Negarit

If there is anything Eritreans and Ethiopians (and beyond) agree upon, it is the fact that PM Abiy has stirred a seemingly calm sea. Undoubtedly he has inspired many people—he even made the stiff Isaias giggle and behave like a teenager. Of course, he has embarked in a grand scheme …

As we push towards reconciliation, we have to expose the wounds of the past that always pop-up to hinder the journey. Real reconciliation should not be considered for the sake of political expedience alone. The festering wounds need to be recognized and healed to reach a meaningful and lasting peace. …

[This article is being republished on awate.com with the consent of the Editorial Team of Discourse Magazine to which it was contributed. The maiden edition of the magazine which is published by The Ethiopian Foreign Relations Strategic Studies Institute appeared on Thursday, 19 January 2017. You access the Amharic audio translation of this article …

Americans do not declare something over, “until the fat lady sings”. It’s a colloquial language referring to a fat lady who apparently used to sing before the end of Operas. For the last six-weeks, everybody was waiting for the Ethiopian Parliament to sing and officially declare a prime minister. It …

A bright educator has passed away. A great teacher who left his marks on our personalities has passed away. Ustaz Mahmoud Mohammed Ali has died. May he rest in peace. Almost sixteen years had passed when I visited Ustaz Mahmoud in his house in Abu Dhabi together with my late …

(Due to the never-ending bickering concerning the Nile River (more accurately, the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam), today we decided to republish this archive content from June 17, 2013) If you notice, most fires of war are fueled by those who would not be burned by it. To them, it is just like …

A famous commercial tagline goes, “Never let them see you sweat.” And there was a man who never let them see him sweat. A free-spirited man who faced adversity, jail, and deprivation, but never capitulated. How could he? How could he when he was blessed with a free, stubborn soul …

(This is a speech delivered on Saturday, March 26, 2011, at a conference organized by the Eritrean Ethiopian Friendship Forum in San Jose, California: “Ethiopia & Eritrea: Healing Past Wounds and Building Strong People-To-People Relationships.” March 27, 2017) One night a man came upon a child who was searching under a street …

[this is an archive edition of Negarit from August 2, 2004 and maybe you could see how today is what it felt 13 years ago.] I keep thinking of my aunt because some people call home, talk to their aunties and use them as proof that their single voice is …

[this was first published in May of 2015 in objection to an attempt by some hacks to revive old partisan rivalry, and their obsession with partisan politics. Yet, they are the ones who insist on national unity and on focusing to achieve change [justice] in Eritrea. The current debates in some circles …

This was first posted on Dehai twenty-years ago (Sun, 3 Aug 1997). I was going over some old files when I accidently stumbled upon it-–I don’t remember the occasion or the inspiration that made me write it, but with minor editing, I thought it serves as an  entertainment and easy …

Let me begin by wishing success and fruitful discussions for the organizers and attendants of the Sheffield Meeting, planed for tomorrow, Saturday, July 22, at 2pm. The two honorable men in the picture are Shiekh Mohammed Juma Abu Rashid, and Abba Shenoda Haile. The “Eritrean Justice Camp” knows both men …

The 14th of April is when the Prisoners’ Day is commemorated. It’s a day that Eritreans remember their prisoners to spread awareness of the plight of their loved ones, and they remember so many of them. Some who grew old in the dungeons of the cruel Eritrean regime, others rumored …

The last decade or so has been difficult for Muslims in many countries, but Muslims are still suffering the most in their own countries due to bad governance, low literacy rates, and poverty. If many non-Muslims are anxiety stricken by the savage actions of some bloodthirsty fanatic Muslims, it is helpful …

The following is chapter 2 of the historical novel, “Of Kings And Bandits” ________________________________________________________________ Mokria, a young Ethiopian boy, glanced at the Wehni Mountain whose top was covered in thick fog that made it invisible. He felt the cold bite his skin through the blanket he had slept on, which …

This year, 2017, the first wave of Eritrean refugees who fled en-masse to the Sudan, have been living in refugee camps for fifty years, and they’re still counting. Since 1967, the numbers of the first wave of refugees, including the second and third generation refugees born in the camps, has surged …

A million years ago, when I first said I do not know of an Eritrean ethnic group known as Tigrinya, quite a few people went bonkers. A thousand years ago, in the 1990s, a few people became touchy-feely whenever Andenet was mentioned, forgetting it was not about people, but a …

If you think the title is blasphemous, not too fast. It is not, and I am hoping you would think beyond our habitual reaction to killing, our mechanical reaction of always dropping the responsibility of all murders and killings (not death) on God. I believe it is wrong. Today I …

(The following article (first published on June 29, 2011) was presented at a panel discussion under the theme “Eritrea’s Path towards Democracy: Dialogue on Constitutional Issues”. The event was held at the Universities at Shady Grove, Rockville, Maryland, on June 25, 2011; the organizers of the event assigned the topic to …

Eight years ago, on November 8, 2008, I published Isaias’ congratulatory letter to the then president elect, Obama. Today I am publishing Isaias’ congratulatory letter to president elect Donald Trump. You will notice the two letters seem to have been written on the same template. I take it Isaias is …