Wounded Nation
Wounded Nation - How a Once Promising Eritrea Was Betrayed and Its Future Compromised by Bereket Habte Selassie
This is the second volume of Bereket Habte Selassie’s memoirs, picking up where the first volume, The Crown And The Pen, left off. It provides a historical and political analysis of how Eritrea transformed from a hopeful model of democracy after independence in 1991 into a tragic one-man rule and isolation. The book’s title reflects this theme, indicating how the Eritrean public’s trust in its liberation movement leaders was betrayed after they took power. Their promises of democracy and constitutional rule were broken as Isaias Afwerki established one-man rule. The consequences have been detrimental to the promising future of the country. It explores the bloody 1998-2000 war with Ethiopia, with no formal peace agreement since, an endless forced national service program that has prompted mass youth exodus, and overall public discontent about the country’s future. As both a key participant in Eritrea’s liberation movement and the chair of its Constitutional Commission in the early 1990s, the author provides a unique insider perspective combined with scholarly analysis. He conveys a gripping personal narrative of how so much early promise has been squandered. The book offers sobering lessons about how fragile progress can be if democratic rights and liberties are denied. New readers as well as those who enjoyed the first volume will appreciate the author’s superb chronicling of this troubled Horn of Africa country.
Wounded Nation - How a Once Promising Eritrea Was Betrayed and Its Future Compromised by Bereket Habte Selassie