Michael Abraha
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Articles by Michael Abraha
November 04, 2009
photo: Seyoum Tesfaye
The news blackout on the drought/famine situation reportedly afflicting millions of Eritreans has frustrated both emergency aid agencies and press and human rights advocates. This comes as no surprise especially to members of the media since independent reporting is outlaw...
October 30, 2009
photo: Omar Jabir
Omar Jabir is one of the most forthright Eritrean critics of the unelected rulers in Asmara. Based in Melbourne, Australia, Omar Jabir has very harsh words about the regime´s refusal to call for emergency food aid although the UN says close to 70 percent of the population is mal...
October 27, 2009
The only leader who thinks it is o.k. to preside over a nation with the worst record in press freedom is Eritrea´s strongman Isayas Afewerki. He argues there is no such thing as "free press". Of course there isn´t. But the rest of humanity agrees it is vital to have systems which enable people to fr...
October 06, 2009
photo: Omar Jabir
Moslems and Christians have lived in peace and harmony for centuries in Eritrea. However, over the past decades the two sides have been victims of the wrong judgment of their elites, says Omar Jabir, Eritrean thinker, politician and democracy advocate based in Sydney...
September 28, 2009
Photo: Woldeyesus Ammar
Eritrea is in the spotlight again following the killing on September 17 of 21 African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu by Al-Shabab militants who the African Union and the UN allege are supported by Eritrea. AU member states are pressuring the UN to sanction the Eritrean go...
September 22, 2009
Eritrea´s Horn of Africa neighbors have again called for an international action against the Asmara government in the face of increased violence in lawless Somalia. On Thursday, Al Shabab suicide bombers, using four UN marked vehicles, killed 17 African Peacekeepers inside their Mogadishu base...
August 17, 2009
Photo: Beleaguered Eritrean Leader Isayas Afewerki
As the Obama Administration threatens to punish Eritrea for its involvement in strife stricken Somalia, there are reports of an assassination attempt on the life of President Isayas Afewerki. Quoting sources from inside the ocuntry, two Eritrean Di...
August 03, 2009
Eritrean government ´support´ of Islamic extremism flourishing in Somalia has continued unabated. The Obama administration says Eritrea´s behavior poses a direct threat to its national security and a serious danger to international peace. It is no surprise that the US has heightened its rhetoric aga...
July 13, 2009
Photo: Professor Gideon Abay
Angry Eritrean youths jeered and booed Professor Gideon Abay in Oakland on Sunday in which he had nothing except praise for government policies in a country which has been described as a "giant prison" by human rights advocates and democratic nations worldwide.
...
July 13, 2009
Photo: Mohamed Adem Artaa
A senior official of the Eritrean opposition, Mr. Mohamed Adem Artaa, has called on pro-democracy forces to take urgent measures to undercut the power base of the ruling oligarchy and isolate it from the Eritrean masses.
Mr. Artaa is Central Committee member of the...
July 03, 2009
photo: Saleh (Gadi)Johar
In the following analysis, "More Red Tears", Saleh Gadi criticizes Dawit Wolde Giorgis´s recent essay, "The Way Forward for Ethiopia and Eritrea" as an attempt to rewrite the history of relations of the two countries. Saleh sees as short sighted Dawit´s call on fellow Eth...
July 02, 2009
Photo: W.Ammar, EPP Chairman
Q: The Eritrean regime is said to be militarily and financially backing Al-Quada linked insurgents in Somalia. The Obama Administration has responded by sending weapons to the interim Somali administration. At the same time, the State Department and Congress seem to t...
June 09, 2009
Photo: Beleaguered Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki
There is no better time than the present to end tyranny and misery in Eritrea. The Eritrean regime should be stopped from torturing, murdering and starving Eritreans. Nor should it be allowed to continue sending arms to Somalia which are repor...
May 25, 2009
Photo: President Isayas Afewerki
The question is not whether there will be UN sanctions, but how effective they will be to change the Eritrean government´s behavior.
For years, humanitarian and human rights advocates have been calling for punitive measures against the Asmara regime over persi...
May 14, 2009
Photo: Woldeyesus Ammar
Eritrea has come under heavy pressure especially from the US and Israel for its close ties with nuclear ambitious Iran and Somali militants with alleged Al-Quada connections. I spoke with Woldeyesus Ammar, Head of the Eritrean People´s Party. I first put to him what Presid...
April 30, 2009
Photo: Eritrean prisoners in metal shipping container
As Eritrea prepares to celebrate Independence Day in May, the West is outraged by the endless brutalities and gruesome collective punishment meted out on the Eritrean population. Authoritarianism has gone dangerously vicio...
April 26, 2009
YOSIEF GHEBREHIWET IS ONE OF THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL ERITREAN WRITERS TODAY. IN THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE, HE UNDERSCORES THE MAIN REASONS WHY OSAMA BIN LADEN AND ERITREA´S ISAYAS AFEWERKI ARE BOTH OPPOSED TO THE UN BACKED SOMALI GOVERNMENT UNDER PRESIDENT SHEIKH AHMED.
Osama Bin Laden last month bo...
April 13, 2009
photo: Selam Kidane (London) - Democracy and human rights advocate
Q: Violations of human rights and shortages of food often come up in Diaspora and some international debates as the main characteristics that define the state of affairs in Eritrea...Don´t they?
A: ...
April 09, 2009
Photo: Dan Connell
Dan Connell, author of many books on Eritrea, says the egregious extent of human rights violations in Eritrea are so extreme and sustained over such a lengthy period that all "development" aid ought to be withheld until there is a measurable change on the ground.
Da...
April 07, 2009
Photo: Woldeyesus Amar, EPP head
Q & A with Woldeyesus Amar head of Eritrean People´s Party
Q: Why has the EU decided in favor of sending $160-million aid to Eritrea without condition despite widespread opposition from many quarters including the Eritrean civic and political opposi...
March 19, 2009
Photo: President Isayas Afewerki
Principles of human rights, justice and rule of law are desirable but are not a primary objective of the European Union when dealing with aid recipient governments. European interests and the geo-strategic importance of the recipient nation would often supersed...
March 09, 2009
Photo: Saleh (Gadi) Johar - Writer and Publisher of leading Eritrean web news journal, Awate.com
The Eritrean media continues to go through very thorny twists and turns. As this interview is being sent out for publication, the global media watchdog, Reporters without Borders, is saying the govern...
March 07, 2009
The European Union is considering continuing with its controversial development aid to Eritrea totaling 122-million Euros (154-million USD) this year. Widespread opposition is growing in view of unrelenting Eritrean government violation of human and democratic rights. The EU is also criticized for n...
February 19, 2009
The new Eritrean Community Association in Santa Clara´s Silicon Valley has announced its plans for the rest of the year ranging from education to job training and placement programs for Eritrean nationals. The announcement was made by the Secretary of the Association, Mr. Asmerom Ghile, during an in...
February 05, 2009
Photo: Banafsheh AkhlaghiWestern Regional Coordinator of Amnesty International, San Francisco, California
February 2009 marks the 30th anniversary of the Iranian revolution (1978-79) which toppled the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and installed an Islamic Republic under the dictatorship of Ayatol...
December 14, 2008
Photo: Tesfai Woldemichael (Degiga), Deputy Chairman of the Eritrean People´s Party: "Government is under Siege"
The Eritrean people are quietly hurting. Hunger is painful. The food ration consists of one piece of white bread per person per day. All, including men and women in their 8...
December 15, 2008
Photo: Tighisti Gerezgher, head of new Eritrean community center Santa Clara County, California's Silicon Valley
There is a large Eritrean community in California´s Silicon Valley in Santa Clara County. Like many other nationality-based communities in the area, members tend to be of varying polit...
November 28, 2008
The US recently banned arms sales to Eritrea for its alleged support of the Somali Al-Shabab insurgents whom the Bush Administration regards as terrorists. This brought relations to their lowest ebb and improvement is unlikely as long as Eritrea continues to stand against American plans for Somalia....