Tag: Horn of Africa
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A Miserable Country Goes to War with Itself
Say what you will about outgoing president Trump, and despite the messenger, there are many countries in the word that fit this description, and the country in question is one of them. An epitome of the description. It is a country that recently decided to go to war with itself. I will not name this…
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Ethnic Profiling of Tigrayans in Ethiopia
Ethiopian security forces are carrying out an extensive ethnic profiling and arresting Tigrayans, particularly in Addis Ababa and other major cities. The arrested also include Eritreans. Tigrayans and Eritreans are known as Tigre, a term that means those who hail from Semen, the Northern part from central Ethiopia. Eritreans are caught in the ethnic battles because of the compass…
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The Debate Over Arabic Language in Eritrea!
Orally told stories relate a conversation that took place in the first parliament in Eritrea in the 1950s. During a heated parliamentary debate on the official languages of Eritrea, a member of parliament from the Independence Block stood up to speak in favour of adopting Arabic as the second official language of Eritrea. As he…
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Happy Double Awate Day
(This is a close English translation of the Tigrinya content of Negarit #100 video on YouTube channel) Happy September 1 for all of you. Our culture teaches us that one who is not grateful to fellow human beings is unable to be grateful to God. As we all know, Hamid Idris Awate is not only a martyr.…
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UAE-Eritrea: Strained Relationship
Last June, a small ship arrived from the UAE carrying relief aid for Eritreans in Dankalia. However, the Assab port authorities denied the ship entry to the port and it couldn’t berth at the Assab docks. Its captain decided to stay offshore where the ship threw its anchor and waited for few days until the UAE…
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The Reasonable Dream
ዓቅምኹም ሕለሙ ክትዕወቱ – فن الحلم الممكن My Harassing Client : I will introduce you to one of my regular clients. Last time he was looking for an assassin and promised to send $1000 through western Union to anyone who could kill me. Here is his threat in Negarit 72. So callous. I took the…
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Jawar, Flipos, Isaias, Our Sources
Jawar Mohammed :I have a friend whose views about Jawar so many times I concluded he lacks clarity– I ruled him out as a reference on Jawar, the activist turned a political leader. First, his adversaries branded him a terrorist, but after he returned from exile to Ethiopia, he became a wise politician. But shortly…
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The TPLF and the Eritrean Opposition
The ENCDC is the only entity that has a workable formula for an opposition umbrella. A boxing match with Getachew Redda, keep your distance. lost and found… I found long lost audio recordings including the interview I conducted with the late Meles Zenawi in 2012. In my last episode I briefly mentioned Getachew Redda and…
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Parkinson’s Law – ሕጊ ፓርኪንሶን – قانون پاركينسن
As a child, I busied myself with my uncle’s books. Ustaz Johar Abdulrahim was a teacher and he taught in Keren, Nackfa and later at Ferovia, in Asmara. He had a bunch of books in a shelf that I ended up owning, and I went through all of them though I had no clue what…
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Negarit 85: ብሓርነት ተደቢሱ – Liberation – تحرر
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Negarit 84: ፖለቲካዊ ታኪን – Political Turkey – ديك رومي سياسي
A few years ago, I learned that whistling is a form of communication within a few societies. One such group resides in northern turkey and a few others in the bordering countries. It’s amazing how efficiently (and effectively) they communicate. But I wonder if they communicate with whistles. And that took me to turkey birds.…
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Negarit 83: መላጸ ኦካም – Occam’s Razor – شفرة اُكّام
This is a general transcription of Negarit #83. When they want to divide the people, their slogan is ‘Us and Them.’ When they want to show loyalty to the dictatorship, to alienate others, and confirm their physical and spiritual oneness with the dictator himself, their slogan is “NNNN”- we are him and he is us,…
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Negarit 80: ኩንታል ብልቱግ – A Sack of Millet – كيس دخن
In the sixties and early seventies, when youngsters wanted to join the ELF, they were told they have to consume one quintal of millet, beltug, and then they can join. Starting in the mid-seventies, the youth joined in their thousands and overwhelmed the fronts. Assimilating the mostly urbanite new arrivals with the mostly countryside combatants…
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Negarit 79: ግዳይ ኮሮና – Corona Victim – ضحية كرونه
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Negarit 77: ኢልኣምር ምኣምር – Ignorance – من لا يدري
When I first came across “M’amir Bokre’s YouTube channel, I was elated. I thought his videos will help me study Geez for he presented himself as teacher of linguistics and I think sociology and anthropology. And I did learn a few Geez words, thank you Bokre. However, slowly the man quickly started to move on…
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Negarit 76: ተርሞሚተር – Thermometer – ميزان الحرارة
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Mr. Rolex – ኣቶ ሮለክስ – السيد رولكس
After years at sea, a sailor from Massawa disembarked in Italy and finally ended up working in Switzerland. In the eighties he was so old, he returned to Eritrea with an impressive Rolex wristwatch that displayed the year, the month, and the date. They nicknamed him Mr. Rolex. On May 24,1991, the day Eritrea became independent,…
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#Yiakl #Enough #Kifaya
[This the source script for Negarit 74—it’s written in a simple spoken words style for casual delivery.] ALL PEOPLE deserve stability, and Eritreans have struggled the longest time in pursuit of that. It has suffered for centuries to attain freedom and stability. However, when the Eritreans finally achieved independence, the country was hijacked by one person…
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Doers and Pretenders
[This is the source the transcript of Negarit 73, published by Negarit Youtube channel] Most of the time we consider cartoon movies fictional and made for entertaining children. We seldom remember the cartoon stories are ancient legends that originate from religious beliefs. Those of you studying business, marketing and finance may know the sources of today’s brand names.…
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Quo Vadis? – ክዎ ቫዲስ? – إلى أينَ من هنا؟
Jesus was born in Nazareth*, Galilee, when the Roman emperor Herod ruled Palestine. He was a Roman citizen. Our character of today, Nero the notorious Roman emperor, was born in AD 37, four years after the ascension of Jesus Christ. Nero was only 16 years old when he became emperor and ruled for 13 years.…