State of the Country Speeches (SOTCS)

The Republic Returns to Its Citizens

First Address to the People of Eritrea by the President of Eritrea

My fellow Eritreans,

Today, the relationship between the Eritrean citizen and the Eritrean State changes.

You are free! Liberty is the rule; government power is the exception.

You do not belong to the government. The government belongs to you.

You do not need the President’s permission to speak, work, travel, worship, organize, disagree or pursue your private life. Your liberty does not come from me, and it must never depend upon the generosity of any leader.

Every exercise of public power must have a clear basis in the Constitution or in a law enacted by the National Assembly. It must remain within the boundaries of that law, and those boundaries must always be open to challenge.

No official may answer a citizen by saying, “This is what the government wants.” The proper answer must be: “This is the law. This is the authority it gives us. This is the reason for our decision. And this is how you may challenge it.”

Our first democratic election has given Eritrea a President. It has not given Eritrea a ruler, an owner or a master.

The Constitution permits a President to serve two terms of five years each. Today, I make my first commitment to you: I will serve one term only. I will not seek a second term.

Eritrea’s first democratic presidency must demonstrate that political power can be received peacefully, exercised temporarily and surrendered willingly. After five years, I will leave this office and stand with you as another President takes the oath.

I will measure my success not by how long I remain in power, but by whether the institutions I leave behind can function without me.

My administration expects to be sued.

If a government is never taken to court, we should ask whether citizens are afraid, lawyers are silenced or courts are inaccessible. Legal challenge is not hostility to the State. It is how a constitutional state examines and corrects itself.

My administration will appear before the courts. We will produce the records the law requires, answer arguments with arguments and obey judgments, including judgments we dislike.

The courtroom will not be a place where rank defeats right. Law, evidence and reason—not fear, influence or political authority—will determine the outcome. A judgment against my administration will not be treated as an insult to the President. It will be treated as evidence that the Constitution is working.

For too long, Eritrea’s legislature and judiciary were subordinated to executive power. My administration will not continue that history.

We regard the National Assembly as the institutional expression of the will of the Eritrean people. It is where the people’s will takes legal form through the making of laws. My own will is included, but only as the will of one Eritrean.

I will appear happily before the National Assembly with that understanding. My ministers and public officials will appear before it to account for their conduct, explain their policies, provide records and answer questions. Scrutiny is not humiliation, and disagreement is not hostility. They are indispensable features of democratic government.

Members of the Assembly who challenge my administration are not enemies of the country. They are performing their constitutional duty.

The judiciary is not a department of the executive. Judges will not receive instructions from the President, ministers, political parties, military officers or security agencies. Judicial appointments will follow the Constitution and the law, and judicial decisions will be enforced.

The strength of my presidency will not be measured by the weakness of the other branches. It will be measured by whether I help build institutions strong enough to restrain me.

The National Assembly and the judiciary will have their own dignified and commanding public buildings—towering buildings symbolizing that Eritrea rests upon three co-equal branches of government. They must not be empty monuments. They must house independent institutions with the personnel, resources and authority necessary to fulfil their constitutional responsibilities.

We will also protect the independence of the Auditor General, the Electoral Commission, the Judicial Service Commission, the Civil Service Administration, the National Bank and every other constitutional institution. Their leaders will not be chosen for personal loyalty, their budgets will not be manipulated to punish independence, and their reports will not require presidential permission before reaching the public.

When you want a law enacted or changed, the National Assembly and the appropriate local assemblies are your democratic avenues. When you want unlawful government conduct challenged, the courts and lawful tribunals are your avenues. When you want a public service delivered or an administrative problem solved, the executive must answer you.

These institutions have different functions. Their disagreement is not failure. Their ability to restrain one another is part of their design.

There will be no indefinite national service.

National service will have a definite statutory duration known before service begins. When that period ends, the citizen will be released. No commander, minister or official will be permitted to convert temporary national service into ownership of another human being’s labour or life.

Civil employment will be voluntary, based on written terms, fairly compensated and capable of being ended by resignation. No one will be kept at work through detention, threats, confiscation of documents or punishment of relatives.

Those who have already lost years or decades to indefinite service deserve release, recognition, rehabilitation and a fair opportunity to rebuild the private lives that were postponed.

A nation is not strengthened by preventing its young people from becoming adults. It is not defended by denying them the freedom to study, work, marry, raise families, travel or build businesses.

We will build a small, disciplined and professional military suited to the legitimate defence needs of Eritrea.

Under the Constitution, I am Commander-in-Chief. But the military reality of Eritrea will not be the personality of any President. It will be the constitutional order.

The armed forces will belong neither to me nor to a political party. They will defend the Republic under the Constitution and the law. They will not manage civilian life, control the economy, choose political leaders or silence opposition.

Military education will include constitutional law, human rights and the law of armed conflict. Every service member must understand the difference between a lawful order and a manifestly unlawful one. Soldiers will have protected channels for reporting illegality and will be expected to refuse orders to torture, disappear, unlawfully detain or deliberately harm civilians—even if such an order appears to come from my administration.

The police and intelligence services will be governed by the same principle. Their duty is to protect the constitutional order, not the political comfort of those in power. Surveillance, search, detention and force must be authorized by law, necessary, proportionate and independently reviewable.

There will be no secret prisons and no disappearances into state custody.

My administration will establish an accurate register of every person held by the State. Those detained without lawful grounds will be released. Where lawful criminal allegations exist, the accused will be brought promptly before an independent court and given a fair trial.

Families have waited too long to learn whether their loved ones are alive, where they are held and why they were taken. The State will no longer answer grief with silence.

We will pursue truth and accountability without replacing one system of political revenge with another. There will be no collective punishment and no mass purge based merely on former employment, forced membership, political belief, ethnicity, religion or region. Responsibility will be individual, evidence will matter and due process will be observed.

Reconciliation without truth is fragile. Punishment without due process is another form of tyranny. We must reject both impunity and vengeance.

Eritrea will be a peaceful country.

We will not send young people to die in wars manufactured to satisfy the ambition, insecurity or pride of a leader. Our neighbours will not be treated as permanent enemies necessary for maintaining fear at home.

When aggression or serious disagreement occurs, our first instruments will be diplomacy, negotiation, mediation, arbitration and law. Military force will be considered only when strictly necessary to defend the country, only as a last resort and only within the Constitution and international law.

Territorial questions may be serious, but territory does not disappear while parties negotiate. A boundary can be discussed for years and eventually settled. A life taken in war cannot be restored. We will not sacrifice thousands of people merely because patience is less dramatic than violence.

We seek peaceful and cooperative relations with Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia and all the peoples of our region. We want our neighbours to be stable, democratic and prosperous because Eritrea does not benefit from their weakness.

We will not arm factions to destabilize them or pursue influence through destruction. We will trade, cooperate, protect shared resources and resolve disputes peacefully. Our region will rise more securely when its countries rise together.

During Eritrea’s darkest years, other countries received our people when they fled persecution, conscription and hopelessness. They offered refuge, education, employment and the chance to live freely. We thank them.

Now we must begin returning that generosity.

To the extent our resources permit, Eritrea will offer safety to people fleeing persecution and conflict. We will welcome those who wish to live peacefully among us, contribute to our economy, study, teach, invest or work.

To Eritreans abroad, I say: this remains your country.

You will be welcome to return, visit, invest, teach, build, retire or reconnect with your communities. You will not be treated with suspicion because you left. You will not be forced to purchase political loyalty or finance a party as the price of receiving public services.

These protections will not rest merely upon my promise. They will rest upon the fact that my government has no lawful power to impose such conditions. We will establish transparent procedures concerning citizenship, residence, taxation, investment, property claims and return.

We need the knowledge and experience of the diaspora, but we also need humility from everyone. Return should be a reunion, not a contest over who suffered more or who has the greater entitlement to speak.

Eritreans will be free to pursue lawful trades, professions and economic activities.

Freedom to work, create, exchange, own property, establish enterprises and enter contracts will be presumed. Regulation must serve a clear public purpose. Licences and permits will not exist merely to make citizens dependent upon officials.

Government will protect workers, consumers, competition, public health, the environment and the rights of others. It will not use regulation to distribute favours, suppress initiative or reserve economic opportunity for political allies.

Public contracts will not be private rewards. The national budget, public debt, significant contracts and audit findings will be accessible to the people. Government decisions affecting rights or property will carry reasons and avenues of review.

We will work to improve agriculture, fisheries, energy, water, housing, education, health care, transport, employment and digital access. The damage is deep, resources are limited and rebuilding will be difficult. I will not pretend otherwise.

If we fail in a particular undertaking, it must be because the problem proved greater than our honest capacity—not because we ignored an available solution, concealed the facts, rewarded incompetence or created new problems through arrogance.

We will tell you what we know, what we do not know, what we can afford and what remains beyond our present capacity.

Public administration itself must change.

Gone are the days when an Eritrean must spend hours in line, return repeatedly to the same office and wait months or years for a simple document or decision. Gone are the days when officials can send citizens from office to office without explanation or responsibility.

My government is at your service.

The election campaign may have divided the country, but political disagreement will not determine who receives a public service or how respectfully that person is treated. Some of you supported me, some supported another candidate and some remain doubtful about me. At a government office, none of that will matter.

I am the President of all Eritreans, and my administration will serve all Eritreans.

Every public body will publish the services it provides, the documents required, the lawful fee, the responsible office and the ordinary completion time. When a service is delayed or refused, the citizen will be entitled to a reason and a meaningful means of challenge.

We will review the administration from the ground up, removing duplicated offices, obsolete forms, unnecessary approvals and arbitrary requirements. A comprehensive Civil Service Administration Act is ready for consideration through the constitutional legislative process. Its purpose is to establish a professional, impartial, merit-based and service-oriented civil service.

Public employment will no longer be an instrument of coercion or patronage. Civil servants will be selected for competence and integrity. Complaints about inadequate services will receive reference numbers, responsible offices will be required to respond, and recurring failures will be measured and corrected.

Technology makes this achievable even with limited resources.

A capable public servant equipped with a reliable computer, appropriate software and internet access can now perform work that once required an entire office and weeks of administrative movement. Artificial intelligence can help organize records, translate information, identify errors and prepare routine communications. It will assist public officials without replacing human judgment, legal responsibility or the citizen’s right to human review.

You should be able to request a birth certificate securely from home or through your telephone. You should be able to pay a public bill without losing a day in line. You should receive a reference number for an application and follow its progress without repeatedly visiting an office.

We will expand access to affordable communications and internet services because education, commerce, public administration and democratic participation increasingly depend upon them.

Digital government will not become an excuse to abandon people without internet access. Public offices will continue to provide accessible human assistance. Technology must remove barriers, not create new ones.

My fellow citizens,

You will be free to praise this administration, criticize it, ridicule it, organize against it and campaign to replace it.

A newspaper will not be closed because it embarrasses the President. A journalist will not be imprisoned for asking an uncomfortable question. A citizen will not disappear for criticizing a minister. Peaceful political parties, trade unions, professional associations, religious communities and civic organizations will be free to organize.

You may petition the government, demonstrate against it, demand records, challenge it in court and persuade the National Assembly to reject its proposals. Through the constitutional order, you may fire it.

That is not disorder. That is democracy.

My administration is your servant—a servant you have hired for a limited period and may dismiss through constitutional means. Government does not grant human dignity. Its duty is to respect and protect the dignity people already possess.

Freedom also demands responsibility from each of us. We must disagree without dehumanizing, criticize without inventing, organize without intimidation and pursue our interests without denying the equal freedom of others.

Our national unity will not be cosmetic unity imposed through slogans, fear or silence. Eritrea contains different religions, languages, regions, histories and political convictions. No Eritrean should have to abandon an identity in order to belong fully to the country.

We will seek unity through equal citizenship, shared constitutional principles and common responsibility. Women will participate equally in national life. Religious freedom will be protected. Persons with disabilities will be entitled to accessibility and equal participation. Minority communities will not be required to beg the majority for constitutional rights.

A right that exists only for the popular, powerful or numerous is not a right.

Democracy cannot survive as an occasional election. It requires constitutional knowledge, professional institutions, accurate records and public servants capable of continuing when leaders change.

We will therefore establish educational programmes on the Constitution, human rights, parliamentary procedure, judicial independence, public administration, local government and responsible citizenship. Schools, universities, the civil service, police and military must all understand the constitutional order they inhabit.

A democratic President must be capable of being contradicted.

I will not describe judges who rule against me as traitors, legislators who question me as obstructionists, journalists who investigate me as enemies or peaceful demonstrators as agents of foreign powers.

I do not want my portrait displayed in every office. I do not want roads, schools or institutions named after me while I hold power. I do not want citizens repeating slogans about my wisdom.

Display the Constitution. Teach the law. Honour those who serve without demanding worship.

The age of the indispensable leader must end.

No person is Eritrea. No party is Eritrea. No government is Eritrea.

The transition before us will be difficult. Freedom will reveal disagreements that repression merely concealed. Institutions will make mistakes. Courts will sometimes disappoint us. The Assembly will sometimes appear slow. Elections will be contested and public debate will occasionally be harsh.

These are not reasons to return to authoritarianism. The answer to imperfect democracy is better democracy: better laws, stronger institutions, more competent officials and more truthful debate.

We must learn the discipline of freedom after having been forced to learn the discipline of fear.

Do not place your faith in me. Place it in the constitutional order we will build together. Watch me. Question me. Correct me. Challenge me. Hold me to every promise I have made.

In five years, judge my administration honestly. Preserve what worked, correct what failed, elect another President and transfer power peacefully.

That transfer will not be the end of my presidency. It will be its completion.

Today, the Republic returns to its citizens.

May we have the wisdom to build, the courage to remain free, the patience to live with disagreement and the humility to surrender power when our lawful time has ended.

Thank you.

May peace, liberty and justice guide the State of Eritrea.