Category: Articles
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Sometimes A “Draw” Is Good
On September 21, 2010, the International Crisis Group (ICG) issued its report on Eritrea titled “Eritrea: The Siege State.” The ICG succinctly summarized the Eritrean history in its glories and its failings. To speak for myself, this is the best summary of Eritrea‘s history that I have read. This is an outstanding primer, which one…
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Opposition By Default
It is a matter of common sense that any two should not dispute, that the primary task of any opposition is to call and struggle to bring about the necessary democratic changes by all possible means to achieve what the ruling government has failed to a achieve for its people. In a case like ours,…
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Philsophical Enklil Part 2: Mystifying The Obvious
After filtering out the background noise of YG articles, what we are left with is just simply intellectual stuttering. This stuttering of YG has been going on for far too long with utter disregard to fact, truth, or decency. Day in and day out he has made a mockery of everything Eritrea and what Eritreans…
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The Eritrean Elites And The People
Recently, I observed a relative tranquility in the Eritrean cyberspace, may be the success of the NCDC diverted the course of action into the righteous direction. A considerable number of participants also highlighted their views with regard to the event and confirmed that at least “we can sit together at the table.” Above all, Assenna.com…
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A New Type Of Politics Needed Not A New Type Of Opposition
In the absence of a central body which monitors and “regulates” discussions of Eritrea’s state of affairs, it is not surprising to see debates turn into fights and political campaign run negatively. In the absence of an arbiter, it is normal to see some people and organizations talk louder. Because the louder you talk it…
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To The Silent Majority – For How Long Can You Keep Your Silence?
A priest asked a dying Spanish Statesman and General who ruled his country in the late 18th century: ‘’Does your Excellency forgive all your enemies?’’ ‘’I do not have to forgive my enemies,’’ the ruler replies, ‘’I have had them all killed.’’ In Eritrea, today, every kind of available weapon is being unleashed: education, mass…
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Addis 2010: Eritrean-Ethiopian relationship (I)
Haddis Alemayehu’s ‘Fiqir iske meqabir (love to the grave) is a literary masterpiece of Amharic literature about feudal Ethiopia that I enjoyed reading during my school days. Addis 2010 revived my memory about the novel and in a number of ways I somehow tried to relate it to the current tragic state of Eritrea. So…
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Philosophical Enklil Part 1:Discuss Fishing Without Mentioning Fish
Recently, I have read articles written in Asmarino.com that attempted to address the existence of alleged “child soldier” in the Eritrean struggle during liberation war against Ethiopia. Yosief Gherberhiwet (YG), What the Book of Martyrs Doesn’t Say: Part I and Part II. There was also Zekre Libona (ZL) with his The Eritrean Revolution and Its…
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Cheap Shots on the National Conference for Democratic Change:
We are heartened by the hard and imaginative work that our delegates to the National Conference put into the task of laying the foundation to heal the country from its harsh past and present, and shape the future that restores dignity, confidence and pride into our people. It is a real patriotic work and essential…
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The National Conference And The Expectant Community
Speculations about a National Convention of opposition parties and civic organizations aiming at working on a road map for the future of Eritrea, have been on the airwaves and headlines of major Eritrean websites especially during the last six months preceding the first week of August 2010. And after a prelude of a lot of…
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The Eritrean Covenant And Nehnan Elamanan: Two Shady Documents, You Can’t Defend In A Mixed Crowd
“ንሕና ማለት እዞም ሕጂ ኣብ ቅድሜኹም ቀሪብና እንዛረብ ዘሎና ተጋደልቲ፡ እቶም ብመጋቢት 1969 ዓ.ም.ፈ. ካብ ምምሕዳር “ቅያዳ ኣል ዓማ” ዝተፈለና ኢና። እወ ንሕና ዳርጋ ኩላትና ክርስትያን ኢና። ብደገ ናይ ኩነታትና ህላዌ ዝርኢ እውን “ሃይማኖታውያን” እዮም ይብል ይኸውን….. መንነትናን ዕላማናን ክፈልጥ ንዝደሊ ንጽሑፍና ብምሉኡ ንኸንብቦ ሓደራ ንብል። ላዕለዎት ራእስታት ጀብሃ፡ ናብተን ብትካል ምስልምና ዝምርሓ ሃገራትን ድርጅታትን…
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Reflections: Seven Days At The NCDC
Having lived in Addis-Ababa for almost four years as an Eritrean refugee with urban status, and having strong “shaebia” sentiment, and being a member of the silent Eritrean majority, I had still many misgivings about the handling of the NCDC, but decided anyway to attend on the fourth day after the conference was started. …
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Why did the Chicken Cross the Road? (The Eritrean Version; A Satire)
2009-2010 was a hectic year for Eritrean internet writers, users and abusers, even by Eritrean internet standards. With due regard to the seriousness of our discourse, I attempted to satirize, and caricaturize supposed dominant themes of our writers in an effort to lighten our mood and exact some humor along the way. I hope…
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In Support Of The Eritrean Accord
I read the Eritrean Accord with interest as I did to the Eritrean Covenant. I have objections to some of the assertions therein. Moreover, I wish the introductory note was written in a less incriminatory tone. I do not think excessive incriminations help us at this stage. Yet, I have embraced the Eritrean Accord and…
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The National Conference: A Secure Avenue To Democracy
Seventy years in the history of peoples is a very short period, but it seems a long time to the naive. They think it is doable to change the natural course of people according to their whims and the outcome of their mess was a disaster to all Eritreans—the nescient panicky fanatics are flopping in…
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Praise and Criticize
Praise and Criticize:“The Eritrean Accord: Harmonized Constitution” First and foremost, I congratulate Mejlis Ibrahim Mukhtar for taking the initiative of amending the Eritrean constitution using a mixture of the 1952 Eritrean Federal constitution and the ratified 1997 Eritrean constitution in his I for one am on record for advocating the use of the ratified 1997…
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The Fear Of The Other Side
Things are going downhill and it seems as if we are going to walk on steep cliffs. I wish this will not happen. Opposition movements are multiple with a range of political formulas. Yet we have witnessed the emergence of new ones and perhaps more will be coming in the future. One cluster here and…
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Internal factors in the issue of land, equity and Language
Recently there have been a number of articles written about the problems of land, equity and Arabic in Eritrea. Most of the writers have blamed Eritrea’s dictator for the problems, thus referring only to an external factor. However, I believe that there are also internal factors involved, and if we want to solve…
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My Understanding Of A National Conference
A national conference that measures up to its name should reflect the compatibility of that with the composition of its participants, the goals and tasks set, the results achieved and the mechanism and means adopted. Reality is so complex to squeeze and fit into a rigid pattern or criteria set ahead. Thus allowance should be…
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EraEro Guards: Files Awaiting Extermination
The most shocking feature, in the interview with Eyob Bahta Habtemariam, EraEro prison guard, is the story of his colleagues and himself being open air detainees. This double sided situation is not created from void; it is the offspring of the regime’s relation with its cohorts. The EraEro issue, beside its portrayal of how zealots…