Many of those who will read this and who have read the few that I wrote before are justified in wondering why any Eritrean in his/her right mind would be skipping all the catastrophes that Eritreans are facing and be fixated with unsexy, irrelevant and off-date issues. There are a … more
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 … more
‘Thank You’ to all the people who take their time to leave a few notes at the end of the articles, mine included. That impresses me most and deserves all the credit for getting us rolling. I couldn’t find it again for proper referencing and I don’t remember the exact … more
In the last couple of weeks, I wrote three full blown articles and every time I finished one, I keep asking myself “So what?” I save a copy of the article and delete the original (original? on Microsoft!? Just to make me feel that some of the old “shredder” ways … more
Bear with me please! I think we are in quicksand and we need to cross a few steps before starting the journey. By “we” I mean people (Eritreans) who have already crossed over from the stage of “what should I be doing?” into the stage of “how should I do … more
Thanks a lot to every good friend who took the time to throw in a few but very valuable words in the comments section of my previous article. All of the comments, I must admit, are on spot and none have said anything that I do not fully agree with … more
I don’t really know where to start. So much has happened in the last two years that I would be lying if I told you I have been following Eritrean politics the way I used to. Several friends have suggested different entry points including private disclosures. I do understand the … more
I will keep it short here and will do so the lazy way. In an interview with a VoA journalist on September 27, 2011, President Isaias Afwerki responded to why he would keep doing this to helpless Eritreans at a time when human rights organizations are appealing for the release … more
I should probably start by saying a few words about how amazing the developments in the opposition camp in general and the civil society component in particular have become. I haven’t been following much of the written material with the exception of my favorite writers on Awate and Asmarino. This, … more
Soon after my last article Halaf’Mengedi was published brothers B.Y. and SY (I have no permission to mention B.Y.’s name – so the initials) wrote me e-mails to draw my attention to a few sentences that they thought were culturally and ethically insensitive to the late Dr. Russom Haile (May … more
I don’t know how to start or where to start or whether I should start at all. I probably should begin by saying “yigermal yesew neger!” to those who noticed my absence and were kind enough to ask including my good friend SG – who essentially counted me among the … more
On an unrelated sidenote or headnote: With all due respect to Brother Woldeyesus Ammar for his beautifully written emotional “Draft Obituary-cum-Eulogy” (the one where he rephrases “Haile Deru’e’s biggest worry after liberation was how to contain “Tigrigna chauvinism in the EPLF” to mean “it is not the fault of any membership”), … more
There are things that we wish we would never know about because knowing can sometimes be the worst enemy of hope. How would a sailor in the middle of the ocean feel if he found out that, that tiny piece of ice heading towards his ship in a head-on collision … more
le’teakejl alebna higya lwT wo’Hrit … eb atmashash let’thayeb it’trekeb eb tmnit dib le’amr lel’ake meglel mibel m’qwet (Selected lines from an old Tigre song “Anseba may zere”) ‘Not Too Bad!’ is what anyone familiar with the frustratingly slow pace of developments (towards a better day) in Eritrea during the … more