Author: Salyounis
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Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea: Report Summary
On June 8, 2016, the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea issued a 94-page report of its findings to the UN’s Human Rights Council. The Commission was mandated last year by the UN’s Human Rights Council (Resolution A/HRC/29/L.23) to investigate if the crimes perpetrated by senior officials of the Government of Eritrea, and
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June in Geneva: The Next Political Battle
Mike Smith, Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea, previewed his case against members of the Government of Eritrea by reading a statement supporting the Commission’s case that Eritrean officials are guilty of crimes against humanity. This was followed by a rebuttal from Yemane Gebreab, Director of Political Affairs of Eritrea’s
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Just Don’t Call It A War: People May Get Ideas
This article originally appeared at awate on June 27, 2008. It is being republished in light of recent news that Eritrea has, after 7 years, released Djibouti prisoners of war. I. The Djibouti “Fabrication”? Djibouti. We have seen this movie before. Twice. In 1995 and 1998. The atmospherics is the same: it has an eerie, haunting
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Eritrea And The Hood – 2015
JANUARY 1. Every year begins with Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki’s “State of the Nation” interviews with his own media. Although we have a draft constitution, he explained, a new constitution had to be drafted because “we are not naive and we refuse to allow them to weaken our capacity.” 2. It Was Lecture Season: Eritrea’s
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Eritrea’s King Isaias Afwerki Judges The World
Recall that in Part 1 of the interview with Eritrean state media (EriTV), President Isaias Afwerki addressed domestic issues and essentially said there is nothing wrong in Eritrea that a little more controlling and louder commanding couldn’t fix. Alnahda’s commentary on that can be found here. In part 2 of his interview last month, our
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Interview: Isaias Plans To Command Economy, Society
In an interview conducted by EriTV, Eritrea’s state television, which is owned and operated by Isaias Afwerki, Eritrea’s Auditor General, Isaias Afwerki, conducted a thorough assessment of Eritrea’s President, Isaias Afwerki, and found him wanting in all aspects. The take-away message from the two-part interview is one: the government intends to have more command and
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On the Wings of Malice and Idiocy
Observing the government of Eritrea and its functionaries, one is always struck which one of their two wings is heavier: the malicious one or the stupid one? One can build a case for either one, and it is a running debate among the Eritrean opposition and the silent majority. In an article that appeared at madote.com
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Eritrea 2015: Feels Like Eritrea 2002
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) just released its annual Human Development Report and Eritrea is ranked third from bottom, next to Central African Republic and Niger, in Human Development Index (HDI). HDI is a qualify of life index which measures factors that contribute to developing human capacity and the conditions for their development: how
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Mzungu Herman Cohen Whitesplains Eritrea, Africa
The problem is that Cohen is a relic of the Cold War era. He comes from a period of time where American diplomats had no compulsion about advising an African country to annex another African country as he, admittedly, did in advising Senegal to annex The Gambia. He comes from a period where “culture” is…
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Like An Addict, Eritrea Needs Family Intervention
The Pope was there. Russia’s Putin was there for the first time in 10 years. China’s Xi Jinping was there for the first time. Cuba’s Raul Castro was there for the first time. The Palestinian flag was there for the first time. In fact, a “record number of world leaders”—150—were there. Eritrea’s president, Isaias Afwerki,
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Eritrea – Prisoner of Conscience Day
We have “Armed Struggle Launch Day” (September 1), “Martyr’s Day” (June 20) and “Independence Day” (May 24.) It stands to reason that we should have “Prisoner of Conscience Day” because those who didn’t die for the revolution, and who didn’t live to see Eritrea’s independence, have been imprisoned by it. Actually, in unique Eritrea, someone can celebrate
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Professor Asmerom Legesse Gets It Wrong
In an article entitled “Critique of the Human Rights Commission [sic] on Eritrea”, Professor Asmerom Legesse attempts to take to task the Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea (CoI-E) as well as Ms. Sheila Keetharuth, the UN-appointed Special Rapporteur on “the situation of human rights in Eritrea.” Unfortunately, even very able and committed advocate of a
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The Churning
There were two demonstrations in Geneva in June 2015 on the occasion of the Human Right Council’s 29th session (HRC 29): one was in opposition to the damning report issued to the HRC by a body it mandated, the Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea (CoIE), and the other was in support. There was, as usual,
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Sovereignty, International Law and the Commission of Inquiry Eritrea
On June 27, 2014, the UN’s Human Rights Council (HRC) mandated a Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea (CoIE) to conduct an investigation on whether the Government of Eritrea (GoE) has violated the human rights of its own citizens. On June 4, 2015, after a year-long investigation, the CoIE issued its report concluding “the commission found
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When Eritreans Went To The Polls In 1997
Everybody is going to the polls, let’s go to ours. Well, it is a different kind of poll our is an opinion poll and not voting poll. And it requires a time machine…that takes us 18 years back. And it is not by the millions but by the dozens. But it may give us a clue
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Come And See (What We Want You To See)!
The good news is that the Eritrean opposition and the Eritrean government have started talking to one another. The bad news is that it is proxy talks: it is discussions by our favorite foreigners. Pro-oppo Foreigner Narrative: Eritrea is one of the worst violators of human rights and exporters of asylum-seekers; an outlaw regime that
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Congratulations Mr. Yemane Gebremeskel, Incoming MoI
Mr. Yemane Gebremeskel, aka “Charlie”, has been named Eritrea’s Minister of Information, according to his ghost writers at Tesfanews.com. He replaces Ali Abdu, who defected from the post in November 2012. I think it was November 2012 although I can’t be sure because the other ghost writers at madote.com had sworn they had seen him
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I Was Wrong
Ever ordered “Chef’s Special” at a restaurant? Don’t: it is stuff the restaurant couldn’t sell. Also, two Americans opened a Chinese restaurant in China and everything Chinese was alien to the Chinese: kung-pao chicken, Mongolian beef, and definitely Chow Mein, invented by a San Franciscan chef and of course the take-out Chinese boxes (which the
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Afro-Pessimism, Optimism, Realism And Eritrea
Much of the scholarship that deals with African development can be categorized as Afro-pessimist, Afro-optimist or Afro-realist. To-date, the case for pessimism had been easier to make: Africa is so far behind on nearly every metric, and it has been stuck there for so long, and it is growing at such lackluster rates, it is hard
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How To Win Eritrea’s “Political Legitimacy” Argument
Since 1991, the debate between Eritrean regime supporters and the opposition has been that of legitimacy. Back in the 1990s, the arguments were crude. The opposition would ask “who elected you to lead me?” and the regime spokesperson would answer: “And who elected me to fight for your independence?” Ah, good times. The State was