Category: Analysis
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Happy Victory Day, Eritrea
Twenty seven years ago today, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Army (EPLA) delivered the final victory in evicting Ethiopia’s occupation forces from Eritrea and triumphantly entered its capital, Asmara, to jubilation and cheers from the Eritrean people, who initiated the struggle decades earlier. There was no confusion what this meant and that’s why, two years later,…
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Overdue Eritrea Visits ACHPR
“The State of Eritrea presents its initial and combined reports that encompass eight periodic reports overdue since its accession to the Charter.” So begins the first sentence of a 100-page report provided by the State of Eritrea to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR). “Overdue” may be the one word that describes…
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Yamamoto’s Visit To Eritrea
Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Ambassador Donald Y. Yamamoto is scheduled to visit Eritrea, as part of his swing in the Horn between April 22nd and April 26. The itinerary, according to a press release from the State Department, is: Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Ambassador Donald Y. Yamamoto will travel to…
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Educating PFDJ On Its Own Law
Copied: Wide-eyed part-time YPFDJ cadres, misty-eyed perfervid patriots, new atheists who speak in feverish secular fundamentalist tongues, epigones of modernity, Western ‘experts’ who are so incurably orientalist that they think we should squat in the waiting room of history until such time that we mature enough to deserve civil and political rights, & co. Subject:…
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Why Eritrea Didn’t Sign The Africa Free Trade Area
Last Wednesday, March 21 ,2018, at the 10th extraordinary session of the African union, held at Rwanda’s capital Kigali, forty-seven (47) African countries signed their consent to make Africa continent a free-trade area (AfCFTA). This agreement, in the works for years, envisions a continent with free flow of people, goods and services. The instruments are…
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When Challenged, The Gov of Eritrea’s First Instinct Is To Lie
Almost everything in this article published by State website shabait.com is wrong, misleading or false. This would be beginning with the byline: the ministry it is attributed to, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Everyone knows, or should know, that any statement addressed to foreign governments or agencies is penned by only three people: President Isaias…
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Why Eritrean Govt’s Diplomacy Will Always Fail
The job duty of a foreign mission anywhere in the world is this: to represent the interest of their country to the host country. This requires meeting with government officials of the host country, i.e., diplomacy; meeting with the non-governmental sector of the host country, i.e., public diplomacy; and helping fellow compatriots in the host…
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The Story Behind The Sudan-Eritrea Falling Out
The feud between Eritrea and Sudan has been attributed to many causes and none–by those who maintain that there is no feud. Some have claimed that it is due to Eritrea’s decision to align its foreign policy closer with Egypt even as the latter’s relationship with Sudan was deteriorating. Others have claimed that Sudan’s decision…
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Eritrea’s Gradual Abnormalization
In February, a “patriotic” Eritrean watching news of the anniversary of Operation Fenkel, the day Eritrean fighters evicted the Ethiopian army from the port city of Massawa, also heard rumors of the death of Haile “Derue” Woldentensae. Because Eritrea is such an abnormal country, said Eritrean didn’t ask why there are people like Haile Woldensae,…
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How Eritrea Benefits From Institutionalized Short Memory
[spider_facebook id=”4″] Whenever the Government of Isaias Afwerki is challenged to meet the demands of a UN-impaneled body, whether that is the Special Rapporteur or the Commission of Inquiry, it has a uniform reply: we are engaged with the UN via the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and we reject targeted mandates. And, in that regard,…
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President Isaias Afwerki’s Acquiesence to Saudi Arabia
[spider_facebook id=”4″] Saudi Arabia and its allies–Qatar and Emirates–now have effective control of Eritrea’s coastline and its air space. How Eritrea, a fiercely independent country, got itself into such dependency is a subject that occupies the minds of all thinking Eritreans, including senior members of the ruling party, People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ). Although…
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Shortest Version of Isaias Afwerki’s Interviews
Originally published on January 28, 2017, but could have just as easily been published in 2007. Or 2018 You don’t have to watch the annual interviews of President Isaias Afwerki to understand his viewpoint. Just apply the Isaias Afwerki Constant (iak) and you are there: Domestic Affairs A sector by sector analysis of everything in…