Author: Dr. Mohammed Kheir
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A Monumental Account of Eritrea’s Torment and Struggle
Eritrea’s 135-Year Journey: Perspectives and Insights from My Selected Articles by Woldeyesus Ammar is an unparalleled historical/political collection about the winding journey of Eritrea, spanning more than a century of historic odyssey—from Italian colonisation in 1890 to today under domestic authoritarian rule. In a carefully chosen collection of writings spanning over five decades, Ammar presents
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The Eritrean Revolution: The Way Forward (P2)
This is a continuation of Part I. The Eritrean regime is crumbling fast after sowing so much mistrust among us. Instead of respecting our diversity and building on its positive aspects,it has worked hard to deepen and escalate the ethnic, regional and religious difference. The urgent question we need to address is: how we are going
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The Eritrean revolution: A circular Or A Linear Journey?
I was in 1952, on the same year that Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia; I am as old as federal arrangement that Haile Sellassie unilaterally dismantled 12 years later. During my sixty years of life I have experienced many things and Eritrea has also grown up with me and affected me all my life. Born
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Beyond Politics: The Psychological Impact Of Our Suffering
Eritreans are so much consumed by and addicted to politics that sometimes we forget we are human beings who breathe, live, love, hate, get sick, feel sad, happy and die. Politics reflects on our every day lives. My first article beyond politics was ‘To be human’. I had planned to write more of that but
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Reflection On The Bishoftu “Youth Dialogue Forum”
The preparations The first time I heard about the idea of planning to hold a youth conference in Ethiopia and other sectorial conferences was during the seminar of Eritrean intellectuals, professionals and other interested individuals held in Ethiopia in September 2011. It means the idea precedes the Eritrean National Conference for Democratic Change (ENCDC) conference
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Youth Rebellion: Limitations, Challenges, Opportunities And Expectations
Uprising & opportunities The last two years has seen an increased awareness, readiness and action oriented tasks involving a growing number of Eritrean youth in the Diaspora. Increased use of social media such as facebook and paltalk, inspiration from the Arab spring and the tragic fate of many asylum seekers in Sinai has given this
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The ENCDC Congress At Hawassa: A Determination To Succeed (P II)
In Part I, I touched on the preparations, the venue, and the deliberations. I apologize for the delay in presenting part II which deals with the process of electing the leadership, the Ethiopian role, current events and the way forward. Many articles were written about the Congress since I wrote Part I, therefore, I will
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The ENCDC Congress At Hawassa: A Determination To Succeed (Part I)
I reached Hawassa with a late group. It was late evening when our bus arrived there on the 22nd of November—and we were given a warm official reception at the entrance of the city. Our group included youth from Switzerland and refugees from the camps in Ethiopia and a few from other parts of Europe.
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The G13 ’Berlin Manifesto’: Lessons & Way Forward (Part II)
In Part I, I dealt with the circumstances that led to the writing of the letter and the reactions then. President Isaias, neither listened to the G13 nor the G15. He has been systematically eliminating all his potential opponents or competitors since the early 1970s. It was not in his nature to listen, the fact
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The G13 ’Berlin Manifesto’: 10 years after* (Part I)
A colleague whom I have never heard from, for almost 20 years called me one November evening in 2000 from Dubai. After quickly exchanging greetings he strongly warned me not to travel to Eritrea. He said he was extremely worried that the President is going to execute me and my colleagues, just like Saddam Hussein
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August 10, 2001: The Day Eritrean Summer Was Crushed
Early that morning, my son left home early to attend a court hearing of the President of the Students’ Union of the University of Asmara (UoA). And I was lucky enough, at least, to have been able to see him again six years later. On August 9, the UoA students held a general assembly and
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August 10, 2001: The Day Eritrean Summer Was Crushed
Early that morning, my son left home early to attend a court hearing of the President of the Students’ Union of the University of Asmara (UoA). And I was lucky enough, at least, to have been able to see him again six years later. On August 9, the UoA students held a general assembly and
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The Road To NCDC: Challenges And Opportunities
These are the main highlights of the presentation I gave in a seminar in Birmingham on 09.07. 2011. The seminar was organized by Eritrean Cultural Forum in Birmingham: Stock assessment: Our basic background: What? -Will always be part of us How we dealt/ deal with it? -Our experience How does it look? Where we stand?
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Myth Of PFDJ Demonstration In Oslo And NRK, TV2
Ever since the Eritrean Unity Movement in Norway began to expose the YPFDJ they have been trying hard to improve their image and to attract media attention in Norway. They incited hatred and mobilized for a demonstration against Norwegian media particularly against NRK and few individuals who according to them tarnish Eritrean identity, history and
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State Vs. Regime Security: History & Structure Of The Eritrean Security Services (Part II)
The security services and the military institution are the two main organs that we need to focus on in our struggle for regime change; they are the main pillars on which the Eritrean dictatorial regime depends for its survival; and we should be very clear on how to deal with them in future democratic Eritrea.
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Eritrea & Egypt: State Vs. Regime Security
A man came to my office at the Paradiso Campus of the University of Asmara, showed me his ID card, placed a revolver on the desk in front of me, and asked to use the phone; he called his headquarters report that he was with me. He then began questioning me in detail about my
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The Fall Of Gazafi & The Eritrean-Libyan Relations (Part II)
If one were to re-compose an old Eritrean Tigrinya song to describe how many times the Eritrean President has visited Libya in the last decade, one of the verses would read like this: ‘Tezewery nefarit tezewereyeTribolin-Asmaran kuynu mezawereye’ (Fly Airplane, fly, the Asmara Tripoli journey has become an entertainment). Part I focused on the pre-liberation
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The Fall Of Gazafi And The Eritrean-Libyan Relations
“I was the one who created Libya and I will be the one to destroy it.” Qazafi as cited in The Economist1 “Mercenaries, Eritrean mercenaries!” they shouted and attacked Eritreans every here. Word spread by the agents of the regime that Eritreans were behind the failed coup attempt. Eritreans were shown as mercenaries on TV
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Two Out: Who Is No. 3?
The Tunisian people have taken to the streets and succeeded in deposing a dictator, and the popular uprising in Egypt has forced the modern pharaoh to make three consecutive concessions within a week. For the first time in 30 years he appointed a vice-president (we do not have one in Eritrea yet) and promised to
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Addis 2010: NCDC Participation And Issues (II)
After one of the group sessions, a Tigre speaking colleague who attended the conference remarked, “I do not like the Tigrinya word ግና ‘gnna’ (but). Some Tigrinya speakers express excellent views and suddenly everything they had stated is spoiled after they utter the word ‘gnna.” We had an outspoken Tigrinya speaker in our group who