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Fight Like A Liberation Front; Think Like An Opposition
Isaias Afwerki’s twenty- two years of misrule reaffirms the old adage that revolutions, quite often, are not caused by vision-inspired or ideology-intoxicated revolutionaries but by the sheer stupidity and brutality of governments. Eritrea’s PFDJ has climbed the Everest of stupidity and brutality and won the envy of North Korea and those that have, likewise, gone…
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Eritrean Parallel Religious Lines
The roots and branches of Eritrean Diaspora seems to point to the mistrust that lingers stemming from their religious parallel lines – Christianism vs. Islamism – any other isms can amicably be ameliorated once this colossal issue is handled with sensitivity, care, and tenderness it so deserves. The other roots and branches that get in…
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Yohannes Tikabo and the King’s Men
This is the story of Yohannes Tikabo and Yosief Ghebrehiwet. More accurately, about their beliefs. Two Eritreans, with varying degrees of enthusiasm for their particular identity. First things first: I am and have been a fan of Yohannes Tikabo ever since Zemen.Actually, before Zemen: I go back to the days “Tarik alewo iti Gobo.”To the…
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Eritreans Stranded in Indonesia
Eritrean refugees en route to Australia are stranded in Indonesia after their smugglers abandoned them when they learned Australian coast guard had intensified patrol of the seas. The Eritreans, who originated from Ethiopia, Sudan and Saudi Arabia, are mostly youth escaping “National Service”, the mandatory military service which was originally designed as an 18-month service…
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Removal of DIA Should Be Our Top Priority
Isaias Afwerki: the petty dictator of a once-promising small African country Eritrea. Neither his past eminence nor his present vulgar mediocrity can be denied. In fact if there is a totem that aptly describes the bald-faced gangly dictator, his rabble of gung-ho generals and his slavishly servile subordinates, it is foolishness. Whether his intellectual atrophy…
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The Essence of Isaiasism: Forced Labor
First of all, yes, when awate 7.0 is launched (1/1/14), we will have a blog for Haile the Great (and all our contributors) so that they can post their pieces directly and people don’t have to fish for content in the comments section. This edition of Nahda started out as a response to his announcement–that…
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National Security Team Discusses TPDM Role in Roundup
In the late afternoon of November 5, Brigadier General Tekle Kifle “Manjus” presided over a meeting to discuss, among other things, the fallout from the youth round-up that was conducted on the weekend of October 26th where, for the first time, it was disclosed that an Ethiopian opposition group based in Eritrea, the Ethiopian People’s…
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Samrawit: A Book Review
Samrawit is an Arabic novel written by the Eritrean novelist Hajji Jabir who works as a journalist in Aljazeera Channel. The novel is in its third edition and it won the 2012 Al-Sharqa (Arab Emirates) Arab Creativity prize. “Searching for Eritrea” is the subject matter of the novel. Apparently Hajji chose this subject over other…
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Honors I Don’t Claim; Allegations I don’t Deny
As a result of the fear that the PFDJ created, the Internet is full of Eritreans who communicate using nicknames. It is understandable why those who oppose the PFDJ prefer anonymity; the risks are too evident. But why would the supporters of the regime hide their identities and communicate “behind a maschera” as the priest…
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A Mercenary Army: Isaias Afwerki’s Last Stand
The Tigray People’s Democratic Movement (TPDM, known by its Tigrinya accornym De.M.H.T.) is one of half a dozen Ethiopian opposition groups stationed in Eritrea whose mission statement appears to have changed from bringing change to Ethiopia to fighting change in Eritrea by being President Isaias Afwerki’s last enforcement unit. Over the weekend, TPDM was dispatched…
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Younis: Disengage from Isaias Afwerki; Engage Alternative Voices
[This is the entire text of the speech made by Saleh Younis, and addressed to attendants of an event organized by Eritrean and international human rights activists and was attended by Eritreans, friends of Eritrea, the Africa Desk of the UN, and the German Mission, and the Human Rights Rapporteur, Sheila Bedwantee Keetharuth, designated to…
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Special Rapporteur, Eritreans Address Root Cause of Their Exodus
Eritrea is a country riddled with extra-judicial killing; disappearance; incommunicado detention; denial of fundamental human rights and indefinite military conscription which is tearing the very fabric of the society, according to Ms. Sheila B. Keetharuth, the UN Special Rapporteur to Eritrea. Her report was made on Thursday to the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee (Third…
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Destroying HGDEF
At times one wonders if we should say shame on us or shame on HGDEF. As if it is not degrading enough to be spat on, we seem to lack the resolve – and a simple one at that by the way, to even be able to wipe the spit off our faces. How degrading…
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Agrigento Memorial Service: Monday 21 October 2013
Information Pack for Agrigento Memorial Service On Monday 21 October at 4 PM in the afternoon there will be a memorial service for the victims of the Lampedusa tragedy in the Italian city of Agrigento. This memorial service is organised by the Italian government for people to pay respect for the victims before the bodies…
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Lampedusa and the Eritrean Journey for Dignity
After much criticism, the YPFDJ, the youth satellite of Eritrea’s ruling party, PFDJ, visited Lampedusa, a south Italian island whose shores were visited by victims of a shipwreck: 154 barely alive, and 359 dead Eritreans. YPFDJ’s statement begins with this: “The Y-PFDJ team has been in Lampedusa for almost 24 hours and the facts and…
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Weed Out the PFDJ Beast
As I was about to publish this edition of Negarit, I was hit by yet another news of a tragedy: a few hours ago Mathew Price of BBC reported that today (Friday Oct. 11, 2013) another boat with more than 200 people capsized 60 miles off the coast of Lampedusa. Bodies have been spotted floating…
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Isaias Regime and Lampedusa: A Week Late, A Weak Explanation
Since hundreds of Eritreans perished off the coast of Lampedusa on October 3, there has been a stark contrast between the reaction of the world and that of the Eritrean regime and its most ardent supporters. The facts as we know them: In the very early hours of October 3rd, a 20-meter 3-deck boat en…
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Interview with Dr. Bereket Habteselassie (Part 3)
This is part three of the interview I’ve been conducting with Dr. Bereket Habteselassie. Here are the links to Part 1 and Part 2. For convenience and ease of reading, I’ve broken the final part of the interview into two parts. Here is the first installment. Semere: I know you had a really busy schedule…
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Lampedusa Tragedy: Need to Address the Root Cause
On Thursday 3 October, about an hour before mid night, I received a call from BBC World Service Radio asking if I was willing to give live interview during news broadcasting at 3am (2am GMT). As I was travelling to Germany early morning the next day (4th October), I agreed to the interview, especially that…
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Ethiopia: Time to Remove Isaias’ Skirt Cover
While the world mourns with moral outrage about the tragic death Eritreans and other African refugees in two shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea last week, the Eritreans government is busy blocking out its media or deflecting its propaganda by stating: “This is by far the greatest opportunity the enemies of Eritrea have had to destroy…
