One day, Isaias Afeworki will fall. His rule will end. That day is coming, and when it does, Eritrea will explode with emotion like never before.
For decades, Eritreans have lived under crushing hardship. Ordinary people have struggled just to survive, searching for clean water, food, electricity, medicine and basic necessities.
Schools are broken. The few hospitals that left from the colonial era are empty.
There are no jobs, no justice, no future. People live in fear, silence, and sorrow. Families are separated. Dreams are buried. Hope has become a quiet, painful thing. This is not because of national disasters or external enemies but because of the man of our own making.
So when the regime falls, it will not be a small moment. People will cry their tears out, not just tears of joy, but tears from years of grief held deep inside. People will dance like crazy , not just in celebration, but in release. People will scream, not in protest, but in freedom. The fear will shatter. The silence will break. Prisons will open. Some will come home. Some sadly will never return, but they will no longer be forgotten. That day will feel like freedom again. But it will also be dangerous.
Because Isaias didn’t just rule Eritrea, he hollowed it out. He destroyed everything that could survive without him. No courts. No free press. No functioning parliament. No local councils, no traditional leaders. No independent institutions. Only the henchmen and the secret services. Only loyalty to him.
He didn’t want a strong state. He wanted a weak country that only he could totally control.
<span;>So, when he goes, the system he built and controlled will collapse too. And that’s the real danger.
Eritrea risks falling into chaos, not because Eritreans want it, but because our beloved country has nothing in place to hold it together after the regime. We’ve seen it all before in other countries. The dictators fall, and everything falls with them. The people celebrate for a moment, then wake up to looting, violence, revenge, foreign interference, and total confusion.
Soon, people start asking: “Wasn’t it better when there was at least some order?”
That’s how legacy of dictators like Isaias survive long after they had gone , through the fear and division they left behind, their systems , their methods, and the damage they inflicted to social fabrics, economic conditions and community relations.
In Eritrea the trap Isaias has set and his final weapon is: to make us Eritreans so afraid of what comes next that we forget how much we lost under his rule.
His message is clear:
“If I go, you go.”
But we don’t have to accept that. The fall of the regime doesn’t have to mean the fall of the nation. The end of dictatorship can be the beginning of something better, something beautiful, something peaceful, if we stand together.
So let us be ready now. What are we waiting for? Let us meet that day, that morning with calm hearts and clear minds. Not with revenge, but with responsibility. Let us choose unity over fear. Dignity over division. Peace over power.
We are a people with deep faith, rich culture, and a long tradition of respecting one another. We have been divided along lines of regions and religions but we still remember how to live together. Together we have survived the cruelty of the world’s longest dictator. Together we can strive and prosper if we desire freedom and justice for us for all of us.
Whether inside Eritrea or in the diaspora, this beautiful country is ours. It belongs to all of us. We must reclaim it. We must protect it. We must rebuild it. We must heal it.
And when that morning comes, when the dictator falls, we will not fall with him. We will rise. Together.
Ahmeddin Osman
9th August 2025
