Author: Awate Team
-
Beware, he has 139 million loyalists!
Dear Eritreans, this is a warning—you are expected to shudder with fear. The Ethiopians are 139 million people; they can easily swallow you! If they come for your cattle, your women, or your men, let them take it all. If they want your seashores, spread a red carpet—or roll the sea itself for them to
-
The Eritrean Regime and Its Neighbors
On May 24, 1991, Eritreans achieved their long-sought independence, formally recognized on May 24, 1993. Yet, true freedom remained elusive. The organization that became the ruling government legally solidified its hold—not through popular consent, but through brute force, injustice, and external alliances and considerations. Those early days were euphoric; few foresaw the wars and displacements
-
Will they make peace?
Culturally, Abyssinia still clings to its archaic, arguably primitive, mindset. Attempts at modernization have not yielded the needed results. From early on, the developed West has portrayed the nation as a Christian island amidst a Muslim sea. But the unlimited support and goodwill the developed West provided didn’t help much. Since the Middle Ages, the
-
Ethiopia: Hedonists and Spartans
It has been a ticking bomb. It still is a region where the demons require periodic human sacrifices. Not thousands, but tens and hundreds of thousands. The ritual is repeated every generation or two apart. In the Horn of Africa, particularly in Ethiopia, the walking dead are strolling over heaps of decomposed bodies that are
-
Happy Awate Day: September 1, 2021
Today is Awate Day. It is the day on which we remember our hero Hamid Idris Awate who on September 1, 1961 raised his gun with determination, and started the Eritrean revolution that would rid Eritrea of Ethiopian occupation. His dream and that of his colleagues and followers was achieved in May 24, 1991. However,
-
The Lampedusa Tragedy: A Chronicle
[This was first published on October 2, 2014 @14:33] Tomorrow, Eritreans all over the world will observe a day of remembrance for the victims of Lampedusa, the tragedy that shook their being on October 3, 2013. The tragedy was not the first incident where Eritreans died, but it was the first of its kind considering the
-
Gold Coins and Necklaces–Congratulating PM Abiy
Last week Ethiopia went through eventful days. Among other things, on October 9, prime minister Abiy Ahmed inaugurated the 20 hectares Unity Park in the national palace grounds in Addis Ababa in the presence of invited officials and heads of state of the region. The unelected president of Eritrea didn’t attend because he has bestowed all
-
PFDJ Troll Alliance: Facebook Removes Saudi-UAE-Egypt Accounts
August 1, 2019, Facebook announced it was “Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior in UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia” However, the news is no surprise to us since in March 27, 2018, Gedab, our news unit, has reported about the “Saudi, UAE, and Eritrean Internet Trolling Cooperation” with Eritrea. Gedab News was the first outlet to expose
-
A Call To The Moderates of The Horn Of Africa (Archived)
This editorial first appeared on Oct 22, 2003, and again on Sep 10, 2014. We are bringing it up today to remind the pretentious perpetual hawks who are covered with dove feathers, about our view 16 years ago, and today, about peaceful coexistence. We think the topic is more relevant to our current situation and
-
Archive: awate.com Interview: Meles Zenawi Sizes Up The Region
According to the Eritrean regime, we have been on the verge of collapse, for what…ten years now! And these ten years happen to be, in the eyes of a neutral observer, the golden years of Ethiopia. We have been growing at a double digit rate for seven, eight years now. The country is stable from…
-
The Circular Ethiopian-Eritrean Border Saga
Ethiopia has come a long way. In the last fifty years, it traveled the longest distance from where it started compared to many African and Middle Eastern countries. The Epic journey took it out from the darkest abyss of a feudal system lorded over by Emperor Haile Selassie, through a bloody Dergue Marxist revolution that
-
If You Shall Do Wicked Things, Don’t Brag About It
[this archive material was fist published on Dec 12, 2002 @13:47] Arabic saying: إذا ابتليتم فاستتروا fe’iza abteleytum, fe’estetiru. (If you shall do wicked things, don’t brag about it.) In Alamin Mohammed Said’s The Tale of Internal Division in The Eritrean Revolusion” ( page 84), there is a very unflattering statement about Mr. Abdulkader Hamdan. At the time
-
Eritrea: Ethiopia’s Achilles’ heel–Will PM Abyi Ahmed Succeed in Bringing Peace?
Following the Ethiopian political developments has become a roller coaster for Eritreans. As much as they are impressed by the developments, they are worried about what happens next. Ethiopian politics do influence Eritrea and the entire region greatly. The recent election of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was well received by the people of the Horn
-
Awate Archives: Why Idris Aba Arre Is Arrested
[The following archived article is being republished for the fourth time] Seven months after this controversial article was published, Idris Aba Are, a severely handicapped veteran EPLF fighter, was arrested. The article deals with the author’s observations of the government’s policy regarding “education in mother tongue.” At the time of his arrest, he was a director within
-
A Stalemate Breaks Down in The Arabian Gulf
Generally, when there is a national conflict, the people follow. Their salvation can only come from wise friends—but only if the antagonists are willing to listen, and only if their friends are not inflaming their passions. Sadly, the confrontation in the Arabian Gulf is happening in the worst time when a friend both sides would
-
UN Blue Helmets Shouted “Boo” In South Sudan
While the world community, as well as the people of the region were celebrating the birth of a new country in the South of Sudan, others were skeptical. Most Arabs, however, screamed, ‘conspiracy to divide the Arab world’! They seem to have forgotten that the Arab-African Sudan lost its Southern half under president Numeiri, who
-
The Dardanelles, The Nile, And The Red Sea
In December of 2010, Bouazizi, a frustrated Tunisian street vendor, set himself ablaze and soon died of his injuries. The immolation effectively depleted the tolerance capital of Tunisians and they toppled the 23-year dictatorship of Zen Al Abideen bin Ali. However, not many realized that the Tunisian uprising was the eye of the storm that
-
Eritrean Opposition Goal For PFDJ: Death By 1,000 Cuts
The single argument that unites the entire Eritrean opposition is that Eritrea’s ruling party, PFDJ, is not fit to govern because it refuses to be bound by the rule of law. Twenty-five years after assuming power, the Eritrean regime refuses to be bound by national law–a constitution–and it refuses to comply with international law, despite
-
Warships In Asseb: The agony Of Irrelevance
The claim that the United Arab Emirates has a military base in the Eritrean port of Asseb started out as a single, uncorroborated news report early this past summer and is ending the year being a major news story picked by many news agencies and UN investigators to the point that it is now an established fact.
-
Leaked Memo: Eritrea’s Plan To Neutralize Susan Rice
The following memo, written on January 23, 2015 by Mr. Berhane Gebrehiwot, Eritrean Chargé d’affaires to the United States and addressed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was leaked to asmarino.com, a US-based Eritrean website, which published it on July 2, 2015. The gist of the memo is a report of his meeting with Ambassador