Tag: Tigray
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Gebreberhan Zere and Dowry Jewelry
The late Abdulkadir Ramadan and Tesfay Tekle were conducting TekhliT (dagmay srrE) around Himberti when Tesfay caught my little trick to be assigned to Kebesa. His sharp warning left no room for negotiation. Worse still, my stay in Kebessa was cut short by my dear friend, the late Gebreberhan Zere, who was kidnapped and presumably
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Giants and Lilliputians: Haile Selassie and President Isaias Afwerki (Part 2)
Power, Image, and Machiavellian Survival: The Body as a Mirror of Power To understand Isaias Afwerki’s psychology, one must first confront the contradiction written across his body. His appearance—spare, stiff, and strangely careless—betrayed none of the humility expected of a revolutionary. Nor did it reflect the ethos of the Tegadelti, whose plainness was once a
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Ts’əmdi and Ts’imdo: Joined for Utility, Not Unity
In the semi-fertile soil of Tigrinya, the words ጽምዲ (Ts’əmdi) and ጽምዶ (Ts’imdo) bloom with layered meaning—practical, poetic, and political. Both conjure the image of two entities alloyed together, yet their applications diverge across the rhythms of life. ጽምዲ, as in ጽምዲ ብዕራይ, refers to two oxen yoked to plough a field—a necessity for poor
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Destiny of Conflict, and the Red Sea: A Reflection on Power and People
ethiopia #eritrea In this commentary, we explore the dangerous rhetoric and provocative actions brewing in the Horn of Africa—from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s imperial ambitions to the Amhara splinter group ABEN’s rejection of Eritrean sovereignty. * Framed by poetry from Abul Alaa Al Ma’arri and Abul Qasim Al-Shabi, this reflection contrasts fatalism and free will—questions…
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Aferkebu Bun Dereja – Stop the Empire
In Eritrean tradition, coffee is served in three rounds—Awel, Dereja, and Bereka. This is Aferkebu Bun Dereja, the second round in a conversation about empire, exile, and the ongoing silencing of Eritrean voices. We explore how authoritarian power survives in modern disguise, how dissent is criminalized, and why Eritrea today is flying on autopilot—with no…
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Do Eritreans Envy Tigray?
Envy is a human trait; however, most people are often envious of people they know. They are rarely envious of people they don’t know or are geographically far removed from them. What’s the difference between envy and jealousy? Are they basically rooted on superstitions? I am not sure if the evil eye is envy or
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Is Ethiopia Doomed?
For an Eritrean, pretending to wear a 20/20 lens, you dwell on snooping around Ethiopian critiques, regardless of their successes and failures. I for example, wouldn’t expect anything neutral/good to come out of people like Monsieur Hidrat or other ELF offspring about Isaias’ government. Because I know that they have bones to pick with him.
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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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Re-aligned with the PFDJ but disappointed
After the downfall of the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the liberation of Eritrea in 1991, the Sudanese government curtailed the movement of Eritrean opposition organizations on its soil. Denied the opportunity to operate from Sudan, most moved to Ethiopia and stayed there until Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018. Several Eritrean opposition organizations
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Reverse Season on Migration
Dilemma: do we welcome those who abandon the PFDJ, forgetting the pain they inflicted on us because we dared to oppose the regime, and move on, or should we insist on holding them accountable for their past actions? Today, many are facing a dilemma after Abdulkadir Hamdan, a journalist and veteran of the struggle era,
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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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Katanga and Welkait Wars
A few days ago, I read an article by Ahmed Suleiman (Chatham House) in which he examined the Sesame supply chain around the Welkait region. It reminded me of Welkait that I knew about since childhood, and I decided to write and talk about it. In 1960 the region of Katanga under the leadership of
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Finale of an Eritrean Struggle
In the previous two phases, we talked about things that must be done at the individual level. An individual must decide whether they want to support the Eritrean regime, oppose it, or be indifferent to it. If they decide to resist its injustices at the individual level, they decide their degree of resistance. Is it
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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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AU Team Expected In Mekele Soon
The AU appointed observer team is expected to arrive in Mekele to monitor the situation in Tigray.. It comprises of nine generals from South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. An expert whose speciality is not confirmed yet will lead the team. The arrival of the team was delayed due to technical issues including the presence of
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The Land Surveying Engineer
I hold that the problems of our region are mainly cultural, and it can only be ameliorated by fighting illiteracy and adopting proper social policies. Sedentary communities’ land demarcation(m’Terar) is or region’s popular hobby, more nuanced within the PFDJ cult. In recent years the hobby went to the extreme, down to demarcating clan, religious, and
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Abiy and Isaias, Radwan in the Middle.
Ser’e is something forbidden by tradition be it mentioning or consuming. For instance, traditional women do not mention the name of their husbands and must refer to them as “father of so-and so”. Ser’e also forbids the consumption of certain foods and additives, like goat meat or salt. Likewise, partisans have Ser’e not to appreciate
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Time To Clean Your Own Courtyard
Hopefully, the guns will stop. Hopefully those drunk with lust for blood will sober up. Hopefully, those who have nothing to sell but hate, destruction and bloodletting will reevaluate their position. Hopefully the poor victims of this war will breathe a sigh of relief. Hopefully the farmers will go to their farms, the shepherds will
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Inter-Ethiopian Peace Talks
As many arrows, loos’d several ways, Come to one mark, as many ways meet in one town, As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea, As many lines close in the dial’s centre, So may a thousand actions, once afoot, End in one purpose, and be all well borne Without defeat! Shakespeare’s Play: Henry
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Presence of Ethiopian Forces In Eritrea
Can wars end? What are signs that wars will end? What was the result of past “wars to end wars”? Is our region hastening Armageddon? Will the war in our region ever end? Who are the actors in the war apart from what we see? What is sovereignty when foreign forces are stationed in a