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Book Reviewer: Chefena Hailemariam Bjork, Christina. 2019. Eritrea: A Classic African dictator took over. Themes, Stockholm. ISBN 978-91-985588-0-7 Christina Bjork’s book which made its debut in 2019 is about the history of modern Eritrea with a focus on the armed struggle. Her book comprises of twelve sections of personal narratives …

[Editor’s note: This content was first published on Feb 15, 2017.] The Eritrean refugee’s story is a difficult one to tell. Eritrean refugees in the Sudan made history twenty years ago, by becoming the longest stayed displaced refugees in the world. The length of time, the relatively friendly atmosphere accorded …

Say what you will about outgoing president Trump, and despite the messenger, there are many countries in the word that fit this description, and the country in question is one of them. An epitome of the description. It is a country that recently decided to go to war with itself. …

Back in 1990, The New York Times had an opinion piece titled, “The Politics of Slash and Burn”. The gist of the article speaks to the beginning of down spiraling political discourse in the US where Republican candidates were encouraged to use words like ”Sick.” ”Traitors.” ”Bizarre.” ”Self-serving.” ”Shallow.” ”Corrupt.” ”Pathetic.” …

Orally told stories relate a conversation that took place in the first parliament in Eritrea in the 1950s. During a heated parliamentary debate on the official languages of Eritrea, a member of parliament from the Independence Block stood up to speak in favour of adopting Arabic as the second official …

[This is part 3 of 3 in a series under the title of “Can Mesfin Hagos Lead Under a Banner of “One Country, One Destiny”?] “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom” Thomas Jefferson The earlier two pieces1 were meant to show how complex the Eritrean socio-political terrain can be. And negotiating …

This is part 2 of 3 series under the title of “Can Mesfin Hagos Lead Under a Banner of “One Country, One Destiny”? The third part will follow soon. Eritrea and its people have been on a trajectory of existential threat for two decades from the very revolutionaries who brought the nation …

(እዚ ጽሑፍ ዕላማኡ ንኣስተንትኖ’ዩ’ሞ መዓዲ፡ ገሳጺ፡ ምናልባት’ውን ከም ገለ ክብል መሃሪ እንተ መሲሉ ሰኣን ኣኻእሎ ጥራይ’ዩ።) ነቶም እንተስ ብጥቕሚ፡ ምድንጋርን ሰሪ እዅል ምስትውዓልን ንስርዓት ህግደፍ ዝድግፉ ገዲፍና፡ ኣብ መንጎ’ቶም ኣብ ኣንጻሩ ደምበ ዘሎና ጥራይ ከተኵር። ስእነት ተሓታትነት፡ ግሉጽነትን ምዝርጋሕ ጭቡጥ ሓበሬታን ገለ ካብቶም ስርዓት ህግደፍ ዘይቀባበሉዎ መሰረታውያን ኣዕኑድ ንቡር መንግስቲ …

It has become a cliché to say the Internet has changed many facets of our lives, and the claim of such a truism, however, can hardly be called an overstatement. Of general interest for this article rests in the social and political activism that continues to evolve as it creates …

Published 2020, Uppsala Sweden. Text in Tigrinya. ISBN: 978-91-519-5571-1 Pp. 365 plus list of references.  Reviewed by Tekeste Negash Emeritus Professor July 24, 2020 This book, Rezene Tesfazion,( RT) explains in the introduction, is about life in exile. It explores the political reason (underground political activities in Asmara before 1974) …

Before we jump into the discussion of internal colonialism, it’s necessary to pave a way for it with an overview of formal/external colonialism due the close relationship and commonalities between them. A great number of authors and writers – including Eritreans – dealt with external/formal colonialism in detail and studied it’s …

We Eritreans condemn the Ethiopian Prime Minster Abiy’s recent statement where he made an outrageous claim that “the government of Eritrea is a power of peace, and not only Ethiopia, but this fact is acknowledged by the whole world.” He continued further and made a false statement that, “wherever you …

Since 2018, when the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) regime removed its face mask and its leaders revealed their true intentions and hidden agenda to undermine Eritrean sovereignty. Eritreans have consistently pursued efforts to protect their national sovereignty and attempted to block the destructive project adopted by the …

In the cycle of life – from cradle to the grave – we have no allotted timeline we follow. We live life as it was dealt to us. If he did this, if she had done such and such differently, they would’ve been with us today, we say in our …

Recently a debate on the subject of the Arabic language caught my attention (on facebook presented by an facebook activist who expressed his views on his own behalf and perhaps on behalf of others. He was resolutely seeking a convincing answer to his question, so he hosted more than a person within …

Dispatches from Kassala I was walking and enjoying the cold breeze on my face during the Christmas Holidays. I instinctively passed my right hand through my head and felt the thinning of my once bushy hair, then I shoved both my hands into my pockets and walked briskly.  I slipped and almost …

On Monday, October 3, 1994, Arab news International published excerpts of an interview it carried out with Abdo Abdulla, the then secretary-general of the Eritrean Liberation Front–Revolutionary Council (ELF-RC). We are publishing it here to remind our readers about the issues in the early years after the independence of Eritrea. _________________ ARAB NEWS …

Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki holds the distinction of being one of the longest-serving rulers in Africa. This record alone puts him in league with such well-known African strongmen as Omar al-Bashir and Idriss Déby. Yet, his capricious nature betrays the inspiration he draws from the likes of Mummar Gaddafi and …

The Eritrean and Tigrayan peoples shared not only a common struggle against Haile Selassie’s and Mengistu’s oppressions, but also linguistic and cultural similarities that could foster trade intensity, cooperation, hospitality, cross-border movements, and socio-economic integration. Case in point, they mutually supported each other and cooperated with each other during some …

YeNurnebi Mahder: Silela ena poletica (The Nurnebi File –Espionage and Politics), published by Gebriel and son Publishing Virginia, USA, 2017. Amharic text: by Tesfaye Gebreab. 400 pages plus list of references and index. This a very fascinating book for its imaginative qualities and for putting together some known facts in …