Dynamics of National Service in Eritrea

By: Redie Bereketeab, (PhD) Researcher, the Nordic Africa Institute.

The Eritrean government introduced a highly controversial programme on 14 July 1994. The programme concerned was National Service (NS), that required “all women and men over eighteen to undergo six months of military training and a year of work on national reconstruction” (Eritrea: A Country Handbook. Asmara: Ministry of Information, 2002).

Initially, for the most part, acceptance by the age group concerned in particular and society in general seemed, with one exception, cautiously positive. The exception related to an opposition expressed against female participation. The opposition to females’ participation was quite strong, particularly from the Moslem communities.

The second war with Ethiopia (1998–2000), however, changed people’s attitude. Both the length of time in the service and the heavy human sacrifice in connection with the war generated strong dissatisfaction and opposition to the NS programme. A bi-product of such social institutions, which generated strong feeling, is a relative sexual freedom leading to loss of virginity, extra-marital pregnancies, delay of marriages. This certainly added more fuel to the widespread dissatisfaction within society. The dissatisfaction was further strengthened by allegations of sexual abuse, rapes, exploitation of females as domestic workers by military commanders. In an implicit acknowledgment of the problems of unnecessary pregnancy on the front the Government withdrew female NS draftees from active military duty there assigning them to ‘soft sector’ civilian tasks—teaching, health care, office work, etc. Nevertheless, amidst all this, certain social groups seem to have been beneficiaries. In this article I will try to analyse the unintended consequences of the NS in the transformation of some social groups in Eritrea.

The objectives of National Service
The declared aim of the Provisional Government of Eritrea in introducing the programme was stated as the intention to utilise to the maximum the human resources of Eritrea in the reconstruction efforts of the war-torn country and build a cohesive and integrated nation out of the multiethnic societal setting. As it is depicted in official documents the participation of all women and men over eighteen in the six months of military training and a year of work on national reconstruction, “helped to compensate for the country’s lack of capital and to reduce dependence on foreign aid, while welding together the diverse society. It also placed women in a condition of heightened gender equality for eighteen months” (Eritrea: A Country Handbook. Asmara: Ministry of Information, 2002). In brief the National Service aims at: 1) utilisation of human resources; 2) social integration; 3) realisation of gender equality.

The incontrovertible benefit of the NS for the nation is, in fact, seen in that 40,000 people annually are called upon to join the National Defence Force (NDF) to contribute to the efforts of building new infrastructure. Since Eritrea sees its developmental potentiality as contingent on its human resources it is keen to develop its human capacity. In that respect the NS makes a major contribution both in terms of an affordable labour force and as an opportunity for capacity building. The fact that the service is unpaid makes it vital for the reconstruction of the resource-poor nation. At the same time its unpaid nature has generated considerable resentment. To give it legitimacy and institutionalise it, the Government incorporated it in the Constitution. In Article 25:3, under Duties of Citizens, the Constitution states, “All citizens shall have the duty to complete their duty in the National Service” (Draft Constitution of Eritrea. Asmara, 1996). Failing to fulfil these duties has consequences. Any individual shying away from doing the NS is barred from any state services. In fact you lose the right to: a job, education, establish any business, build houses, get marriage and birth certificates, citizenship, etc.

The NS programme also played a decisive role in defending the country during the second war with Ethiopia. In 1998 when the war began more than 100,000 reserves were mobilised in less than 48 hours (Eritrea: A Country Handbook. Asmara: Ministry of Information, 2002). It is believed, as of today, that ten percent of the labour force (250–300,000) is engaged in NDF of which the overwhelming majority consists of NS draftees. Since May 2002 the government has launched what it calls the ‘warsai-yikaalo project’ that makes it possible for the army and particularly members of the NS to participate in national reconstruction and development. Indeed, the warsai-yikaalo project, after the devastating second war, seems the only way by which the government can mobilise the human resource and utilise it in lifting up the nation from the socio-economic calamity it finds itself in, and in gearing it up to the post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction process.

Unintended consequences
Sociological treatises remind us again and again that social processes are incremental, gradual and painstaking. What colonial authorities and African modernists finally came to discover as a painful reality is that traditions, norms and beliefs are rarely amenable to a quick fix of social engineering, ‘old habits die hard’. Nevertheless, exceptions to this old adage abound. Military organisations if not creating miracles are perceived to engender fundamental transformations in a relatively brief period. In their monumental work, The American Soldier (1950), the sociologist Robert K. Merton and his colleagues expound the role such social organisations play in social transformations.

Without going far away, if we look into the experience of the Eritrean liberation struggle, we also find unequivocal evidence showing that it had far-reaching impact on societal transformation. Elsewhere, using the metaphor of a melting pot (Eritrea: The Making of a Nation, 1890–1991. Uppsala, 2000), I have dealt with the role the liberation struggle played in the transformation and integration of the Eritrean society.

Processes of social change presuppose both intended and unintended social actions. What we invariably predict and anticipate are those concomitants of human intentions. We are never prepared for the unintended consequences. As Merton’s famous article ‘Unanticipated Consequences of Purposive Social Action’ shows the unintended consequences are also of profound significance. One of the significant contributions of the NS encounters in Eritrea viewed, particularly, from the social transformation process is, beyond the ethnic and religious integration, the role it plays in upsetting the socio-economic constitution of the participants. A significant importance, seen from a gender perspective, is for the women participating in the NS. Fulfilling duties in turn entitles women draftees to demand their legitimate rights, which they have begun to do.

Seen from a social mobility vantage point, for certain social groups, it has the effect of downward social mobility whereas for others it has an effect of upward social mobility. A considerable number of NS draftees come from a relatively good socio-economic background. Many have an urban middle class origin with higher academic education; run their own businesses; have good jobs; support families, etc. Serving in the EDF as a draftee entails loss of income and there is no new skill or profession to be gained for this social group. Furthermore, in the long run down-grading of living standard follows. In this sense, therefore, this socio-economic category could be considered as a loser.

On the other hand, there are social groups who are really beneficiaries. Draftees of rural—peasant and pastoral— background have gained new skills and professions by joining the NS. A considerable number of the draftees have gained new professions such as mechanics, carpentry, construction, driving. This professional social mobility from a traditional—farming and herding—to a modern technology-based and cash-oriented economy is the unintended and undeclared consequence. In the remote rural areas of Eritrea where life is still in its traditional form, as a result of changes engendered by the NS programme a monetisation of the mode of life is taking place.

Monetisation of the mode of life
“Spouses of herders and peasants serving in the NS programme are expressing their wish that their husbands stay in the NDF”, was the information I got from one of my informants. Surprised, I asked why on earth would they wish to do that. The underlying rationale behind it is purely instrumentalist and functionalist interest. In the absence of the breadwinner, the family—wife and children—began to get 450 Nakfa monthly as compensation for the father’s absence. For many of these families the cash economy is a novelty that came to the household with the NS and the state’s pecuniary compensation for the loss of income due to the breadwinner’s absence. Although for some it can only constitute a symbolic compensation, for farmers and pastoralists it could be a profound catalyst in bringing changes in the mode of life. The woman, now the head of the family, finds herself in possession of money which she can spend freely. She can travel to the nearest town and buy whatever she feels like buying. It has an emancipatory effect in that the woman becomes a consumer in the market and economically independent.

The sociological consequences of this process are multi-dimensional. In socio-economic perspectives certain modes of life are, along with the process, rendered extinct, or at least considerably diminished—the obvious victim here is the pastoral mode of life. Here two social processes trigger profound socio-economic transformation. The first is that a cash economy is being introduced where the household is exposed to a different life style. Second, those involved in the NS with their newly gained skills and professions are transformed into new persons. In terms of human capital a rapid socio-economic change is set in motion.

Irreversibility
This social transformation will bring challenges to individuals as well as to the nation as a whole. Will the individuals be able and want to return to their former herding and farming professions? How can the nation accomodate all these people who have gained new skills, professions and a new taste of life. Demobilisation of such a large number will put the state in a really difficult position as regards providing jobs as well as residences for the demobilised NS draftees. It is unlikely the NS draftees of rural origin will go back to their old life styles. The experience from the demobilisation after the liberation war tells us that many of them will probably choose not to do so. If they choose to pursue the newly acquired profession and life style, and if the state cannot address all their needs, what will be the socio-economic and political consequences?

The World Bank has promised to provide the State of Eritrea with money for the demobilisation. This money would be used, among other things, to train the demobilised in order to gain skills and professions (further skills and professions!) that will enable them to re-integrate in the society. The initiative by the World Bank is to be appreciated, the problem, however, is of sustainability. If those trained are not guaranteed continuity in their new profession this will inevitably generate social tensions and conflicts. This will constitute a failure of proper integration and accommodation that stretches beyond the capacity of the Eritrean nation state. It seems it is because of this that the Government is still reluctant to demobilise en masse. One way or the other, those of peasant and pastoral background who have taken a step upwards on the social ladder have reached a point of no return .

This article is the result of observations during fieldwork in Eritrea for three months in 2003.

There is very little written on the Eritrean National Service. For general information on the country and news service, we recommend a visit to NAI’s Guide to Africa on the Internet at www.nai.uu.se/links/linkseng.html (choose country-specific information, then Eritrea)