Tag Archives: Ethiopia

According to the Eritrean regime, we have been on the verge of collapse, for what...ten years now! And these ten years happen to be, in the eyes of a neutral observer, the golden years of Ethiopia. We have been growing at a double digit rate for seven, eight years now. The country is stable from end to end. Obviously we have our own challenges; we are still a very poor country.

His Excellency Dr. Abiy Ahmed The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Dear Dr. Abiy, Your Excellency, so far, you managed to give Ethiopia a powerful jolt of a positive energy while giving an energetic boost to the politics of the region. You admirably kept the momentum and direction of Ethiopian politics …

On a March 29,2018 editorial we speculated that if the Saudi heir apparent Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS, so baptized by Thomas Friedman), succeeds in disbanding the religious police, curtailing the power of the religious authority, and allowing women to drive, it would be a welcome change. However, we expressed skepticism …

The euphoria of the first few days of cross-border trading between Eritrea and Ethiopia is now facing reality. Impulsive moving of goods between the two countries has now slowed down due to many factors, but mainly due to a shortage of Nakfa currency. The border was opened without any declared …

Since Dr. Abiy Ahmed burst onto the Ethiopian political scene as the country’s new prime minister under five months ago, much has been said and written about his background, vision and reformist agenda as well as the support he has been gaining as a leader. The level of public support …

Was he right? Paulo Neruda! In his verses (as re-recounted in the movie Il Postino) in respect to an aquatic-terrestrial symbiotic relationship? At least, one (I, for example) would subscribe to the imaginative bliss it engenders in the mind. According to Neruda, with each “Wefari Bahri“, with each washing of …

So far, no agreement has been reached between the Eritrean and Ethiopian governments regarding the demarcation of the supposedly vital borders which were the cause of the devasting two-year war of 1998-2000. The undemarcated border was the excuse by the Eritrean ruling party for the two-decades of economic stagnation and …

How volatile human affairs are!   A couple of decades ago, who would have thought the wave of democratization that swept the globe after the collapse of the Soviet Union would suffer such a reversal in such a short time? The world had seemed to be moving inexorably towards freedom and …

Reports from Eritrea indicated that the border crossing from the Eritrean town of Um-Hajar to the Ethiopian town of Humera has been closed. The road between the two towns run through a bridge over the Settit River which forms a natural border between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Humera and Um-Hajar towns form …

Just as Eritreans were reeling from the bizarre remarks Isaias Afeworki made during his visit to Ethiopia on July 14, they were stunned by another man who claims to be a prophet, a healer, and an exorcist ranting about how the Gospel will be victorious, in front of the Asmara …

The UN imposed sanctions against Eritrea will remain in place despite the statements by the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who said he will work to help lift it. Somalia’s president has also made similar statements during his visit to Asmara on July 28 explaining “the move would help the …

The question of economic opportunities being given to our neighbors before Eritreans, calls for a separate analysis. The question of spiritual proselytizing in public being given to our neighbors in Amharic before Eritreans call for a separate analysis. The question of refugees right to return being left untouched so far …

In a press statement he released on July 10, 2018, the Council President Olof Skoog (Sweden) stated, “The members of the Security Council commended the signing of the Joint Declaration of Peace and Friendship on 9 July 2018 by the President of the State of Eritrea, Isaias Afwerki, and the Prime …

In our editorial published a month ago (1), we reiterated our long-standing position on the need for an end to the hostility between Eritrea and Ethiopia. We also hoped Isaias Afwerki would reconsider PM Abiy Ahmed’s proffer for peace rather than take a dismissive position as stated by his spokesperson tweeting …

This morning, the Ethiopian prime minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed concluded a two-day visit to Asmara after signing several agreements. The major item of his talks in Eritrea was a peace agreement, though its content was on the table since 2004. However, the Eritrean government had refused to dialogue with the Ethiopian government insisting the …

[This article is being republished on awate.com with the consent of the Editorial Team of Discourse Magazine to which it was contributed. The maiden edition of the magazine which is published by The Ethiopian Foreign Relations Strategic Studies Institute appeared on Thursday, 19 January 2017. You access the Amharic audio translation of this article …

That the wisdom of PM Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia being evident by now is to state the obvious. His rapid response to the Asmara regime when it pronounced it was sending a team to negotiate peace between the two neighboring countries is obvious that the man is as genuine as …

“Unity of purpose brings purposeful citizens together and accords them leverage to effect meaningful change.” A new reality is unfolding! Are we ready? Winds of change are blowing… It appears the 20-year “no-war and no-peace” that defined the regime in Eritrea and its opposition is giving way for a new …

Ethiopia has come a long way. In the last fifty years, it traveled the longest distance from where it started compared to many African and Middle Eastern countries. The Epic journey took it out from the darkest abyss of a feudal system lorded over by Emperor Haile Selassie, through a …

For the first time in remembered history, Eritrean Muslims performed Eid Al Fitr prayers under heavy military presence. Security forces had tightly surrounded several prayer fields and major mosques in the country where thousands of people congregated for the early morning Eid prayer. In the capital city, Asmara, the security …