Eritrea: A Look Back at an Extraordinary Year – Part I

December 31, 2018, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Understanding the Travail of Change in Sudan

Eritrean-American rap star Nipsey Hussle and his family visiting Eritrea, April 2018

A Look Back at an Extraordinary Year – Part I

Dr. Fikrejesus Amahazion

29 December 2018

Undeniably, 2018 was an extraordinary year for Eritrea and the Horn of Africa. The powerful winds of change swept across the region, ushering in the possibility of lasting peace, stability, and security. The year’s rapidly unfolding, momentous events have been both highly encouraging and a greatly welcome development in a long-troubled region. For Eritrea, in particular, the year was especially eventful. This article is the first in a three-part series that looks back at some of the important events and developments that unfolded in the country over the past twelve extraordinary months. Parts II and III of the review will be published in the following several days.

January

As ever, the New Year and holiday period were celebrated with great enthusiasm by Eritreans across the country and around the world. With little doubt, however, the largest party was the one that took place in Sawa, with celebrations organized by the Ministry of Information and Sawa National Service Training Centre.

Additionally, President Isaias Afwerki paid a working visit to Egypt upon the invitation of the President of Egypt, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The Eritrean leader’s visit, where he was welcomed by a guard of honor, was illustrative of Eritrea’s growing regional and international relations. Notably, the visit sparked media hysteria regarding the closure of the border with Sudan and far-fetched rumors of an Egyptian and Emirati military presence in Eritrea. During his traditional New Year’s interview, President Isaias dismissed the reports and rumors as a “joke.”

Interestingly, as Eritrea began the year by continuing to effectively counter external efforts to isolate and weaken it, more evidence was beginning to emerge that despite the former Ethiopian regime’s outward veneer of growth, prosperity, and stability, all was certainly not well. In fact, the country was on the verge of collapse. In highly prescient comments delivered during his New Year’s interview, President Isaias stated that, for the TPLF-led regime in Ethiopia, “the game is over.” Months later, he would repeat the statement as events proved him to be correct.

Of course, with it being the beginning of the year, numerous meetings were held by various organizations, government ministries, and local or regional administrations in order to discuss priorities and outline various activities for the upcoming year. Notably, Eritrea and China also signed a loan agreement worth $US 87 million, which would partly be channeled to construct the first phase of the 29 km-long asphalt road connecting Adi-Guaedad with Habela.

Memorably, the month also saw the visit to Eritrea by a number of distinguished international entertainment figures, such as Eritrean-American comedian and film star Tiffany Hadish and the British musician Joss Stone. Later in the year, Hadish would also wear a dazzling traditional Eritrean outfit to the Academy Awards, proudly showcasing her roots and heritage. Not to be forgotten, Eritrean rapper and entrepreneur Nipsey Hussle would also visit the country later in 2018.

February

February saw Eritrean athletes make history and add to the country’s fast-growing sporting legacy. In Rwanda, Eritrean cyclists dominated the 13th African Continental Road Cycling Championships. The Eritrean team won the team time trial competition for an unprecedented 8th consecutive year, while there were victories and positive results in numerous other categories, including the junior and women’s competitions. Remarkably, since its inception in 2001, Eritrea has won more medals in the African Continental Road Championships than all other African countries combined. Upon the Eritrean team’s return to Asmara, thousands of Eritreans poured out into the streets to joyously welcome them home.

Although known for its cycling and long-distance running prowess, Eritrea was also represented at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Shannon-Ogbnai Abeda, an Eritrean-Canadian alpine skier, competed for Eritrea in alpine skiing, becoming the first athlete to represent the country at the Winter Olympics. Notably, the month also saw FIFA President Gianni Infantino visit Eritrea. During his visit, Infantino met with President Isaias Afwerki and the Commissioner of Culture and Sports, Mr. Zemede Tekle, to discuss the development of Eritrean football.

Eritrea is blessed with a rich diversity of cultures. Late in the month, UNESCO joined Eritrea’s Commission of Culture and Sports, as well as high-level government officials and community representatives, in a two-week workshop as part of the UNESCO project: “Strengthening the capacities of Eritrea for implementing the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage”. The project aimed to support Eritrea safeguard its intangible cultural heritage through the effective implementation of the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which Eritrea ratified in 2010.

A number of development-related activities took place during February. There was the start of a joint Eritrean-Egyptian model farming project in Eritrea to help support agricultural productivity and food security. As well, the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), drafted a roadmap for the successful implementation of the country’s second health sector strategic development plan and achievement of health-related Sustainable Development Goals. The month also saw the completion of several potable water supply projects, the organization of youth skills development programs, a research workshop in Asmara organized by the National Commission for Higher Education, training programs for teachers and artists, and many other important activities.

Meanwhile, in Ethiopia, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn resigned after three troubled years in office. Those years were characterized by famine, violence, economic challenges, and serious political and social instability. Hours after Desalegn’s resignation, the Ethiopian government declared a nationwide state of emergency. Although the regime continued to claim Eritrea was behind its crisis, the situation was largely self-inflicted – a fact that became increasingly difficult to deny. Eventually, by late March, Ethiopia’s ruling coalition selected Dr. Abiy Ahmed as its chairman, paving the way for the Oromo leader to become the country’s prime minister.

March

On March 8, International Women’s Day was commemorated nationwide with different activities under the theme “Women’s Empowerment: Prelude to Equality”. Additionally, a representative of the National Union of Eritrean Women addressed the 62nd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, held in New York, outlining the progress and challenges of women in Eritrea.

In March 1988, in the Battle of Afabet, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front dealt a crushing defeat to the Ethiopian occupation forces of the Nadew Command. The momentous achievement was described by the late British historian Basil Davidson as the “African Dien Bien Phu.” This past March, the 30th anniversary of the Eritrean victory was marked with celebrations in Afabet and a series of important activities looking back at the historic events.

The month also saw Eritrean delegations participate in a number of international events and meetings. The Eritrean Commission of Culture and Sports, in cooperation with the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution, attended the Youth Mobile Festival in Barcelona, which had over 15,000 participants from around the world, while an Eritrean delegation also attended the 53rd World Tourism Exhibition, held in Berlin from 7 to 10 March. As well, early in the month, high-level representatives from Eritrea and Finland held a meeting in Asmara to build on past progress and address various challenges within the education sector.

A fundamental part of being Eritrean is confronting injustice. A reflection of this was how Eritreans in the Netherlands staged a peaceful demonstration on 13 March protesting the unjust manner in which they were treated by the Dutch government in recent years. As well, in Geneva, the Permanent Mission of Eritrea to the United Nations in Geneva, in collaboration with Nevsun Resources Limited, Bisha Mining Share Company, and Danakali Limited, held a seminar titled, “Demystifying Eritrea: the Ground Reality, Mining and Human Rights”, which was focused on addressing the outdated stereotypes and misguided narrative about Eritrea.

Locally, March saw the initiation or continuation of a number of community and development projects across the country, including vocational education and training programs, the construction of kindergartens at the Halibet and HazHaz hospitals, the installation of solar power panels at the Hagaz Community Hospital, a workshop focused on the preservation of tourist sites, the launch, by the Ministry of Health, the WHO, and other stakeholders, of a five-year National Action Plan for Health Security, and other activities. Of special note, a report published by the WHO and the Uppsala Monitoring Center ranked Eritrea as the highest of all African countries in terms of completeness and number of submitted drug safety reports to the global database.

April

Eritrea and its people have a long history of resilience and perseverance. Challenges are not to be seen as insurmountable barriers, but as opportunities for learning, growth, and development. This characteristic resilience and perseverance was illustrated by the YPFDJ’s annual conference. In 2017, the YPFDJ European Conference was cancelled by local Dutch authorities amidst controversial and unfortunate circumstances. Undaunted, the YPFDJ in Europe came back stronger in April 2018 to hold a highly successful conference, featuring hundreds of participants and a number of important activities.

Of course, April 13th also marked the 16th anniversary of the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission’s final and binding decision on the Eritrea-Ethiopia border. For years, the former Ethiopian regime rejected the EEBC’s decision. However, after Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn’s resignation in February 2018 and with the country on the verge of implosion after years of mass protests, Dr. Abiy Ahmed officially assumed office on April 2nd. Abiy, who became Africa’s youngest leader and the first Oromo prime minister in the 27 years that the ruling coalition has been in power, would quickly begin to seek change and reform. His reforms would extend to changing his country’s relationship and approach toward Eritrea. During his inaugural speech, Abiy promised to make peace with Eritrea. A further sign of the looming changes to the region was the visit by a US delegation, led by then-Acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Donald Y. Yamamoto, to Asmara from 22 to 24 April.

Other important events during the month included, inter alia: the national celebration of International Health Day took place at the Orotta Referral Hospital; the founding of the Congress of the National Association of Chemical Engineers on 21 April; the graduation with Master’s Degrees from Swiss and South African universities by numerous individuals employed by Eritrean governmental institutions; Eritrea’s participation at the 10th African Leaders’ Extraordinary Summit in Rwanda; and the celebration of Easter across the nation.

As ever, during the month of April, several activities were conducted to help improve people’s standard of living and support development, including training programs focused on pest control in agricultural areas, vocational and skills development programs, erecting electrical lines in rural areas in order to improve electrical access, workshops for teachers, the introduction of modern farming practices in rural areas, and the construction of elementary schools and expansion of the hospital in Agordet. As well, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare reported that Government of Eritrea has distributed over 786,000,000 Nakfa to war-disabled veterans over the past 15 years.

Undeniably, Eritrea’s greatest resource is its people, particularly the youth. However, it also possesses an abundance of natural and environmental resources. This point was underscored by the discovery in April of several new species of avifauna. With Eritrea still so young and unexplored, it is reasonable to expect that many more exciting discoveries lay ahead.

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Understanding the Travail of Change in Sudan

January 1, 2019, 12:00 am

≫ Next: On General Sibhat Ephrem bravery!

≪ Previous: Eritrea: A Look Back at an Extraordinary Year – Part I

Sudanese Protesters

Understanding the Travail of Change in Sudan

By Amgad Fareid Eltayeb | Sudan Seen

Sudan revolts. Many people have read this short sentence many times in the past few years, but the fact is Sudan never stopped revolting since the coup of June 1989 that brought the ruling National Islamic Front party (later the National Congress Party; NCP) and the current president Omar El Bashir to power. The political struggle against the dictatorship of Bashir’s Islamic regime has never stopped for a day. The regime continued to use its tyrannical security apparatus to fight it, resulting in fuelling the civil war in the south further to end with separation of South Sudan as an only solution, yielding another war in the new South of the northern Sudanese country, and generating a new civil war in the western region of Darfur. These civil wars witnessed the worst types of violence against civilians, that included; the widest use of sexual violence in Darfur, burning and indiscriminate bombing of civilian villages, displacement of millions of Sudanese citizens and a very long list of war crimes that led Bashir to have the honour of infamously being the first sitting president to be wanted by the International Criminal Court.

In addition to these war crimes, the urban areas of Sudan saw wide range of human rights violations. The Gestapo-like National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) became a terrifying political tool of terror that is used Bashir’s regime to abduct, indefinitely detain, torture and kill political opponents with huge authorities and complete impunity for its agents. Expectedly, this was accompanied with an unprecedented spread of corruption in Sudan in light of the complete absence of the rule of law.

Fast forward to 2018, the demonstrators who stormed the streets of different Sudanese cities had a clear sight of the scene. The protests started in Atbra, a city well known for its labour movement history, on December 19. Other cities witnessed protests in the same day including; Qadaref, Nuhod, and Portsudan that was supposed to receive a presidential visit from Bashir in the same day. Protests extended to other cities in the following day; Dongla, Barbar, Sennar, Elobaid, and the capital Khartoum. The third day saw the spread of protests to almost everywhere in Sudan. Protesters were very focused on what and who is the reason behind their suffering. In most of the protesting cities, citizens marched collectively to burn the premises of the ruling National Congress Party. The ruling party’s center were not only symbols of tyranny and dictatorship, but also a kleptocratic symbol of the grand corruption encircling Sudan.

The protesters took up the streets, driven by the difficult living conditions and the economic crisis, where the inflation reached 160% with the full collapse of the value of local currency and a sharp rise in the prices of essential necessities exacerbated by the lack of liquidity in banks and market. However, this was merely a symptom of a political crisis of the first order.

The corruption in the corridors of the state relates directly and organically to the heads of the state and its extent and size are directly proportionate with the height in the hierarchy of power. The giant cases of grand corruption that significantly influence the Sudanese economy are linked to high-ranking officials who are above the questioning of the law in the lawless state of Sudan.

Despite the structural deformity of the Sudanese economy that is inherited since the independence, which is seen in its dependence on exportation rather than production, which exacerbated by the Dutch Disease: “Increasing dependence on the export of one natural resource with neglecting the rest of economic sectors” during the years of oil exportation between 1998 to 2011, and the great shock that hit the Sudanese economy after the independence of the oil-rich South Sudan, but the current economic crisis is different. These economic uncertainties have created money-hungry nacropaths of those have limitless power and authority in Sudan, seeking to collect as much assets and money as possible to protect and maintain their privileges.

The current lack of liquidity that was exacerbated significantly by speculations on foreign exchange rates and the storage of currency by the influentials, which was something the Sudanese Prime Minister Moataz Mousa, complained of publicly. It was becoming obvious that the crisis is political in nature.

The corruption in the banking sector, fake credit and investment loans that are granted to senior members of the ruling party without adequate guarantees and without productive returns ... and other corrupt practices have led to the loss of confidence in the banking system by the citizens. The loss of confidence in the banking system was aggravated by the shortsighted decisions taken by the government to address the problem of liquidity by placing a very small daily withdrawal ceiling from personal bank accounts. Amounts that are not enough to meet the obligations of daily life in light of the rapid rise of prices, provoking people to store money in their homes instead of Banks, aggravating the impact of the liquidity scarcity and the corrupt practices of currency speculation. Untouchable influentials including members of the presidential family (which includes the prime minister himself who is the cousin of the president), senior members of the ruling party and high-ranking government officials use these practices to promote their social status and protect themselves in the case of any change in a very fluid political situation. Ignoring the fact that they are worsening their situation and rising the possibilities of change by aggravating the suffering of the people. A typical nacropathic behaviour. The anti-corruption tools and slogans have become part of the battle of settling personal accounts among the regime's masters, and have not reflected in any positive way on the Sudanese economy. This made statements by the new prime minister and his tweets (and Muataz Moussa is fond of the social media platform; Twitter in a Donald-Trumpian style), to a ridiculous farce, trying to suggest the possession of economic solutions to a problem that everyone knows it is political in nature.

On another note, the regime does not help himself by any mean by its refractoriness in dealing with the other aspects of the political crisis in Sudan. The ruling National Congress Party continues to manipulate and obstruct all opportunities for political solutions to end the civil war in its three volatile regions of Sudan (Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile) and allow for a minimum openness that help reducing the political polarization in the country. Succeeding in that with the help of its new status with the international mediators who needs the regime to serve their different interests in the region. As well as the weakness of the opposition political forces that, the regime invested in their destruction over the years of his rule. Never the less, the NCP is digging its own grave with this attitude. These civil wars, political polarization and lack of democratic space keep it a permanent hostage to the bullying of foreign powers who uses it to perform the tasks they want, but only support it by the extent that keeps it hostage. Tyrants read from one book that does not teach them a simple lesson; the only guarantor of any ruler is his people, not foreign powers, whatever the degree of his service to them.

The National Congress and General Bashir have been in power for 30 years depending on the strength of their security services and their military militias to stay in power and suppress the opposition movement. They did not hesitate to arm and supply them and to create more diverse militias dedicated to protecting their power. They directed the budgets of health, education and other social services to be spent on what is generally called the sovereign and security sectors. Absurd expenses that consume more than two thirds of the public budget. This reluctance to direct public fund to social service sectors has made the economic crisis even worse on the poorest groups, which now face their fate in a legendary battle with no social protection net or any services from the public sector. Those people are the ones who are taking the streets now, driven by their will to live. They will not lose anything because the National Congress Party has left them nothing to lose, but everything to gain ... their freedom, security and decent living.

The regime still not recognizing this, and continue to depend on its security measures to address the crisis. The death toll of protesters reached several tens in three days of protesting. Live ammunitions are being used heavily in the different cities of the country. The scenario of September 2013 protests, when the security forces killed over 200 protesters in the streets who were demonstrating for similar reasons is likely. The NCP masters who seem to learn nothing from it celebrated this massacre as a success in putting out demonstrations. Security solutions won’t work and never did. However, with the national wide political fatigue another terrifying scenario emerges: an internal coup within the NCP. The chief of NISS; Salah Quosh, who returned to his position in the beginning of this year after the humiliating expulsion in 2012 and even his detention and accusation of planning a coup, publicly blamed the cabinet on the economic crisis and how it dealt with the protests. Quosh ambition to succeed Bashir is not a secret and was the reason for his expulsion in 2011. However, he is not the only one with such ambitions. Old-guard Islamists are also looking forward for the throne. The Islamists hardliner group headed by the previous presidential aide Nafie Ali Nafie, who disagreed on Bashir’s will to rerun for 2020 elections as NCP candidate for presidency, are prepared for a battle. Unrest within the army also creates potentials for a Sisi’s style coup d'etat. What is terrifying in all these scenarios is that it will not provide any solutions, and keep the same kelptocracy in power with some superficial changes on hierarchy. Hence, people suffering will continue with the replacement of an old fatigued dictator with a fresh euthanistic one. Let alone, the most terrifying possibilities of blood bath in Khartoum resulting from the clash between the numerous militias of the NCP; the Rapid Support Forces, the Security Forces and Army, whose allegiances are scattered among the different wings of Islamists and will have to pick a side in such scenario. People and normal citizens will also be part of such clash. Those who are sacrificing their life in the streets now will not accept being a silent watcher.

The only peaceful way to end this would be for the NCP to understand and see that its game is over. It is time to hand over power to a broad national political alliance and face the consequences of 30 years of corruption and mismanagement instead of taking the country in such dangerous pathways. What is happening now in Sudan is the labor of a complete comprehensive change ... a genuine revolution born of the suffering of a patient people. The only objective of any sane politician should be to end this suffering.

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On General Sibhat Ephrem bravery!

January 1, 2019, 12:00 am

≫ Next: TPLF elements hindering withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Ethio-Eritrea border by locals in Tigray

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Dereje Jada Hawas with General Sebhat Ephrem

On General Sibhat Ephrem bravery!

By Dereje Jada Hawas, Ethiopian Journalist

Hearing General Sibhat Ephrem sustaining injuries from assassination attempt provoked many of my suppressed memories and wanted to say something.

For those of you who love to talk about armed struggle for liberation, commanding rebel army or something fancy like that, let me offer you some context by introducing you to General Sibhat Ephrem.

As you might recall, Sibhat was Eritrea’s defence minister after the independence and still serves as cabinet minister of the country.

But my personal knowledge of Sibhat came when the battle and desert tested fighters of the 2nd revolutionary army of the eighties that I belonged to fought EPLF’s tough as nail fighters who were determined to liberate their country no matter what hell was raining from anywhere.

I hear some people mistakenly refer to the style of EPLF’s freedom fighters as guerrilla fight (which was far from the reality) The EPLF fought with mechanized and infantry military units lining up tanks and artilleries with complete conventional warfare where dynamically changing boundaries made with fortified bankers across Eritrea’s Sahel desert with impenetrable bankers and trenches with modern hospitals complete with surgical capabilities built several meters deep under ground.

Sibhat Ephrem was the commander of EPLF’s fighting force that defended its cause and eventually won libation against an equally ferocious army that is almost half a million strong and armed with 10 billion USD worth of armaments that came from WARSO pact countries with the Soviet Union and East Germany at the top. Remember, ferocious fighters with modern war machine that rains hell from the sea, land and air (only a few places in the world experience a combination of 3 forces participating in battles)

To describe the pressure and difficulties a commander like Sibhat Ephrem was up against is simply an impossible effort!

In one of Ethiopia’s most significant military campaigns ever, also known as the Red Star Campaign “Ye qey kokob zemecha “ “የቀይ ኮከብ ዘመቻ” ( ወረራ ሽድሽተ) , the most brilliant military generals Africa ever produced from Ethiopia’s side and some of the most respected military generals and filed marshals the world came to know from the Soviet Union (generals who won the “ glorious” war of WAR II (second world war) against Nazi Germany) participated in the planing and execution of the red star campaign. Among the contributions of the bad misfortunes that bankrupted that huge campaign was the brilliance of Sibhat Ephrem’s speciality, the infamous, the disgustingly brilliant “Counter Attack , “መልሶ ማጥቃት”.

To put this in prospect, the Red Star campaign , if it was directed against almost all of the sovereign countries in Africa or most countries in the world, it would have succeed to defeat and occupy it. It was that huge!

I remember, every time military radio operators hack into EPLF’s radio to know Sibhat’s movement so a telegram can be distributed to the nearest Corp or division he is approaching as a warning that he might be planing an attack. Believe me it is the most depressing news you don’t want to hear because there is almost no defence fortifications or method you used to defend a post that Sibhat wanted to brake into.

As a soldier who served across from those trenches in Naqfa, Algena, Kerkebet, Baarentu, Tesenay and many other fronts, the one name that stroke a fear and challenged confidence of any brave soldier was Sibhat Ephrem. Remember, a fear of a soldier is not death but defeat of the cause.

During my trip to Asmara in March 2017 with Geresu Tufa to interview president Isaias Afwerki for OMN, I had a pleasure and honor to spend some time with Sibhat in his office and out in the city. Believe me, he remembers every little details I completely forgot about or chose to forget. every little battle my unit engaged in was fresh in his memory.

There is a photo in his office that he took in Algena at the bottom of the infamous Katar mountain’s gorge that leads to Adobha where we lost many of our ሰንጥቅ ሜካናይዝድ tanks in anti tank mine filled sand during the second most bloodshed military campaign, also known as the Res Sea campaign (ዘመቻ ቀይ ባህር) (ወረራ ሸብአተ).

General Sibhat has a fresh memory in such a detail about all battles my unit fought at that dreadful campaign again that I fought to block from my memory. It was then that he promised me one day we would go down to Naqfa together and visit that place with him ( which I still think about taking some of my surviving buddies to memory lane before diabetes wiped us out)

It is sad that Ethiopia glorified the likes of TPLF’s generals such as Hayelom Arayaa, Samora Yenus and others who as that time wouldn’t be amounted to be seen as successful goat-herders let alone warriors in front of true soldiers like Sibhat Ephrem, Petros Solomon, Ragasa Jima, Demise Bulto and others. These TPLF generals would have never defended anything for more than 5 minutes if they had to face a quarter of the army that Sibhat Ephrem fought day in and day out for many many years. REMEMBER, REMEMBER AGAIN, TPLF came to Finfine because Sibhat defeated Durg in Afabet!!!! I know the Meles doctrine omitted that fact to glorify TPLF rewriting history with lies so it can cow that county around for 27 years under assumed strength that has never ever been existed. The exhibit of course is its crumble from power. Nothing but a puff cloud.

I hear a report about injuries Genral Sibhat experienced from possible assassination attempt. It is not my place to meddle in Eritrea's internal matters but as an admirer of the General from across those trenches and bankers, I wish him a quick recovery.

He was a superman like figure in my young soldier’s heart while fighting him with hate to deny him of any victory.

For today’s rebel leader wannabes, for opportunity grabbing, lottery wining rebel leaders of TPLF who lived with false glory and all other modern and antique characters who took the title “liberation leader” in a dozen for a dime, I say, the standard to achieve freedom with outright wining has a higher bar. I say that with out denying some as some getting it failing on their laps (if they know what to do with it).

In another observation:

I am wondering if this assassination attempt also changes the culture of Eritrean government officials’ interactions with their people. It is one of the most fascinating thing I observed during my visit there. The simplicity of the officials was almost never exist anywhere.

General Sibhat drives a 1980 model Toyota Corolla with no driver or a single security. He drove Geresu and I throughout Asmara with no security, and every place he stoped his car, ordinary people came and ask him to roll down his car window to pet him like a house cat fondly touching his hair and calling him by his first name. It would be sad if this culture changed because of this event though.

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TPLF elements hindering withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Ethio-Eritrea border by locals in Tigray

January 2, 2019, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Ethiopian Medical Team Arrives in Eritrea

≪ Previous: On General Sibhat Ephrem bravery!

Hindering withdrawal of troops from Ethio-Eritrea border by locals in Tigray violation of constitution, says a Major General

By Engidu Woldie | ESAT News (January 1, 2019)

A Major General said the hampering of Ethiopian troops withdrawal from the Ethio-Eritrea border by locals in Tigray was unconstitutional and called on the government to take measures against those who hatched the illegal act.

Locals in Tigray yesterday blocked a convoy of Ethiopian troops withdrawing from the Zalambessa front demanding that a replacement army should arrive before withdrawal by the existing troops.

Ethiopia and Eritrea have been withdrawing their troops from border areas following a peace declaration signed in July that ended two decades of enmity. In April 2018, a new Prime Minister in Ethiopia accepted a two decade old decision by a boundary commission that was set up to resolve disputes over territories.

In a brief interview with ESAT, Major General Melaku Shiferaw, a former director of intelligence and analysis with the Ethiopian defense said the move by the locals was a serious violation of the constitution which clearly stipulates that the army would only take orders from the Prime Minister and his defense chief of staff. The Major General said he believed the blockage of troops withdrawal by the local people was a result of conspiracy by elements in Tigray that stood against the ongoing political reforms in the country.

“It was an attempt by those elements in Tigray to sling mud at the peaceful relationship between Ethiopia and Eritrea. There is no reason to keep troops at the border when there is no threat from Eritrea,” Maj. Gen. Shiferaw told ESAT.

“These elements were deliberately spreading false rumours that Eritrea would invade Ethiopia,” he said adding that “the elements were also trying all tricks to keep hiding in Tigray to run away from facing justice for the crimes they had committed” in the administration prior to Dr. Abiy Ahmed.

The news was first broke by the BBC Amharic Service in Ethiopia that quoted sources as saying that the action by the locals was prompted by the recent directive by Eritrea for a strict vetting of people crossing at two border checkpoints.

The new vetting process by Eritrea was not officially announced by its government, nor by the Ethiopian side. Asked to comment on the issue, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, Meles Alem said last week in Addis Ababa that his Ministry “had no information” on the new development.

Following the peace declaration signed in July, the two countries opened their border, withdrawn their troops and resumed diplomatic relations. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the party in power for 27 years until it was defeated in March by reformists led by Abiy Ahmed, had stood against political reforms and frowned upon improving relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

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Ethiopian Medical Team Arrives in Eritrea

January 3, 2019, 12:00 am

≫ Next: China’s Zijin plans selling $1.2B worth of shares to fund Nevsun takeover

≪ Previous: TPLF elements hindering withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Ethio-Eritrea border by locals in Tigray

A team of health professionals have traveled to Eritrea to volunteer to perform free medical services for two months.

Ethiopian Medical Team Arrives in Eritrea

By Prensa Latina

A team of Ethiopian doctors arrived in Asmara, Eritrea''s capital, where the physicians will work for two months on a voluntary basis in vulnerable areas.

Made up of 39 doctors, including four specialists, the group was received by the Ethiopian ambassador to Eritrea, Redwan Hussein.

The doctors, graduates of the Bahir Dar University, will share teaching and practical experiences with their Eritrean peers.

For Hussein, as reported by Fana Broadcasting Corporate, the deployment of health professionals will help strengthen friendship between the two nations.

The two countries agreed last July to re-establish diplomatic relations, a pact with which they ended one of the most intractable conflicts in Africa.

The diplomat believes that this step is also very important for consolidating socio-economic integration in the so-called Horn of Africa.

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China’s Zijin plans selling $1.2B worth of shares to fund Nevsun takeover

January 3, 2019, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Eritrea: A Look Back at an Extraordinary Year – Part II

≪ Previous: Ethiopian Medical Team Arrives in Eritrea

Bisha mine in Eritrea

China’s Zijin plans selling $1.2B worth of shares to fund Nevsun takeover

By Cecilia Jamasmie | Mining

China’s No.1 gold producer Zijin Mining plans to issue 8 billion yuan (about $1.2 billion) worth of shares in Shanghai to finance the acquisition of Canada’s Nevsun Resources (TSX, NYSEMKT:NSU), the biggest overseas purchase since the Beijing-backed miner went public in Hong Kong in 2003.

Zijin aims to sell up to 3.4 billion A shares to investors in China, in a plan which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, it said in a filing to the Hong Kong bourse.

The news comes only days after Nevsun announced Zijin had succeeded in its $1.86-billion friendly takeover bid for the company, with about 89.37% of the total issued and outstanding Nevsun shares tendered to the offer of $6 per share in cash by the Dec. 28 deadline.

The offer has now been extended until Jan. 7 to allow the remaining shareholders to tender their shares.

In recent years, the Chinese gold, copper and zinc miner has been expanding its footprint by acquiring assets from Africa to Australia.

Last summer, it spent $1.26B for a 63% in Serbia’s largest copper mining and smelting complex RTB Bor. A few days later, it trumped Lundin Mining’s (TSX:LUN) earlier hostile bid for Nevsun, gaining access to yet another Serbian asset — Timok copper and gold project. With the move, it also secured ownership of the Vancouver-based miner’s flagship operation, the Bisha copper-zinc mine in Eritrea.

Zijin has said the Canadian company’s copper resource will account for 26.2% of its current copper reserves, 18.3% of its present gold reserves and 24% of its zinc reserves.

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Eritrea: A Look Back at an Extraordinary Year – Part II

January 3, 2019, 12:01 am

≫ Next: In a Bold Experiment, Ethiopia’s Abiy Aims to Put Citizenship Over Ethnicity

≪ Previous: China’s Zijin plans selling $1.2B worth of shares to fund Nevsun takeover

Eritrean children in Asmara painted their faces with Eritrean and Ethiopian flag decorations in support of Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed's call for peace, July 8 2018.

A Look Back at an Extraordinary Year – Part II

Dr. Fikrejesus Amahazion

2 January 2019

Undeniably, 2018 was an extraordinary year for Eritrea and the Horn of Africa. The powerful winds of change swept across the region, ushering in the possibility of lasting peace, stability, and security. The year’s rapidly unfolding, momentous events have been both highly encouraging and a greatly welcome development in a long-troubled region. For Eritrea, in particular, the year was especially eventful. This article is the second in a three-part series that looks back at some of the important events that unfolded in the country over the past twelve extraordinary months. Part I, reviewing the months from January to April, was published in the last issue of Eritrea Profile. In this issue, a review of May to August is presented, while part III of the review will be published in next issue of Eritrea Profile.

May

For Eritrea, May is about independence. Eritreans know freedom does not come free. A glance at Eritrean history shows how independence was not simply handed to the country. Rather, Eritreans worked tirelessly and sacrificed greatly for it. As has become customary, large celebrations were held, both in the country and around the world, to mark the 27th anniversary of independence. This year, the theme of celebrations was “Vision through Toil”, reflecting that achievement of Eritrea’s grand visions and lofty goals required – and still does – much toil and effort. Not to be forgotten, this year’s celebrations coincided with the 20th “anniversary” of the TPLF-led regime’s invasion of Eritrea.

Other important days recognized during May included the commemoration of International Workers Day, celebrated on May 1st at the Coca-Cola Factory, National Afforestation Day, which featured a one-day workshop from the Ministry of Agriculture, and African World Heritage Day.

The month also saw many important diplomatic activities. An Eritrean delegation, composed of representatives from several ministries and the National Union of Eritrean Women presented a national report during the 62nd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, held in Mauritania. As well, the Eritrean Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa and Southern African countries participated at the Japan-Africa Economic Development Forum, held in Johannesburg, while the Embassy of China in Eritrea celebrated the 25th anniversary of the establishment of China-Eritrea diplomatic relations and officially opened its newly-built embassy in Asmara.

Numerous community and development-related activities were also conducted, including, among others: soil and water conservation campaigns; the construction of a four million Nakfa dam in Habero sub-zone; environmental sanitation programs in numerous villages; women’s empowerment seminars; awards for outstanding students in various regions; and a PFDJ-sponsored workshop on the preservation of ancient manuscripts.

Meanwhile, in early May, Dr. Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister, visited Sudan, where both governments reportedly agreed “to extend support to what they termed as Eritrea’s armed opposition groups in order to enable them to properly execute their objectives”. Eritrea dismissed the efforts as “futile”, while observers pointed out how the development was at odds with the statements made during Abiy’s inaugural speech, where he promised to make peace with Eritrea. Although the situation evoked memories of how previous Ethiopian leaders made similar promises before going on to engage in provocation and aggression toward Eritrea, monumental events would unfold during the subsequent weeks and months.

June

While May is about independence, June is, above all, about reflecting on the great sacrifices made to bring about that independence. On June 20th, Eritreans paid their respects to the thousands of martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the independence struggle and to safeguard Eritrea’s sovereignty. However, this year’s Martyrs’ Day was not only an occasion for solemnly reflecting on the past, but also one of looking to the future with optimism and hope.

Events were set in motion on June 5th, when Ethiopian PM Abiy surprised many by announcing that “Ethiopia is now willing to abide by the Algiers Agreement and the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission boundary decisions”. On June 20th, at a national commemoration service in Asmara, President Isaias Afwerki addressed the momentous unfolding developments in Ethiopia and the related statement on June 5th by PM Abiy. Remarkably, President Isaias announced Eritrea would send a delegation to Addis Ababa “to gauge current developments directly and in depth as well as to chart out a plan for continuous future action.” According to President Isaias, the move reflected Eritrea’s “readiness to actively engage in the positive developments” and was in response to “positive signals issued…by the Government of Ethiopia.” In addition to repeating his statement from January that it was “game over” for the TPLF, he expressed his hope for better relations with the US and Eritrea’s willingness to build new ties and positive engagement with Washington.

Hours later, speaking in Ethiopia, PM Abiy replied to President Isaias’ comments, thanking him for his decision, describing it as “historical news on a historical date,” and committing “to personally receive Eritrea’s delegation graciously”. Less than a week later, on June 26th, a high-level Eritrean delegation, composed of Osman Saleh, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Yemane Gebreab, Presidential Advisor, travelled to Addis Ababa for a two-day visit – the first time in over two decades that a top-level delegation from Asmara had visited Ethiopia. During the historic visit, the delegation delivered a message from President Isaias to PM Abiy and also held extensive discussions with the PM and other senior Ethiopian officials.

Beyond the developments with Ethiopia, numerous local activities were conducted in June, including: a workshop for law enforcement officials on countering human trafficking and smuggling, jointly organized by the UNODC and Government of Eritrea; environmental sanitation campaigns in several sub-zones; a freshwater fish farming workshop by the Ministry of Agriculture in Anseba; a skills training program in Adi Guadad; graduation ceremonies at the Wina Technical Boarding School in Nakfa and the College of Marine Science and Technology in Massawa; the extension of over 1.1million Nakfa in interest-free loans to disabled female veterans by the National Association of Eritrean War Disabled Veterans; the launch of a three-month training program for naval cadets; the commemoration of World Blood Donor Day; and the national celebration of Eid Al-Fetir Al-Mubarek.

July

Historic events continued to unfold in July. On July 8th, PM Abiy, accompanied by a small delegation, made a visit to Asmara for historic talks with President Isaias. At the airport, he was warmly greeted by President Isaias. The two embraced before they walked down a red carpet. Later, the streets of Asmara were filled with tens of thousands of people, who cheered on the leaders’ convoy and waved the twinned flags of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Flowers and popcorn were tossed in jubilation. In the evening, an official state dinner was held in honor of PM Abiy.

On the morning of June 9th, the two leaders signed the “Joint Declaration of Peace and Friendship”, which formally ended the “state of war” between their two countries and “opened” a “new era of peace and friendship.” The countries also agreed to: forge political, economic, social, cultural, and security cooperation; resume transport, trade, and communications links; restart diplomatic ties and activities; implement the EEBC boundary decision; and jointly endeavor to ensure regional peace, development, and cooperation.

Less than a week later, on 13 July, President Isaias gave a keynote address to the 31st round of youth graduating from Sawa. There, he announced that he would lead a delegation to Ethiopia the following day. Upon arriving in Addis Ababa, his first visit in 20 years, he was warmly welcomed and his visit sparked excitement and jubilation. The trip included visits to development and historical sites, President Isaias receiving numerous gifts and accolades, and a brief joint-address by President Isaias and PM Abiy at Ethiopia’s Millennium Hall.

On July 16, the two leaders officially reopened the Eritrean Embassy in Addis Ababa, while two days later, Ethiopian Airlines made its first trip to Eritrea after two decades. Former Ethiopian PM Hailemariam Desalegn and the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church were among the passengers on the historic flight. When it landed, there were emotional scenes as relatives and friends were reunited after decades, while traditional dancers waved flags and flowers. On July 20, Semere Russom, the Minister of Education, was appointed as Eritrea’s Ambassador to Ethiopia.

The historic developments were widely applauded by the international community. Eritreans and Ethiopians, in their own countries and around the world, held rallies to express support for the developments. Support was also expressed by the United Nations Security Council, the General Assembly, the UN Secretary-General, the African Union and European Union, IGAD, COMESA, the Pope, and countless international leaders. Notably, on July 24th, at a tripartite summit in Abu Dhabi, President Isaias and PM Abiy were awarded the highest Abu Dhabi honor, “The Zayed Award”, from Crown Prince of the UAE and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The month finished as it began: with history being made. On July 28th, Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed, President of Somalia, visited Eritrea. He became the first President of Somalia to formally visit Eritrea. In scenes similar to those that broke out weeks earlier, the Somali leader was warmly welcomed by tens of thousands of Eritreans. During President Mohammed’s visit, the two leaders agreed to establish diplomatic ties and exchange ambassadors. On July 30th, they signed the “Joint Declaration on Brotherly Relations and Comprehensive Cooperation”.

While the month’s remarkable developments were welcomed by most, certain elements aimed to work against the positive changes. Additionally, while the sanctions on Eritrea had become largely unnecessary, some still lobbied for their maintenance. Finally, important local activities also took place, such as the Eritrean Pharmaceutical Association’s annual conference, a workshop by the NUEW to strengthen capacity, a visit by an Egyptian medical delegation to train local health professionals, and graduation ceremonies at Hamelmalo College of Agriculture, the Eritrean Institute of Technology, and Asmara College of Medical Science.

August

August, like the months preceding it, was historic. Early in the month, President Isaias held talks with a senior Ethiopian delegation composed of Lemma Megersa, President of Oromo Region, and Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu, Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister. He would also meet with a Japanese delegation led by State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Masahisa Sato, a senior Saudi delegation led by Foreign Minister Adel Al- Jubeir, and Germany’s Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, Gerd Muller.

Importantly, the month also featured efforts to consolidate the progress of previous months. On August 10th, an Eritrean delegation composed of Osman Saleh and Yemane Gebreab visited Ethiopia. They delivered a message from President Isaias to PM Abiy and discussed the implementation of the agreement between the two countries. The delegation visited Somalia from August 13th to 15th. In Somalia, they met with President Mohammed, while the Joint High Level Committee of Eritrea and Somalia, established in July, held its first meeting in Mogadishu on August 14th.

On August 18th, Asmara again played host to a regional leader, as Salva Kiir, President of South Sudan, arrived for an official visit. Upon arrival, Kiir was given a warm welcome by President Isaias and senior government officials.

Notably, the month saw a series of important peace agreements concluded in Asmara. On August 7th, Ethiopia and the Oromo Liberation Front signed a reconciliation agreement, while on August 16th, the Amhara Regional State and Amhara Democratic Forces Movement signed a reconciliation agreement. Then, on August 28th, the Tigray People’s Democratic Movement completed an agreement with the Government of Ethiopia.

Countless local activities took place in August. These included a forestation campaign in Berik sub-zone, the commemoration of World Breastfeeding Week, the beginning of the 32nd round of national service and academic year at Sawa, a vocational training program for youth in Logo Anseba sub-zone, the nationwide celebration of Eid Al-Adha Al-Mubarek Hejira year 1439, the introduction of new vaccines against polio, measles, and rubella, and the kickoff of Festival Eritrea at the Expo Grounds.

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In a Bold Experiment, Ethiopia’s Abiy Aims to Put Citizenship Over Ethnicity

January 5, 2019, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Sudan's Opposition Calls for More Protests Against Al-Bashir

≪ Previous: Eritrea: A Look Back at an Extraordinary Year – Part II

Ethiopians wearing traditional Oromo costumes gather to welcome returning leaders of the once-banned Oromo Liberation Front, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Sept. 15, 2018 (AP photo by Mulugeta Ayene).

In a Bold Experiment, Ethiopia’s Abiy Aims to Put Citizenship Over Ethnicity

By Frida Ghitis | WPR

One of the most dramatic political pivots of 2018 occurred in Ethiopia, where the sudden rise of 42-year-old Abiy Ahmed as prime minister ushered in a series of head-spinning reforms in a country long ruled by a deeply repressive regime. There is now the very real possibility that Ethiopia could make a lasting shift to democracy.

There are so many positive signs so far that most Ethiopians at home and abroad seem gripped by a sense of euphoria. But not all is well in Ethiopia. Abiy faces a number of significant obstacles to his goal of bringing a free, peaceful and genuinely competitive contest when Ethiopia holds its next elections, scheduled for 2020. Among those challenges, the most difficult is transforming the current political landscape, dominated by ethnic and tribal allegiances, to one where citizenship—loyalty to the country as a whole—transcends narrower divisions.

Abiy is the first member of the Oromo ethnic group, which makes up about a third of Ethiopia’s 100 million-strong population, to lead the country. And he has launched a reform movement, remarkably, as the nominal leader of the ruling bloc, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, or EPRDF, which has a long track record of authoritarian rule. The EPRDF has effectively criminalized the opposition, barred critical media, engaged in ever more brutal police practices, and filled the jails with journalists and political prisoners.

A coalition of several ethnic groups, the EPRDF took power in 1991 after overthrowing Mengistu Hailemariam’s military regime. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, came to dominate the EPRDF, securing the rights of the Tigray minority, which represents about 6 percent of Ethiopia’s population, at the expense of the rest of the population. In addition to the TPLF, the EPRDF includes the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization, the Amhara National Democratic Movement and the Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement.

Throughout its rule, the EPRDF has intensified ethnic divisions in Ethiopia. After taking power, it established a federal system based on the country’s ethnic differences, cementing ethnicity as the legal basis for political competition. With more than 80 ethnic groups in a country divided into nine ethnically defined regions, the potential for strife grew as Tigrayans monopolized power. As resentment with the Tigray-dominated EPRDF rose, the government cracked down harder on dissent, earning Ethiopia an ignominious spot among the world’s “Not Free” countries in Freedom House’s annual rankings.

These tensions reached deep into the ruling EPRDF. Early last year, Abiy’s Oromo Democratic Party joined forces with the Amharas to stage a coup inside the EPRDF, which propelled Abiy first to chairman of the ruling bloc and then prime minister.

Once in power, Abiy swiftly moved to introduce his momentous reforms. He reached a peace agreement with neighboring Eritrea, ending two decades of war. He released thousands of political prisoners, freed all the journalists, lifted the ban on opposition groups and reshaped the Cabinet, slashing the number of positions from 28 to 20 and naming women to half of the posts. Their role is not merely symbolic. Women were named to lead the powerful Ministry of Defense and the new Ministry of Peace, which will be responsible for intelligence and security. In addition, Ethiopia now has a woman as the mostly ceremonial president, and a woman as head of the Supreme Court.

Abiy’s empowerment of women has the potential to enlist the support of women irrespective of their ethnic allegiance, which would be crucial to the success of his reform program. As opposition leaders started returning home last year, Abiy and his representatives repeatedly declared their goal: to build a lasting democracy in Ethiopia.

But signs of trouble quickly emerged. The Tigrayans, who stand to lose the most from Abiy’s reforms, quickly objected to his peace deal with Eritrea, and outbreaks of ethnic strife suddenly escalated.

The list of disputes within Ethiopia’s ruling bloc is immense, and the potential for any of them to escalate out of control cannot be discounted.

A dizzying array of simmering ethnic conflicts have since flared up. Several disputes over land claims, for example, have turned violent. In the Tigray Region in the northwest, Amharas are claiming ownership of the Wolkite and Raya territories, resulting in clashes. Oromos and ethnic Somalis have also been fighting over grazing lands, while ethnic clashes have erupted in the cities of Awassa and Sodo in the south, leaving hundreds dead.

In the capital, Addis Ababa, tensions are growing between the Oromos, currently the most powerful members of the EPRDF, and the Amharas, their partners in pushing aside the Tigrayans. The Oromo Democratic Party has long claimed Addis Ababa as the capital of Oromia, their ethnic region. But the majority of the city’s population are ethic Amhara, who reject the Oromos’ claim.

The list of disputes is immense, and the potential for any of them to escalate out of control cannot be discounted. In addition, a likely economic slowdown would undercut Abiy’s personal appeal, which remains one of his most powerful tools.

The challenge for Abiy and his reformist allies is to strengthen Ethiopians’ bonds to the state, develop credible national institutions, and craft a credible mechanism for resolving inflamed ethnic disputes while fostering a commitment to his democratic program. He is already enacting legislative and personnel changes aimed at that goal, but he may have to go further and rewrite a constitution that institutionalized tribalism through a system of ethnic federalism.

The risks are palpable, as residents of Addis Adaba saw two months ago when a group of armed soldiers ominously marched into the prime minister’s office. The government shut down the internet as rumors of a coup began to spread. The next day, Abiy fans were delighted to see videos of the youthful president exercising with the troops—the situation defused. The prime minister said the soldiers had, in fact, come to kill him, but he listened to their complaints and it all ended on good terms.

The incident turned into more good publicity for Ethiopia’s new charismatic leader. But it is a sign of how easily his ambitions for the country could go off the rails. That would be a tragedy for the Ethiopian people, and a dispiriting development after a year in which Ethiopia was one of the few bright spots as autocrats and far-right populists made gains across the globe.

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Sudan's Opposition Calls for More Protests Against Al-Bashir

January 5, 2019, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Understanding Eritrea

≪ Previous: In a Bold Experiment, Ethiopia’s Abiy Aims to Put Citizenship Over Ethnicity

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir delivers a speech on December 31, 2018, on the eve of the country's 63rd independence day in Khartoum [File: Ashraf Shazly/AFP]

Sudan's Opposition Calls for More Protests Against Al-Bashir

By AP

Sudan's largest opposition groups on Thursday called for a fresh wave of protests to demand that President Omar al-Bashir step down, as the longtime ruler made another attempt at staunching popular discontent by promising wage hikes and appealing to patriotism.

In a joint statement, four groups called for nationwide protests Friday and a march on the president's Nile-side palace on Sunday. They also called for a march on parliament in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman to present a petition demanding that the 74-year-old general-turned-president step down.

The demands are likely to turn up pressure on Bashir to find a way out of the crisis. Sudan has seen two weeks of violent street protests, with dozens killed. The protests were initially sparked by steep price hikes, a fuel shortage and a liquidity crunch that forced authorities to place a ceiling on bank withdrawals and led to long lines at ATMs.

Authorities have declared emergency laws and a nighttime curfew in some cities. Classes have been suspended at schools and universities across much of Sudan, a country of 43 million.

On Thursday, Bashir touted improvements to Sudan's infrastructure since he seized power in a 1989 coup. He said international sanctions targeting Sudan, which is on the U.S. list of countries sponsoring terrorism, have inhibited economic progress.

New policies

“We are subjected to both war and sanctions, but Sudan has remained steadfast,” he said in a speech before representatives of pro-government unions in Khartoum.

He promised wage increases starting this month, an overhaul of the health system and improved benefits for pensioners, without elaborating.

“The Sudanese people deserve more than this. They deserve to lead a life of dignity,” he said. “We could have taken the near and easy path and sold our independence, dignity in return for some dollars ... but, together, we will come out stronger from this crisis.”

He spoke of his humble upbringing and recalled a time in his youth when he fell and broke his front tooth while working on a construction site.

“They gave me salty water to rinse my mouth and I continued working... Let no one talk to me about poverty and suffering because I lived them,” he said, adding that he never replaced the missing tooth because he wanted to remember the hardships he had endured.

The crowd responded with chants of “March on, march on, oh Bashir!” and “God is greatest!”

Sudan's economy has stagnated for most of Bashir's rule. He has also failed to unite or keep the peace in the religiously and ethnically diverse nation, losing three quarters of Sudan's oil wealth when the south seceded in 2011 following a referendum.

A year earlier, he was indicted by the International Criminal Court for genocide in Sudan's western region of Darfur.

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Understanding Eritrea

January 5, 2019, 12:02 am

≫ Next: Eritrean Airlines to commence Asmara-Djibouti service in Jan-2019

≪ Previous: Sudan's Opposition Calls for More Protests Against Al-Bashir

Understanding Eritrea

By John Graversgaard | Counter Currents

The Horn of Africa has been plagued by conflicts and war for decades, and finally it seems that peace has come to the region. Political changes in Ethiopia have opened for a rapid peace agreement with Eritrea signed on 8 July 2018 by president Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea and prime minister Ahmed Abiy of Ethiopia. As a dream that finally comes true, the unjust sanctions against Eritrea on Nov. 14, 2018 was unanimously lifted by the members of the UN Security Council.

If you want to understand the Eritrean freedom struggle then you must learn from history. It is a story of a region that has been dominated by the great powers and where Eritrea did not get its freedom as other African colonies. Eritrea first got his freedom in 1991 after 30 years of military and political struggle and has rightly been called the African Vietnamese war. Eritrea was the subject of maneuvers from the superpower US, and Foreign Minister John Foster Dulles stated in 1952 the following: “From the point of fairness, the point of view of the Eritrean people should be taken into account. But the United States’ strategic interests in the Red Sea and world peace make it necessary for the country to be associated with our allied Ethiopia”.

The cold war and US interests of imperialism meant denying the Eritrean self-determination as other colonies in Africa, and this policy has led the western powers ever since. Thousands of lives could have been saved if the Eritrean people had been able to develop their country in peace. This is crucial to understanding Eritrea’s determined opposition to any attempt to subvert the country and dictate a particular policy.

Ethiopia has for decades refused to acknowledge the reality that Eritrea does not accept submitting to any great power or regional power. Ethiopia’s changing governments have created divisions and divisions in Ethiopia with many large ethnic minorities. During the Empire period and Mengistu regime, the Amhara group dominated. With the liberation of Eritrea in 1991, Mengistu crashed, but unfortunately, the Tigray group continued the destructive policy. With the suppression of the other ethnic minorities and a nationalist policy where Eritrea was made a problem rather than a partner.

The Tigray Group and their organization TPLF chose to support Washington’s and Bush’s government’s “war on terror” and became a tool for continued external interference in the region. Through a targeted and cynical propaganda, Eritrea was made into the rotten apple and accused of supporting terror in Somalia. The US strategy with “regime change” and demonization was followed. Eritrea was made into the problem even though Eritrea had the most forward-looking peace policy for the region. The problem was, in essence, that it did not include the great powers, but was based on the region itself having to solve its problems without external interference. Ethiopia was actually under control by the Tigray minority and held the whole region hostage for 27 years. Not to mention the harsh repression of the other ethnic minorities in Ethiopia, here especially the Oromos and Somalis.

But now game is over and a new government in Addis Ababa has broken with the past. The border has been opened and cooperation agreements have been made between the two countries. It has sparked joy and expectations of peace and development in a hard-troubled region.

John Graversgaard is an Eritirea solidarity activist

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Eritrean Airlines to commence Asmara-Djibouti service in Jan-2019

January 5, 2019, 12:03 am

≫ Next: Eritrea: A Look Back at an Extraordinary Year – Part III

≪ Previous: Understanding Eritrea

Eritrean Airlines Boeing 767-238(ER)

Eritrean Airlines to commence Asmara-Djibouti service in Jan-2019

By Jim Liu | Routes Online

Eritrean Airlines this week is adding service to Djibouti, which sees the airline offering Asmara – Djibouti nonstop flight, on board Boeing 737. Based on schedule listing, this route is served twice a week, starting 04JAN19.

B8401 ASM0305 – 0410JIB 737 5
B8401 ASM1200 – 1305JIB 737 1

B8402 JIB0500 – 0605ASM 737 5
B8402 JIB1405 – 1510ASM 737 1

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Eritrea: A Look Back at an Extraordinary Year – Part III

January 7, 2019, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Eritrea-Ethiopia open another border crossing point

≪ Previous: Eritrean Airlines to commence Asmara-Djibouti service in Jan-2019

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, Ethiopian PM Dr. Abiy Ahmed and Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo locking hands in solidarity a tripartite summit in Gondar, Ethiopia.

A Look Back at an Extraordinary Year – Part III

Dr. Fikrejesus Amahazion

5 January 2019

This article is the third, and final, piece of a three-part series that looks back at some of the important events that unfolded in Eritrea over the past twelve extraordinary months. Parts I and II reviewed events occurring from January to August. This article reviews events occurring from September to December.

September

In Eritrea, September is about reflecting upon the armed struggle for liberation, which was sparked by shots fired by harbenya Hamid Idris Awate at Mount Adal on September 1st, 1961. The 57th anniversary of that event was commemorated at the Expo Grounds during Festival Eritrea. The nine-day annual festival was celebrated with extra excitement this year since it coincided with the historic developments unfolding across the region.

On September 5th, Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed and Somali President Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed arrived in Asmara for a tripartite summit. The three countries’ leaders announced the “Joint Declaration on Comprehensive Cooperation between Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia”, which states that the countries will: bolster comprehensive cooperation that advances the goals of the peoples of the three countries; build close political, economic, social, cultural, and security ties; work in coordination to promote regional peace and security; and establish a Joint High-Level Committee to coordinate the efforts in the framework of the joint declaration.

Later that day, an Ethiopian ship docked in an Eritrean port for the first time in two decades. On September 6th, the Ethiopian Embassy in Asmara officially re-opened. President Isaias handed the key to PM Abiy and they jointly raised the Ethiopian flag as the Ethiopian anthem was played. Redwan Hussein was appointed as the new Ambassador to Asmara.

Notably, the joint high-level committee established during the tripartite summit conducted its first initiative by travelling to Djibouti on September 6th to hold discussions with President Ismail Guelleh. The committee was headed by the foreign ministers of Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia. The trip proved to be fruitful, as Eritrea and Djibouti agreed to normalize ties after a decade of tension and hostility.

Less than a week later, on September 11th, as part of Geez New Year celebrations, Ethiopian and Eritrean armed forces met peacefully to clear landmines, open border crossings, and celebrate the holiday. During the day, President Isaias and PM Abiy would officially open the Debai-Sima-Bure and Serha-Zalmbessa border points connecting the two countries, while days later, on September 15th, the Adi Quala-Rama road connecting Eritrea and Ethiopia through the Mereb River was reopened.

Unsurprisingly, these developments were met by great excitement by the people of both countries. The border openings led to the reuniting of friends and families, heavy traffic, and considerable trade and commercial activities.

On September 16th, in recognition of the vision, courage, and statesmanship they demonstrated to bring about peace, President Isaias and PM Abiy were presented “The Order of King Abdulaziz”, Saudi Arabia's highest medal, by King Salman bin Abdulaziz. President Isaias and PM Abiy also signed the Jeddah Peace Accord, further cementing peace and cooperation. The historic ceremonies were conducted in the presence of King Salman, the UN Secretary-General, the African Union Commission chairman, Sheikh Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Minister of Defense, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and others.

The diplomatic activities continued the following day when President Isaias met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and with Djibouti President Guelleh. The two leaders agreed to establish a new chapter of cooperation and expressed gratitude to Saudi Arabia for its contributions. Two days afterward, President Isaias held talks with Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

September’s other notable diplomatic activities included the visit by an Eritrean delegation, composed of Foreign Minister Osman Saleh and Presidential Advisor Yemane Gebreab, to Russia to hold talks with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and President Isaias’ meeting on September 13th with Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, who delivered a message from President Abdul Fatah el-Sisi. President Isaias also received representatives of Amhara Regional State, who expressed their support for peace, while Eritrea’s Cabinet of Ministers held a meeting on September 28th to discuss developments in the region.

Locally, the month featured numerous events, including an educational progress assessment meeting; the drafting of a 2017-2021 strategic plan by the Ministry of Health to eradicate the prevalence of malaria; graduation ceremonies for the College of Arts and Social Sciences and the College of Business and Economics; the conclusion of a four-month certificate training program for Ministry of Information staff; training for teachers in the Central region, celebrations of Geez New Year and Meskel, and the commemoration of World Tourism Day, International Youth Day, World Contraception Day, and International Reading Day. As well, a delegation of the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions visited Eritrea from September 1st to 4th, while an Eritrean delegation attended the Horn of Africa Women’s Forum in Vienna. Notably, Eritrea also began a €11.7 million project to provide modern, affordable, and sustainable energy to the previously off-grid villages and rural towns of Areza and Maidma.

At the end of the month, Eritrea’s Foreign Minister addressed the UN General Assembly, calling for the unjust sanctions to be lifted and demanding compensation for the economic hardship. As well, Eritrea reiterated its support for Somalia during a high-level meeting held in New York and attended by the UN Secretary-General.

October

Eritrea’s exciting developments continued in October. On October 12th, Italian PM Giuseppe Conte arrived in Asmara, where he met with President Isaias and other government officials to discuss bilateral relations. Two days later, on October 14th, President Isaias led a high-level delegation to Ethiopia for a two-day visit. There, he would meet with PM Abiy to discuss developments and also jointly-inaugurate the Omo Kuraz III Sugar Factory in southern Ethiopia. Then, on October 19th, President Isaias hosted a Russian delegation headed by Mikhail Leonidovich Bogdanov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Discussions focused on strengthening bilateral relations and cooperation.

Notably, on October 17th, the foreign ministers of Eritrea and Ethiopia, Osman Saleh and Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu, headed to Mogadishu for an official visit. The visit was part of the ongoing developments in the region and continued the process begun by September’s Joint Declaration on Comprehensive Cooperation between Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia. In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Eritrea and Ethiopia expressed their unyielding support for the Government of Somalia and its political progress. They also reaffirmed their respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence of all three nations. A week later, Osman Saleh and Dr. Workneh met with Enzo Moavero Milanesi, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy during the second Italy-Africa Forum, held in Rome from October 24 to 25. The meeting focused on Italy’s contributions to strengthening peace and cooperation between Eritrea and Ethiopia, the stability of Somalia, and the region.

While New York is the city that doesn’t sleep and Paris is the city of love, Asmara was staking its claim to be called the city of peace. Following the numerous peace and reconciliation agreements concluded over previous months, on October 21st, the Ethiopian government and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) signed a peace agreement.

In October, the UN General Assembly elected Eritrea to serve on the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, the UN body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights around the globe. Eritrea issued a statement outlining that it was proud to serve on the Council and did not take the responsibility lightly. As well, a UN delegation headed by Mr. Dereje Wordofa, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNFPA Deputy Executive Director, visited Eritrea to discuss the country’s progress and strengthening cooperation.

As ever, the month was filled with an array of important community, development, and local activities, including a seminar on malaria in Foro sub-zone; the inauguration of a 6 million Nakfa potable water project in Logo Anseba sub-zone; a seminar on environmental sanitation in Barentu; the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the National Association of Eritrean War Disabled Veterans; the commemoration of International Teacher’s Day, International Day of the Girl, and World Food Day; a training program for the Ministry of Agriculture’s staff members in Gash Barka; a graduation ceremony at Barentu School of Assistant Nurses; an engineering workshop conducting by the Embassy of China in Eritrea; and a high-level delegation of the National Confederation of Eritrean Workers participating in the founding Congress of the Horn of Africa Confederation of Trade Unions, held in Ethiopia.

November

In a highly anticipated interview on November 3rd, President Isaias discussed the significance, progress, and regional ramifications of the historic peace agreement between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Less than a week later, on November 9th, President Isaias and Somali President Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed visited Ethiopia to meet PM Abiy and discuss the progress of the “Joint Declaration of Peace and Friendship” signed in September in Asmara. In a sign of the dividends of peace, Days after, on 17 November, President Isaias received a message from Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya. In his message, President Uhuru congratulated Eritrea for its recent developments also extended an invitation to President Isaias to visit Kenya.

One of the year’s most important events occurred on November 14th, as the United Nations Security Council rectified a nine-year miscarriage of justice and unanimously lifted the sanctions that were imposed on Eritrea in December 2009 and expanded in 2011. The decision sparked large, colorful celebrations by Eritreans, both in the country and abroad. Who could begrudge them this moment, since they had fought so long and hard and remained firmly committed to their principles and values? Various countries, as well as several regional and international organizations, sent messages of congratulations and support to the people and Government of Eritrea.

Locally, Eritrea continued to make history and add to its proud sporting legacy. From November 21st to 25th, Eritrea hosted the inaugural Africa Cup of Cycling. The competition featured teams from across Africa and saw Eritrea dominate, leaving little doubt as to who is Africa’s cycling superpower.

Other important local activities taking place during November included a workshop on tourism in the Anseba region; the launch of the national measles and rubella vaccination campaign and distribution of Vitamin A program; a training program on cartographic information systems for staff of the Ministry of Agriculture branch in Serejaka sub-zone; the Third Congress Meeting of the National Association of the Mentally and Physically; a tour of inspection for over 100 forestry and wildlife experts conducted by the National Forestry and Wildlife Authority; a seminar by the NUEYS for youth workers in Barentu; and the observance of World Antibiotics Awareness Week, International Day of Bacteria, World Diabetes Day, and International Children’s Day.

December

The last month of an extraordinary year began with President Isaias holding talks with the US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy, on December 4th at Denden Hall. Encouragingly, despite the decades of challenges presented by previous US administrations, President Isaias expressed Eritrea’s readiness for constructive engagement and strengthened relations and cooperation with the US in various sectors. During his visit, Nagy also greeted U.S. Embassy employees, engaged representatives of the diplomatic and international community, and toured some of Asmara’s beautiful sites. Subsequently, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Makila James, visited Eritrea from December 14th to 16th,

Following the October meeting of President Isaias with the Italian PM, the Eritrean leader also held talks with Claudia Del Re, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Italy, on December 5th. Notably, the Vice-Minister was accompanied by representatives of various Italian businesses. The latter attended a discussion and presentation by government officials showcasing opportunities for partnership and investment.

On December 13th, President Isaias made a historic visit to Somalia to meet with President Mohammed. The two pledged to strengthen their nations’ historical relations through further cooperation in all areas. From Somalia, President Isaias headed to Kenya, following up on an earlier invitation from President Kenyatta. The two would discuss Kenya’s role in supporting peace in the Horn of Africa and the possibilities for strengthening trade and investment between Eritrea and Kenya. Notably, President Isaias also met with the Eritrean community in the country. Subsequently, President Isaias held talks with Crown Prince Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi on December 17th.

Eritrea’s positive role in the region was on display as leaders of the ONLF, in accordance with the peace agreement it reached with the Federal Government of Ethiopia on October 21st in Asmara, departed from Eritrea to Ethiopia.

While cycling is like a religion in Eritrea, soccer is one of the most popular sports. On December 4th, the President of the Confederation of African Football, Dr. Ahmed Ahmed, accompanied by a delegation of officials from the football federations of Ethiopia, Somalia, and Djibouti, visited Eritrea. The delegation held discussions with the local federation and sporting bodies to explore ways of expanding the game in Eritrea and strengthening the relationship between the governing bodies of the countries. Then, on December 16th, Eritrea’s youth national team played host to South Sudan for an international friendly match. Showing great skill, tenacity, teamwork, and organization, the Red Sea Camels put in a dominating performance, winning 3-0, and bringing smiles to the throngs who packed the Cicero stadium.

Other notable local activities included the establishment of the China Alumni Association by Eritrean graduates from Chinese institutions; a two-day national conference on community-led sanitation at the Asmara Palace Hotel; the annual meeting of the Executive Board of the East Africa Athletics Federations; the 5th Annual Pharmacovigilance Conference; the inauguration of a 2 million Nakfa potable water project in Adi Musa; an Eritrean delegation’s participation at the Intra-African Trade Fair, in Cairo; the observance of International Day of Disabled Persons, World AIDS Day, and International Human Rights Day; and nationwide Christmas celebrations on December 25th.

Adding to the several awards they received during the previous months, President Isaias and PM Abiy were awarded the 2018 “Imam Al Hassan Bin Ali Award for Promoting Peace”, by Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the UAE, at the 5th assembly of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies in Abu Dhabi.

On December 31st, Eritreans across the nation and throughout the world enthusiastically celebrated the end of a historic year. As the clock wound down on 2018, many Eritreans began to look forward to 2019 with the expectation of further developments, progress, and positive change for the country and the region.

↧

Eritrea-Ethiopia open another border crossing point

January 7, 2019, 9:02 pm

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≪ Previous: Eritrea: A Look Back at an Extraordinary Year – Part III

President Isaias Afwerki and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed officially opened the Oumajir-Humera border today January 7, 2018.

Eritrea-Ethiopia open another border crossing point

By Jerry Omondi | CGTN

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki on Monday officially opened a common border along the northern Tigray regional state.

The two leaders agreed in July to end a conflict that had put their two countries at loggerheads for over a decade. They resumed diplomatic ties and even opened embassies in Asmara and Addis Ababa to further boost cooperation.

On Monday Ahmed and Afwerki presided over the opening of the Omhager-Humera border crossing point, the latest development in the budding relations between the two countries.

Both leaders cut a symbolic tape to mark the beginning of movements across the border.

Since the resumption of diplomatic ties between Ethiopia and Eritrea, various developments have occurred in line with this.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Isaias Afwerki officially opened the Oumajir-Humera border today January 7, 2018. The opening of the border will further enable the people to people connection on both sides and facilitate cross-border trade in the long term.#PMoEthiopia pic.twitter.com/Z9sBys66gQ
— Office of the Prime Minister - Ethiopia (@PMEthiopia) January 7, 2019

Other than the opening of embassies in Asmara and Addis Ababa, the two sides organized a football match, and Ethiopian Airlines resumed flights to Eritrea.

In September, an Ethiopian commercial ship docked in an Eritrean port, marking the first time in over two decades that a vessel from either country has docked in the other’s port.

Monday’s opening of the Omhager-Humera border is expected to strengthen normalization of Ethio-Eritrea relations, as well as enable people-to-people connections.

↧

Eritrea-Ethiopia border boom as peace takes hold

January 9, 2019, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Chinese agricultural experts in Eritrea help train local technicians in the drive toward food self-sufficiency

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The reopening of the border between former enemies Ethiopia and Eritrea has dramatically changed the towns near the frontier, writes the BBC's Emmanuel Igunza.

By BBC

The sun had just risen but the market in Adigrat was already coming alive when I went to visit.

Dozens of makeshift stalls lined the street where a group of women traders were sifting chickpeas.

In another place an elderly man was removing chickens from cages and placing them outside his shop.

You can buy almost anything at the market: spices, building materials, fridges and washing machines.

The market in this Ethiopian town, just 38km (24 miles) south of the border, has been transformed since the border opened four months ago after a peace deal ended the "state of war" between the two nations.

Many Eritreans now cross over to see what they can buy.

'We love peace'

Mebrhit Gebrehans, a middle-aged woman with a big smile, is one of the traders whose business is booming.

She was busy opening a sack full of fresh spices and was calling over potential customers when I met her.

"What we fear is war. We love peace. When the Eritreans come to this market, I welcome them with a smiling face. They buy spices, honey, grains and even biscuits. And we buy different clothes from them," she said.

"When the border reopened, we were worried there would be shortages of some things, but there hasn't been. Everything is normal," she added.

Just down the road, there was a section of shops selling plastic wares, from brightly coloured water tanks to jerry cans to plastic sandals.

Shop owner Haile Bisrat told me cheerfully that treating his Eritrean brothers well was not only about cementing peace. It also made good financial sense.

"We get to make a little more profit than before as the market is in a better state.

"When the border first reopened, as many as 2,000 Eritreans were coming every week. The numbers have gone down a little, but that's perhaps because they've bought everything they wanted."

Adigrat was full of cars and lorries with Eritrean registration numbers.

Many of the lorries we saw were carrying building materials like cement and construction cables. But small cars were also carrying huge loads of goods like mattresses, cereals and washing machines.

At the local bus station, touts were shouting the name of the Eritrean capital, Asmara, hoping to draw in Eritrean customers.

Beyene Tewelde was one of them. He had travelled hundreds of kilometres to shop here.

"I came to buy what I need. So I've got shoes, containers and spices.

"The prices are very fair. Before the reopening of the border, I used to buy everything in Asmara. But from where I live, Adi Qeyih, it's better to come to Adigrat than Asmara."

The reopening of some of the border crossings, including one earlier this week, is part of the peace deal signed last July by Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

The agreement has also seen diplomatic ties renewed and phone links between the two countries restored after being cut off for nearly two decades.

The war, fought over the exact location of the common border, began in May 1998 and left tens of thousands of people dead.

It ended in 2000 with the signing of the Algiers agreement.

But peace was never fully restored as previous Ethiopian administrations under the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his successor Hailemariam Desalegn refused to fully implement a ruling by a border commission established in terms the agreement.

But last July, Prime Minister Abiy and President Isaias Abiy agreed to end the conflict and usher in what they called a "new era of peace" that has seen relations between the two countries and other neighbouring states thrive.

Zalambessa, just south of the border, was on the frontline and badly hit by the conflict.

Rebuilding homes

"Everything in this town was ruined," 50-year-old Kifle Kebede told me as he stared into the dusty field in front of him.

Even now, the signs of the damage are visible. Collapsed and abandoned buildings dot the small town. Some bear the signs of being shelled while others have bullet holes on their walls.

"It wouldn't be a lie if I told you that Zalambessa really looked like a field with just piles of stones. All you could see were rocks and dirt," Mr Kifle added

But life seems to be returning to normal following last moth's withdrawal of troops from disputed territories.
Families like Mr Kifle's, which had fled the conflict, have started to return to their homes.

When I met him, he was busy supervising the finishing touches in his project to rebuild his family home, which was destroyed at the height of the conflict.

He sensed a perfect business opportunity.

"Zalambessa is the last town before Eritrea and our Eritrean brothers are now coming and going every day. We might do our own business from the house or rent it out.

"Before, renovating a house in a town where not a single vehicle spent the night just wasn't worth it. Now is the time," Mr Kifle said enthusiastically.

Before last September, it was impossible to use the road linking Eritrea and Ethiopia that went through Zalambessa as it was completely closed off.

Huge boulders were across the road blocking access to the border area, but now lots of Eritrean cars are passing through.

There has been a dampener in recent weeks with moves that have brought confusion and uncertainty over the future of the open border crossings.

In a surprise decision, officials said those passing through the border should have prior authorisation from their respective countries.

Neither Ethiopia nor Eritrea have given a clear indication why the control measures were put in place but they are unlikely to snuff out the sense of optimism in the border towns.

↧

Chinese agricultural experts in Eritrea help train local technicians in the drive toward food self-sufficiency

January 10, 2019, 12:00 am

≫ Next: Eritrean leadership has interest in talks with Tigray: Debretsion

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Participants of 2018 Training Courses on Agricultural Technology in Eritrea

Chinese agricultural experts in Eritrea help train local technicians in the drive toward food self-sufficiency

By Li Jing | China Africa

Located in the Horn of Africa, Eritrea is a country where agriculture and livestock form the backbone of the national economy. More than 80 percent of its population is employed in this sector, of which the main crops include maize, barley, sorghum, wheat, beans and groundnuts.

However, in the absence of advanced planting techniques, the shortage of agricultural products has always been and remains a major problem for Eritrea. The annual rate of food self-sufficiency in the country can be as low as 25 percent in bad years.

With the aim of addressing and solving this and other problems, the first Chinese training on agricultural technology in Eritrea was held at the National Agricultural Research Institute on November 29, 2018. A total of 51 officials, experts, researchers and technicians from five regions of Eritrea took part in the training, which was organized at the initiative of the Economic and Trade Office of Chinese Embassy in Eritrea, International Cooperation Service Center of Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture of Eritrea and other institutions.

This event was one of the practical outcomes achieved by China's high-level agricultural expert group, dispatched to Eritrea earlier this year by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China.

Li Mei came to Eritrea on September 6, 2018, as part of the mission for a 106-day cooperation program. As the leader of this agricultural group, his goal was to help the country achieve the healthy development of its agriculture by cultivating agricultural talents and providing practical advice to local government officials. Li, a 54-year-old corn expert, was originally employed by the Fruit and Vegetable Administration of Yangling District High Technology Agricultural Industry Demonstration Zone in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Two other agricultural experts, Luo Zhongping and Li Guofeng, both 53 years old, came with him on this busy mission. All of them were already familiar with Africa. This is the third time that Li Mei has been to Eritrea and the second time for Luo. Li Guofeng was a member of the Chinese agricultural expert group based in Ethiopia.

"The reason why we came to Africa again is that we hope to use what we have learned to contribute to the development of agriculture in Eritrea and to fulfill the mission of implementing the achievements made at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in September 2018," Li Mei told ChinAfrica.

Chinese experts discuss local conditions at Southern Region, Eritrea

Research and exchanges

As soon as they arrived in Eritrea, the three experts got down to work. First of all, they needed to conduct field research. They went to Anseba, Debub and Maekel, three important agricultural regions, to conduct research in 13 collective and private farms and exchange views with local technicians. The three experts were thus able to learn in detail about the general conditions of Eritrea's agriculture industry. They then wrote a report that was submitted to the Eritrea's Ministry of Agriculture only 21 days after their arrival.

"The report focused mainly on long-term agricultural planning, legislation and farm production. In addition, we provided advice on accelerating the legislative progress, strengthening the scientific aspect of planning and increasing investment in agricultural production," said Li Mei.

The report was also approved by Heruy Asghedom, Director General of the Agricultural Promotion Department of Eritrea's Ministry of Agriculture. According to him, the report gave a good overview of Eritrea's agricultural conditions, and the advice and ideas offered are practical and will play a leading role in the development of the country's agricultural production.

Following this first step, the three Chinese experts did not waste any time and started sharing their knowledge and expertise with their local counterparts. On October 8, four seminars on plant breeding, plant cultivation and horticulture were held at the National Agricultural Research Institute. A few days later, the expert group visited the Regulatory Department of Eritrea's Ministry of Agriculture, where they took part in a seminar on the legislation of Eritrea's first national law on seeds.

"We were able to understand that local officials and technicians were very interested in the introduction and application of improved seed varieties. However, Eritrea is still lacking systems and standards for this to happen, which hinders agricultural development," said Li Mei.

During the seminar, Li Guofeng talked about China's approach to legislation on seeds and shared some advice and opinions on how to better manage seed producers. According to experts, the adoption of the law on seeds will be conducive to the introduction, production, cultivation and management of improved seed varieties, and will allow for the healthy development of this sector.

Training more talents

But the main event of the agricultural mission was to be the large-scale training on agricultural technology, the first one to be organized by the Chinese Government on Eritrean soil. Indeed, as soon as they set foot in the country, the three experts began preparing for the training. After more than 80 days of hard work and preparation, the training event officially began on November 29. According to Li Mei, the training covered a wide variety of topics, including the overall conditions of China's agricultural development, high-yield cultivation techniques for wheat, maize, oilseeds, beans and vegetables, as well as the film mulching technology.

"We hope to contribute as much as we can to developing local talents, in order to promote agricultural development in Eritrea," said Li Mei.

At the opening ceremony of the training course, Bereki Teklem, Director of the Crop and Livestock Office at the Agricultural Promotion Department, said that the scale of the training showed the extent of the friendship between the two countries. He hoped that it will give an even stronger boost to Eritrea's agricultural development.

In his speech, Wang Lipei, Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Eritrea, presented the achievements made by the two countries as a result of their bilateral cooperation in recent years, and took great pride in praising the excellent work of the agricultural expert group.

"China has achieved remarkable results since its reform and opening up, particularly in the field of agriculture. China is now able to feed a very large population with a relatively little amount of arable land, and its successful experience deserves to be studied. I learned many applicable and practical techniques during the training," said Okbai Mebrahtom, one of the participants.

"Although this program lasted only 106 days, and despite the various difficulties that we had to overcome, I hope that our efforts can contribute to Eritrea's agricultural development and to the friendship between our two countries," concluded Li Mei.

↧

Eritrean leadership has interest in talks with Tigray: Debretsion

January 10, 2019, 12:00 am

≫ Next: WediSenafe: Dr. Samuel Mahaffy

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President Isaias Afwerki with Tigray regional president, Debretsion Gebremichael

Eritrean leadership has interest in talks with Tigray: Debretsion

By Borkena

Tigray regional state president Debretsion Gebremichael told Tigray journalists yesterday that “Tigray leadership and Eritrean leadership are interested in talks,” as reported by Wazema Radio. Seemingly talks to restore past relations.

Debretsion says that president Isaias told him “Old problems need to be resolved.” And he, on his part, told the Eritrean president that he believes in resolving past conflicts.

He met Eritrean president during the opening ceremony of Oumajir-Humera border in western Gonder region on Monday this week. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Gedu Andargachew were also present during the ceremony.

However, no other media government media outlets have reported about it.

The new development is a little strange for political observers and activists alike as Eritrean leadership reportedly had a position that Eritrean government will not negotiate with Tigray for any negotiation has to be with the Federal government.

Debretsion also talked about other issues related to developments in Tigray in the past one week or so. He wants people in Tigray region not to be disturbed by the movement of the defense force and that Tigreans rather need to keep their focus on development.

He added that the Defense Force has legal right to move from place to place so as to meet its responsibility and that Tigreans need to respect the constitution.

Movement of Ethiopian Defense Force was blocked twice in Tigray region in two different places in less than a week. First, the contingent withdrawing from Zalambessa with heavy weaponry for deployment in other parts of Ethiopia for a different mission was blocked by residents of the town and government had to hold discussion with residents, as reported by borkena last week, before the soldiers were allowed to move.

And yesterday, the Defense Force was “blocked” again in Shire and convoys belonging to it were ordered to be parked at Shire Stadium.

Soldiers were ordered, as admitted by government, no to take actions against the illegal blockade.

↧

WediSenafe: Dr. Samuel Mahaffy

January 11, 2019, 12:00 am

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The late Dr. Samuel Mahaffy aka Wedi Senafe, RIP

“I will stand with the people of Eritrea as long as I have a voice”- Dr. Samuel Mahaffy(1952- 2016)

Dr. Samuel Mahaffy was born to an American family in Asmara on August 21st, 1952. He grew up in the beautiful small town of Senafe. His childhood, much of which was spent in the diverse communities of Eritrea, shaped his identity. Dr. Samuel lived his life to honor his Eritrean people and history. Far away from home, in the US, where he raised his family, Dr. Samuel carried his Eritrean traditions and values with pride. In his heart, he reserved a large space for the place he called home and the people he saw as family, Eritrea and its people.

As per his request, Dr. Samuel Mahaffy was recently laid to rest in Senafe, where he spent much time as a child. He even referred to himself as “wediSenafe” (son of Senafe).His wife, Renee Durdaana, and three children, Sylvan, Kamila, and Hanna, recently arrived in Eritrea to lay his body to rest in Senafe.

Today, we reflect upon the life of Dr. Samuel Mahaffy with his family.

By Billion Temesghen | Eritrea Profile

Renee Durdaana

“Samuel was an incredibly kind and loving being and he always reminded us to live from our hearts. He grew up in Senafe, living there until he was fourteen. His mother home schooled him and he would often finish his assignments early so that he could go to the mountains of Senafe. I feel like the landscape of Eritrea and the beauty of Eritreans were a big part of him.

We met in 1990. And I think that it was in 1993 that he started to deeply reconnect with his Eritrean roots. When we were married, he wore traditional Eritrean chama (shoes) in the wedding. It was outside by the lake and he even made sure that he spread lots of straw so that it would be more traditional.

His connection with the Eritrean diaspora community in Seattle increasingly grew over the years. He did a lot of grant-writing for the Eritrean community, attended various events, and he would meet with the Eritrean community at least once per month. He loved also loved Twitter because it allowed him to connect with the world and advocate for Eritrea.

His PhD was in Social Constructionism, which basically looks at how we construct our reality. He felt that Eritreans had been “constructed” incorrectly and negatively by the world’s media and press and so his mission was to find facts that were inaccurate or didn’t portray the Eritrea he loved and to challenge them. His goal was to correct those things.

I remember one day I came home from work and he had found a statistic on the WHO website that was incorrect. So he contacted them and asked them to change it. He really worked hard to change the narrative of Eritrea in the world.

He was also a peacemaker. He felt like Eritrea had lesson to share with the world.According to him, it had much to give the world. He loved the religious harmony and the tradition of sharing meals.

He grew up in a community with a “narrative” culture so he was a storyteller. Everything from his childhood became, later, a part of stories that he would tell the kids. They also often had a lesson or a moral.

I think what he loved the most is that the people of Eritrea prioritize love and friendship.”

Kamila Mahaffy

“For me the biggest lesson was embracing community from different backgrounds and cultures. We grew up having these big meals with twenty to thirty Eritrean friends in our house. My father considered every Eritrean as a part of his family and so I think that model is what I cherish the most. He showed me how to embrace cultures.

I knew little about Eritrea before coming here. But now we went to Massawa and to Senafe and we learned more about Eritrea. Before coming here, the main way that I connected with Eritrean culture was through the food. When we were young, our father learned how to make Eritrean food and injera. He taught himself and then he taught our brother and Hanna and I how to make Eritrean dishes. He believed that making injera is a spiritual process.

He was a very optimistic and hopeful person. He always found a bright side to everything. He was a very kind and loving father. I never felt like he quite fit with the “typical” father image in America.He was very involved in our lives. My perception is that this, and much more of who my father was, is something he acquired from the Eritrean culture.

It felt really special to bring him back home to Senafe and Eritrea. And to be here with the people he told us so much about and meet so many welcoming and warm people has been a great experience. Everyone here is very generous and kind. We have felt extremely welcome since the minute we stepped off the plane. It was exactly like how he told us it would be. To see so many people coming together for the service in Senafe, people who knew him growing up, other members of the community, and other people who came from Asmara to bid their farewells. It was honoring who he was and his love for Eritrea. He was a white man walking in the streets of Seattle but he really felt Eritrean in his heart and was ‘WediSenafe’.”

Hanna Mahaffy

Kamila Mahaffy , Renee Durdaana , Hanna Mahaffy

“Growing up we heard a lot of stories about Eritrea and Senafe. Through the stories and the interactions with the Eritrean people in Seattle we saw how important the relationships my father always talked about were. And he really set a model for us in how to sit down with strangers and find common ground and build a relationship. My father built longstanding relationships with Eritreans. That is what I am trying to do.

I feel like he challenged the male stereotype that is prevalent within American society. He cooked food and did many activities in the household which are normally considered as the role of women. He didn’t care about societal expectations and just followed his heart. He was so good at connecting with people, as well as his family and friends.

In the culture that we grew up in, men don’t feel like they can have deep emotional connections. But he was extremely different. He was capable of exchanging all sorts of dialogues, be they philosophical or other.

We laid him to rest in the “Mountain of the Cross” [Metera], as he called it. That was where he used to climb as a kid. It felt right. And I think it is important that we came here.

Seeing how many people came for the service and the respect we are getting from the Eritrean people is a deep honor. It is an honor for his many years of work and devotion for Eritrea. It shows that he is appreciated and respected by his people.

Thank you for being the people that you are and thank you for embracing him as a kid. I believe that he did all of his advocacy work for Eritrea because he felt loved by his people. I think growing up here was the core part of him being Eritrean. Meeting all of the people who knew him personally and through his works has been amazing. I wish we’d come here while he was alive and with him. But still, I strongly feel connected to Eritrea. I am inspired to comeback and learn Tigrigna. I now clearly see why my father loved his home. He was always happy when he introduced himself as ‘WediSenafe’.”

↧

Ethiopia Charges Ex-Head of Military Firm METEC with Corruption

January 11, 2019, 12:00 am

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Maj. Gen. Kinfe Dagnew, former head of the Metal and Engineering Corporation, in handcuffs arriving in Addis Ababa. Photo Radio Fana.

Ethiopia Charges Ex-Head of Military Firm METEC with Corruption

By Reuters

Ethiopia charged the former head of military-run industrial conglomerate METEC with corruption on Thursday, nearly two months after his arrest, as part of a nationwide crackdown on graft in the public sector.

Kinfe Dagnew was charged with four counts related to the procurement of tractors, said a judge at the Lideta High Court in Addis Ababa.

He is the most senior official to be charged after dozens from METEC and the security services were arrested since November over graft and rights abuses. After taking office last year, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed vowed to clean up state-owned firms and the military, and cancelled many METEC contracts.

One of those contracts was for the supplying of turbines for the nearly $5 billion Grand Renaissance Dam.

Kinfe was arrested on the border with Sudan and Eritrea after a months-long investigation into METEC, which uncovered suspicious procurement practices involving more than $2 billion.

Kinfe said in court he was clear about the charges and his lawyers asked for time to file their statement of defence.

His co-defendants faced three further charges. The judges adjourned the case to January 25 to receive statements.

Kinfe was chief executive of METEC for eight years, but resigned from his position two weeks after Abiy took office

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Eritrea Needs Training for its Drivers, Operators and Technicians

January 12, 2019, 3:22 am

≫ Next: World Class Potash Project In Eritrea Moves Closer To Development

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A truck carries mineral concentrate from the Bisha mine in Eritrea. The trucks are travelling to a sea port at the city of Massawa, on the Red Sea, where the concentrate will be exported. (Geoffrey York/The Globe and Mail)

Eritrea Needs Training for its Drivers, Operators and Technicians

By Thomas C. Mountain

Eritrea needs training for its drivers, operators and technicians. A good example of this is in its new mining ore transport industry.

Today Eritrea is running upwards of 200 trucks delivering 25% zinc ore concentrate (previously copper concentrate) from the Bisha mine in Gash Barka to the ore loading port in Massawa. These are brand new trucks made by a joint German (Man Trucks) and Chinese (Sinotruk) partnership and are modern, including something no other truck in Eritrea has, an engine brake.

Engine brakes automatically shut off diesel fuel to the engine when it is running down hill under loads, effectively eliminating the power stroke without interfering in the compression stroke, in effect turning the engine into a large compressor with the resistance being used to slow down the truck, as in Engine Automatic Brake. When the driver takes his foot off the accelerator pedal the engine brake, when turned on, automatically shuts of the fuel, turning the engine into a compressor/brake. When the driver step back on the accelerator pedal the engine brake automatically shuts off, restoring fuel to the engine and allowing the power stroke to resume and powering the truck.

In most countries any large truck carrying heavy loads down steep inclines are required to have an engine brake, and every one of the new Sinotruk's has one.

The problem is none of the drivers in Eritrea has ever seen one before, all the heavy trucks in service today in our country date back from before engine brakes were widely introduced back in the 1980’s.

When a large truck carrying a heavy load, 30 tons or more as in the ore concentrate from Bisha, goes down a long steep incline like the road from Asmara to Massawa, the only way the drivers, without an engine brake, can maintain safe operating speeds is by down shifting the transmission to use the engine to hold the truck back. If the driver misses a shift and the transmission goes into neutral disconnecting the engine from the drive train the truck can “runaway”. Conventional air brakes, what was the only braking system in older trucks, overheat and fail if the driver has to rely on them to control vehicle speeds.

This in why engine brakes were introduced, for with them the driver merely had to take his foot off the accelerator pedal and the engine brake would take over turning the engine into an air compressor (noted for it loud bop-bop-bop sound) and the truck would immediately start to slow down and would continue to do so until it comes to a complete stop, or the driver steps back on the pedal, restoring the fuel supply and normal driving operation.

I cant tell you how many times I have driven uphill from Massawa to Asmara these past years since copper/zinc mining started in Bisha and smelt the burnt asbestos brake pads on trucks passing me coming from Bisha with a full load.

I also wondered why these new trucks did not have engine brakes, with its distinctive, loud (some urban areas require them to be turned off in their jurisdiction due to their loud annoying nature) blatting roar.

After years of smelling burnt out brakes and passing crashed runaway trucks on the Massawa to Asmara road I finally stuck my head inside one of the new Sinotruk cabins and low and behold there was the engine brake button on the dashboard, bearing the white letters of EAB, engine automatic brake.

I turned to the driver and managed to ask him in my broken Tigrinya what this button, EAB, was for? His answer? Guduf, guduf, don't touch that, it causes the engine to make a loud noise and stop.

How many trucks have been destroyed going down the Asmara-Massawa road, how many lives lost when a driver missed a shift and the truck “ran-away”, eventually crashing? And all of this could have been prevented if the drivers had used the engine brakes their trucks were equipped with?

I asked the Sinotruk dealer in Eritrea if I could see their driver manual for their trucks and was handed a glossy booklet…entirely in Chinese. That’s right, no english translations for the drivers manual so no driver in Eritrea, even those few who could read english, could learn how to use the EAB, engine automatic brake.

So guduf, guduf, don't touch the EAB, remains the rule of the road today in Eritrea’s mining transport industry. With the new Dubarwa/Embadurho copper mine and Danakali potash mine starting up this year in Eritrea another 400 or more trucks will be added to our government run fleet, with potash being transported from Colouli in the Danakil to Massawa by the same rolltainer system, and trucks, for all three mines.

All that needs to be done is take a short training video off the internet showing visually how the engine brake works and translating the words and graphics into Tigrinya and our drivers would join the rest of the modern transport industry and start to use something so vital to road safety and vehicle efficiency, the engine brake.

This is an example of why Eritrea needs training for its drivers, operators and technicians, for we are spending tens of millions of dollars on modern trucks and Caterpillar equipment where the operator cab looks more like a computer bay than a bulldozer cabin. All to often lack of training is effectively preventing efficient use of these badly needed machines. We could start by asking the Sinotruk to translate their drivers manuals into English, at the least. Better yet, make an instructional video on how to use the engine brake in Tigrinya and require all the drivers to watch it.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we look at how a modern preventative maintenance program in Eritrea’s mines would prevent tens, even hundreds of millions of dollars in lost production time by using a state of the art, and very simple, oil analysis program to prevent equipment failure in the field.

Thomas C. Mountain worked in the heavy equipment field in the USA for twenty years, and was a Heavy Equipment Instructor and Foreman for one of the largest mining, construction and energy companies in the country. See thomascmountain on Facebook, thomascmountain on Twitter or best reach him at thomascmountain a g mail dot com

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World Class Potash Project In Eritrea Moves Closer To Development

January 16, 2019, 12:00 am

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A prospective layout of the Colluli Potash Project. Image: courtesy of Danakali.

World Class Potash Project In Eritrea Moves Closer To Development

By Tim Treadgold | Forbes

It’s not easy for most investors to get excited about potash, a fertilizer — and less so about Eritrea, a north African country which spent years on a United Nations sanctions list.

But times do change and there is a small company poised to benefit from growing global fertilizer demand and the international rehabilitation of Eritrea.

Danakali, an Australia-based miner, has moved to within sight of developing the potential world-class Colluli potash project which sits close to the Red Sea which is Eritrea’s eastern border.

Difficult Neighborhood

If the location and the past record of a bitter dispute with neighboring Ethiopia wasn’t enough to ring alarm bells there’s trouble on the other side of the Red Sea where a messy civil war is being fought in Yemen.

Despite the multiple negative factors there are a growing number of indications that the Colluli project will be developed and it will become a low-cost, high-profit, producers of potash, an essential fertilizer in some countries which need to boost crop yields.

On the political front the U.N. lifted sanctions on Eritrea two months ago after a dramatic improvement in relations with Ethiopia, opening the way for increased international investment.

Sales Deal Underwrites The Business

On the business front, Danakali has signed a sales agreement with Russian-controlled EuroChem for up to 100% of the potash produced in the first stage of Colluli.

On the financial front, a key step was taken last month when Danakali, which has a 50-50 joint venture covering Colluli with the government of Eritrea, signed a $200 million funding mandate with a syndicate of African-development financial institutions.

The next step is to start construction of the potash project which appears to be far simpler than rival operations in Europe and North America, where potash is extracted in very deep mines.

Near-Surface Ore For Easy Mining

Colluli’s potash is located close to the surface making for easy mining, and close to port facilities on the Red Sea which will provide easy access to fast-growing Asian markets.

Environmental conditions will not be easy for workers at Colluli with the potash located in a region known as the Danakal Depression which is regarded as one of the hottest places on earth.

But, compensating for the location and the difficult history of Eritrea is an ore body containing at least 1.1 billion tonnes of potash, enough for at least 200 years of production.

Interest in Danakali has been limited over the past 12 months as the different parts of the project have been stitched together and uncertainty has spread about global trade during the trade war between China and the U.S.

From around 63c on the Australian stock market in August, Danakali has slipped to 50c, a price which values the stock at $130 million.

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