The Society of Eritrean Think Tank
(SETT)
Our Principles

Our Principles
2022-05-01

Introduction

The Society of Eritrean Think Tank (SETT) is happy to announce the birth of its website. SETT shall encourage research in the fields of Eritrean society, community, state, and national formation, as a basis for building a democratic, prosperous, and peaceful Eritrea. The Society shall seek to cooperate with similarly oriented institutions in the Horn of Africa, with the aim of studying the conditions for cooperation between the states of this strategic region. For the purpose the Society shall establish a journal and other means of communication for spreading its research results. The Society has as its specific duty the establishment of an Eritrean Government in Exile (EGiE).

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Our Primary Undertaking

SETT promotes national debate in the context of expressing divergent views. SETT demands strict adherence to courtesy and mutual respect. The material published in the SETT is protected by international laws of publishing.

SETT is the vehicle whose main mission is to translate the principles of Eritrean Government in Exile into reality. The watchword of our website is: “SETT for the Implementation of EGiE”. The mission of our website is to spread and deepen the political, economic, and cultural structures embedded in a) Adi, (b) Highi Indaba, c) Baito, and d) Zega.

a. The Adi/Ad

• The Tigrinya/Tigre term, by which the juridically chartered communes of Eritrea are known, is one of the central pillars of Eritrean identity. Eritrea is overwhelmingly organized in “Adis” that share the following characteristics:

(a) The Adi is organized on a territorial and not on ethnic basis. The economic organization of the Adi is based on the principle of private property in its relations to the state but is owned collectively by the inhabitants of the Adi community. The Adi structure denied the growth of a feudal system where land belonged to the king or the feudal lords.

(b) Highi Indaba

The Adi is a territorially defined unit that enjoys an autonomous status within the framework of the Highi Indabas or ancestral Magna Cartas.

Public life in the Adis is organized around the democratic Baitos or assemblies. The Baito combined legislative, judicial, and administrative functions. In keeping with this tradition, the parliament of Eritrea is referred to as the ‘Baito of Eritrea’. The Eritrean Baito is a unique institution in our region. In a region whose political history was based on the concept of the divine right of kings, the Eritrean Baito was an elective institution.

(d) Zega Adi

Zegnet or citizenship in the Mereb Melash (present Eritrea) is based on membership in the Adi community. Any person outside the Adi system is not treated as a Zega or citizen. Citizenship, residential plots, and farming land rights, and all other rights and duties that ensue from it, are directly dependent upon certifiable membership in the Adi community. Today, citizenship in also located in the towns of the Werejas. The PFDJ attempts to replace the concept of the Zega Adi by the referendum. The referendum was a right bestowed to all who resided in Eritrea, irrespective of origin, to cast their votes for or against independence. The referendum is not, however, the law of Eritrean citizenship. What we have today is not Eritrean citizenship but a kind of PFDJ ‘Eritrean identity’ bought at 2% of our incomes.

The historical principles of Adi, Wereda, and Wereja need to be internalized by Eritrea nationalists. Out of the concept of Adi emerged our passion for a modern Eritrean nationhood. Out the concept of Baito our passion for constitutional democracy was born. Out the concept of Highi Indaba grew forth our commitment to Rule of Law. Out of the concept Zega emerged our modern concept of Eritrean citizenship.

Propelled by these principles EGiE shall struggle:

For the concept of rule of law that defines Eritrean citizenship, based on individual and communal autonomy; universal and equal rights; and free elections based on the secret ballot.

EGiE also fights for the establishment of an autonomous judiciary. Only when the rule of law and justice are uncontaminated by political and financial influence mongering can it be said that a vital and vibrant democracy is planted in Eritrea.

EGiE struggles to restore the historical regions of Eritrea. The three level ‘baitos’: that is to say, the Adi, Wereda, Wereja, shall be the basis of Eritrean parliamentary and decentralized democracy. EGiE shall struggle to replace the stipulation that land belongs to the government by the principle that land belongs to the inhabitants of Adis. At the same time, we shall also fight for the restoration of the Werejas of Eritrea.

EGiE shall keep the memory of the monumental struggle of our people for independence alive and enshrine the saga of our martyrs.

Stockholm/2022-05-14

SETT for EGIE

See also more ምስዚ ዝተኣሳሰር:-

SETT - Society of Eritrean Think Tank
ማቆሓኤ - ማሕበር ቆፎ ሓሳባት ኤርትራ፡
EGiE - Eritrean Government in Exile
Sett for EGiE: ልዝብ Dialogue:

• Part-1 (12 Aug 2022) • Part-2 (22 Aug 2022) • Part-3 (9 Sept 2022) • Part-4 (14 Oct 2022)

• SETT - Society of Eritrean Think Tank - Website. ወብሳይት።

See also Related / ምስዚ ዝተኣሳሰር ሓበሬታ፡-

The Society of Eritrean Think Tank (SETT) Our Principles

The Society of Eritrean Think Tank
(SETT)
Our Principles