[AI] Asmarino Independent

You are here:

News

Helping Refugees Find a New Life

"If you're going to sponsor a family, it means you're willing to guide them, provide transportation, help set up their apartments," says Duhamel.

Duhamel attends Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Harrisonburg, which is where she learned about the opportunity to help. Several people from the church are involved helping the refugees.

"We were assuming we were going to get an Iraqi family, perhaps an Afghan family. And instead we found out on June 18 that our family was coming from Eritrea," says Duhamel.

Eritrea sits north of Ethiopia. The two countries have fought off and on for decades. Even when the countries aren't fighting, there's still tension.

Selam Gebregziabher has lived in both places. She's on a journey with her sister, Helen.

"They had to flee their own country and find refuge within Ethiopia, which was the enemy because their country has had such a dictatorial government that forces people into national service. So, it's like forced military training even for young girls," says Duhamel.

Selam says, "[Eritrea] was not safe, especially for women, children. They were abused there physically, psychologically. In general

Read more...

 

Annual Report Cites Eritrea As World's Worst Country For Press Freedom

(CNN) -- How bad is it to be a journalist in Eritrea? Even reporters who leave the Horn of Africa nation are fearful of talking about what happens there, according to Reporters Without Borders.

The group rated Eritrea as the world's worst place to be a journalist in its annual report on press freedom, issued Tuesday.

"Nobody knows about that country, because you can't report on what's going on there," said Clothilde Le Coz, the Washington director of Reporters Without Borders. Eritrean journalists who travel abroad won't talk, she said, because "they really fear for their lives."

Read more...

 

Eritrean president says West against him

ASMARA, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki said on Wednesday that Western intelligence agencies and special interest groups were persecuting Eritrea by inventing lies, rumors and defamatory reports.

The Red Sea state, which has faced criticism in recent weeks from international diplomatic and humanitarian organizations, denied any wrongdoing.

"It's been the cause of the all problems we see all over the world ... it's a network of (Western) intelligence agencies that serve special interest groups globally," the long-serving Eritrean leader told Reuters in an interview.

Read more...

 

Somalia says Eritrea deserves punishment for chaos

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Eritrea should be punished for threatening the Horn of Africa region by supporting Somali rebels, Somalia's foreign affairs minister said on Sunday.

The United States, Britain, United Nations and the African Union (AU) accuse Eritrea of fanning the chaos in Somalia, through provision of arms and logistical support to the radical al Shabaab rebels, seen by Washington as al Qaeda's proxy.

"Enough is enough. Eritrea has defied calls from the international community and individual countries to play a positive role," Ali Jama Ahmed told Reuters.

Read more...

   

Eritrea rejects sanctions call over Somalia role

ASMARA, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Eritrea on Wednesday dismissed a renewed threat of sanctions over charges it is arming insurgents in Somalia.

Britain was the latest country to join the condemnation, telling the U.N. Security Council last week it was ready to punish Eritrea for its alleged role in Somalia.

Asmara rejected the move and said any evidence brought against it had been fabricated.

"The accusations have no bearing whatsoever with the facts. They are completely baseless," Information Minister Ali Abdu told Reuters in an interview.

"If it (Britain's move) is underpinned by the ulterior political motivations of that country then it is unacceptable and illegal by all standards."

Read more...

 
Dawit Isaak

Journalist’s choice as Sakharov Prize finalist hailed as victory for Eritrean prisoners of conscience

“The Eritrean government has tried for years to ensure that nothing is said about the fate of its political prisoners,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We thank the European United Left-Nordic Green Left and Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe parliamentary groups for supporting this candidacy.”

The press freedom organisation added: “This already represents a reward for Dawit Isaac and for the 30 or so other journalists who are rotting in Eritrean jails, without trial, because President Issaias Afeworki regards them as traitors.”

Read more...

 
United Kingdom Ambassador to the U.N. John Sawers

Britain calls for sanctions against Eritrea

Britain called Thursday for U.N. sanctions against the tiny Red Sea nation of Eritrea for supplying weapons to opponents of the transitional government in nearby Somalia in violation of a U.N. arms embargo.

The United States, which warned in July that Eritrea could soon face sanctions unless it stops support for Somali extremists, said it was time for the international community to address the country's destabilizing impact on Somalia and the region.

And Russia called on countries in the region not to allow mercenaries and arms into Somalia in violation of sanctions.

Read more...

   

Chalice Gold workers die in Eritrea

Chalice Gold workers die in Eritrea October 7, 2009 Chalice Gold Mines Ltd has reported the death of one its employees and two of contractors in a shooting incident near its gold project in Eritrea.

Chalice said in a statement on Wednesday that the incident occurred on a public road 110km south of its Zara project and 35km northwest of the town of Keren.

Read more...

 

Fresh appeal for sanctions on Eritrea

The east and Horn of Africa regional bloc Igad has once again expressed its disappointment at the international community’s failure to take practical action against Eritrea.

Mr Kipruto arap Kirwa, the peace and reconciliation facilitator in Somalia, told reporters in Addis Ababa that Igad had “conclusive evidence” that Eritrea and al-Qaeda were supporting and financing militant groups in Somalia.

Read more...

 

Africa: The 2009 Results: Index of African Governance

As some of our readers have highlighted to us, a narrower approach to governance is often useful and consistent with some other (but not all) projects on governance. Thus, this year we also display rankings according to this "traditional" or "narrow" governance approach in order to facilitate comparisons across studies (see page 23). This approach is equivalent just to our categories of "Rule of Law, Transparency, and Corruption" and "Participation and Human Rights." If we thus exclude "Safety and Security," "Sustainable Economic Development," and "Human Development," the high performing list is still led by Mauritius, with Cape Verde moving up to second place and Botswana in third, but the North African states do not do as well. Thus, by this narrower method, the top ten countries, based on 2007 scores, would be: Mauritius, Cape Verde, Botswana, South Africa, Ghana, Namibia, the Seychelles, Lesotho, Benin, and São Tomé and Príncipe. The bottom eleven countries would be: Somalia (number 53), the Sudan, Eritrea, Libya, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Chad, Guinea, and Egypt.

Read more...

   

LTTE were to get 10 aircrafts, Indian media report says

Sept 24, Colombo: Sri Lanka's terrorist outfit, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were set to get 10 new aircraft through an Eritrea-based arms smuggling network when the government's military offensive reached its climax, an Indian media report said.

According to a report in Indian newspaper Hindustan Times, the aircraft had been dismantled and were to be shipped to the north-eastern coast of Sri Lanka when the war reached a decisive stage.

Read more...

   
  • «
  •  Start 
  •  Prev 
  •  1 
  •  2 
  •  3 
  •  4 
  •  5 
  •  6 
  •  7 
  •  8 
  •  9 
  •  10 
  •  Next 
  •  End 
  • »

Notice to all writers:

Please all English writers address your writing to articles@delina.org and all Tigrigna writers to  tigarticles@delina.org (Arabic writers info coming soon).

All writings that are not addressed to these email addresses are not going to be read or posted.

Guidelines for Posting : All section - Please Click here.

Asmarino Staff

Categories

Update on Famine Situation

Update on Famine Situation  The conditions in Wi’a concentration/training camp in the past 7- 9 months have worsened more than any other time. Food rations were reduced further to 3 pieces of sorghum bread per person per day without any supplements such as sauce except limited ration of tea. The shortage of food is compounded by the closure of the camp for family visits which used to facilitate the supply of food from families and relatives to the prisoners/trainees. The shortage of food combined with the very poor sanitation conditions, harsh environmental conditions, fatigue resulting from training exercises and almost non-existent health facilities and health care services in the camp has lead to sustained outbreaks of meningitis, typhoid and scabies resulting in alarming mass deaths.
                    
Most of the deaths are mainly attributed to meningitis. Meningitis has been in the camp even before three years and had killed many but it has never been in this scale before. The death rate increased from June onwards and continued at alarming rate until the camp was closed in September. After hesitating for long, the government has finally decided to close the camp as an emergency measure after many (estimated to be in hundreds) have died. It is difficult to know how many have exactly died but sources from the camp tell that initially 37 people have died in the spot without being transferred to the Gedem military hospital near Massawa. Hundreds were transferred to Gedem hospital but the majority of them have not survived indicating that the death toll is in hundreds.
  Read more...
More:

EU takes on Eritrea by the horn

EU takes on Eritrea by the horn

The Eritrean regime is as famous for its appalling democratic and human rights abuses as it is for its sardonic provocations. While these infringements are a topic for an extensive discussion at an EU-US led conference in Brussels next week (November 9 - 10), Eritrea has refused to participate claiming it is the “most stable and peaceful” among its African neighbors.

The Eritrean leadership was not expected to embrace an international gathering devoted to exposing and denouncing its roguish and violent policies. This impoverished state maintains over 350-thousand strong-army ready to provoke or attack any neighboring country for the flimsiest possible reason without the permission of the people. The regime is also believed to be training, arming, harboring and financing foreign opposition groups, insurgents and terrorists with the aim of destabilizing and stirring up bloodshed in neighboring countries.

Read more...
More:

Authoritarian Eritrea President overseeing a troubled nation – Interview with Seyoum Tesfaye, EGS Chairman

Authoritarian Eritrea President overseeing a troubled nation – Interview with Seyoum Tesfaye, EGS Chairman

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 outlawed in Eritrea. The government is known to be the world’s worst violator of press freedom. US based, Seyoum Tesfaye, is Chairman of the Eritrean Global Solidarity and has been following recent Eritrean developments. Here, he discusses the underlying issues behind Eritrea’s troubles.

Read more...
More:

Media Sustainability Index (MSI) Africa 2008

Media Sustainability Index (MSI) Africa 2008

The state of media in Eritrea is not at all comparable to any Sub-Saharan African country. One panelist wrote that it can only be put on par with North Korea. There is not a semblance of an independent media. Media in Eritrea have become a tool for government propaganda. In short, journalists—even those working for government media—are a liability and potential threat to “national security.”

Indeed, last year Eritrea scored the lowest of all countries studied by the MSI, not only in Africa but when compared to the countries in the Middle East and Eastern Europe studies as well. One panelist wrote, “…the first MSI Eritrea report of last year was an eye opener for Eritreans. A lot of people didn’t know or didn’t want to admit it was that bad. Everyone understands the importance of strong media sector to support governance and development—particularly in Africa.” Eritrea again scored the lowest of all countries studied in 2008.

Read more...
More:

Helping Refugees Find a New Life

Helping Refugees Find a New Life

"If you're going to sponsor a family, it means you're willing to guide them, provide transportation, help set up their apartments," says Duhamel.

Duhamel attends Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Harrisonburg, which is where she learned about the opportunity to help. Several people from the church are involved helping the refugees.

"We were assuming we were going to get an Iraqi family, perhaps an Afghan family. And instead we found out on June 18 that our family was coming from Eritrea," says Duhamel.

Eritrea sits north of Ethiopia. The two countries have fought off and on for decades. Even when the countries aren't fighting, there's still tension.

Selam Gebregziabher has lived in both places. She's on a journey with her sister, Helen.

"They had to flee their own country and find refuge within Ethiopia, which was the enemy because their country has had such a dictatorial government that forces people into national service. So, it's like forced military training even for young girls," says Duhamel.

Selam says, "[Eritrea] was not safe, especially for women, children. They were abused there physically, psychologically. In general

Read more...
More:

ERITREA MEDIA WATCH

ERITREA MEDIA WATCH

Eritrea’s Lingering Malnutrition

Awate.com’s Divisive Publications

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 freely express ideas and exchange information. “Free press” is not an absolute standard but is meant to serve as a guideline in the establishment of free and united communities. Even Denmark at the top of the list of 175 countries does not have a perfect “free press”. But it is striving towards that goal. And it is never too late for Eritrea to join the civilized world in the fight against darkness. Repression and ruthless censorship create intellectual retardation and hinder progress.

Read more...
More:

Nevsun completes C$32.775 mln private placement for Bisha gold-copper project, Eritrea

Nevsun completes C$32.775 mln private placement for Bisha gold-copper project, Eritrea

Nevsun Resources Ltd (TSX/AMEX: NSU) said it has  completed its non-brokered private placement financing of 11.5 million common shares at C$2.85 announced last week, raising C$32.775 million.

The net proceeds from the offering will be used for general working capital purposes, including exploration and development of the Bisha high grade gold, copper and zinc project in Eritrea.

The project is developed with the Eritrean government as a partner. The project has 27.2 million tonnes of measured and indicated resource and 11.7 million tonnes of inferred resource , 43-101 compliant. The mine is expected to start producing gold in Q3 2010, with a 10 year mine life.

Read more...
More:

Happy 12th Year Anniversary, Asmarino!

Happy 12th Year Anniversary, Asmarino! But the war, and the crisis in its aftermath, radically altered this three-pronged approach. First, the community-oriented feature of the website, although not totally abandoned, came to suffer as a result of the deep fracture within the Eritrean community that took place after the war. Second, Eritrea itself became off limits; and the dream of joining the Eritrean people in building the nation was indefinitely deferred. And third, as a result of the poisoned climate that came to prevail after the war, the idea of a greater community in the Horn and East Africa was abandoned. Instead, as is the case with most Eritreans, the political, humanitarian and existential crisis in Eritrea came to dominate the dialog in Asmarino – a debate that is still raging on. Read more...
More: