On October 29, 2009, Awate’s Gedab broke the news about a US-EU conference (organized by a European External Policy Advisory (EEPA), a Belgian NGO) on Eritrea to be attended by a number of honorable Eritrean (Tigrigna or Tigrigna-satellite) politicians and civil society activists with an esteemed spokesperson, Mr. Abdulrahman Alsaid. Mr. Spokesman in turn confirmed the news in his website (Arkokebay November 01, 2009) with an appeal for everybody to “stay tuned” for more. Our dear Selam Kidane did the same in a couple of articles on Awate without bothering to reveal anything of substance. Gebeel (the website of the Federalist Movement) quoted some Eritrean radio station expressing bewilderment at…

Those who like to conclude matters before they even begin, those who like to have the final say before most have even spoken have declared dead the debates surrounding the Lowland-Highland or Muslim-Christian dichotomy. I must admit that we have yet to initiate or provoke real communication on the issues that matter most between “Us” and “Them” as the other side, led by task forces and joint committees, has accelerated the fortification of trenches instead of giving “Us” the benefit of the doubt to heed a little bit of attention to the pain and disappointment of “the other” half of our population. However, in terms of the seriousness of engagement…

I apologize for delays in continuing the “Road Map” series that I started earlier. I have decided to wait and see if Abune Aregawi reaches into the celebrations of the “Uniting Group” and proves us wrong by inciting a spell against the Land Grabbing Settlers once their marathon merger actually takes place, now that they have a good idea of what they are expected to do as far as “the other” half of Eritrea is concerned (and congratulations!). With this in mind, I have decided to make a gesture of goodwill by helping them catch undetected “divisive elements” and recommend some changes of habits (such as “quitting smoking”) that they…

I am not one who believes in the Carrot-plus-Stick theory as the only explanation for effectively manipulating stimulus and response in politics because there are situations where the stick alone is more than enough to get people going and there are situations where the carrot should never be mixed with the stick. Tigrigna supremacists have tried the stick on us for the last twenty years and we tried the carrot on them for the last fifty years. Neither of them has worked mainly for our reluctance to entertain the possibility that it might all depend on the cultural context within which the transaction takes place. Now tell me, does it hurt…

The New Year might be a good occasion for each one of us to wonder why magic always seems to single out and evade our Eritrea and why our best efforts never seem to payoff. We need to challenge ourselves with one logical question: How was it that a semi-illiterate Somali cleric heading a militia government squashed in a bachelor apartment in Mogadishu was able to get the IGAD, the AU and the UN Security Council moving to choke an 18-year-old government with a quarter of a million best-trained and armed men? Why couldn’t we, the primary victims, of the exact justifications for the sanctions do in 18 years what…

I will keep it short here and will do so the lazy way. In an interview with a VoA journalist on September 27, 2011, President Isaias Afwerki responded to why he would keep doing this to helpless Eritreans at a time when human rights organizations are appealing for the release of those who are already in jail. He explained a unique dilemma: just when he is thinking of releasing the prisoners and closing down the jails, the same human rights organizations would bring him more candidates – hasusat – qualified for an honorable place in the dungeons. I am not trying to suggest to Mr. President to see if switching…

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the newly initiated Eritrean Law Society (ELS) for managing to call into the arena the much needed sector of our politics: “lawyers, professionals and academicians”. The validity of the information, seriousness of the initiative and sincerity of the intentions remains to be seen. My first impression of the statement posted on Awate, however, does look like one of the innovations of the newly formed EPDP (Hafash Wdubat) to outsource the dirty work of promoting the Constitution of Land Grabbers, thus validating the claim (mine included) that they do not mean what they say and they do not say what they mean.…

‘Not Too Bad!’ is what anyone familiar with the frustratingly slow pace of developments (towards a better day) in Eritrea during the last 20 years would describe the speed at which change is taking hold of the nation today. And ‘What a Pity!’ is how anyone familiar with the fact that the traditional Eritrean opposition contributed ZERO towards the change taking place on the ground and towards the demise of the PFDJ would describe today’s developments. Spontaneously motivated New Times (induced not through deliberate human action but through the magic in the prayers of helpless mothers) are just around the corner and the probability of being surprised with a sudden…

There are things that we wish we would never know about because knowing can sometimes be the worst enemy of hope. How would a sailor in the middle of the ocean feel if he found out that, that tiny piece of ice heading towards his ship in a head-on collision is actually the tip of an iceberg? That hidden iceberg that most Eritreans had wished never to know about until it dissolves with the end the PFDJ’s rule and fades from our history for good without us having to talk and embarrass one another with, was what the Eritrean Covenant brought to the open. “Haba’e Quslu – Haba’e Fewsu” as…

On an unrelated sidenote or headnote: With all due respect to Brother Woldeyesus Ammar for his beautifully written emotional “Draft Obituary-cum-Eulogy” (the one where he rephrases “Haile Deru’e’s biggest worry after liberation was how to contain “Tigrigna chauvinism in the EPLF” to mean “it is not the fault of any membership”), I would like to take this opportunity to call upon all of us for some ethics in handling bad news. The point that I think calls for some ethics is to remember that the prisoners who are in jail or were disappeared in most cases probably have loved ones and children who, I have no doubt, spend most of their…