Tag: Djibouti
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Iska Warran, Somalis; Tread Carefully!
Drawing from Eritrea’s historical experience, the essay analyzes Somalia’s collapse, Somaliland’s resilience, Ethiopia’s controversial push for sea access, and the broader militarization of the Horn of Africa. It warns against foreign interference, empty nationalism, and elite-driven politics, advocating instead for people-centered dialogue and pragmatic, incremental solutions.
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Horn of Africa: A Unity Deferred: Between Memory and Possibility
The Horn of Africa remains one of the world’s most fragile political landscapes. State legitimacy is contested, nation-building is stalled or unraveling, and war routinely eclipses peace. Ethiopia and Sudan, its two largest states, are engulfed in civil war and political upheaval. Somalia continues to fracture, with little more than nominal central authority. Eritrea and
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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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Negarit 308: The Ethiopian Red Sea Craze
Over a week ago, I started to record an episode that I didn’t finish. This is what I prepared: For the last five or six months, I have been suffering from a nasty papilloma growth in my nostril. Tomorrow, I will lie on an operation table to get rid of it. Those of you who
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Brezidenti Isaias Named to Lead IGAD
Usually, there are a few people who get knee jerk reaction whenever Isaias is mentioned in a negative tone or criticized. Given the situation at home, I wish they get used to it. Isaias is not your pet, but a man who is ruthlessly ruling Eritreans unelected, for a too long. It’s better to swallow
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The Horn of Africa States Ethiopia’s Undiplomatic Faux Pas
It was always clear that Ethiopia’s false historical narrative would one day catch up with it. The country that was Abyssinia adopted Africa’s historical Greek name, Ethiopia, in 1932. It currently proves every sunrise and every sunset that it cannot hold the many nations it had held together by force in the past. The war
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The Horn of Africa States The Need Beyond the Narrow Mindset
Favoritism is a disease that causes immense damage to any organization, country, or region. It takes competency out of the equation, and if one goes back to history, one will note that any leader who used favoritism as a guide to his/her leadership by appointing friends, loyal people, and family members in key positions in
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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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Abiy Threatens Eritrean Sovereignty
Last month the Ethiopian Federal Forces transported low-bed trucks loaded with tens of tanks heading towards the direction of Djibouti. The tanks were finally offloaded in Bure, a town on the Eritrean-Ethiopian border. Some sources claimed the tanks were transported from Djibouti to Assab by sea and from there, overland through Eritrean territories to Bure,
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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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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.
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ሕማም ሕርሲ – In labor – المخاض
[The following is used as a script for Negarit #70, which is made for the Negarit Youtube Channel.] According to popular wisdom, if you work hard, you succeed, but the skeptics add another condition to that: you work must be smart. However, there are very hard-working people, but they can never make ends meet. They
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Horn of Africa: Port-Politics Taken to New Levels
Yesterday, the Djiboutian President Ismael Guelleh concluded a two-day visit to Mogadishu where he met the Somali president Abdullahi Formaggio and gave a speech at the parliament. During his stay, Guelleh reopened the old Djiboutian embassy in Mogadishu and discussed several bilateral agreements with his counterpart. As Guelleh concluded his visit to Somalia, Osman Saleh,
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Peering into the Cagey Politics of the Horn of Africa
The summit that leaders of Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia held in the Ethiopian cities of Gondar and Bahir Dar in early November is a landmark event in the evolving politics of Africa’s Horn Region. The event’s significance derives not so much from the meeting’s own merits as from the clues it provides on the political thinking
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Eritrea: Cries of a Nation on the Brink of Evanescence
The last six months have seen a flurry of diplomatic activities involving most of the Horn-of-Africa countries and some member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). These activities which have included a series of mediation efforts, state visits, summit meetings, and bilateral agreements seem to herald a new phase of regional geopolitics in which alliances
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Hastily Prepared Tripartite Meeting Wrapped Up
Objections by EPRDF bigwigs has delayed the long-planned visit by Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea to the Amara region of Ethiopia, which was announced over a month ago. Isaias visit also triggered criticism by Mohammed Jawar, the director of Oromo Media Network and a popular mobilizer among the Ethiopian youth. On November 7, Jawar tweeted the
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Ethiopian Election 2020 and the Implementation of the Algiers’ Agreement
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 the abuse of human rights
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UN Sanctions Against Eritrea to Remain in Force
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 economic integration of the region.”
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Djibouti Objects to the Lifting Of UN Sanctions on Eritrea
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 Minister of the Federal Democratic
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Announcing Awate IGAD Forum
Dear friends, Two days ago, we launched the 2018 fundraising entitled “Support Awate.com” campaign which will continue for some time. The response during the last two days has been encouraging to the extent that it inspired us so much we have decided to announce one of our enhancement plans ahead of time–we believe we do