Tag: Isaias Afwerki
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Minelik and Mlelikh
Does God consider those who reject slavery as sinners? However, many offshoot narrations from the original divine books promote slavery in different forms. They could have been acceptable practices in ancient times, but they are repulsing by the moral standards of today. As far as religions are concerned, their timeless essence is virtue, compassion and…
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Eritrean Government in Exile: A Possible Third School of Thought
The emergence of literary national identity, Transcendentalism can be an instructive model as Eritreans are grappling toward the formation of a government in exile. In the 1820s and 1830s Transcendentalism helped marshal an emergent American culture in the definition of its literary national identity. Prior to Transcendentalism, thinkers looked at Europe’s past to create literary…
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Fleshing Out Our Unity Government In Exile
The response to the proposal for A Unity Government In Exile has been extremely positive and encouraging. As a follow-up, after several weeks of consultations and a “listening tour”, in this edition, the following questions will be addressed: 1. Why Government In Exile? 2. If one is needed, why with the EPLF-legacy and ELF-legacy only?…
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Ramshackle * ሓሙስ-ሓሙስ ይብል ኣሎ * آيل للسقوط
Before I begin, there is a Tigrinya saying, “Hamus- Hamus tbl alla,” I do not know its origin. If anyone knows, please let me know on the comments section. In my three recent episodes of Negarit I talked about an imminent flood building in our region. It looks like it’s in a “Hamus-Hamus” state—particularly Isaias’…
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Eulogy in Honor of Adhanom Ghebremariam by Mesfin Hagos
(translated by Semere T Habtemariam) Mesfin Hagos entrusted me to read this eulogy at Adhanom’s funeral but for reasons that are not known to me, and possibly would not and could not understand, I was not able to do so. The second-best thing I can do is to take the liberty of translating it into…
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Reasons for the Approaching Political Floods
There are many instances of governments that are overthrown, pushed out, reclaiming their authority or totally dying out. In the Horn of Africa, there were many such change of governments. Some short-lived, others permanently die out. Ethiopia In 1960 the Ethiopian Brigadier-General Mengistu Neway led a coup with his younger brother Germame Neway and the Imperial Bodyguard that…
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Eritreans in Ethiopia Fear for Their Safety
Several Eritrean opposition members who live in Ethiopia have been facing harassment and fear since the Ethiopian Civil wars intensified. Some members whose organizations had varying degree of presence in Ethiopia. However, since Isaias Afwerki and Abiy Ahmed made a pact in in July 2018, they have been living in precarious situation. Since then, Eritrean…
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Get Prepared Before The Flood Arrives
In the Senhit region, all the way to the West, there are rock mounds, there are ancient conical tukul-shaped pyramids covered in fist size stones scattered in many places. They are covered in black stones, rarely with white. I discovered they were graves of notable warriors or clan leaders. The locals told me the colors…
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The Wicked Pact Against Tigray
How do people keep their composure despite an anger? I will start with a Tigrayan Lady whose views I really liked. Principled, to the point and very genuine. Obviously she is in pain due to the current situation in Tigrai; I would be as angrier if I was a Tigrayan. Today the people of Tigrai…
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Eritrean Refugees at Risk as Connection to Tigray Is Blocked
News coming from Ethiopia indicate that communications to Tigray was blocked since yesterday evening. It’s unclear whether the disconnection is due to technical problems and temporary, or a security and political decision. Until today, only the western part of Tigrai has telephone connections through the Amhara region. Recently, the Ethiopian official media appealed to social…
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Eritrea: A Classic African dictator took over (Book Review)
Book Reviewer: Chefena Hailemariam Bjork, Christina. 2019. Eritrea: A Classic African dictator took over. Themes, Stockholm. ISBN 978-91-985588-0-7 Christina Bjork’s book which made its debut in 2019 is about the history of modern Eritrea with a focus on the armed struggle. Her book comprises of twelve sections of personal narratives drawn from her in depth…
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Do Ethiopian Love Their Country?
It’s safe to say Ethiopians love their country more than their people. In fact, the ever warring political and military elite do not seem to mind eradicating the people and destroying the country and as long they are assured of ruling the rubble that’s left behind. Eight-hundred years of governing patterns attest to that. The…
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The Sixth and Seventh Kings of Ethiopia
A man from Keren arrived in Asmara and headed to the neighborhood where his relatives lived. Though he had seen the house long ago, he was not sure exactly where in was. Then he saw his relatives’ son sitting on the stairs of a door. He kissed the boy and asked if his parents were…
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A Miserable Country Goes to War with Itself
Say what you will about outgoing president Trump, and despite the messenger, there are many countries in the word that fit this description, and the country in question is one of them. An epitome of the description. It is a country that recently decided to go to war with itself. I will not name this…
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Ethnic Profiling of Tigrayans in Ethiopia
Ethiopian security forces are carrying out an extensive ethnic profiling and arresting Tigrayans, particularly in Addis Ababa and other major cities. The arrested also include Eritreans. Tigrayans and Eritreans are known as Tigre, a term that means those who hail from Semen, the Northern part from central Ethiopia. Eritreans are caught in the ethnic battles because of the compass…
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A Book Review of “Desecrators of the Sacred Trust”
Review by Semere T Habtemariam Title: Desecrators of the Sacred Trust: The Apotheoses of Donald J. Trump and Isaias Afwerki, Two Preening Would Be Kings and their Dark Agendas. Author: Bereket Habte Selassie Publisher: authorhouse Year: 2020, Pages: 183 In Desecrators of the Sacred Trust, Dr. Bereket Habte Selassie has the audacity to compare an elephant…
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The Moody Government Closed Italian Schools
After months old wrangling with the school administration, the Eritrean government finally closed the Italian schools in Eritrea. The school bell, “Sadly remains silent for the first time in 103 years in the Italian school of Asmara” as an Italian writer put it. But the fate of the Italian school was sealed once the authorities…
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The Debate Over Arabic Language in Eritrea!
Orally told stories relate a conversation that took place in the first parliament in Eritrea in the 1950s. During a heated parliamentary debate on the official languages of Eritrea, a member of parliament from the Independence Block stood up to speak in favour of adopting Arabic as the second official language of Eritrea. As he…
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Happy Double Awate Day
(This is a close English translation of the Tigrinya content of Negarit #100 video on YouTube channel) Happy September 1 for all of you. Our culture teaches us that one who is not grateful to fellow human beings is unable to be grateful to God. As we all know, Hamid Idris Awate is not only a martyr.…
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UAE-Eritrea: Strained Relationship
Last June, a small ship arrived from the UAE carrying relief aid for Eritreans in Dankalia. However, the Assab port authorities denied the ship entry to the port and it couldn’t berth at the Assab docks. Its captain decided to stay offshore where the ship threw its anchor and waited for few days until the UAE…