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Egypt, Eritrea, and the New Geometry of the Red Sea
Egypt’s and Eritrea’s new maritime transport agreement is not a routine economic gesture. It is a political marker—and a sign that the Red Sea is entering a new phase of strategic competition. The agreement, which launches a shipping line and opens the door to Egyptian expertise in ports, rail, and logistics, is the visible expression…
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The Hewett Treaty and the Road to Adwa
This is a two-part story about Gerald Portal’s delegation to King Yohannes IV, based on Portal’s own book of 144 pages. It’s from a paperback copy of an Arabic Translation by Abdul Hamid Al Hassen and published by “Dar Al Kunuz AlAdabia” in Beirut (1978). Portal’s narration reads like a travelogue and an adventure series.…
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Reengaging Eritrea: A Path Beyond the Stalemate
Michael Rubin has written about Eritrea for many years, and in a region that often flickers in and out of the world’s attention, that consistency deserves acknowledgment. Whatever disagreements I may have with his conclusions, I do not question the sincerity of his desire to see an Eritrea that is democratic, free, and just. Many…
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The Pledged Public: Toward an answer to “The Grammar of Promise”
“The problem is not to find the best ruler. The problem is to make it impossible for a ruler, however well-intentioned, to do unlimited harm.” — Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies Summary This essay continues the argument of “The Grammar of Promise,” which showed that Eritrean political culture organizes legitimacy around sacrifice…
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Renewing Awate Without Losing Its Soul
Awate.com is back—with a cleaner, faster, and less intrusive experience after the removal of the excessive pop-ups and disruptive plugins that had burdened the site for far too long. This moment gives us an opportunity not only to announce technical improvements but also to reflect honestly on where we have been, the challenges we faced,…
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Eritrean Refugees and the Burden of Visibility
Eritrean refugees are a demographic minority in Africa’s displacement map, yet they occupy an outsized space in the continent’s political imagination. They are far fewer than Ethiopians, Sudanese, Congolese, Somalis, or South Sudanese. But across Africa’s major newsrooms—Daily Nation, The Standard, Addis Standard, Sudan Tribune, Radio Dabanga, Daily Monitor, Mail & Guardian, and Daily Maverick—Eritrean stories…
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The Grammar of Promise: How Eritrean Political Thought Became Trapped Inside Its Own Logic
“The most dangerous moment for a bad government is when it begins to reform.” – Alexis de Tocqueville Summary Eritrean political life, spanning both the ruling party and the opposition, is organized around a shared underlying logic: that sacrifice generates the right to govern, and that those who fail to honor that sacrifice must be…
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Why U.S.–Eritrea Normalization Keeps Failing
A New Opening in a Dangerous Red Sea Moment Washington is once again testing the possibility of normalizing relations with Eritrea. According to The Wall Street Journal and Semafor, President Isaias Afwerki has held quiet, Egypt‑brokered talks with Massad Boulos, the U.S. president’s senior Africa envoy. The discussions reportedly include easing sanctions and resetting diplomatic…
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ተጋዳላይ ከመዓልካ (ዶ-በረኸት ሃብተስላሴ)
ተጋዳላይ ከመዓልካ ጅግና ተጋዳላይ ሰላም ዶ ክብለካ? መንፈሰይ ይሕደስ ወርትግ ክሓስበካ ናይ ሓርነት ጸዳል ዘብርህ ግንባርካ ኣኽራን ዝቐስቀሰ ሰውራዊ እምነትካ። * ጥውይዋይ ነይሩ መንገዲ ሂወትካ ድኻምን መከራን ናይ ዕለት ቀለብካ ኣቦታት ከም ዝብሉ “ክሳዕ ዝደልወካ ትነብር ናይ ግድን ዓንዴል ተሓቒፍካ” * ዓለም ከይፈለጦ ናይ ናብራኻ ኩነት ኣብ ርእስኻ ዘሎ ከቢድ ሓላፍነት ኣኽሊል እሾኽ ዳንዴር ናይ…
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Peekaboo: The Ethio–Eritrean Game
The current cycle of this familiar political game began in 2018, when Abiy Ahmed traveled to Asmara to meet Isaias Afwerki. The visit was presented as historic—a turning point not just for two states, but for two peoples long defined by conflict. Yet from the outset, the encounter carried a tone that was more personal…
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The Wound and the Cure: How Nehnan Elamanan Damaged Eritrea’s National Unity — and What a Truthful Manifesto Could Have Built Instead
Introduction: The Shadow of a Document There are moments in a nation’s history when a single document bends the arc of its political culture. Sometimes it elevates; sometimes it distorts. Nehnan Elamanan belongs to the latter category. Written in 1971, it did more than justify a factional split. It rewrote the moral grammar of the…
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PM Abiy, Teddy Afro, and the Politics of Art
For the past few days, Teddy Afro’s new album has drawn wide attention. A friend told me its lyrics have irritated Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and sent me a clip of Abiy lecturing parliament about the difference between artists and activists. That pairing—music and political instruction—raises a deeper question: can art ever be separated…
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Eritrea’s Ghost Bureaucracy
1. Hidden Bias Eritrean political life is often narrated through the familiar vocabulary of dictatorship, militarization, and repression, as though the visible machinery of authoritarianism alone explains the daily injustices citizens endure. Yet the lived reality of Eritreans is shaped far more intimately by a quieter and more pervasive force that rarely enters the national…
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The Anatomy of State Failure in Eritrea
I. The Origins of Authority States do not fail in a single dramatic moment. They unravel slowly, beginning in the quiet spaces where no one imagines politics is taking place. The earliest fractures appear not in ministries or parliaments but in the daily negotiations of ordinary people. A fisherman trading his morning’s catch for a…
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Protocol, Power, Policy, and the Urgent Need for Institutions
I. A Visit That Reveals More Than It Intended Eritreans have long relied on Awate’s Regional News link to follow developments across the Horn of Africa, a region where every diplomatic gesture carries weight. This week, one story in particular demanded attention: the visit of Eritrea’s minister of trade and industry, Nasreddin Saleh, accompanied by…
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The Elephant in the Room
I. The Meteor We Pretend Fell From the Sky There is a comforting story circulating in Eritrean political discourse – a story repeated so often, and with such ritualistic conviction, that it has become less an argument than a reflex. It tells us that the dictatorship is an alien force, a meteor that crashed into…
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Roots of Resistance: The History of the Arsi Oromo Movement in Building Educational Resistance (1950s–1980s)
BOOK REVIEW Author: Dr. Gemechu Abraham Kurfessa Publisher: The Red Sea Press Publication Year: 2026 Length: 563 pages Roots of Resistance is one of those rare works that doesn’t simply recount history—it unsettles what you thought you understood. Centering on how the Arsi Oromo people used education as a form of resistance from the 1950s…
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Ustaz AbdulHamid: Among the Few Left from the Umma Generation
It was Mendefera, on a January morning in 1929. The wife was expecting; soon, the child refused to remain in the womb and came into the world. An elderly midwife was there to help. The baby looked healthy. She was glad because her prediction had come true—it was a boy. Smiling, she cupped her hands…
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The Day After: Preparing Eritrea for its Most Dangerous Transition
There comes a moment in the life of every nation when denial becomes a luxury it can no longer afford. Eritrea is approaching such a moment. Tick‑tock. The eventual death of President Isaias Afwerki—whether tomorrow or years from now—is not a political prediction but an unavoidable biological certainty. What follows will determine whether Eritrea survives…
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OUR NATIONAL UNITY: Why Eritrea’s Political Imagination Fails Reality
I. The Illusion We Keep Rehearsing In recent weeks, I have been reading a series of essays on awate.com – thoughtful pieces by Semere Habtemariam and Saleh Ghadi, attempting to stitch together a moral vision for Eritrea’s political future. They speak of unity, sacrifice, institutional maturity, historical awareness, and the enduring hope that principled action…
