Category: Pencil
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Beware, he has 139 million loyalists!
Dear Eritreans, this is a warning—you are expected to shudder with fear. The Ethiopians are 139 million people; they can easily swallow you! If they come for your cattle, your women, or your men, let them take it all. If they want your seashores, spread a red carpet—or roll the sea itself for them to
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The Eritrean Regime and Its Neighbors
On May 24, 1991, Eritreans achieved their long-sought independence, formally recognized on May 24, 1993. Yet, true freedom remained elusive. The organization that became the ruling government legally solidified its hold—not through popular consent, but through brute force, injustice, and external alliances and considerations. Those early days were euphoric; few foresaw the wars and displacements
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The Power and Peril of Social Media
This article argues for the regulation of social media to prevent the harm caused by unchecked platforms. It explores the damaging role social media has played in fueling violence and conflicts, citing examples such as the Rohingya crisis and the ongoing civil unrest in Ethiopia. The article calls for accountability, proposing that social media accounts…
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Isaias and Abiy: The Fallout
Often times, news surfaces only to be quickly subdued and forgotten, though it occasionally reemerges in surprising ways. Below is a brief list of key events: After the liberation of Massawa in 1990, Isaias returned from London where he attended a meeting between the TPLF and EPLF to discuss the future of the two countries.
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Will they make peace?
Culturally, Abyssinia still clings to its archaic, arguably primitive, mindset. Attempts at modernization have not yielded the needed results. From early on, the developed West has portrayed the nation as a Christian island amidst a Muslim sea. But the unlimited support and goodwill the developed West provided didn’t help much. Since the Middle Ages, the
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The Silver Thaler Dictator
“Wedi Afom Berri; Ashaakheru Nebri.” (The Son of Afwerki is Brri; and his soldiers a streak of tigers” That is the Isaias Afwerki cult’s jingle glorifying Isaias, with an endearing and indoctrination motive. Last week the Eritrean dictator met President Putin of Russia and provided him with generous advice on how to revive the almost
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Sudan Borrowed the Coal Fire From Ethiopia
The events that have damaged Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Somalia for decades is still devastating the entire region. While some of those in power leave others fixed to the chairs and don’t seem to be leaving at all. Sadly, the people who have no power, die, kill, lose their properties, and jump from one confrontation
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Horn of Africa’s Never-Ending Tragedy
On March 2, 2023, Gedab News reported that four people lost their lives when Ethiopia celebrated the 127th 1896 anniversary of the victory of Adwa, a battle fought against the Italian colonial army. However, like many atrocities before the death of four people, including a student and as teacher were killed, no one was held
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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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Ethiopia: Hedonists and Spartans
It has been a ticking bomb. It still is a region where the demons require periodic human sacrifices. Not thousands, but tens and hundreds of thousands. The ritual is repeated every generation or two apart. In the Horn of Africa, particularly in Ethiopia, the walking dead are strolling over heaps of decomposed bodies that are
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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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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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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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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
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The Horn of Africa: Unchanging Political Seasons
(Reading Time: 7 minutes) Historically, the African region that contains Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somaliland, and Somalia are considered Horn of Africa countries though Sudan doesn’t belong to that geography. But the above countries are so much related and influenced by each other. These countries have no properly defined geographical limits, therefore, they are haphazardly
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Janjaweed and Fano: Ethiopian-Sudanese Twins
Eritrea, the modern-day Gulag, locked physically and psychologically, where screaming is a whisper. The ears hear but so terrified, they fail to process what they hear. The eyes observe events secretly but pretend what they see is not real. It’s a country of silence where talking is risky, and costly. A hermetic state strictly guarded
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Three-Legged Stool: Team Lemma, Loses Its Luster
[This Pencil Editorial was first published on March 18, 2019. Today, three years later, we are republishing it hoping it might help refresh our memories on what transpired since then might//Editor] At the beginning, avid admirers considered it pure gold, now they are startled, Team Lemma has lost its luster. Also, unbeknownst to many, it’s
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Do Ethiopian Love Their Country?
It’s safe to say Ethiopians love their country more than their people. In fact, the ever warring political and military elite do not seem to mind eradicating the people and destroying the country and as long they are assured of ruling the rubble that’s left behind. Eight-hundred years of governing patterns attest to that. The
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Ethiopian War Exhibit In Triangles
Triangle-shaped structures are sturdy but also simple. In 1998-2000 war broker around the Eritrean village of Baddme, in the area the Ethiopians called Yirga Triangle. And today the initial devastating results of the current Ethiopian ethnic war is seen in a triangle whose three corners are the towns of Humera and Mettema (Ethiopia), Gellabat and
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The Moody Government Closed Italian Schools
After months old wrangling with the school administration, the Eritrean government finally closed the Italian schools in Eritrea. The school bell, “Sadly remains silent for the first time in 103 years in the Italian school of Asmara” as an Italian writer put it. But the fate of the Italian school was sealed once the authorities