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Eritrea, Ethiopia’s Hostage
Anyone who went through the miseries and cruelties of the successive Ethiopian occupation (Haile Selassie’s and Mengistu’s) followed by the PFDJ oppression, would never wish for a perpetual rule by similar regimes. In fact, if it was possible, the victims of these regimes wish to erase the painful memories, let alone welcome their reincarnation. But…
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The Era of PFDJ-Stupidity
This is excerpts from my Negarit 151, a presentation of Carlo Cippola’s book, “The 5 Basic Laws of Human Stupidity.” It is based on Antonello Zanini’s series of articles about Cippola’s theory on stupidity. In early 2000 I spend hours at Schiphol Airpot in Amesterdam, waiting for my connection flight. I bought Cippo0l’s book from…
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The Six-Husbands of Eritrea
In the Tigrinya language we do not have separate words for sebay, as in husband, and sebaay, as in Man. Both are sebay. Therefore, the title is not about men but about husbands. Also, we refer to Eritrea in the feminine gender, Eritra t’Ewet, not Ertra y’Ewet, always in the feminine gender. But what triggered…
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National Integrative Council of Eritrea-USA
This essay is written to help alleviate the current unifying discourses of Eritreans. My previous, rough draft piece, “GiE-Eritrean Integrative Discourse “ Government in Exile , published @Awate, had tried to suggest that Salih Younis’s “GiE” initiative has not only been an Eritrean unifying discourse, but a reference to the other initiatives including reviving one from…
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Hafeez Saaddin Mohamed Badlay: a tribute
Grief struck the Eritrean community in Melbourne following the sudden death of Hafeez Saaddin Mohamed Badlay, one of its most esteemed members. Hafeez Saaddin passed away on the 4th of November 2021, and his body was laid to rest two days later amid a somber mood and due solidarity with the bereaved family. The burial…
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Eritrea and the Ethiopian Civil war
[9 mnts. reading] Writers or speakers who discuss everything under the sun should not shy away from raising critical topics for fear of annoying a few. Discussing sensitive issues is what I intend to do in the coming few episodes. In today’s Negarit 149, which is an introductory episode, allow me present to all…
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Brief Eulogy to Osman Mohammed Ismail
Yesterday, early morning of the 4th of November 2021, Eritrea and its people have once again lost one of their national liberation armed struggle heroes. Osman Mohamnmed Ismail had passed away in Cairo, Egypt, after fighting illness for months. Osman had joined in 1965 the ranks of the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) at quite an…
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“Time Traps History in a Lie”
[this article was first published in Feb 24, 2021] Dear Awate Nation. I have been AWOL from my Awate for long time. I know I have absconded my responsibility and I apologize. The following is my homecoming gift. This is also in the Memory of my Beloved Comrade Adhanom who chastised me every time we…
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Negarit 148: ብሰላም ዕረፍ – Remembering a friend – ارقد في سلام
Eulogy for a departed friend, mourning in my own way and cursing the PFDJ//Saleh
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Of Guerilla Diplomacy and Granary Courtship
Of Guerrilla Diplomacy and Granary Courtship (ኩሽማን ደርሆ ኣብ ኣፍ ቆፎ) on Eritrean American mask-less diplomacy, with satirical flair (ዋዛ ምስ ቁምነገር)… The “je t’aime, moi non plus” (I love you, me neither) tic-tac exchange between the Eritrean Tweet and the American Facebook (in Eritrea) has of course nothing to do with Jane Birkin’s &…
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Casualty and Effect
Living in Eritrea, far from the Sea, I only knew canned Sardines. Then I went to Massawa and tried grilled chunks of fish—I thought Massawans were pulling a joke on me, giving me beef, and claiming it was fish! Years later I lived in Jeddah and AlKhober but never cared for fish. Then I moved…
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The Story of Eritrean Liberation Front’s Book of Martyrs
“I wonder if anyone knows or remembers Tedros Tesfai Tedla” Degiga revealed his inner thoughts. “He was an ELF freedom fighter, a personal friend of mine, who blew himself up with a grenade in the Gash area to avoid capture in 1973. Tedros and I joined the front on the same day; we were trained…
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“The World Is Against Us,” Eritrea’s St Alamin
A few people were mad because I criticized Saint Alamin, the Secretary of the PFDJ. They insisted that I apologize for a misconstrued statement clipped out of context taken out from Negarit 4 of May 2018. Arsonist who either do the PFDJ bidding or are blinded by ethnic motives had a field day with it…
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Awate.com’s Saleh Johar interviews Meles Zenawi (2008)
The following was first published in May 26, 2008. It’s the first ever interview with the late PM Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia by an Eritreans entity since 1997. The file was lost around 2012 due to some server mishap. Thereafter, several people have asked us about it but we couldn’t find it until recently. This republishing is dedicated…
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The Hyena-leg, Egri Zb’ee
When I was a child, there was a man who had a big funnel-shaped wooden leg. His steps made a bang every time he stepped. The children would say, Ennguuuy, and he will chase them. His nick was Egri Zb’ee and children never let him live in peace. Years ago, a thief broke through the…
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Sovereign Borders Within Which Children Disappear!
[Translated from Arabic by awatestaff] How I wished that my son Ahmed would not wake up with the awareness that in his ancestral homeland there is a butcher named Isaias Afwerki Abraham among the Eritrean people… I hoped was that would be imprinted in the depths of memory, when he is in a far place,…
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Three Eritrean Opposition Entities Form A Coalition
After a long discussion between the Eritrean opposition organizations, three entities announced the formation of Eritrean National Coalition (ENC). On Friday September 10, 2021, the announcement named “September Declaration” was formally made public in a Zoom conference where hundreds of Eritreans from all over the world attended. The members of the coalition are the National…
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“May You Beget A Black Cat”
In 1986 a border conflict erupted between Qatar and Bahrain over the ownership of the Hawar Islands (Fisht AlDibal). Qatari forces arrested 29 workers sent by Bahrain on a construction job. Soon, Saudi Arabia succeeded in mediating and securing the release of the prisoners; in 1994, the case was resolved by the international court under…
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Eritrea: A Conveyer Belt Supplying Mercenaries
Eritrea has been a training ground for Sudanese opposition groups that finally made peace with Khartoum and were absorbed in the system in what was known as the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement in 2006. Still, recent reports indicate that new Sudanese groups are being trained there. In April 2020, Gedab News reported that “UAE airplanes…
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Happy Awate Day: September 1, 2021
Today is Awate Day. It is the day on which we remember our hero Hamid Idris Awate who on September 1, 1961 raised his gun with determination, and started the Eritrean revolution that would rid Eritrea of Ethiopian occupation. His dream and that of his colleagues and followers was achieved in May 24, 1991. However,…
