Category: Articles
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Cheap Shots on the National Conference for Democratic Change:
We are heartened by the hard and imaginative work that our delegates to the National Conference put into the task of laying the foundation to heal the country from its harsh past and present, and shape the future that restores dignity, confidence and pride into our people. It is a real patriotic work and essential
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The National Conference And The Expectant Community
Speculations about a National Convention of opposition parties and civic organizations aiming at working on a road map for the future of Eritrea, have been on the airwaves and headlines of major Eritrean websites especially during the last six months preceding the first week of August 2010. And after a prelude of a lot of
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The Eritrean Covenant And Nehnan Elamanan: Two Shady Documents, You Can’t Defend In A Mixed Crowd
“ንሕና ማለት እዞም ሕጂ ኣብ ቅድሜኹም ቀሪብና እንዛረብ ዘሎና ተጋደልቲ፡ እቶም ብመጋቢት 1969 ዓ.ም.ፈ. ካብ ምምሕዳር “ቅያዳ ኣል ዓማ” ዝተፈለና ኢና። እወ ንሕና ዳርጋ ኩላትና ክርስትያን ኢና። ብደገ ናይ ኩነታትና ህላዌ ዝርኢ እውን “ሃይማኖታውያን” እዮም ይብል ይኸውን….. መንነትናን ዕላማናን ክፈልጥ ንዝደሊ ንጽሑፍና ብምሉኡ ንኸንብቦ ሓደራ ንብል። ላዕለዎት ራእስታት ጀብሃ፡ ናብተን ብትካል ምስልምና ዝምርሓ ሃገራትን ድርጅታትን
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Reflections: Seven Days At The NCDC
Having lived in Addis-Ababa for almost four years as an Eritrean refugee with urban status, and having strong “shaebia” sentiment, and being a member of the silent Eritrean majority, I had still many misgivings about the handling of the NCDC, but decided anyway to attend on the fourth day after the conference was started.
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Why did the Chicken Cross the Road? (The Eritrean Version; A Satire)
2009-2010 was a hectic year for Eritrean internet writers, users and abusers, even by Eritrean internet standards. With due regard to the seriousness of our discourse, I attempted to satirize, and caricaturize supposed dominant themes of our writers in an effort to lighten our mood and exact some humor along the way. I hope
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In Support Of The Eritrean Accord
I read the Eritrean Accord with interest as I did to the Eritrean Covenant. I have objections to some of the assertions therein. Moreover, I wish the introductory note was written in a less incriminatory tone. I do not think excessive incriminations help us at this stage. Yet, I have embraced the Eritrean Accord and
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The National Conference: A Secure Avenue To Democracy
Seventy years in the history of peoples is a very short period, but it seems a long time to the naive. They think it is doable to change the natural course of people according to their whims and the outcome of their mess was a disaster to all Eritreans—the nescient panicky fanatics are flopping in
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Praise and Criticize
Praise and Criticize:“The Eritrean Accord: Harmonized Constitution” First and foremost, I congratulate Mejlis Ibrahim Mukhtar for taking the initiative of amending the Eritrean constitution using a mixture of the 1952 Eritrean Federal constitution and the ratified 1997 Eritrean constitution in his I for one am on record for advocating the use of the ratified 1997
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The Fear Of The Other Side
Things are going downhill and it seems as if we are going to walk on steep cliffs. I wish this will not happen. Opposition movements are multiple with a range of political formulas. Yet we have witnessed the emergence of new ones and perhaps more will be coming in the future. One cluster here and
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Internal factors in the issue of land, equity and Language
Recently there have been a number of articles written about the problems of land, equity and Arabic in Eritrea. Most of the writers have blamed Eritrea’s dictator for the problems, thus referring only to an external factor. However, I believe that there are also internal factors involved, and if we want to solve
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My Understanding Of A National Conference
A national conference that measures up to its name should reflect the compatibility of that with the composition of its participants, the goals and tasks set, the results achieved and the mechanism and means adopted. Reality is so complex to squeeze and fit into a rigid pattern or criteria set ahead. Thus allowance should be
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EraEro Guards: Files Awaiting Extermination
The most shocking feature, in the interview with Eyob Bahta Habtemariam, EraEro prison guard, is the story of his colleagues and himself being open air detainees. This double sided situation is not created from void; it is the offspring of the regime’s relation with its cohorts. The EraEro issue, beside its portrayal of how zealots
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Eritreans On The Run: Trends, Profiles & Destinations
According to the UNHCR, there were 15. 2 million refugees1 and more than 922,000 individual claims for asylum or refugee status registered worldwide in 2009. Eighty percent of all world refugees are hosted in developing countries of which the major refugee hosting countries are Pakistan (1.7 million), Iran (1.1 million) and Syria (1,05
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Is Giving The Kebessa Eritrean Population A Black Eye A Solution?
Commentary on Aklilu Zere’s series of articles By G. Ande Aklilu Zere is no doubt a dubiously “clever” writer with a stinging pen but readers may still learn something from his narratives. The major problem I have with his works is that he makes a lot of insidious and insensitive remarks that suggest that he
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Who Is To Blame?
Are some of the issues that are recently raised in a number of articles a tip of an iceberg, or they are tiny ripples in a cup that will ultimately vanish? Are they objective manifestations of a grim reality that some of us didn’t notice? Are they subjective issues which exist only in the minds
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Promoting National Unity And Co-existence In Eritrea
Promoting National Unity, Cultural And Religious Co-existence In Eritrea Nowadays, the Eritrean arena is full of political contradictions that reflect the historical, cultural, religious, social and other accumulated issues that express the sum of the Eritrean situation. It represents all of the country’s factions and communities that are destined to live in one
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Hgi Endaba: The Laws of our Ancestors
Megedi ArbiAa: Part I In the small but highly diversified ethnic and cultural make up of the Eritrean population, there is something called Hgi Endaba which literally means the laws and or customs inherited from our ancestors. In the Christian/ Tygrina/highland population category, the word “Mother Land” is rarely used when referring to our
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The World Cup And National Anthem: A Matter of Perspective
I love to watch the World Cup. Who doesn’t? It is entertaining. It is dazzling. It is emotional, riveting and almost all of the time, highly exciting. Above all, it is a good pastime. What I hate about the World Cup however is the singing of the National anthem when ever two teams are about
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Reflections On The Eritrean Youth
What comes to our mind when the term youth is raised? Where does the position of the Eritrean youth lie when it comes to meet the general characteristics and uniqueness of a particular age group? What is the position of the youths from the existing opposition camp? I tried to present modest highlights about the
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Dilemma of the Decade: Betting On the Eritrean Opposition
“There is no such thing as a Good Opinion or A Bad Opinion if we stand for free speech” We all have heard numerous times this triangle of hate kind of a story involving three players. The Eritrean regime, the opposition and the real or imagined “enemies” of the Eritrean regime ranging