Category: Entertainment

World Day of Hand Wash was observed at the regional level in the port city of Massawa, Northern Red Sea Region, on 15 October.

At the event organized by the Ministries of Education and health, Mr. Ismail Saleh, head of educational facilities in the region, said that washing hands has a vital contribution in preventing communicable diseases and that the awareness-raising activities conducted in schools to that effect have registered commendable result.

Mr. Berhane Alemseged, head of the Ministry of Health branch in the region, also said that the objective of the Day is to boost societal awareness on the importance of handwashing as well as environmental sanitation in the prevention of the prevalence of communicable diseases and called for reinforced participation of the public to that effort.

Mr. Haile Asfaha, administrator of Massawa city, on his part said that washing hand is the easiest means of prevention the prevalence of communicable diseases and expressed appreciation to those that organized the event.

The event was highlighted with a general knowledge contest between students from four schools.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

World Food Day and International Day for the Eradication of Poverty was commemorated today, 15 October at the premises of the Ministry of Agriculture under the theme “Our Actions are Our Future”.

At the event in which Ministers, representatives of UN Institutions in Eritrea, as well as exemplary farmers took part, Mr. Arefaine Berhe, Minister of Agriculture, said that as Eritrea is found in the Sahel region, lack of water is the main limiting factor for food production and that the number one priority of the Government is to implement soil and water conservation programs both on and off-farm.

Accordingly, Minister Arefaine went on to say that in the past 30 years the Government of Eritrea has constructed numerous dams of various sizes mainly for irrigation and has made substantial investment for expanding modified rain-fed agriculture and spate irrigation in the eastern and western lowlands.

Minister Arefaine also said that with a view to increase production and productivity, the government is assisting small holder farmers as well as small and medium scale commercial farmers through introduction of high yielding varieties, pressurized irrigation technologies renewable energy, plastic tunnels or small green houses and mechanization to produce not only primary products but also value added ones.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Saeed Bancie, FAO Representative in Eritrea, said that at the 42nd Session of the FAO Conference` that was held in June of this year member states endorsed the new FAO Strategic Framework 2022-2031 setting out the Organization’s Roadmap to support the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development through the transformation of more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind.

The UNDP Resident Representative in Eritrea, Mr. James Wakiaga on his part, stating that reducing poverty and addressing food insecurity are key policy areas for any government in the process of building forward better, commended the Government of Eritrea’s commitment of addressing food and nutrition security to enhance socio-economic development and social justice, which are key cornerstones of Eritrea’s development agenda.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

Facebook was used to spread disinformation about the Rohingya, the Muslim ethnic minority in Myanmar, and in 2018 the company began to delete posts, accounts and other content it determined were part of a campaign to incite violence.

That deleted but stored data is at issue in a case in the United States over whether Facebook should release the information as part of a claim in international court.

Facebook this week objected to part of a U.S. magistrate judge’s order that could have an impact on how much data internet companies must turn over to investigators examining the role social media played in a variety of international incidents, from the 2017 Rohingya genocide in Myanmar to the 2021 Capitol riot in Washington.

The judge ruled last month that Facebook had to give information about these deleted accounts to Gambia, the West African nation, which is pursuing a case in the International Court of Justice against Myanmar, seeking to hold the Asian nation responsible for the crime of genocide against the Rohingya.

But in its filing Wednesday, Facebook said the judge’s order “creates grave human rights concerns of its own, leaving internet users’ private content unprotected and thereby susceptible to disclosure — at a provider’s whim — to private litigants, foreign governments, law enforcement, or anyone else.”

The company said it was not challenging the order when it comes to public information from the accounts, groups and pages it has preserved. It objects to providing “non-public information.” If the order is allowed to stand, it would “impair critical privacy and freedom of expression rights for internet users — not just Facebook users — worldwide, including Americans,” the company said.

Facebook has argued that providing the deleted posts is in violation of U.S. privacy, citing the Stored Communications Act, the 35-year-old law that established privacy protections in electronic communication.

Deleted content protected?

In his September decision, U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui said that once content is deleted from an online service, it is no longer protected.

Paul Reichler, a lawyer for Gambia, told VOA that Facebook’s concern about privacy is misplaced.

“Would Hitler have privacy rights that should be protected?” Reichler said in an interview with VOA. “The generals in Myanmar ordered the destruction of a race of people. Should Facebook’s business interests in holding itself out as protecting the privacy rights of these Hitlers prevail over the pursuit of justice?”

But Orin Kerr, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said on Twitter that the judge’s ruling erred and that the implication of the ruling is that “if a provider moderates contents, all private messages and emails deleted can be freely disclosed and are no longer private.”

The 2017 military crackdown on the Rohingya resulted in more than 700,000 people fleeing their homes to escape mass killings and rapes, a crisis that the United States has called “ethnic cleansing.”

‘Coordinated inauthentic behavior’

Human rights advocates say Facebook had been used for years by Myanmar officials to set the stage for the crimes against the Rohingya.

Frances Haugen, the former Facebook employee who testified about the company in Congress last week, said Facebook’s focus on keeping users engaged on its site contributed to “literally fanning ethnic violence” in countries.

In 2018, Facebook deleted and banned accounts of key individuals, including the commander in chief of Myanmar’s armed forces and the military’s television network, as well as 438 pages, 17 groups and 160 Facebook and Instagram accounts — what the company called “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” The company estimated 12 million people in Myanmar, a nation of 54 million, followed these accounts.

Facebook commissioned an independent human rights study of its role that concluded that prior to 2018, it indeed failed to prevent its service “from being used to foment division and incite offline violence.”

Facebook kept the data on what it deleted for its own forensic analysis, the company told the court.

The case comes at a time when law enforcement and governments worldwide increasingly seek information from technology companies about the vast amount of data they collect on users.

Companies have long cited privacy concerns to protect themselves, said Ari Waldman, a professor of law and computer science at Northeastern University. What’s new is the vast quantity of data that companies now collect, a treasure trove for investigators, law enforcement and government.

“Private companies have untold amounts of data based on the commodification of what we do,” Waldman said.

Privacy rights should always be balanced with other laws and concerns, such as the pursuit of justice, he added.

Facebook working with the IIMM

In August 2020, Facebook confirmed that it was working with the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), a United Nations-backed group that is investigating Myanmar. The U.N. Human Rights Council established the IIMM, or “Myanmar Mechanism,” in September 2018 to collect evidence of the country’s most serious international crimes.

Recently, IIMM told VOA it has been meeting regularly with Facebook employees to gain access to information on the social media network related to its ongoing investigations in the country.

A spokesperson for IIMM told VOA’s Burmese Service that Facebook “has agreed to voluntarily provide some, but not all, of the material the Mechanism has requested.”

IIMM head Nicholas Koumjian wrote to VOA that the group is seeking material from Facebook “that we believe is relevant to proving criminal responsibility for serious international crimes committed in Myanmar that fall within our mandate.”

Facebook told VOA in an email it is cooperating with the U.N. Myanmar investigators.

“We’ve committed to disclose relevant information to authorities, and over the past year we’ve made voluntary, lawful disclosures to the IIMM and will continue to do so as the case against Myanmar proceeds,” the spokesperson wrote. The company has made what it calls “12 lawful data disclosures” to the IIMM but didn’t provide details.

Human rights activists are frustrated that Facebook is not doing more to crack down on bad actors who are spreading hate and disinformation on the site.

“Look, I think there are many people at Facebook who want to do the right thing here, and they are working pretty hard,” said Phil Robertson, who covers Asia for Human Rights Watch. “But the reality is, they still need to escalate their efforts. I think that Facebook is more aware of the problems, but it’s also in part because so many people are telling them that they need to do better.”

Matthew Smith of the human rights organization Fortify Rights, which closely tracked the ethnic cleansing campaign in Myanmar, said the company’s business success indicates it could do a better job of identifying harmful content.

“Given the company’s own business model of having this massive capacity to deal with massive amounts of data in a coherent and productive way, it stands to reason that the company would absolutely be able to understand and sift through the data points that could be actionable,” Smith said.

Gambia has until later this month to respond to Facebook’s objections.

Source: Voice of America

It is home to natural resources including a variety of marine species, incredible landscape, clear and unpolluted seashore, archaeological sites, infrastructure wonders, forestry, wildlife, and more and more. Every rock, every village, and every single place has its own history to tell and magnificence to provide to any lucky individual who visits, but even the lifetime of a man is not enough to study every single place in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea.

The region stretches 600 kilometers along the coastal line, and around 450 kilometers inland, a total area of 34,236 square kilometers with every single place of history and scenic beauty. Today, I would like to give you an overview of some select places in the region.

The expedition began from the port city of Massawa, capital of the region, and made its way to the very cradle of Homo sapiens, the Buya area located on the tip of the East African rift valley, around 110 kilometers from Massawa. This is the area where a 1.4 million-year-old Human Cranium of the Homo erectus family that was later identified as remains of a young lady was excavated. From archaeological studies, by local experts from the National Museum of Eritrea and foreign researchers, the skull of the early human remain was unique from the other findings of other corners of the world because it still possesses the full facial feature of the ‘Buya Woman’, and it is believed to have filled the missing link in those transition era.

Buya is also an example of uniquely preserved relics of one up to two million years old stone tools, a large number of fossilized bones of extinct animals, and others. The achulian stone tools are abundant once you lay foot on the Dandero valley of Buya and the very place where the human cranium was found is still preserved, but the actual finding was moved to the National Museum of Eritrea.

The inhabitants of Buya received the visiting group with a warm welcome, and most interesting of all, the banners they were holding signified how well-informed they are in regards to the archaeological importance of their district and reflect how attached they are with the finding of the human cranium and how important it is for Buya to be an area where the very first humans originated.

Crossing the village of Buya, we made our way to the South-Eastern part of the region to finish the first day of the expedition in the sub-zone of Gel’alo. Before going to the destination, however, another archaeological site and of very high significance had to be visited; Abdur, a coastal site that may be the first place where man discovered the possibilities of marine resources.

This site is located on the eastern edge of the Gulf of Zula. The 125,000 years old stone tools discovered within the uplifted marine terraces along this coastline of Eritrea at the Abdur archaeological site show the earliest well-dated evidence of human occupation of the coastal marine environment.

The smooth road that mostly runs side by side with the clear coastal water and sand made the expedition extraordinary. To make matters even more trilling a family of ostriches with around fifty newly born marched crossing the road to the sea as if they were deliberately performing a march to welcome the group.

The second day was yet another very long day but of course full of adventures. As if chronologically sorted, day one started from the early pre-history of man up to where the first sea daring humans originated. The tour, as well as the history of the area, continues from there onwards.

Adulis, is a place of high archaeological importance and an ancient port city, which may be one of the oldest civilizations of the world. Located 56 kilometers from Massawa, archaeological findings in the ancient port city of Adulis show that it existed around 2000 BC and became a major port around 240 BC. The ancient port city reached its apex of prosperity and influence from 100-700 AD. Adulis was a famous port harboring many ships at one time and facilitated the transportation of raw materials from the African hinterland to the Arabian land, India and China, and vice versa.

Another harbor, just a few kilometers from the town of Gelalo is Marsa Fatuma. Standing remains of contemporary history from the Italian colonial era make this harbor worth visiting. Historical references date the rise of Marsa Fatuma as one of the main harbors of the Italian colonizers from the early 20th century.

The expedition continued to explore more and enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way. Sunrise in the region is by itself something many people would only see on postcards and to make the tour even more adventurous, the hotel we were staying in was located only a few meters from the sea. By the sides of the road around Erafaile, remains of centuries-old walls stand still narrating the history of the people of the area and their bravery to protect their land from warlords who continuously raided the area to find a Seagate.

After driving in the dusty roads around the Burea peninsula towards the tip to visit a village called Engel, the clear seashore and shimmering crystal clear coastal sands welcome you from afar. By then, it is impossible to feel any exhaustion from the long hours of drive. Most interesting of all, the cultural diversity of the ethnic groups that inhabit the area and their genuine welcoming nature, accompanied by their unique drum beats and their dancing styles, and of course the fresh seafood they provide is indeed another significant factor that makes one stay as long as possible. By far, unpolluted sea and unpolluted people would define this specific section.

The people in the region value the presence of guests and as such accorded the visiting crew with a warm welcome wherever we went. Not only was that the food they served which reflected the rich fish resource of the Red Sea in all the places we visited, was exquisite. We couldn’t stop admiring the people wherever we went; it was like a cooking competition amongst the inhabitants. Every meal served included a variety of fish and cuisine.

Zula is another historical place in the region just a couple of kilometers from the ancient port city of Adulis. Like the other parts of the region, a herd of ostriches on both sides of the road accompanied us until they reached the outskirts of the town located on the Red Sea coast. Upon arrival, the inhabitants of the area received us with face-melting drumbeats of the predominant settlers of the Town; the Tigre, Saho, and Rashaida ethnic groups. To our surprise, each ethnic group has its own style of beats but the sound of all didn’t interfere. On the other hand, they made a perfect harmony that pleased the ears of the entire group.

After almost two hours of lunch rest and breathtaking sea breeze, we made our way for yet another adventure in the port city of Massawa, the region’s capital. But before that, I forgot to mention the natural hot springs on the way to Erafaile. Many people consider it a place where nature heals nerve problems. All you need is a blanket to wrap yourself with and sit over those holes scattered abundantly all the way and receive natural steam from beneath.

After almost two and half hours, we reached the port city of Massawa, an old and modern city. The city as a whole is a blend of Arabic architecture that mostly is related to the Turks and Egyptians as well as some monumental Italian touches. The Architectural splendor of the city by itself needs an entire story to tell, but the main purpose of the visit then was to see what could be the oldest mosque in Africa.

It is called the Sahaba, which means the followers of Mohammed. It was built at around 615 A.D when the first fleeing companions of Mohammed reached on this side of the Red Sea. It is said that the mosque could have been constructed after the followers of Mohammed seek sanctuary in a land across the Red Sea, which according to various historical evidence could be Massawa. As a matter of fact, various other evidence that could underpin this evidence is abundant in various parts of the region.

Towards the east of Massawa, somewhere around five kilometers by the sea, there is an Island called Sheik Seid, which is commonly known as the Green Island. Sheik Seid is a name, which signifies the existence of an ancient mosque on the small Island, while the Green Island could be related to the green view the island provides from afar due to the range of mangrove trees.

According to marine resource experts, the island is a haven for various marine species that includes a place of hatching for sea turtles. Furthermore, the location of the island controls the natural flyway of various bird species from Europe to Africa and the other way round.

Apart from the historical and architectural wonders, Massawa is endowed with, the port city is also a land of bravery and a gateway for the total liberation of Eritrea. Many battles were fought there and miracles were made by the valiant liberation fighters, but the story of resilience in Massawa and Nakfa, the stronghold of the Eritrean Liberation Struggle, will be covered in our next edition.

Just a couple of kilometers from the area is an Island called Delleme. We had to use small local boats to cross the sea. The Island was used by the Italians to control the channel that goes from the Northern part of the Red Sea to the south. Ruins of the walls that were used by the Italians and heavy artilleries are still there on the Island.

From the other end of the Island, the beautiful sound of the sea wave smashing against the cliffs immediately caught everyone’s attention as if it was deliberately calling us to enjoy the beauty and power of nature. The mangrove trees surrounding most of the Islands around the area also provide them a magnificent scenic beauty and cooler breeze.

There is nothing to leave in the area except footprints, because it would ruin the site, and of course nothing to take except photos. It is like driving on pages of history engraved by nature itself. The tour in the Northern Red Sea region doesn’t end here, there is more to tell and more to enjoy.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

This year’s Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah for his body of work detailing the refugee experience and how colonialism shaped African culture.

At a news conference at the Swedish Academy’s headquarters in Stockholm, Permanent Secretary Mats Helm said Gurnah received the award for “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents.”

Gurnah, born in 1948 and raised on the island of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean, arrived in England as a refugee himself in the late 1960’s. He has published ten novels and a number of short stories.

In its statement, the academy said, “In Gurnah’s literary universe, everything is shifting – memories, names, identities. An unending exploration driven by intellectual passion is present in all his books.” The statement said that quality is as evident in his latest novel, 2020’s “Afterlives,” which he began writing as a 21-year-old refugee.

The academy went on to say Gurnah’s writing is “striking” for its dedication to truth and “his aversion to simplification. His novels recoil from stereotypical descriptions and open our gaze to a culturally diversified East Africa unfamiliar to many in other parts of the world.”

Gurnah will receive a $1.1 million cash prize, but for writers, the prize also adds prestige and publicity by exposing their work to much wider audience.

The Nobel Prizes for medicine, physics and chemistry were awarded earlier this week, with the Peace Prize to be awarded Friday, and economics on Monday.

The awards will all be formally presented in December. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the academy announced this year’s ceremony will be a mixture of digital and physical events. Laureates will receive their Nobel Prize medals and diplomas in their home countries.

Source: Voice of America

When I first watched the Hollywood-produced movie, ‘Girls’ Trip’, I and many friends of mine were convinced that if we ever get to organize a trip, the only way to do it was the same as it was portrayed in the movie. Recently though, I had the chance to take part in a trip organized by the National Union of Eritrean Women (NUEW), which ultimately made me believe that the Eritrean way of girls’ trip is more meaningful and memorable.

Eritrea is a nation known for its hard-earned independence and its policy of self-reliance. For many years, its path to development has been halted by different circumstances and its policy of self-reliance was always debatable, yet it never failed to showcase the result of its fortitude and that trip was the reflection of that policy and the final answer to the debate.

The trip began from the NUEW headquarters in Asmara with 30 members who are part of a program called equality of gender. The first destination of the trip was Halhale Agricultural Dairy Farm. Mr. Tekle Legese, production manager of dairy and dairy products gave us a tour of the farm and introduced us to the pilot project in a detailed manner. The project was initiated targeting various objectives that are aimed at introducing advanced dairy processing systems to the country, supplying quality and cost-effective products in addition to exporting dairy and dairy products to foreign markets.

What has been achieved so far is commendable which can be seen from the modern milking machines that have a capacity of milking 60 cows at a time, which in turn is expected to ease challenges of milking and creating comfort, and bringing about much productivity. The milking machine is very advanced and is managed with chips and transponders which helps in uniquely identifying cows that are in heat, that is sick, and thus under veterinary treatment as well as in testing viscidity of the milk, and above all unregistered cows would not be milked by the machine.

The milk is tested for its quality and goes to the processing machine. While the infrastructural capacity has been expanded to accommodate more and more dairy cows, the center has also been empowered with human resources and is now ready to be expanded to other areas of the country. Besides, more graduates have gained the required technical know-how that enables them to run similar projects independently. The manure of the dairy cows is daily collected and used as compost to give additional fertility to the animal feed farms in Halhale and Adi-halo as well as Adi-Guadad.

The next destination was to Mslam Dam, located in the village of Gergera. The area around the dam is known for its beautiful scenery and marble statues depicting the story of the revolutionary struggle of Eritrea, which makes you realize the importance of our armed struggle and how far we have come and accomplished.

After Gergera, we headed to Mendefera sub-zone, where we enjoyed a warm welcome by the NUEW branch there and according to the program they planned we were directed to head to the sanitary pad factory. When we reached the factory, we were briefed by Mr. Daniel Habte, an electrical engineer and machine operator at the factory. He began his briefing by explaining how the pad factory was formed and its development till now.

The first Eritrean sanitary pad factory was formed in the early 1970s at a place called Fah by the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) during the armed struggle with special help from Eritrean women in Italy and a special purpose of supplying the female fighters. After independence, the machine was brought to Mendefera and has been functioning till recent years, and with the help of the Eritrean women living in Italy, the factory was later equipped with new and upgraded machines. Also, the quality of the product has been standardized with the international market thanks to the introduction of the new machines.

The final destination was a tour to the beautiful building headquarters of the NUEW branch in the region and by the end of the day, the members of the equality of gender program shared their experience with the members of Mendefera NUEW.

In the words of the equality of gender program members: Lidya Amanuel, the political science graduate, currently working at the ministry of foreign affairs stated that she has been a member of that program since 2019, and added, “The main goal of the program is to empower women, conduct research on the main problems of women and enlighten the younger generation on the life of different working women in different ministries. However, this trip was organized to broaden our knowledge on the development of our nation”.

The trip was refreshing and to actually witness what I always watched on the media was fascinating, especially the fact that the park was designed and constructed by local experts made me proud. The new sanitary pad factory gave me hope for a cheaper product. Overall the trip gave me a glimpse of our country’s path for development. Hence, I advise organizations, groups, and even friends to head on this eye-opening trip.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

Burkina Faso has been making headlines for an Islamist insurgency that has created one of the world’s fastest growing humanitarian crises. But one man is showcasing what the country has to offer beyond conflict with a group he created called “Burkina Faso est Chic” (Burkina Faso is Chic).

Since conflict began six years ago, tourists in Burkina Faso have become a rare sight. The U.S. State Department advises against all travel to the country due to the risk of terrorism, kidnapping and crime.

Ben Nombre, a local web developer, is doing what he can to turn the tide on the country’s image and showcase the good the country has to offer.

“Burkina Faso est Chic” was an idea he came up with in 2019, says Nombre. When he started to notice the number of [terrorist] attacks he saw that Burkina Faso’s image was being tarnished. He points out that for a long time, Burkina Faso was a country where there were a lot of tourists coming in, before many of them were lost in recent years.

“Burkina Faso est Chic’s” Facebook page has attracted almost 24,000 followers. It posts regularly, highlighting a range of topics from lively nightspots to nature and wildlife.

The West African country has a rich equestrian heritage, but one local business that had catered to tourists wishing to ride horses is struggling, says the owner, Siaka Gnanou.

“It’s been affected a lot, it’s been affected a lot since 2016. It’s like, you see, at one time in such moments here it was full of people but since the terrorism it’s affected a lot,” Gnanou said.

The government says that as international tourist numbers have dropped, they are looking at aiding businesses in the tourism industry.

Élise Foniyama Ilboudo Thiombiano, Burkina Faso’s minister of culture, arts and tourism, says “we had a lot of money coming in from tourism, but we saw a considerable drop of more than 28% of that income. So there was a negative impact, at least at the beginning.” Now, she says, it is necessary to develop domestic tourism instead of foreign tourism.

Phillipe Yameogo, the manager of Squash Time, a recently opened club, which offers visitors the chance to play squash before drinks and dancing, says that when Nombre made a post about the club on “Burkina Faso est Chic,” it transformed their business.

He says it boosted their business to the point where they were forced to turn people away on the weekends. They are now in the process of extending the building to accommodate more people because they were so overwhelmed. “I really take my hat off to Mr. Ben,” says Yameogo.

Even in the midst of conflict, some aspects of Burkina Faso still thrive.

Source: Voice of America