Category: Negarit
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Bologna Speech: Do Your Principles Benefit Eritrean Victims?
(Note: The following speech was delivered in Tigrinya) Last wednesday I was in the middle of writing this speech when an excited friend called and urged me to listen to a discussion in a Paltalk room. “They are discussing Bologna and someone is talking about you!” I told him I was busy and he reluctantly
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Miriam Was Here! She Is Here!
Yes, Miriam Was Here, is finally here. First, thanks to all of you: my readers, friends and relatives for your continual support and encouragement. Once again, I am delighted to announce the release of my latest book Miriam Was Here. Two weeks ago, I announced the news of the planned launch and I am truly
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Adem Melekin: Eulogy To A Patriot
About eight years ago, I interviewed a man many, including myself, consider a giant in the struggle for Eritrean independence. This is what I wrote in the introduction to the interview that was published on April 11, 2005:[i] Some people find themselves in a storm and struggle to get out; others search for a storm
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When You Are Down…
To the unaware, the horrible stories about life in Eritrea would seem mere exaggerations; those who have no idea about the cruelty of the PFDJ rule would be tempted to brush it off. But the stories are just the tip of a huge pile of more harrowing tales. A man I know had a relative
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Wise Barber, Ravens And Machiato…
Usually, I report to my readers immediately after I return from a travel or an event. This edition of Negarit was delayed a lot, first due to the pressures of making up for lost time, then attending to stuff as result of the server breakdown that had to be fixed (archives still in the process).
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Human Rights And Challenges In The Horn Of Africa
1. The Hon. Adam Bandt Federal MP, Cr Grant Miles, Maribyrnong council, her excellence representative of Botswana Ms. HEDDIE GOLDBERG, his Hon. Consul General Of the federal Republic of Somalia, Yanis Hashi; Mr. Chin Tan, Chairperson, VMC; Assistant commissioner Commander Ashley Dickinson Vic Police; Commander Scott Lee AFP; religious and African community leaders and invited
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Eritrea: The Challenges Of Today And The Prospects Of Tomorrow
(This is the source of the speeches which I delivered in Melbourne on the 29th of December 2012 and in Perth on January 21, 2013. I will present a comprehensive report about my busy schedule in Australia, hopefully soon. I have now returned home after my hosts in Australia fattened me like a cow to
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The Simple Pleasures Of Holidays
I always liked Christmas season and I associated it with chocolate. When I was a child, every Christmas season, my father would bring us Toblerone chocolates and Pane Tone, courtesy of his Italian business associates in Asmara who distributed those goodies to their agents and distributors; I grew up thinking those goodies were made for
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Qernelios: Arte Mailam’s Political Recklessness
When the Pharaohs built the Sphinx of Giza it must have been finished with high quality plaster and colourful paintings, but with time, wind, heat and rain eroded the structure and left it with a dull facade. The Obelisks of Aksum and the stellaes of Metera faced the same fate; and though the elements are
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Gual Neger And Gual Megedi
First, let me congratulate my fellow Eritreans, specially the victims of the human trafficking crime; what we already knew is now official and Major General Teklai Manjus has been formally identified as the man who runs the trafficking empire. The UN monitoring group on Somalia and Eritrea has done an excellent job. I would also
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The Bshftu Fountain Of Youth
Originally Debre Zeit was called Bshftu after the name of a lake in the town. The last time I was there, I was having lunch at the balcony of the Ras Hotel when I saw an indigenous religious rituals on the other side of Lake Bshftu, and accidentally I got involved in a chat with
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A Wretched Eritrean In Qatar: Reportage
This is a rather long reportage on my recent trip to Qatar and I will tell you my impressions of the state, and particularly its politics and diplomacy; my impressions of what it takes to have an impact with Al Jazeera; the situation of Eritreans who live there; and maybe tell you about whatever happened
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Eritrea: Words and A Goat Brain
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” That is from the bible, just in case. But the bible is ancient, and thanks to the modernizing factor of the PFDJ, we should have another bible: “After the beginning there was another Word, and the Word was
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Nevsun’s Blood Stained Gold-Coins
In Salem, Massachusetts, they threw suspected witches into a lake: if they floated they were witches and if they drowned, then they were dead witches. In the abysinian highlands in the past, an Anteregna (goldsmith) faced almost similar mistreatment. Masons, wood-carvers, iron-smiths and goldsmiths sustained much of ancient Axum’s civilization. But the peasantry despised craftsmen; those who
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Chinese Gossip And Tissue Papers
It has been 21 years since Isaias occupied Eritrea, became the Expropriator General, owned everything under the Eritrean sky, and everything that moves or stands on the land—including the cemeteries. It has been 21 years since he began oppressing living Eritreans and denying them a burial space after they die. For the last few weeks, the
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An Office Full Of Mice
Today I feel like throwing a thousand proverbs. Why not, we have an ample supply of anecdotes and other sayings that embody folk wisdom. They lend their use to the most boring writers and speakers. And whenever ideas betray me, I use them; they are handy fillers for a marathon speech and long treatise, or
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Isaias: A Cult Leader Surrenders
On December 20, 2011, reporting on the meeting of the Eritrean regime’s so-called Cabinet of Ministers, Asmelash, the mouthpiece of the regime recited (among many other personal declarations of Isaias) that the tyrant had given new directives to his servile cabinet ministers. This is what Asmelash reported: “…President Isaias continued, since it is an obligation
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A Congress By The Hawassa Lake
What is in a name? Awasa is a name many considered correct. I found out that it is a corrupted form of Hawassa, which is how its natives call it: Awasa is probably some corruption of the name by some “neftegna” based on the convenience of another language; and it is the capital city of
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“This Too Shall Pass”: Time For Real Outrage
According to Abrahamic religions, the Sinai Peninsula (and Jebel Mussa or Mount Moses), is where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, the first set of rules of ethics and worship that still shape the moral values of much of humanity. One of the commandments is Thou Shalt Not Kill, (according to other translations, you should
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First Europe, Then Addis Congress
I am accustomed to always report to my readers whenever I return from my travels. Here is my report covering a four-week tour to Europe that started towards the end of September. I delivered speeches in Birmingham, London (UK) followed by Frankfurt (Germany), Rotterdam (The Netherlands), and finally two speeches in Stockholm (Sweden). My speeches