Tag: PFDJ
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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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Let Sherifo Testify
I am sure you must remember Mahmmed Sherifo. Certainly, you remember the reformers. Were they reformers… or something else! And how is the constitution tied to their arrest! Lastly, what’s the foundation of a constitution! This topic includes two parts. It’s an important topic and I believe it will help many who might be confused
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Somalia Elects President Hassen Sheik Mahmoud
Somalia led the ex-president Formaggio to the Exit door and welcomed President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud who won the election by 184 votes. Amid a worsening inflation, lack of security, food shortage and a widespread draught, Somalia’s 328 representatives elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud out of 35 contenders. Mohammed Formaggio, the last president came next. President Hassen
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Between Constitutionalism and “The Constitution”
[Reading time 9 minutes] Carlo was a driving school owner and trainer who was traveling to Keren in a bus together with his friend. The bus driver was reckless and seemed incompetent. The bus swayed and the passenger panicked, including Carlo. The friend asked Carlo to sit beside the driver and instruct him how to
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Eritrean PFDJ and Crowd Mentality
The following is inspired by Gustav Le Bon’s book, The Crowd—the study of the popular mind. If you are walking on a street and dog bites you badly, do you sue the dog or the owner? That is how I see the vulgarity and abuse that Eritreans are facing. The PFDJ cannot claim innocence, I
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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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Singers and Poets
About ten years ago there was a popular singer named Tarreqe. He had a unique voice. Until his slow disappearance, he used to remind me of Mohammed Wardi the Sudanese singer. Last time I watched Isaias’ marathon interview–I had to because it’s my raw material. After the end of the interview, Helen Meles screeched, neberlna,
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The Six-Husbands of Eritrea
In the Tigrinya language we do not have separate words for sebay, as in husband, and sebaay, as in Man. Both are sebay. Therefore, the title is not about men but about husbands. Also, we refer to Eritrea in the feminine gender, Eritra t’Ewet, not Ertra y’Ewet, always in the feminine gender. But what triggered
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Awate.com’s Saleh Johar interviews Meles Zenawi (2008)
The following was first published in May 26, 2008. It’s the first ever interview with the late PM Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia by an Eritreans entity since 1997. The file was lost around 2012 due to some server mishap. Thereafter, several people have asked us about it but we couldn’t find it until recently. This republishing is dedicated
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“May You Beget A Black Cat”
In 1986 a border conflict erupted between Qatar and Bahrain over the ownership of the Hawar Islands (Fisht AlDibal). Qatari forces arrested 29 workers sent by Bahrain on a construction job. Soon, Saudi Arabia succeeded in mediating and securing the release of the prisoners; in 1994, the case was resolved by the international court under
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Please Come and Invade Us!
A fringe racist, bigoted, and servile group has been trying hard to undo Eritrea and what its people stand for. They have been mocking the struggle for self-determination and freedom including its veterans. They were in the verge of losing steam when the Ethiopian civil war erupted and the fringe Tigrayan groups became vocal. Their wish is to
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Alleged Consultation to Form a Military Wing Unfounded
Gedab Investigative Report: On July 30, 2021, an Eritrean website reported about a “consultation between Eritrean entities.” It further reported that “several Eritrean opposition organizations were engaged in preparatory meeting to form “a wide political and military entity to topple the Asmara regime.” It added, “the Khartoum consultations is led by Mesfin Hagos, an ex-Eritrean defense
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Eritrean Leader’s Sandcastle Play
Eritrean president Isaias Afewerki recently ventured out of his hideout at Adi Halo near Asmara to travel to the port city of Massawa for some reflective moments at the beach. [Adi Halo is, of course, the leader’s infamous rural outpost which doubles as his makeshift “presidential office.” The place has an even more bizarre history
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Kings of Kings and Colonels
In ancient times, each locality, and later each city, had a king. One of them emerged stronger and subjugated the rest. They accepted his authority over them and submitted to his rule with varying level of autonomy. Thus, he became King of Kings, who overtime became an expansionist emperor. Some historian trace that to the
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Eritrea, Tigray, and Ethiopia: Where to from Here?
Passions in the current war (Eritrea and Ethiopia on one side) and Tigray on the other are running high akin to the war of the 1998 to 2000 where the majority in diaspora were settled on the notion of my country, right or wrong. When passions run this high it is rather difficult to distance
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Whispering to the Eritrean Forces
Addey Abeba’s* husband and elder son died in a car accident while the family was returning home from a pilgrimage. Since that incident, the traumatized woman became over-protective of her younger son and wouldn’t let him play in the streets for fear of cars, though daily, hardly more than three cars passed in that street.
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A Message To Tigrayans
A fed-up worker decided to quit his job. He approached his boss who was standing behind a workbench, looked him straight in thes eyes, and told him, “Give me my dues, I don’t want to work for you anymore.” The boss asked for a reason, but the worker was adamant, “just give me my dues.”
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Tigray Forces Enter Mekelle City
For a critical media consumer, various media outlets are meant to serve as a way to arrive at the truth as rapidly as possible. As well, to learn more about a particular subject matter of interest. Today, I woke up to write an article on the subject of genocide in Gambella, Ethiopia under the watchful
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Eritrea’s Bittersweet Memory of A 30-Year Struggle
Eritrea has bittersweet memory of a 30-year struggle that was eked out by the botched 30-years of Governance. In 1935, little did Italy know that its decision to invade Ethiopia would lead to a World War II. Little did Italy know, too, that the Eritrean Askaris it hired to do the invasion of Ethiopia would also abandon