Author: Awate Team
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Never Mind The Calf: Mind The Rustler
Africans in general, and Eritreans specifically, remain skeptical about the benefits of high profile summits, meetings, conventions, and discussions at the margins because, throughout their history, they have rarely seen tangible benefits from these “baptismal parties” that come and go. It was this sentiment that Eritrea’s State television, Eri-TV, was trying to exploit with its blistering…
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Awate.com: A Glitch And A Candle
Dear friends of awate.com, (…and readers) Starting from midnight on Tuesday, July 29th, until Thursday afternoon, July 31st, 2014, awate.com was down—a total of 36 hours. The shutdown was unforeseen and sudden and it happened as we were performing regular maintenance tasks; the server wouldn’t reboot. It took a total of around 30 man-hours to…
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Eritrea 2014: Isaias Afwerki & His Musical Chair
The last time Eritrea’s ruling (and sole legal) party had an organizational congress was in February 1994, over twenty years ago. This is remarkable even by its own low standards: During the full-fledged War of Independence, 10 years passed between its first congress in 1977 and second congress in 1987, and 7 years between its…
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Italy Still Serenading The Eritrean Dictator
On July 2nd, 2014, Italy’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lapo Pistelli, met President Isaias Afwerki in Asmara, and Ethiopian State Minister, Berhane Gebre-Kristos*, in Addis Ababa. The purpose of Pistelli’s visit to Asmara, as he explained, was to demonstrate to “President Isaias personally … that Italy is ready to show a new willingness that…
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Sunridge CEO: 99% Of Eritreans Support Our Operations
It has always been the mission of Awate.com to work hard to inform its readers on everything the government of Eritrea and its collaborators hide from the people. Awate.com was established for that reason. We monitor the mining sector seriously simply because of its corrupt nature, undisclosed dealings, the long lasting environmental disaster it brings…
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Eritrean Catholic Bishops Ask: “Where Is Your Brother?”
In a spiritually embellished letter, four Eritrean Catholic bishops issued a letter addressed to the Eritrean people. In the 38-page letter that the Catholic Bishops from the eparchies of Segeneiti, Asmara, Keren and Barentu wrote, they described the situation in Eritrea and appealed to the faithful to find solutions to the economic crisis, excessive exile,…
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Dejen Ande Hishel: The Prison Breaker
On February 27, 2014, Dejen Ande Hishel, 38, an Eritrean fighter-jet (Mig-29) pilot and trainer, escaped from a maximum-security Eritrean prison in Asmara, where he had been held in captivity without charges, a verdict, or a day in court, for fifteen years. While his whereabouts have not been disclosed, it is safe to say that…
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Awate Video of the month: “A message to Bresident Obama”
On January 29, 2014 we presented to you, Awate Video of the Month: “Breaking News!” In the same spirit, today we present you another Awate Video of the Month: an Egyptian lady’s message to President Obama. In case you have a problem understanding the accent, read the text and we hope it helps you. If…
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Wikaw Iz Without General Uqbe
EriTV has a slogan: Serving The Truth. Yet, the government-owned national television and its sister outlets rarely engage in serving the truth. Erasing historical figures and events from the memory of Eritreans, and rewriting history to serve its political interest has become the primary preoccupation of the party that rules Eritrea unelected. The strategy has…
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An Interview With An Eritrean Icon: Ahmed M. Nasser
This interview with Ahmed Nasser was conducted by Saleh Younis. It was published at awate.com on January 29, 2001. We are republishing it on the occasion of Ahmed Nasser’s death on March 26, 2014 ___________ Editor’s Note: Eritrea’s proud history has produced heroes and giants, visionaries and selfless patriots. This is why awate.com feels no…
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WiA: Testimony of University of Asmara Students
This article was originally published by awate.com on September 12, 2005. It is awate.com’s translation (from English) of a testimony provided to Elsa Chyrum, an Eritrean human rights activist, executive director of Eritrean Human Rights Concern (EHRC), by a persons who chose to remain anonymous. This is part of a series of testimonies she has…
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Eritrean Airlines: An Eritrean Story
If there is one entity that symbolizes Eritrea, it must be Eritrean Airlines. It is its metaphor for something that one has much expectation for but one that repeatedly, continuously and predictably fails because it never learns from its failures. Like a flag, an airline is a symbol: it stands for some kind of autonomous…
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From Moscow With Lies: Yemane Gebreab Interview
Yemane Gebreab, presidential adviser and director of Eritrea’s ruling (and sole legal) party was part of an Eritrean delegation–headed by Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh–that conducted a meeting with Russia’s Foreign Minister, S. Lavrov. In their joint press conference following the meeting, the Russian Foreign Minister indicated that he had discussed the relationship between Eritrea…
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Awate Video of the Month: “Breaking News!”
If you are drinking, put it down, and if you watch this while drinking something, you will certainly spurt it out and make a mess. If you are in a library, don’t watch it: you will laugh so hard that you will be booted out. If you watch videos while driving, don’t watch this one:…
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Awate 7.0 – Preliminary Report
So we were 10 days behind schedule, but awate 7.0 is here. As we said earlier, the changes are going to come in phases; what we have now is the one dealing with the fundamental changes–more on the way. The changes which are already in effect: 1. We are using Disqus as our discussion forum. …
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Eritrea 2013: A Retrospective
In the Eritrean Calendar, 2013 was Two Major Events bookended by dozens of mostly horrible events. The two major events were the Mutiny of January 2013 (“Forto”, January 21) and the Drowning of 366 Eritreans (“Lampedusa”, October 5.) The Isaias regime in Asmara described the former, “Forto”, as if it was a sting operation it…
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Awate 7.0: Status Update
Dear Awatistas: First of all, Awatista is a knock-off of Sandanista. We are not lefties, but we are revolutionaries, thus the Awatista. If you consider yourself a revolutionary, someone who wants to change the world for the better, you may not agree with us on anything else, you are an awatista. Well, you must believe…
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Agrigento Memorial Service: Monday 21 October 2013
Information Pack for Agrigento Memorial Service On Monday 21 October at 4 PM in the afternoon there will be a memorial service for the victims of the Lampedusa tragedy in the Italian city of Agrigento. This memorial service is organised by the Italian government for people to pay respect for the victims before the bodies…
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Lampedusa and the Eritrean Journey for Dignity
After much criticism, the YPFDJ, the youth satellite of Eritrea’s ruling party, PFDJ, visited Lampedusa, a south Italian island whose shores were visited by victims of a shipwreck: 154 barely alive, and 359 dead Eritreans. YPFDJ’s statement begins with this: “The Y-PFDJ team has been in Lampedusa for almost 24 hours and the facts and…
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Isaias Regime and Lampedusa: A Week Late, A Weak Explanation
Since hundreds of Eritreans perished off the coast of Lampedusa on October 3, there has been a stark contrast between the reaction of the world and that of the Eritrean regime and its most ardent supporters. The facts as we know them: In the very early hours of October 3rd, a 20-meter 3-deck boat en…