Author: Awate Team
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Eritrea: Hazardous to Eritreans
Yes, it is almost entirely the Eritrean regime’s fault. If you have no family in Eritrea, no connection to Eritrea, and all you had to rely for information about Eritrea was Google News–which aggregates Eritrean state media’s always happy news next to the almost always negative news about the country from independent media–you would have
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The Chronology of Eritrea’s Reform Movement (2000-2001)
On December 5, 2002, the Awate Team published an article entitled “The Chronology of The Reform Movement”, which we introduced with the words “The following is a chronicle of the reform movement…” It covers the period of August 2000–the beginning of the reform movement–to December 2001. Of course, Eritreans’ call for reform is as old
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“If You Want Us to End Our Armed struggle…”
September 1, 1961 is often described as the day Hamid Idris Awate “fired shots at Mt Adal” which makes it sound like it was some sort of spontaneous, celebratory and symbolic gunfire. In truth, September 1 (Bahti meskerem in Tigrinya or FatiH mn September in Arabic) is the day Hamid Idris Awate led a small
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Government Bullying A Citizen: A Personal Testimony
In North America, Europe and, to some extent, Australia, the Eritrean ruling regime, PFDJ, does not wield as much power and its intimidation campaigns are not as effective as they used to be. This is because Eritreans in North America, Europe and Australia are not dependent on the PFDJ for residence and work permits. In
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SEMG Breaks Eritreans Omerta Culture
In 2009, after repeatedly warning the Eritrean regime to moderate its behavior, the UN designated Eritrea as threat to regional peace and, using the powers of Chapter VII of the UN Charter, imposed sanctions: total arms embargo on the state until such time that a panel of experts (Monitoring Group) reporting to a Sanctions Committee
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Nevsun Resources: Slave Labor At Bisha Mine
On April 9, 2012, Awate.com (Gedab News) reported that a class action lawsuits have been filed against Nevsun Resources [i] Below is a summary of a securities fraud class action lawsuit brought on behalf of those who purchased the common shares of Nevsun between March 28, 2011 and February 6, 2012 inclusive, against Nevsun Mining
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US Report: Eritrea Among World’s Worst In Human Trafficking
The United States Department of State has issued its annual “Trafficking In Persons” country report where it classifies Eritrea as a “Tier 3” nation, a dubious distinction Eritrea’s had for five consecutive years. The State Department attributes this to the Eritrean government’s “strict exit control procedures and limited issuance of passports and exit visas” which
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Cry Me A River (Nile): Egyptians Embrace Their Inner-African
On June 3, Egyptian president Mohammed Mursi convened Egyptian dignitaries—opposition party leaders, clerics, civil society—to evaluate his report and to discuss Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam and what Egypt’s response should be. The meeting was televised (live, according to a recording by Egypt Radar); apparently, some of those attending the meeting did not appear to be aware
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ነፍሰን ሪሶርስስ፡ ጉልበት ጊላነት ኣብ ዕደና ቢሻ
7/9/2013 ብ 9 ምያዝያ 2012 ዓዋተ ዶት ኮም (ገዳብ ንይውስ) ኣንጻር ነፍሰን ሪሶርስስ ናይ ክሲ ስጉምቲ (class action lawsuits) ከም ዝተወስደ ጸብጺባ።[i] ስዒቡ ዝቐርብ ክሲ ንምድንጋር ገንዘባዊ ሰነዳት (securities) ዝምልከት ክሲ ኮይኑ ኣብ ክንዲ እቶም ኣብ ሞንጎ መጋቢት 28, 2011ን የካቲት 2012 አጠቓሊልካ ዘሎ ናይ ጊዜ ገደብ ብርክታት ነፍሰን (common shares) ዝገዝኡ ዝቐርብ ዘሎ ክሲ
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UN Eritrea Special Rapporteur: Conclusions And Recommendations
Editor’s note: the following is an excerpt from the Eritrea Special Rapporteur report (dated May 28, 2013) which was submitted to the UN on June 4th, 2013.To read the entire (20 pages, pdf) report, visit here. Following the report by the Special Rapporteur, the Government of Eritrea (GoE) was given the right of rebuttal. The
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Human Trafficking & the Single Focus on Its Inhumane Aspects
Since 2001, Eritreans have added new words to their exile vocabulary. They have new words for new destinations and new graveyards: Lampedusa, Italy. Calais, France. Almeria, Spain. Tel Aviv, Israel. They have new entry points to further destinations: the Tijuana-San Diego border. The Quebec-Vermont border. The Buffalo-Ontario border. They have traveled to countries no Eritrean
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Eritrea’s Dismal Human Development Report
The United Nations has published its 2013 Human Development Report (HDR) and Eritrea ranks number 181 in the world, that is, 7th from the bottom. With a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.351, Eritrea is ahead of only 6 mostly war-torn African nations: Niger, Congo, Mozambique, Chad, Burkino Faso and Mali. The HDI is a
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Reviewing the Reviewers: In Defense of Bereket Habte-Selassie
For their Christmas present, Dr. Bereket Habte-Selassie’s colleagues received a 48-page “book review” of his books. The reviewers, Asaminew Ewnetun and Aradom Fedai Haqi, took 48 pages to say: this colleague of yours whom you know as a scholar, a professor of African and Afro-American studies, a Pan African and with a resume as varied as
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Team Eritrea Granted Political Asylum In Uganda
(picture courtesy of BBC) The 15 Eritrean football players who had asked for political asylum in Uganda in December following their losing match to Rwanda have been granted political asylum, according to BBC. Of the 15 (including the team doctor) who were granted asylum, 2 returned to Eritrea, adds the report. This is the latest
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Epic Fail: Isias Afwerki Tries To Diminish “Forto 2013”
The news that members of the Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF) took over the Ministry of Information building (located at Forto, Asmara) on January 21; announced on air their demand for constitutional government and release of political prisoners, and occupied it for nearly 8 hours was so huge that, within days, there were no fewer than
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Isaias Afwerki Dismisses “January 21 Incident”
Eritrean strongman Isaias Afwerki dismissed the January 21 military takeover of his Ministry of Information as a minor incident orchestrated by “a handful” of individuals, an incident that he and his ministers, who were in a meeting within the confines here [presidential palace], discussed “all day.” The disclosures were made on February 14 in an
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Operation Forto 2013 Impacts Operation Fenkil 2013
The Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) waged Operation Fenkil on February 8, 1990. By February 10, 1990, the military operation had achieved its mission: to liberate the port city of Massawa and to evict the occupying Ethiopian force– which lost about 8,000 soldiers in the 3-day battle. The anniversary of Operation Fenkil is marked every
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Behind Isaias Afwerki’s Crocodile Tears About Human Trafficking
Eritrea’s self-declared president sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to complain that Eritrea has been the “target of malicious and concerted practices of human trafficking” for the “past ten years or so” and since Eritrea has “statutory obligations as well as universal morale [sic] and humanitarian responsibilities” to put an end to
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What Did Bashir And Isaias Discuss?
On February 2, Sudan’s Omar Al Bashir was in Asmara for a one-day “working visit.” This was, as we reported, the first visit to Eritrea by a foreign head of state since the developments of January 21, when members of Eritrean Defense Forces occupied Eritrea’s Ministry of Information for a day and announced their demand
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PFDJ Dictionary Hooligan: A Citizen Who Demands His Civil Rights
PFDJ Dictionary If you are an Eritrean living in Africa or the Middle East, you have to go to the Eritrean embassy to renew your passport, which you will need for your residency permit. If you are an Eritrean living in Europe, North America, Australia, etc, you can go to the Eritrean embassy to pay