Tag: eritrea
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A Call to The Moderates of The Horn Of Africa
[Editor’s note: This editorial was first published on Oct 22, 2003, and again in Oct 2, 2018. It’s being republished for the the third time on Dec 28, 2022. We thought it might help readers to remember and reflect on how the last war affected the lives of Eritreans and their country.] There is an…
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Negarit 200: The Game Is On
In the previous Negarit, we talked about the three stages of the revolution or movement Stage 1: is to express, verbally, in writing, and in action our opposition to the Isaias Afwerki administration. Call that PFDJ, ህግደፍ, enemy, Adi Halo but you are talking about a system and people for developing and implementing the cruel…
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AU Team Expected In Mekele Soon
The AU appointed observer team is expected to arrive in Mekele to monitor the situation in Tigray.. It comprises of nine generals from South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. An expert whose speciality is not confirmed yet will lead the team. The arrival of the team was delayed due to technical issues including the presence of…
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Searches, Arrests, and Tension in Eritrea
The repercussions from the interference of Eritrean forces in the Ethiopian civil war is being felt in Eritrea. Activities of rounding up citizens who can join the war efforts has started a few months ago. Reports indicate rounding up of youth is continuing. Families whose children didn’t report to the authorities to join the military…
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The Land Surveying Engineer
I hold that the problems of our region are mainly cultural, and it can only be ameliorated by fighting illiteracy and adopting proper social policies. Sedentary communities’ land demarcation(m’Terar) is or region’s popular hobby, more nuanced within the PFDJ cult. In recent years the hobby went to the extreme, down to demarcating clan, religious, and…
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Abiy and Isaias, Radwan in the Middle.
Ser’e is something forbidden by tradition be it mentioning or consuming. For instance, traditional women do not mention the name of their husbands and must refer to them as “father of so-and so”. Ser’e also forbids the consumption of certain foods and additives, like goat meat or salt. Likewise, partisans have Ser’e not to appreciate…
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Inter-Ethiopian Peace Talks
As many arrows, loos’d several ways, Come to one mark, as many ways meet in one town, As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea, As many lines close in the dial’s centre, So may a thousand actions, once afoot, End in one purpose, and be all well borne Without defeat! Shakespeare’s Play: Henry…
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Presence of Ethiopian Forces In Eritrea
Can wars end? What are signs that wars will end? What was the result of past “wars to end wars”? Is our region hastening Armageddon? Will the war in our region ever end? Who are the actors in the war apart from what we see? What is sovereignty when foreign forces are stationed in a…
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Mighty Eritrea and Great Tigray
I have been reading some books and trying to see the difference between the traditional Tigray and Amhara perspectives of ending Eritrean independence and swallowing it. Things never change in the South, the historical inter-Habesha rivalry rages on, since 1270–the ascension to power of the so-called Solomonic dynasty. The region still suffers from the millennia-old…
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Ethiopians Still Talking About Talking
Since Abiy Ahmed took office as Ethiopia’s prime minister in 2018, the region is entangled in a civil war. So far, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced, the economy sustained heavy damages, and ethnic conflicts are spreading to every corner of the already unstable region. Preaching hate and violence has become the daily…
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Eritrean Opposition Movement: In Dire Search of Potency and Relevance
Whenever foreign journalists query Eritrea’s strongman, Isaias Afewerki about political opposition to his totalitarian rule, he is known to get a fake perplexed look on his face before retorting, in feigned puzzlement, “What opposition?” On further prodding from a persistent inquisitor, he tries to lay the question to rest with a dismissive, yet emphatic denial:…
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New Faces To Embolden The PFDJ Festivals
Three new faces were delegated to embolden the PFDJ supporters in the current media offensive. Yemane Gebreab who serves as the presidential advisor was the familiar delegate to such activities outside Eritrea. His appointment to the position was never announced. His accompanying official to such missions was Abdella Jabir who is jailed since 2013 after…
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Sudan: Detention of Fifth-Generation Eritrean Refugees
Until the 19th century, the Horn of Africa was one vast region where communities knew their farming, grazing, and dwelling lands. But towards the end of the century nation states with boundaries appeared. Before that, Kings, warlords, and colonizers knew where to collect taxes from, but the people cared less on who the lord was,…
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Season of Migration to the PFDJ
During the last three-Covid-years, the PFDJ was restlessly awaiting the end of the pandemic to relaunch its propaganda onslaught. Now it’s back to normal and the PFDJ is active trying to regain its momentum. Parties, wild dancing craze, surrendering, wring regret statements, are abundant. Round ten, twenty or thirty of the onslaughts is on. Spies,…
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Drones Created Out of Dirty Residues
In the last episode of Negarit (#181), I asked my audience ‘what do they miss the most in Eritrea?’ I was not surprised by their answers because I can identify with most of them. But regardless, they were heart-wrenching. Let me begin with a memorable story about a strong, assertive, no-nonsense woman I knew as…
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Three Envelopes for The Horn of Africa Leaders
A newly appointed corporate manager asked his predecessor to give him the best advice he could. The outgoing manager gave him three envelopes and told him to open them in sequence whenever he faced serious difficulties. Soon, he opened the first one. It read: blame everything on the previous management and buy time. He did.…
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Support The PFDJ, Your Regime
Some people hate others with passion. They don’t like them criticizing or opposing the regime they support, the PFDJ, the single, unelected party ruling Eritrea. But when the regime aggresses on the rights of the citizens, they turn a blind eye. There are two sides and for fairness, one side is either wrong or right.…
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China Stretches Out Its Hands To The Horn
On Monday, June 20, 2022, a two-day Governance and Development Conference winded up in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Xue Bing, China’s special envoy to the Horn of Africa represented his country that sponsored the conference. Except Eritrea, all the Horn of Africa countries, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, and Djibouti, attended the conference.…
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Abiy Threatens Eritrean Sovereignty
Last month the Ethiopian Federal Forces transported low-bed trucks loaded with tens of tanks heading towards the direction of Djibouti. The tanks were finally offloaded in Bure, a town on the Eritrean-Ethiopian border. Some sources claimed the tanks were transported from Djibouti to Assab by sea and from there, overland through Eritrean territories to Bure,…
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One Kicked Out, Two To Go
In 2018, when Abiy Ahmed made his overly promoted visit to Eritrea and “signed a peace agreement” with Isaias Afwerki, half the world media and the political tribes behaved like a child taken to a circus for the first time and watched sheepishly as wool was passed over their eyes. But the second half (and…