About eight years ago, I interviewed a man many, including myself, consider a giant in the struggle for Eritrean independence. This is what I wrote in the introduction to the interview that was published on April 11, 2005:[i] Some people find themselves in a storm and struggle to get out; … more
To the unaware, the horrible stories about life in Eritrea would seem mere exaggerations; those who have no idea about the cruelty of the PFDJ rule would be tempted to brush it off. But the stories are just the tip of a huge pile of more harrowing tales. A man … more
Usually, I report to my readers immediately after I return from a travel or an event. This edition of Negarit was delayed a lot, first due to the pressures of making up for lost time, then attending to stuff as result of the server breakdown that had to be fixed … more
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 … more
I always liked Christmas season and I associated it with chocolate. When I was a child, every Christmas season, my father would bring us Toblerone chocolates and Pane Tone, courtesy of his Italian business associates in Asmara who distributed those goodies to their agents and distributors; I grew up thinking … more
When the Pharaohs built the Sphinx of Giza it must have been finished with high quality plaster and colourful paintings, but with time, wind, heat and rain eroded the structure and left it with a dull facade. The Obelisks of Aksum and the stellaes of Metera faced the same fate; … more
First, let me congratulate my fellow Eritreans, specially the victims of the human trafficking crime; what we already knew is now official and Major General Teklai Manjus has been formally identified as the man who runs the trafficking empire. The UN monitoring group on Somalia and Eritrea has done an … more
Originally Debre Zeit was called Bshftu after the name of a lake in the town. The last time I was there, I was having lunch at the balcony of the Ras Hotel when I saw an indigenous religious rituals on the other side of Lake Bshftu, and accidentally I got … more
This is a rather long reportage on my recent trip to Qatar and I will tell you my impressions of the state, and particularly its politics and diplomacy; my impressions of what it takes to have an impact with Al Jazeera; the situation of Eritreans who live there; and maybe … more
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” That is from the bible, just in case. But the bible is ancient, and thanks to the modernizing factor of the PFDJ, we should have another bible: “After the beginning there was another … more
In Salem, Massachusetts, they threw suspected witches into a lake: if they floated they were witches and if they drowned, then they were dead witches. In the abysinian highlands in the past, an Anteregna (goldsmith) faced almost similar mistreatment. Masons, wood-carvers, iron-smiths and goldsmiths sustained much of ancient Axum’s civilization. But the … more
It has been 21 years since Isaias occupied Eritrea, became the Expropriator General, owned everything under the Eritrean sky, and everything that moves or stands on the land—including the cemeteries. It has been 21 years since he began oppressing living Eritreans and denying them a burial space after they die. For … more
Today I feel like throwing a thousand proverbs. Why not, we have an ample supply of anecdotes and other sayings that embody folk wisdom. They lend their use to the most boring writers and speakers. And whenever ideas betray me, I use them; they are handy fillers for a marathon … more
On December 20, 2011, reporting on the meeting of the Eritrean regime’s so-called Cabinet of Ministers, Asmelash, the mouthpiece of the regime recited (among many other personal declarations of Isaias) that the tyrant had given new directives to his servile cabinet ministers. This is what Asmelash reported: “…President Isaias continued, … more