Month: February 2013
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Reviewing the Reviewers: In Defense of Bereket Habte-Selassie
For their Christmas present, Dr. Bereket Habte-Selassie’s colleagues received a 48-page “book review” of his books. The reviewers, Asaminew Ewnetun and Aradom Fedai Haqi, took 48 pages to say: this colleague of yours whom you know as a scholar, a professor of African and Afro-American studies, a Pan African and with a resume as varied as…
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Forto 2013 – The Covert Angle
Much has been said about the January 21 event – now better known as the “Forto – 2013” operation, in which the PFDJ regime was shocked to its core, despite its typical and desperate tactics of playing down threats and feigning normalcy. Not only did the event scare the pants out of the cowardly dictator,…
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Just Tickling!
This article is exclusively intended to acknowledge and congratulate developments that took place while I had no idea they did. Please read each in its totality and do not dwell on the details. What I feel right now is no different than what the Seven Sleepers felt the day they woke up. Please help! The…
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Human Rights And Challenges In The Horn Of Africa
1. The Hon. Adam Bandt Federal MP, Cr Grant Miles, Maribyrnong council, her excellence representative of Botswana Ms. HEDDIE GOLDBERG, his Hon. Consul General Of the federal Republic of Somalia, Yanis Hashi; Mr. Chin Tan, Chairperson, VMC; Assistant commissioner Commander Ashley Dickinson Vic Police; Commander Scott Lee AFP; religious and African community leaders and invited…
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Lessons Of January 21
Nothing sours the mood of dictators like the appearance of not being in control. A total loss of control is preferable just as a quick death is to a slow death. According to the logic of dictators the fear of government is the beginning of security. History amply attests that when fear is eliminated, dictatorial…
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Team Eritrea Granted Political Asylum In Uganda
(picture courtesy of BBC) The 15 Eritrean football players who had asked for political asylum in Uganda in December following their losing match to Rwanda have been granted political asylum, according to BBC. Of the 15 (including the team doctor) who were granted asylum, 2 returned to Eritrea, adds the report. This is the latest…
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Epic Fail: Isias Afwerki Tries To Diminish “Forto 2013”
The news that members of the Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF) took over the Ministry of Information building (located at Forto, Asmara) on January 21; announced on air their demand for constitutional government and release of political prisoners, and occupied it for nearly 8 hours was so huge that, within days, there were no fewer than…
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Isaias Afwerki Dismisses “January 21 Incident”
Eritrean strongman Isaias Afwerki dismissed the January 21 military takeover of his Ministry of Information as a minor incident orchestrated by “a handful” of individuals, an incident that he and his ministers, who were in a meeting within the confines here [presidential palace], discussed “all day.” The disclosures were made on February 14 in an…
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Under Pressure, Sudan Admits Its Human Trafficking Problem
Last month, Sudan’s Minister of State, Mebrouk Selim Mubarek, declared that human traffickers are active in Eastern Sudan and they number in the hundreds. That was the first time a Sudanese official openly acknowledged that it has become a hub for human traffickers. Mebrouk, who owes his position to Eritrean strongman Isaias Afwerki, is himself…
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Operation Forto 2013 Impacts Operation Fenkil 2013
The Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) waged Operation Fenkil on February 8, 1990. By February 10, 1990, the military operation had achieved its mission: to liberate the port city of Massawa and to evict the occupying Ethiopian force– which lost about 8,000 soldiers in the 3-day battle. The anniversary of Operation Fenkil is marked every…
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Eritrea: The Challenges Of Today And The Prospects Of Tomorrow
(This is the source of the speeches which I delivered in Melbourne on the 29th of December 2012 and in Perth on January 21, 2013. I will present a comprehensive report about my busy schedule in Australia, hopefully soon. I have now returned home after my hosts in Australia fattened me like a cow to…
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Behind Isaias Afwerki’s Crocodile Tears About Human Trafficking
Eritrea’s self-declared president sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to complain that Eritrea has been the “target of malicious and concerted practices of human trafficking” for the “past ten years or so” and since Eritrea has “statutory obligations as well as universal morale [sic] and humanitarian responsibilities” to put an end to…
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Aljazeera: Family Says Colonel Abdurahman Mahmoud Jasser’s Death Mysterious
The Eritrean government’s official website disclosed on Saturday that Colonel Abdurahman Mahmoud Jasser had died on February 2nd “following his recent sickness” and that he would be buried in the “Martyr’s Cemetery” on Sunday. The government passed its condolences to “the family members and friends”. Now, family members are saying that his death is a…
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What Did Bashir And Isaias Discuss?
On February 2, Sudan’s Omar Al Bashir was in Asmara for a one-day “working visit.” This was, as we reported, the first visit to Eritrea by a foreign head of state since the developments of January 21, when members of Eritrean Defense Forces occupied Eritrea’s Ministry of Information for a day and announced their demand…
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PFDJ Dictionary Hooligan: A Citizen Who Demands His Civil Rights
PFDJ Dictionary If you are an Eritrean living in Africa or the Middle East, you have to go to the Eritrean embassy to renew your passport, which you will need for your residency permit. If you are an Eritrean living in Europe, North America, Australia, etc, you can go to the Eritrean embassy to pay…
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Iranian Defector Says Al Quds Leader Met With Isaias Afwerki
An Iranian translator who recently defected to the West says that Qassim Suleymani, the leader of Iran’s paramilitary force, Al Quds, met with Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki on May 20, 1998. According to the translator, Ahmed Hashemi, the discussions between Qassim Suleymani and Isaias Afwerki–which was also attended by Iran’s Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki–centered on…
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Omar Al Beshir Visits Isaias Afwerki
Sudan’s President, Omar Al Bashir, paid a visit to Isaias Afwerki in Asmara today. Accompanying Al Bashir were Sudan’s Defense Minister and Intelligence Chief. Isaias Afwerki, as usual, broke with protocol and was not accompanied by his defense minister or chief of intelligence. The “working visit” lasted a day and Al Bashir returned back to…
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We Are Back (Kinda)
Thanks for your patience… awate.com is back..however, as you can see, we are missing a few articles, some articles, actually a whole lot of articles (April 2012 – December 12) that we are in the process of reconstructing. We have been through this before: it will take us a little time, but we will reconstruct…
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“Tesfai Germen” (wink, wink) explains the motivation of the January 21 “conspiracy”
Alenalki interrupts its usual programming of concert promotion to provide an article by Tesfai Germen. After providing background to Eritrea’s history of the 1940s, where he corrupts the goals Abdulkader Kebire and Woldeab Woldemariam by recalling only their patriotism and disregarding their demand for liberty and justice, “Tesfai Germen” (who is just an ordinary Eritrean…
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Eritreans In London Rally, Shut Down Traffic
On February 1, for the second time in a week, Eritreans in the UK staged a rally in front of the Eritrean embassy to demand immediate change in Eritrea: the resignation of Isaias Afwerki and the replacement of rule by autocracy by rule of law.