over. The era of accountability has begun.
Eritrea stands at a crossroads. One path leads deeper into stagnation, isolation, and national decay. The other leads toward renewal, unity, and a future shaped by the will of the people. ANFET stands firmly with the Eritrean people in declaring that 2026 must be the year of national awakening—the year the people reclaim their voice, their dignity, and their future.
