Vol. 24 No. 58 Wednesday, September 20, 2017 Pages 8 ...50.7.16.234/hadas-eritrea/eritrea_profile_20092017.pdf · China, Taiwan, Macedonia and, most recently, Kenya and Sri Lanka

Vol. 24 No. 58 Wednesday, September 20, 2017 Pages 8, Price 2.00 NFA

Eritrean community members in Frankfurt and its environs, Germany, expressed resolve to strengthen their organizational capacity and participation in the national development drives. They expressed the commitment at an event they organized on 16 September to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the community.

Commending the participation of the Eritrean nationals residing in Frankfurt and its environs in the national development programs in the past 20 years, Mr. Yohannes Debas, Eritrean Consul General, expressed conviction that the nationals will

At a seminar recently conducted in Sawa for the 31st round members of the national service, Mr. Ahferom Tewolde, Head of Research and Training at the PFDJ, said that knowledge based on awareness is indispensable for the success of the national development programs.

Mr. Ahferom reminded the youth to be aware of the external conspiracies aimed at derailing them from pursuing their dreams and that of their country. He also called on them to reinforce their participation in the efforts to build a prosperous country where

Eritreans residing in the USA, Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany have donated over 586,000 Nakfa, $6,000 and around 4,000 Euros to augment martyrs’ trust fund, according to the Ministry of Labor and Human Welfare.

Similarly, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Churches in the USA and Canada donated 586,244 Nakfa, Eritreans residing in Stuttgart and its environs, Germany, gave 2850 Euros while PFDJ members in Frankfurt and its environs, Germany, donated 1,000 Euro for the same cause.

In addition to this, the Eritrean Community in Geneva, Switzerland, and the Eritrean Community in Zwolle, the Netherlands, donated 3,600 and 2,889 Dollars respectively to assist families of martyrs.

In other related news, Eritrean community members residing in Israel contributed 34, 560 thousand US Dollars to augment martyrs trust.

The contribution was made by the Eritrean nationals in a bid to help 48 families of martyrs. According to a report, the nationals have already been briefed on the status and identity of the martyrs’ families that they will provide assistance.

Indicating that the wellbeing of the families of the martyrs is the responsibility of all nationals, the Charge d’Affairs at the Eritrean Embassy, Mr. Solomon Kinfe, commended the initiative taken by the nationals and called on others to follow their footsteps.

A solar-powered water project worth 3 million Nakfa has been put in place in Emberemi administrative area, Massawa sub zone.

The solar powered water project, which includes two water distribution centers, a reservoir and a 9-kilo-meter pipeline was put in place by the Northern Red Sea regional administration in cooperation with stakeholders.

Indicating that more than 600 families have become beneficiaries of the water project, Head of Infrastructure in the region, Mr. Habtesion Berhane, called on residents to properly use the

Monetary assistance to augMent Martyrs’ trust fund

eritrean nationals’ resolve to increase contribution

seMinar for 31st round MeMbers of the national service

Provision of Potable water suPPly in eMbereMi

continue contribution towards martyrs trust funds and resilience against external conspiracies against the homeland.

Mr. Yohannes pointed out that although the external forces have been targeting the Eritrean youth, the backbone of the nation, the Eritrean youth is challenging their evil intent by standing firm on the side of their people and the government.

Mr. Kahsai Tewolde, head of Community and Consular Affairs, said that the Eritrean community is making trustworthy effort in creating platforms for the Eritrean

youth to motivate them to preserve their identity and culture.

The Chairman of the Eritrean community, Mr. Goitom Sebhatu, on his part, indicated that the Eritrean nationals in Frankfurt and its environs have been organizing national events since mid-1980, and that in 1997 the Eritrean community was formally established.

The event was made colorful by performances of Eritrean artists in Germany.

its citizens live in peace and harmony.

Mr. Ahferom called on the youth to properly use the educational opportunity and equip themselves with the necessary knowledge based on study and research and cope with the advancement of technology.

Indicating that the Eritrean people have religions that they are proud of, Mr. Ahferm pointed out that religions in Eritrea are instruments for unity and not for dissection and that respect to each other’s religion

and living in harmony have been the noble culture of the Eritrean people for centuries.

Mr. Ahferom went on to say that nurturing common understanding on the national issues is vital in the nation building process and called on the youth to enhance unity and nationalism and play their due role.

The participants expressed readiness to properly use the educational opportunity they are given and live up to the nation’s expectation.

facility provided to them.Pointing out that residents along

their livestock have been drinking from one well, the Administrator of Emberemi administrative area, Mr. Abdulkader Ali, indicated that thanks to their regrouping of villages, the residents of Meashiyat and Debet-Amir villages have also become beneficiaries of the new water project.

The beneficiaries, on their part, expressed their gratitude and reiterated their readiness to properly use the water project.

Emberemi administrative area is 12 kilometers northwest of the port city of Massawa.

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2 Vol. 24 No. 58 Eritrea Profile, Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Semhar Mebrahtu

For decades, shoppers and businesses have relied on lightweight plastic bags as strong, cheap, and effective means of carrying items. This popular item actually does more harm than good to humans and the environment.

The biggest reason countries around the world should be more serious about putting an end to the production and use of plastic nylon shopping bags is these bags are made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic. Because this substance does not biodegrade, plastic bags can last up to 1,000 years in the environment as garbage. Apart from the eyesore that waste plastic bags are, they are a common cause of clogged drainage systems, sewers, and waterways. In many cities around the world - especially in developing countries - clogged drains are major breeding grounds for mosquitoes which cause malaria, a disease that kills millions of people in the world.

Another reason is, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature, over 100,000 whales, seals, and turtles die every year as a result of eating, or getting trapped by waste plastic bags which find their way to the open seas and oceans. Plastic bags also damage economies by killing so many domestic animals. For instance, in Mauritania (North Africa), more than 70 percent of the cattle and sheep that die in the capital city, Nouakchott, die from eating plastic bags. This

Healthy Environment: Healthy Community

type of economic loss is common in many parts of Africa where livestock often graze in areas with significant waste plastic bags.

The third reason is plastic bags are made from substances extracted from petroleum. Petroleum-related activities are a major contributor of carbon emissions which harm the environment and continue to have global climate change impacts. If the world’s demand for plastic shopping bags continues to increase, it will surely increase the production and demand of petroleum now and in the future. This, of course, is bad news for the world’s climate.

To address the problem, governments have taken actions to ban the sale of lightweight bags, charge customers for lightweight bags and heavily tax the stores that sell them. The Bangladesh government was the first to do so in 2002, imposing a total ban on plastic bags. Such a ban has also been applied in countries such as Rwanda, China, Taiwan, Macedonia and, most

recently, Kenya and Sri Lanka. Some countries in Western Europe impose a fee per bag. Bans, partial bans, and fees have been enacted by some local jurisdictions in North America, Australia, the United Kingdom and Myanmar. Concurrently with the reduction in lightweight plastic bags, shops have introduced reusable shopping bags.

Eritrea is one of the countries to totally ban the sale of lightweight bags. The government issued a proclamation, to prohibit the production, sale or distribution of plastic bags in Eritrea under the legal notice no.63/2002. The Ministry of Land, Water and Environment, Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Maekel Region Administration work together to enforce the rules.

Accordingly, Asmara and parts of Eritrea, once littered with a sea of flimsy shopping bags, are being cleaned up thanks to a new law entered to help the country protect nature. In the capital city, Asmara, and other outlying regions, the plastic bags have been replaced by the cotton and nylon and the people have no choice but to adapt. After the official proclamation those who import, produce, distribute or sell plastic bags are fined. It is estimated that offenders can pay several thousand of Nakfa. Authorities are indeed determined to stem the problem. Individuals are not fined if they are caught with a plastic bag. They simply have to tell the authorities where they got the bag from, and only if individuals do not

co-operate are they fined. The head of Rules and Regulations

branch of Zoba Maekel, Col. Knfe Habtom, said that although no

budget has been allocated for the project, the people played a big role in making it successful. He added that as soon as the people realized their negative effects, they supported the proclamation and for this reason the project became successful in a short period of time; it just took a maximum of two years.

He also said that what made

the regulations to prohibit the production, sale or distribution of plastic bags successful is the Division of rules and regulation has a strong cooperation with the police of Eritrea. The cooperation made it easy to control and detect plastic bags distribution in different places around the nation. The Ministry of Land, Water and Environment as well as Ministry of Industry have also supported the law by raising awareness of the community through posters and notice boards.

Col. Knfe recommended that even if we have had satisfactory results

we cannot say plastic bags have totally vanished. They are still available around the nation, and it is obvious that the plastic bags will have negative impact on the environment. The authorities should have on going inspection over the production and distribution of plastic bags within the country. As people always use what is prepared for them, if plastic bags are still produced or imported into the country, is totally a destruction of the law.

He also recommended that the

community should realize that it does not only block drains, choke farm animals and marine wildlife and pollute the soil, but it also ruins dramatic natural vistas and can take 20 to 1 00 years to decompose. If we really care about the earth, it is high time we started breaking our attachment to plastic shopping bags and replace them with shopping bags made from paper, cloth, jute, and raffia which have turned out to be excellent ‘earth-friendly’ alternatives.

Col. Knfe Habtom


Sophia Tesfamariam

Asmara, Eritrea’s capital, with its art-deco modernist architectures now listed as a world heritage site is home to the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, often called “the cathedral”. It is a large Lombard Romanesque style church in the center of the city, built in 1923. Asmara is also where you will find the Khulafa Al Rashiudin Mosque, built in 1938, and the Asmara Synagogue, built in 1905. These are testaments to Eritrea’s exemplary cultures of ethnic and religious respect and tolerance where Jews, Christians and Muslims live together peacefully. These coexisting influences make Eritrea, a beautiful kaleidoscope of cultures-where religious toleration defines the population, equally divided between Christians and Muslims.

Eritreans of all religious and ethnic backgrounds celebrated Kudus Yohannes, the Feast of Saint John, last week on September 11. It is also a celebration of the New Year according to the Coptic calendar, also called the Alexandrian calendar, a liturgical calendar used by the Coptic Orthodox Church. On the eve of Kudus Yohannes, children tie a bundle of sticks together to make a bonfire, while singing songs. The main song is called “Hoye Hoye”, and it is mostly about upcoming harvest and planting season. There are also songs of well wishes for the New Year. This annual tradition has been passed on from generation to generation…

On September 27, Eritreans will be celebrating Meskel, Feast of the Holy Cross, another religious holiday. Once again all Eritreans will come together as they have done with both Christian and Muslim religious celebrations throughout the ages. Eritreans commemorate Eid al-Adha, Eid Al-Fitr, & Ramadan of the Muslim faith, as well as Christmas and Easter, of the Christian faith, together. But these are not the only religious events that are observed together. In May, both Christians and Muslims make the annual pilgrimage to the shrine of Mariam Dearit, in Keren.

Eritrea: Where religious toleration defines the population

Pilgrimages to monasteries such as Debre Sina, Debre Libanos, Debre Bizen, and other places of worship are celebrations that are deeply incorporated into daily life and are considered to be rich with meaning. They are also incredibly diverse. The presence of antiquated monasteries and the Al-Sahaba Mosque, the first and oldest Mosque in Africa, built in 1400 AD, attest to Eritrea’s long religious history.

Whether it be honoring a patron saint or celebrating one of the many Marian devotions that exist throughout the country, Eritrea is a deeply religious nation. It is an exemplary model of harmonious religious and ethnic cultures of tolerance and respect. It is not unusual to find friends and neighbors sharing in festivities of the many patron saints. Anyone who has been to Eritrea will attest to the peaceful coexistence that exists amongst the ethnically and religiously diverse population and find it hard to reconcile the reality on the ground with the negative and often exaggerated external narratives.

New Religious Movements (NRMs), Eritrea and Issue of Religious Freedom

There have been a mushrooming of new religious movements throughout Africa and Eritrea has not been spared. These movements are a way indigenous people try to deal with change within a world that does not separate religion from the rest of life. In general, the new religious movements arise in the context of social and cultural conditions characterized by disharmonies of opportunity, status, and political and socioeconomic stress generated when a traditional culture is faced with modernization. Which factors are relatively more important is a matter of debate. Some of the new religious movements entered Eritrea during the struggle for Eritrea’s independence, many from Ethiopia and neighboring states, and their administration and development were not rooted in local tradition. As with all movements of late, it comes as no surprise that “Eritrean Faces” serve as tools to advance NRMs.

Concerns about NRMs is a global phenomenon.

Cardinal Arinze at the Cardinals Meeting, April 5, 1991 in an address at the Vatican presented the following on the emerging New Religious Movements-(NRMs):

“…They are called new not only because they showed themselves in their present form after the Second World War, but also because they present themselves as alternatives to the institutional official religions and the prevailing culture…In spite of the diversity of the NRMs and of local situations, they all raise one main pastoral problem which is the vulnerability of the faithful to proposals which are contrary to the formation they have received…Many NRMs use methods that violate the rights of other believers or religious bodies to religious freedom. They say things which are not true of others. They entice vulnerable people like young people, the poor, and the ignorant with money or other material goods, or with heavy bombardments of psychological and other pressures…”

Eritrea knows well the harm of religious fanaticism and is a nation that has had to confront both Christian and Islamic fundamentalism.

A November 1998 New York Times article by Laurie Goodstein says:

“….In 1960 more than 70 percent of all evangelical Christians were Americans, Canadians and Europeans…By 1990 the picture flipped, and 70 percent of all evangelical Christians were Africans, Asians and Latin Americans. In a mere 30 years, a ‘’born again’’ brand of Christianity has spread to countries inhabited primarily by Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Animists, resulting in some places in religious conflict and rivalry…”

While the people of Eritrea were fighting Ethiopian colonialism, there were other movements

introduced in the country. Eritrea’s independence in 1991 coincides with the rise in NRMs in Africa as well as other related global events.

In 1998, the US International Religious Freedom Act was signed into law and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom was established by the United States Congress. The act was followed by the establishment of the US International Commission for Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Another global event that affected Eritrea was the launch in 2000 of the “Joshua Project” in the United States. The stated mission was to reach “unreached groups” around the world who were “ripe for harvest”- for evangelization and conversion.

“…The Joshua Project (formerly part of AD2000) is an organization seeking to highlight the ethnic groups of the world with the least followers of evangelical Christianity. The Joshua Project maintains ethnologic data to support Christian missions and is based in Colorado Springs, United States. The project began in

1995 within the former AD2000 and Beyond Movement. From 2001 through 2005 the Joshua Project was at different times informally connected with Caleb Project, ICTA and World Help. In 2006, the Joshua Project officially became part of the U.S. Center for World Mission, now called the Venture Center…”

In Eritrea the “unreached groups” are the Afar, Bilen, Kunama, Rashaida and Saho-considered by the Joshua Project and other groups to be predominantly Moslem, and therefore were targeted for conversion. These conversions and other acts in the name of “religious freedom” are a threat to Eritrea’s peace, stability and security, as well as the population’s peaceful co-existence and it would be irresponsible of the government if it did not take appropriate action to defend its citizens.

There are two laws that govern religion in Eritrea within its statutory framework

continued on page 7

A column prepared in collaboration with the Eritrea’s culture and sports commission

The State of Eritrea submitted its first ever application to UNESCO for inscription on the World Heritage List (WHL) on 1st February 2016. Asmara was officially declared a World Heritage Site and put on the prestigious World Heritage List on the 41st session of the UNESCO´s World Heritage Committee that was held from 2-12 July 2017 in Krakow, Poland. The 1,300-page Nomination Dossier prepared for the Asmara Heritage represents the distillation of nearly two decades of collaborative research by professionals from a wide range of disciplines in Eritrea and overseas, supported by many national and international government agencies. This article summarizes the most important propositions as to why Asmara is significant as a World Heritage Site.

Eritrea’s decision to conserve Asmara’s colonial era architecture represents a profoundly different attitude towards architectural heritage and its interpretation and treatment compared with many other post-colonial settings. Asmara’s inscription also presents

Asmara: A Modernist City of Africa World Heritage Site

Fig.1 Asmara Theatre interior ©Asmara Heritage Project

Fig. 2 Boundary Map, showing the boundaries of the World Heritage Site and Buffer Zone ©Asmara Heritage Project continued on page 7


an opportunity to encourage critical reflections on cultural relations and heritage globally, and to promote stability and prosperity locally. In addition, Asmara has contributed towards a World Heritage global strategy redressing the comparative under-representation of African and modernist sites on the World Heritage List.

The Government of Eritrea has implemented several programmes and projects for the preservation, conservation and safeguarding of the nation’s cultural and natural heritage and their transmission to future generations. The Central Region Administration, the Ministry of Education and the Commission of Culture and Sports jointly initiated Asmara Heritage Project to inscribe Asmara on UNESCO – World Heritage List and prepare conservation and management documents. Eritrea’s approach towards conservation is not aimed only at getting Asmara a World Heritage Status but at preserving and conserving the rich urban heritage in a sustainable manner.

The World Heritage Site of

Asmara comprises the city’s ‘historic’ centre founded on the site of an ancient local settlement and developed during the years of the Italian occupation from 1889 to 1941. The evolution of the urban plan over this period subject to local climate, topographical,

political and cultural features has produced one of the most complete early-modernist built environments in the world. As an outcome of a cumulative planning process over decades, Asmara’s layout is an embodiment of the universal encounter with modernity in the 20th century in an African context. The site extends from the indigenous quarter of Abba Shawel in the north to the industrial and residential districts of Gejeret and Tiravolo in the south, and from the edge of the escarpment in the east to ‘Forto’ and the Italian cemetery in the west. Contained within this total urban setting are the successive phases of early-modern urban planning that defined Asmara’s layout and the majority of buildings and structures that give the city its modernist architectural character.

The Buffer Zone surrounds the nominated property and follows the urban fabric and natural features. It encompasses the city limits up to the peaks of the surrounding hill, the escarpment edge urban fabric of more recent residential zones on the city’s southern outskirts and residential developments to the north.

The modernist city of Asmara

is an outstanding example of a colonial capital that bears witness to the universal encounter with modernity in the 20th century and consequent postcolonial experiences. The historic urban landscape embodies in a whole city the unity of innovative urban planning and modernist architecture combined with local natural and cultural conditions.

An urban planning process based on functional and racial zoning demonstrates the Italian colonial response from the late 19th century to the challenges of modern urban requirements in a highland African setting. The architectural character exemplifies a period of intense development in the 1930s that coincided with the global proliferation and artistic apogee of pre-war modernism and its various forms. The result is a total urban landscape characterized by its human-scale buildings and mixed uses, built forms, and activities, including well-defined open spaces, cinemas, shops, banks, religious structures, public and private offices, industrial facilities, and residences. The integrity and authenticity of Asmara’s functional, aesthetic and cultural

5Eritrea Profile, Wednesday, September 20, 2017 Vol. 24 No. 58

Tranquility, calm, freedom from interference, serenity, law and order, harmony, non-aggression… These are words that define peace. Finding peace at an individual, societal, national and international levels can be a challenging task to achieve. When one observes international history, peace has been constantly targeted and violated for political and economic gains.

With the idea of bringing lasting peace in the world September 21st

was declared the International Day of Peace in 1981 at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). It came at a critical time during the Cold War era when there was economic recession and decolonized nations were trying to find their own path challenged by conditions of lending imposed by international financial institutions, commonly known as structural adjustment programs (SAPs), that created further hardships, inequalities and conflicts.

Is there real willingness in

the International day of peace - A reflectionpromoting international peace? Are we all equal when it comes to peace? These are questions that come into mind when thinking of peace versus war.

History is full of conquests, invasions, wars with the sole purpose of gaining more power and more wealth. According to the realist thinkers such as Waltz and Mearscheimer, the search for power and the nature of international anarchy is what influence states to go to war. The neorealist thinkers also have a similar pessimistic approach to the world by looking at the continuing violence in the Middle East, parts of Africa and Asia. In other words, “we continue to live in a world of mistrust and constant security competition” (Baylis, 2006:304).

Accordingly, it seems that the world is on one side growing towards more cooperation, living in peace, while the other part of the world doesn’t seem to be allowed to live in such harmony. What we see today is a world where those living in peace decide the fate of the others. It is a continuity of the past with the exception that it is no longer about inter-state wars but economic wars, civil unrest or violation of one’s country’s sovereign territories as it is the case of Ethiopia towards Eritrea. In fact, despite enjoying peace domestically, Eritrean sovereign territories have been occupied by Ethiopia for more than 17 years while the international community

doesn’t raise a finger on this issue. Such tensions, thus, wipe out any chances for peace and even less for cooperation.

Promoting the International Day of Peace is definitely a debatable concept. Who is benefiting from it? Have there been any changes in today’s world since its establishment? The international day proclaimed by the UN is often celebrated in areas where there is peace, where people have the chance to think further than just about survival. Peace allows states to think about education, health, transport, economic growth and culture whereas wars confine states to think about defense, death, violence, humanitarian assistance,

hunger, and refugees and the list goes on. Those conflicting aspects continue to divide the world where those living in harmony continue to decide the future of those living in constant fear.

This year’s International Day of Peace is honoring the spirit of togetherness under the theme of “Together for Peace, Respect, Safety and Dignity for All”. This slogan may signify little to their everyday lives as peace is perceived as the norm. However, the global order has brought new challenges to those who only enjoy peace with the rise of terrorism and attacks in major cities.

Wars and violence, which used to be only a matter to the “poor”, is changing its feature by coming at the doorsteps of those enjoying serenity. With about ten peacekeeping missions on the African continent alone, the emigration of African youth towards those so-called ‘peaceful’ nations, where they often become second-class citizens, is bringing the idea of international peace under a question mark. Do we actually want to create this ‘international’ peace? Isn’t war profitable to some? Actually, with the growth of the so-called “security regimes”, states cooperate to resolve security dilemma for their common interests (Jervis in Palme report 1992). This is the current state of affairs where states sit at the UN headquarters in Geneva or New York to discuss the destiny of

people living in “hostile” states. Certainly the idealist approach

of a peaceful world that the creation of the League of Nations would offer international order and a peaceful global society was good in theory. But, the reality on the ground is showing the contrary. Conflicting ideas, imposing ideologies of development to less developed countries and the endless exploitation of resources show that neo-realists are to some extent right in their assumptions that relative gains, interests and remaining in fear that some will cheat on any cooperation or agreement are shaping the state of affairs (Baylis 2006:303). What we see today is a growing modern military technology, mistrust towards not only states but also individuals due to the rise of extremism, xenophobia, religious intolerance and mechanized warfare (Meffe 2017).

At this year’s International Day of Peace it is time to reflect further if such peace is feasible today. Despite living in a more globalized order, many features of the old order continue to rule the world. The International Day of Peace has a heavy task in raising awareness of people in places where the words combat, conflict, struggle, hostility and enmity are parts of their daily lives, to be able to turn their reality to calm, harmony, security, and amity. Such a task would require a global responsibility and understanding that peace is a fundamental human right.

Mela Ghebremedhin

Disclaimer: articles published in this column do not reflect the stance or opinion of Eritrea Profile


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Maintain the “safety, health and environmental policies and •procedures.

Input data into the Met Accounting System as directed by Senior •Metallurgist.

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VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT


Asmara: A Modernist City . . .continued from page 4

values have been retained throughout a protracted struggle for independence and subsequently assimilated into a national consciousness in which Asmara features centrally.

The historic centre of Asmara is inscribed as an outstanding example of a capital city that embodies the unity of early town planning principles and modernist architecture combined with local natural features and cultural conditions consistent with its highland African setting. The site is inscribed under the following criteria:-

Criterion (ii): Asmara, a modernist city of Africa represents an outstanding example of the transposition and materialization of ideas about planning, in an African context and were used for functional and

segregation purposes; the adaptation to the local context is reflected in the urban layout and functional zoning, and in the architectural forms, which, although expressing a modernist and Rationalist idiom and exploited modern materials and techniques, also relied on and borrowed heavily from local morphologies, construction methods, materials, skills and labour. Asmara’s creation and development contributed significantly to Eritrea’s particular response to the tangible legacies of their colonial past. Despite the evidence of its colonial imprint, Asmara has been incorporated into the Eritrean identity, acquiring important meaning during the struggle for self- determination that motivated early efforts for its protection.

Criterion (iv): Asmara’s urban layout and character, in combining the orthogonal grid with radial street patterns, and picturesque elements, integrating topographical features, taking into account local cultural

conditions created by different ethnic and religious groups, and using the principle of zoning for achieving racial segregation and functional organisation, bears exceptional witness to the development of the new discipline of urban planning at the beginning of the 20th century and its application in an African context, to serve the Italian colonial agenda. This hybrid plan, that combined the functional approach of the grid with the search for the picturesque and the creation of scenic spaces, vistas, civic plaza and monumental places, served the functional, civic and symbolic requirements for a colonial capital. The architecture of Asmara complements the plan and forms a coherent whole although reflecting eclecticism and rationalist idioms and is one of the most complete and intact collections of modernist/rationalist architecture in the world.

Asmara’s inclusion on UNESCO - World Heritage List for its outstanding modernist

architecture and urban planning and its exceptional testimony of the universal aspiration for and attainment of national self-determination goes beyond merely pursuing international recognition for its cultural assets. For Eritreans, Asmara is not just their capital city but an object of love; an icon of unity with a very strong social bondage and attachment. This intangible cultural aspect of Asmara’s is significant not only for world heritage listing but as part of a wider and richer historiography than merely a modernist architecture and planning.

This article highlighted the significance of Asmara Heritage property as a World Heritage Site. In the next edition of this column a glimpse into the history of the development of the urban landscape will be sketched.

Article prepared by Asmara Heritage Project (AHP)

of secularism. Unfortunately, both have been grossly misrepresented by anti-Eritrea elements who believe they can advance political agendas using religion as a pretext. Proclamation No. 73/1995, primarily designed to legally standardize and articulate religious institutions and activities, clearly states the following:

“…Religions and religious institutions must not undertake any political activities with or against the government by launching political campaign, preaches against government politics, or issue publications and broadcast on any political issue… Religions and religious institutions, which do not comply with the law, and interfere directly or indirectly with government politic through campaigns and mobilizations and create public unrest or cause hostility or offence among different religions or nationals, are legally liable…Religions and religious institutions shall not act as agents of foreign governments and government institutions in providing aid and social services… All activities of religions and religious institutions shall have transparency and accountability…etc. etc.”

Proclamation No. 127/2002 provides for the Requirement of Registration of Foreigners who reside, work or engage in Business in Eritrea is also very clear and straightforward. It states:

“…Any foreigner who resides, works or engages in business in Eritrea shall

Eritrea: Where religious . . ,at the beginning of the first month of every year be duly registered with the Ministry of Labor and Human Welfare…No foreigner who fails to fulfill the obligations laid down in sub-article (1) hereof may be issued a resident permit or work permit, or a business license…”

Instead of obeying Eritrea’s laws, some groups and individuals aligned with western NGOs chose to put pressure on the Eritrean government to rescind the proclamations and allow the NRMS and their sponsors’ free reign in Eritrea. The youth, especially the educated sector became primary targets. NRMs have put a strain on family ties and threatened to erode the authority and cultural relations with established religious institutions in the country. Some individuals and groups mobilized US based churches to advocate on their behalf. So it comes as no surprise to see institutions such as the US based Baptist Ministries, which has no presence in Eritrea ( there are no Baptists in the country), contributing to the reports produced by the Special Rapporteur on Eritrea at the UN Human Rights Council.

Cyberspace remains littered with anti-Eritrea reports churned out by these groups and their pervasive networks which include groups such as Release International, Open Doors, Voice of the Martyrs and other “Christian” organizations. It should be recalled that Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) and Strategic World Impact (SWI), these two USAID contractors in Eritrea, produced the bulk of the accusations against Eritrea. It is amazing how a handful of “informants” can rubbish a country’s impeccable reputation, as seen in the WikiLeaks American Embassy cables,

where Embassy informants, including pastors, told US officials what they wanted to hear. Not surprisingly, some of the informants, including the God fearing pastors, were removed from the country as soon as the cables were released. It will take more than a sitting to go through the barrage of assaults on Eritrea’s culture of ethnic and religious cultures by the above organizations. Suffice it to mention a few.

Eritrea has been the target of a huge enterprise – a “network” of organizations, individuals, and churches, which have used “religious freedom” as a pretext to infringe on its sovereign rights. They include church groups such as the Baptist Ministries, government bodies, such as the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), think tanks, academics and related organizations in the vast “Christian networks”, such as Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, the Voice of the Martyrs, Strategic World Impact, Good Samaritan etc. etc. While there have been many campaigns to undermine Eritrea’s development and progress, the one targeting Eritrea’s religious institutions has been the most insidious and most difficult.

From smuggling bibles into countries, supporting the formation of underground churches, promoting conversions and civil disobedience in what they consider to be the “Moslem Rim” in the 10/40 Window-these extreme fundamentalist Christian groups have wreaked havoc and instigated religious conflicts around the world. In Eritrea, the Eritrean Orthodox Church remains their primary target, but none of the other long established religious institutions are immune. The proliferation

of NRMs in Africa has given rise to religious intolerance as some NRMs try to force sovereign countries to accept them as legitimate religious organizations. While some comply with national laws, others refuse to do so. Worse are the politically motivated groups and individuals who insist on denigrating Eritrea’s religious cultures at international forums.

Since its inception, the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has been heavily influenced by these networks as its reports on Eritrea have been a replica of what is disseminated almost on a daily bases by US based organizations. The flurry of religious media alerts, about a country and people they have very little knowledge of, but through some sense of “Christian Solidarity”, have been unprecedented. Emboldened by anti-Eritrea political climate in the United States and Europe, these networks have joined the anti-Eritrea campaigns using “religious freedom” as a pretext. USCIRF’s recommendations to place Eritrea on the list of “Countries of Particular Concern” for the last 12 years attest to the political motivations behind the list.

There is nothing in Eritrea that warrants such concerns. Eritrea remains a strong, religious country where all citizens, no matter their faith, live in harmony. The cultured and conscious people of Eritrea will not allow religious charlatans to prey on the vulnerable… In Eritrea, everyone has the right to practice one’s faith, but that right does not extend to the imposition of “your faith” on others or harm others with impunity, and claim a religious privilege to do so.

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A bridge Between the Hearing and the Deaf!Asmait Futsumbrhan

Welcome home Prof. It is nice to have you back.

Thank you.

Would you please take us back to the times, when you lost your hearing at a young age?

It happened when I was just a 13 year old boy. I lost my hearing after I was diagnosed with malaria. I think of it as a blessing in disguise because through my defenses I learned how other people lived without hearing. I became more sensitive and more compassionate about others. May be God wanted me to lose my hearing so that I can understand others. Over the years I leaned that hearing problem cannot be considered as a handicap but as a challenge. It is a challenge. I had to fight and I developed a strength in struggling to fit in. However, when one faces a challenge of living with deafness people’s perception changes. I accepted what I cannot change. But the problem was with the people. I see myself not as a deaf person. I am not completely deaf, so I see myself as a bridge between the hearing and the deaf world. I am settled now. I feel comfortable around people, you know why?

No, why?

It is funny, because all the people in my age have hearing problems now. This time it is not only me. Life is very funny sometimes. Anyways,

We have with us a man of so many inspirations and so much more. Life has showed him so many faces and challenges since his young age. After losing his hearing, Professor Haile Bokure created his own world inside the books of great writers and poets. He also managed to create a great world in literature, contributing many books of translation and original works including poems. He is a writer and was able to contribute the first computer written book to the country. Fully understanding the value of education, Prof. Haile went the great length and earned his educational honors at various universities of America.

We are honored to have a talk with Prof. Haile Bokure during his visit home town after a long time.

the encounters I faced during my young age influenced me to channel my energy to reading and translating books.

The Shakespeare translations?

I got an old book from the brother of my friend, it was the Shakespeare tales. When I read I felt like it related to my life. As I said books became my friends after I lost my hearing. I was only a 9th grader at the time. I translated the book to Tigrigna but didn’t have the money to publish it. But I was lucky enough to have it made to a stage drama at today’s Keigh-Bahri Secondary School. The money I collected from the show wasn’t enough to publish the book but it was enough for me to get a bus ticket to Addis Ababa.

You went to high school with students who didn’t have a hearing problem?

Yes, which was very challenging for me. Most of the time I wasn’t following. Almost 90% I depended on my books. There wasn’t a secondary school for the hearing impaired. Books were my teachers. My struggle to learn on my own helped me to be a hard worker and more creative. That is how I finished my high school and went to Addis after my Matriculation exams.

How was life out of home?

In Addis I worked at a United Abilities Company, it was a company that hired people who were physically disabled. The idea was to raise awareness of the society because everyone had an opinion that people with disabilities could not function. The company’s goal was to show every one that those visually impaired and hearing impaired could equally be employed and be a great service. I worked there for a long time as an assistant personal and counselor. At the same time I was able to work as a general secretary of the Ethiopian Association for the deaf for seven years. However, after my work experience I applied to the Gallaudet University for the deaf. It is a university established by Abraham Lincoln and is fully supported by the federal government. I had a high score to get into the University and I had a full scholarship. Unfortunately my travel expense was not covered.

Luckily, I had a friend of mine who asked the national association in Sweden and collected money which covered my travel expenses to the United States. I got my Social Work and Sociology BA degree and did my Master’s on Vocational Rehabilitation of the Deaf. Also, I went to the American University where I was a third year doctoral student but couldn’t finish my studies due to some problems. Since then, I have been working in different levels of schools for the hearing imapred.

Let’s talk about one of the books you have translated, Eritrea ab zemene Bahre Negestat.

I read the book when I was in Addis. When it was written in Amharic it was very selective and I felt like it was short on the information it had. The Ethiopian writers didn’t want to let our people know that it was our kings who used to rule the Red-Sea; they were very selective with what they were translating. That is why I wanted to translate it to Tigrigna, trying to include all the information. I found the book again when I was studying research library at the America University. I was so emotional to know that almost all the first chapters of the book were about Eritrea. I had challenges of course as there were lack of computers at that time. I stayed overnight to use the computers at my university when everyone went to sleep and I typed for the whole night.

I wanted to translate the book because, when I read the book I was shocked to find out how many animals and forests Eritrea used to have. I wanted for my people to know their history. For instance Dubarwa is a beautiful city which used to have thousands of kinds of animals. It really inspired me to write. People used to say that the history of Eritrea did only start to be written just after the Italians came here but it’s wrong. Here was the book which was written about us centuries ago. And many

were inspired to write and translate books regarding our histories.

The first computer-written book, which probably might be the first in the eastern Africa, happens to be yours?

Yes. Tintawi Wege’n Bahln Eritrea, it is a translation I made when I was a student at the American University. It included various stories and poems from different ethnic groups. The director of RICE (Research and Information Centre of Eritrea) Dr. Araia Tsegai published it in 1997. That was my debut to the world of literature.

Why do you write, Prof?

Life is a beautiful journey. It’s a mix of different contrary feelings. And I write to express the beauty of life. Everything excites me. I try to tell people stories through my poems. I am very happy when I write. Also, I speak many languages: Tigrigna, Geez, English, Amharic, Italian, German, Spanish, French and Sign language. These languages help me to translate different books. I have almost over 30 translated and original published books. One of my books is about the challenges the deaf people go through and its solutions, which I contributed to the Eritrean Association for the deaf. Also there are eight books on the making. We have established an organization, Eritrean Hearing and Visually Impaired. It is an organization established by a group of Eritreans who are concerned about the disabled and try to help out with technologies which can be useful to the schools.

About your personal life.

I am married and have two beautiful twin daughters. Life has been challenging to them as well, since my wife is deaf too. They are all grownups now and I am very satisfied with my life.

Thank you for having us.

Documents

Vol. 24 No. 58 Wednesday, September 20, 2017 Pages 8 ...50.7.16.234/hadas-eritrea/eritrea_profile_20092017.pdf · China, Taiwan, Macedonia and, most recently, Kenya and Sri Lanka