Author: Awate Team
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Strengthening The ENCDC
This editorial was published on April13, 2006 under the title “Strengthening The EDA which we changed to “Strengthening The ENCDC”. Of course, some points that were relevant ten years ago might not be so anymore. But most of the points are applicable today if only the Eritrean Democratic Alliance (EDA) is replaced by ENCDC (Eritrean National…
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Yemane Gebremeskel Speaks Untruth
Yemane Gebremeskel broke his five-day silence with untruth. It has been five days since Eritrean government forces killed conscripts in broad daylight in Asmara, the capital city of Eritrea. Over the last five days, the information minister of the Eritrean regime was silent and so was his government. Today he tweeted, “Eritrean arch-enemies and hired…
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Isaias Released Prisoners He Never Had!
On Monday, February 29, Djiboutian President Ismail Guelleh stressed that he will not have a talk with Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea unless he releases the Djiboutian POWs missing since 2008. For eight years Isaias Afwerki has denied a battle was fought between the two countries let alone to admit he had Djiboutian POWs in that…
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BBC & Its Tiny Circle Of Sources
This edition of The Pencil was published on Sept. 18, 2004. We are republishing it on the occasion of its almost 14th year anniversary! BBC’s stringer to Eritrea, Jonah Fischer, was expelled from his station in Eritrea last week. The expulsion demonstrates two things: it encapsulates the erratic and juvenile nature of the Eritrean authorities…
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The Pretend Tudor Monarch And His Banks
Since late last year when the Eritrean regime imposed tighter controls on the Nakfa currency, the already small Eritrean economy has shrunk, mainly due to shortage of cash in the market. The acute shortage of cash in circulation has hit the retail business hard and drastically reduced its size—perishable products for instance, a kilogram of tomatoes…
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Pirates Of The PFDJ
In 1976, when the Derg announced the change of King Haile Selassie’s birr in Ethiopia, the general public was reluctant to surrender the currency to the bank. People perceived the birr as a currency “guaranteed with gold” though by then the world had long dropped the system of defining the value of currency with gold.…
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Kiros Yohannes Pays Tribute to Saleh Gadi
I was moved and elated to read Kiros Yohannes poem on Saleh Gadi; it is a fitting tribute. Kiros Yohannes believes that we should not wait to express our appreciation and respect for the giants, who walk among us, till they are no longer with us. For the last few days, Saleh Gadi was in…
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Cold War Ended, Hot War Continues
The 20th century is very much defined by the cold war that continued from 1947 to 1991. For Eritreans however, that period was not cold at all, it was a never-ending cycle of violence, bloodshed and social displacement. In 1991 the general mood was optimistic as the end of the cold war introduced alluring terms like…
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The Intellectual Leader Osman Saleh Sabbe
All Eritrean martyrs have a story behind them. In addition, we have the disabled, crippled and deformed survivors to remind Eritreans of the hell they went through. Eritreans need them. Yes, they need them around… for they need to be reminded about the sufferings and the price they had to pay for self-determination and freedom. Individual Martyrs are representatives…
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Ethiopia And the Ghosts Of The Ancien-Regime
For the last few weeks, a spate of heightened unrest engulfed the Ethiopian Oromiya region protesting against urban encroachment on farmlands and expressing fear instigated by land-grabbing investments. Simultaneously, another unrest was raging in the Amhara region; it is related to the identity demands of the Qmant people. In both areas scores of people lost their…
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Kebire, The Father Of Eritrean Martyrs
In the forties, when Kebire was assassinated, Eritreans were divided into two major political blocs: one advocating unity with Ethiopia and another opting for independence. Each bloc believed to own the truth and fiercely struggled to destroy the other bloc. In the process, Eritreans lost Eritrea, which slipped between their fingers. It took Eritreans tens…
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Eritrea’s New Capital And Social Control through Currency Change
Countries usually announce change of currency to (a) stabilize a wobbly banking system, (b) to fight hyper-inflation, (c) to opt for currency substitution due to joining a regional or international currency or (d) to assert sovereignty. On November 3rd, the Eritrean regime announced that it will be issuing new currency and that Eritreans have six-weeks…
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Isaias’ Eritrea: No Official Is Safe
Like all countries ruled by totalitarian regimes, life in Eritrea revolves around the interest of the ruling party which monopolizes the national resources and equates the fate of the nation to its fate. Worse, the beleaguered Eritreans have no voice save for those in exile. Sports, national Radio, television, theaters, drama and music production are…
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The March To War (Archives-2005)
(The following is from the archives, it appeared on November 5, 2005.) “I have to state with much regret that your good self, and the Security Council, has forfeited your relevance on the very issues raised in a rather habitual manner, in your letter.” The above is an excerpt from a letter that Isaias Afwerki wrote UN’s…
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The Ethiopian-Eritrean Intelligence War
It has been fifteen years since the bloody border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia ended in 2000. Since then, though the guns has been silenced, and occasional sporadic and limited clashes continued, thousands of Eritrean youth cross the border heading towards Ethiopian refugee camps from where they continue the arduous journey to Europe and elsewhere.…
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September 1, Happy Double Awate Day
If nations do not have symbols, they create them. National symbols help solidify a common identity and strengthen unity. Every nation does gives attention to symbols, including the ancient Greeks who created “national mythos”. Some nations go as far as creating fictional narratives and heroes as symbols or created symbols and national narratives from mythologies.…
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A Glance To The Past, A Focus On The Future
Eritreans have a myriad of unresolved internal issues to worry about external ones. However, all of the problems and crisis hindering the creation of an effective opposition force to unseat the tyrant is not totally their fault. Frustration has been building among Eritreans who feel like they are adding water to a barrel with a…
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Yemane Gebreab’s Transcribed And Translated Interview
The following is the text of the interview that Hassen Zeytuni of RT television conducted with Yemena Gebreab in the London studios; it was transcribed and translated by the Awate Team. The video clip of the interview can be found Here. Welcome. Eritrea is a state located in the Horn of Africa and these days it’s…
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PFDJ’s Quotable Quotes From Ten Years Ago
The following quotes were first published on September 1, 2005. They were collected between Sept. 2004 and Sept. 2005 EXISTENTIALISM & OTHER UNSOLVED MYSTERIES “Netom Halewa emmo men yu kHlwom? (And who is going to watch over the watchdog?). As you can see, we have reached a stage where those entrusted with patrolling the border…
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Help Keep The Lights On!
Updated July 14, 2014: On June 28, 2015, we issued a public appeal to support awate.com under the title, “Help Keep The Lights On!” which is appended below. Today we reporting on the activities of the 17 days, since the appeal was published. As of July 14, 2015, only ten people responded to our appeal (excluding…