This story revolves around the early memories of my upbringing that shaped my identity.  In all conscience, it is neither a riveting story nor based on exaggerated psychological self-assessment of my past; it is just a modest soul-searching endeavour accompanied by some indulgence in retrospection. Why do I find it …

President Isaias Afwerki sealed border crossings not only because the outflow of Eritrean citizens to Ethiopia intensified, but peace, generally speaking, is not working for him. Bestowing the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize on PM Abiy Ahmed while leaving out his counterpart, President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea, was a noticeable insult …

  I have a friend who served as a British soldier during WWII whose stories I find quite fascinating. In fact, I have made it a habit to meet him every other day during my coffee breaks at the British Library in London.  Listening to the stories of his youth, …

There were very few actively engaged citizens who withstood the test of time and lived through Eritrea’s past struggles.  One of them was an elder by the name of Woldeab Woldemariam who passed away on 15 May, 1995.  This is his story. In 1997, when Mrs Hillary Clinton began her …

Now I know why a monument has been erected for Alexander Pushkin, the renowned Russian poet, in the heart of Asmara, while the country’s first independence campaigner, one who co-fathered Eritrea alongside Ibrahim Sultan and other nationalists of the 1940s, is brushed aside. Although my primary objective is to evoke a …

It is embarrassing to witness, in this day and age, abnormal developments creep into our campaigns for human and democratic rights of Eritreans. The aim of the sectarian and ethnocentric maneuver is to sow discord between groups, loosen our Ghedli-history that binds us together and then destroy the social fabric …

Many of us living overseas have conducted ourselves in such a way that we remained true to our Eritrean heritage. We unswervingly rallied behind the preservation of the very spirit that sustained the independence struggle. We, overwhelmed by the spirit of the ‘gedli’ era, cherished liberty as a heritage of …

It is common knowledge that the source of expression is thinking, and therefore any musing on freedom of expression begins with freedom of thought. Bertrand Russell is often quoted for stating: “Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth – more than ruin and even than death… A …