Category: Politics

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri in Cairo Sunday for talks focusing on efforts to end the Ukraine crisis, moves to resume grain exports from Russia and Ukraine, joint trade agreements, regional conflicts and a nuclear power plant which Russia has begun to build on Egypt’s north coast.

The first leg of Lavrov’s Africa visit, Cairo, centered on major issues facing Russia and Egypt, on both the economic and political fronts. Both countries do between $4 and $5 billion in annual trade and the Ukraine conflict and COVID-19 have caused disruptions to tourism, grain sales and energy exports.

Lavrov and Shukri indicated in a joint press conference Sunday that both sides were working to overcome issues of mutual concern:

Shukri said that the Ukraine conflict has affected Egypt’s food security, its energy needs, its trade with the outside world and created inflation and supply chain issues that need to be resolved.

Shukri went on to say that Egypt “would like to see a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine conflict based on common sense and dialogue,” and “ending military hostilities and settling political differences.”

Egyptian political sociologist Said Sadek told VOA that he thinks that visits this past week by President el-Sissi to France and Germany may have been part of an effort to mediate a diplomatic solution between Russia and Ukraine.

“I think that the visit by [el-]Sissi to Europe had to do with mediating the Ukrainian crisis, regardless of what the [cover story] may be, because if you look, he went to Germany and France. They are the ones leading Europe regarding the Ukraine crisis — after the Americans, of course — and Serbia, which is very close to the Russians.”

Lavrov, for his part, noted that he had discussed “putting a speedy end” to the Ukraine conflict with el-Sissi and all the factors involved in doing so. His comments came as Russia continues its attacks in Ukraine.

Lavrov said that Russia appreciates the speedy search for a peaceful settlement, taking into account the fundamental legitimate interests of all participants in the process, in the context of building a sustainable European security architecture on a fair basis.

Egypt’s Dabbah nuclear power plant, on which Russia recently began construction, was also reportedly a major topic of discussion between Lavrov and his hosts. Russia’s Rosatom is building the plant.

Middle East energy analyst Paul Sullivan, who is with the Washington-based Atlantic Council think tank, told VOA that “nuclear power plants give the building country, in this case Russia, 80 to 100 years of leverage in the receiving country.” He added that “Russia and China dominate the export of nuclear power plants… [which] is a great source of political, diplomatic and economic power for both countries.”

Lavrov is also expected to visit Ethiopia, where Egypt is hoping that he raises the subject of the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Cairo worries will affect the quantity of water it receives on the Nile from the dam. Ethiopia – a nation of more than 110 million people – has said it needs the power from the dam for its development.

Source: Voice of America

The National Union of Eritrean Women organized two weeks training on leadership to 80 members from various Government institutions as well as board members of the National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students and National Union of Eritrea Women.

The training was provided by Dr. Haile Neguse, Eritrean expert residing in the US.

Speaking at the concluding event of the training held on 23 July, Ms. Tekea Tesfamicael, President of the National Union of Eritrean Women, said that the training was part of the effort the national union has been exerting to develop the capacity of women.

The trainees on their part commending for the opportunity they were provided called for the sustainability of the program.

Similarly, the National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students organized training on social science to 99 high school students including 55 female from all sub-zones in Anseba Region.

The training that was provided from 14 to 22 July included political and ideological concept, philosophy and religion, youth and national service, National Charter, nation and nationalism, youth and environmental conservation, as well as information technology.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Azazi Bereketeab, head of the union branch in the region, called on the trainees to apply the training they were provided in the nation building process.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea

Moving home is stressful for anyone — and rhinoceroses are no exception.

Vets in South Africa have just transferred more than 30 orphaned young rhinos to a sanctuary designed to keep the animals safe from poachers who killed their mothers.

The move took six weeks and required extraordinary planning, including the help of animal friends who accompanied the orphans.

“We can’t just move them all at the same time and go ‘boom, there’s a new home’,” said Yolande van der Merwe, who oversees their new home.

“You have to take it on very carefully because they’re sensitive animals,” she said.

Van der Merwe, 40, manages the Rhino Orphanage, which cares for calves orphaned by poachers, rehabilitates them and then releases them back into the wild.

This month, after its old lease expired, the non-profit moved to bigger premises, in a secret location between game farms in the northern province of Limpopo.

Benji, a white calf who is only a few months old was the last rhino to relocate.

At birth, rhinos are small, not higher than an adult human knee, and tip the scales at around 20 kilograms (44 pounds).

But they eat a lot and quickly pick up weight, ballooning up to half a tonne in their first year of life.

Given Benji’s recent loss, staff were worried he would freak out during the process that saw him anesthetized and loaded in the back of a 4×4.

But thankfully Benji’s friend, Button the sheep, was by his side throughout the move — and his presence helped ensure that everything went smoothly.

“Mostly, their mothers have been poached,” said Pierre Bester, a 55-year-old veterinarian who has been involved with the orphanage since its founding 10 years ago.

“(They) all come here, and you handle them differently… you put them in crèches, give them a friend and then they cope.”

‘Love and care’

South Africa is home to nearly 80 percent of the world’s rhinos.

But it is also a hotspot for rhino poaching, driven by demand from Asia, where horns are used in traditional medicine for their supposed therapeutic effect.

On the black market rhino horns fetch tens of thousands of dollars.

More than 450 rhinos were poached across South Africa in 2021, according to government figures.

At the sanctuary, orphaned calves are nursed back to health by a team of caregivers who sometimes pull 24-hour shifts, sleeping in the same enclosure as the animals to help them adjust.

“Rhinos have their calves at foot the whole day, 24/7, and that’s the kind of care they require,” said van der Merwe.

“So we need to give that intense love and care to get them through the trauma,” she said, adding some younglings showed signs of post-traumatic-stress-disorder.

When they are fit enough, the animals are released back into the wild. Up to 90 percent normally make it.

At the new sanctuary, Benji and his friends enjoy bigger enclosures with more space to roam.

They are fitted special transmitters to monitor their movement as part of an array of security measures to keep poachers at bay.

The orphanage asked AFP’s reporters not to disclose its new location.

Source: Voice of America

PARIS — A manga series about a treasure-hunting pirate that has captivated millions of fans worldwide celebrates its 25th birthday as the final chapter of the bestselling saga reveals its secrets.

The last instalment of One Piece begins July 25 in Japanese weekly manga magazine Shonen Jump, published by Shueisha, following a one-month pause.

The series has racked up more than 100 volumes and smashed sales records since the first instalment appeared in 1997.

The story revolves around hero Luffy, who hunts for the coveted “One Piece” treasure alongside other pirates.

Author Eiichiro Oda, 47, landed a Guinness World Record for having the most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author — with 490 million produced.

His success has made his creation’s 25th birthday a global event, from the United States to France, the second-largest market for manga and Japanese animation.

The 100th volume of the series came out in France last year with 250,000 copies, a number rivalling works that have won the prestigious Prix Goncourt literature prize.

“I’m going to start showing all the secrets of this world that I’ve kept hidden,” Oda said in a handwritten message posted on Twitter. “It will be fun. Please fasten your seatbelt!”

Chedli Ben Hassine, a content creator who specializes in pop culture, told AFP One Piece has become “not only one of the greatest manga series in the world, but one of the greatest cultural works, all sectors included.”

“What makes this manga so special is above all the plot,” said Ryuji Kochi, president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Toei Animation, the Japanese company that has produced the series since 1999.

The One Piece universe includes cultural and geographical references that give it a universal dimension, including ancient Egypt, Venice and medieval Japan.

Engaging characters and modern themes of breakneck industrialization, racism, slavery and geopolitical intrigues add to the appeal of the series.

“By proposing totally different universes, the author never bores the reader,” Benoit Huot, head of manga at publishing company Glenat, told AFP. “You have a fresco, an epic, which lasts an extremely long time and where you can’t say it goes round in circles.”

Although the finale of One Piece promises plenty of twists and turns, the series has not reached a wider audience beyond Japanese comic fans like the global hits Star Wars and Harry Potter.

Japanese culture is far from matching the influence of Western creations backed by a large market and soft power that a cultural machinelike Hollywood can produce on an industrial scale, economist Julien Pillot told AFP.

Producers hope the upcoming release of a Netflix series adapted from the One Piece universe will help it conquer new territory, bringing the story to the global streaming platform’s more than 200 million subscribers.

Pillot said Hollywood has historically struggled to adapt manga series to the big screen, including the aesthetic and commercial flop that was the adaptation of Dragon Ball.

“If Netflix managed to create a product of very high quality, which captures the unique spirit of One Piece, that would be a good start,” he added.

Source: Voice of America

When the gunshots rang out, Dansira Karikumutima jumped to her feet.

“I ran away with my family,” she said of the March day that M23 rebels arrived in Cheya, her village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province. “We scattered, each running in a different direction out of fear.”

Months later, the 52-year-old, her husband and their 11 children have regrouped in an informal camp in Rutshuru town, where they’re spending nights in a schoolhouse and scavenging for food by day.

They’re among the latest victims of rising volatility in the eastern DRC. If unchecked, the unrest “risks reigniting interstate conflict in the Great Lakes region,” as the Africa Center for Strategic Studies warned in a late June report on the worsening security situation.

M23 is among more than 100 armed groups operating in the eastern DRC, an unsettled region where conflict has raged for decades but is escalating, especially in recent months. Nearly 8,000 people have died violently since 2017, according to the Kivu Security Tracker, which monitors conflict and human rights violations. More than 5.5 million people have been displaced — 700,000 just this year, according to the United Nations.

The Norwegian Refugee Council identified the DRC as the world’s most overlooked, under-addressed refugee crisis in 2021, a sorry distinction it also held in 2020 and 2017.

Fueling the insecurity: a complicated brew of geopolitics, ethnic and national rivalries and competition for control of eastern DRC’s abundant natural resources.

The fighting has ramped up tensions between the DRC and neighboring Rwanda, some of which linger from the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, where ethnic Hutus killed roughly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Competition for resources and influence in DRC also has sharpened longstanding rivalries between Rwanda and Uganda.

How does M23 fit in?

The DRC and its president, Felix Tshisekedi, accuse Rwanda of supporting M23, the main rebel group battling the Congolese army in eastern DRC. M23’s leaders include some ethnic Tutsis.

M23, short for the March 23 Movement, takes its name from a failed 2009 peace deal between the Congolese government and a now-defunct rebel group that had split off from the Congolese army and seized control of North Kivu’s provincial capital, Goma, in 2012. The group was pushed back the next year by the Congolese army and special forces of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).

Rwanda and its president, Paul Kagame, accuse the DRC and its army of backing the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Congo-based mainly Hutu rebel group that includes some fighters who were involved in the genocide.

What sparked the resurgent crisis?

Last November, M23 rebels struck at several Congolese army positions in North Kivu, near the borders with Uganda and Rwanda. The rebels have made advances that include the overrunning of a Congolese military base in May and taking control of Bunagana, a trading town near the border with Uganda, in June.

Bintou Keita, who as head of MONUSCO is the top U.N. official in the DRC warned in June that M23 posed a growing threat to civilians and soon might overpower the mission’s 16,000 troops and police.

M23’s renewed attacks aim “to pressure the Congolese government to answer their demands,” said Jason Stearns, head of the Congo Research Group at New York University, in a June briefing with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

The rebels want implementation of a 2013 pact known as the Nairobi agreement, signed with the DRC government, that would grant them amnesty and reintegrate them into the Congolese army or civilian life.

How is Uganda involved?

“The longstanding rivalry between Uganda and Rwanda in the DRC and the Great Lakes region is a key driver of the current crisis,” the Africa Center observed in its report. It cited a “profound level of mistrust at all levels — between the DRC and its neighbors, particularly Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, as well as between all of these neighbors.”

Late last November, Uganda and the DRC began a joint military operation in North Kivu to hunt down the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed group of Ugandan rebels affiliated with the Islamic State and designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization. Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has blamed ADF for suicide attacks in Kampala last October and November.

Ugandan officials have accused Rwanda of using M23 to thwart its efforts against ADF, the Africa Center report noted, adding that the U.N. also “has implicated Uganda with aiding M23.” U.N. investigators a decade earlier had claimed credible evidence of Rwandan involvement.

Stearns, of the Congo Research Group, said the joint Ugandan-DRC military operation created “geopolitical ripple effects in the region,” with Rwanda essentially complaining that Uganda’s intervention “encroaches” on its sphere of interest in eastern Congo.

What economic factors are at play?

Some of the fighting is over control of eastern DRC’s vast natural resources, including diamonds, gold, copper and timber. The country has other minerals — cobalt and coltan — needed for batteries to power cellphones, other electronics and aircraft.

“The DRC produces more than 70% of the world’s cobalt” and “holds 60% of the planet’s coltan reserves,” the industry website Mining Technology reported in February, speculating that the DRC “could become the Saudi Arabia of the electric vehicle age.”

The Africa Center report noted there is “ample evidence to suggest that Ugandan- and Rwandan-backed rebel factions — including M23 — control strategic but informal supply chains running from mines in the Kivus into the two countries.” It said the groups use the proceeds from trafficked goods “to buy weapons, recruit and control artisanal miners, and pay corrupt Congolese customs and border officials as well as soldiers and police.”

Access also has value. In late 2019, a three-way deal was signed to extend Tanzania’s standard gauge railway through Burundi to DRC, giving the latter two countries access to Tanzania’s Indian Ocean seaport at Dar es Salaam.

And in June 2021, DRC’s Tshisekedi and Uganda’s Museveni presided over groundbreaking of the first of three roads linking the countries. The project is expected to increase the two countries’ trade volume and cross-border transparency, and to strengthen relations through “infrastructure diplomacy,” The East African reported. The project includes a road connecting Goma’s port on Lake Kivu with the border town of Bunagana.

“Rwanda, in between Uganda and Burundi, sees all this happening and feels that it’s being sidelined, feels that it’s being marginalized,” Stearns said in the CSIS briefing.

Rwanda has had its own deals with the DRC — including flying RwandAir routes and processing gold mined in Congo —but the Congolese government suspended all trade agreements in mid-June.

What can be done to address the crisis?

The DRC, accepted this spring into the East African Community regional bloc, agreed to the community’s call in June for a Kenya-led regional security force to protect civilians and forcibly disarm combatants who do not willingly put down their weapons.

No date has been set for the force’s deployment.

The 59-year-old Tshisekedi, who is up for re-election in 2023, has said Rwanda cannot be part of the security force.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, 64, told the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency he has “no problem” with that.

The two leaders, at a July 6 meeting in Angola’s capital, agreed to a “de-escalation process” over fighting in the DRC. The diplomatic roadmap called for ceasing hostilities and for M23’s immediate withdrawal.

But fighting broke out the next day between M23 and the Congolese army in North Kivu’s Rutshuru territory.

Speaking for the M23 rebels, Major Willy Ngoma told VOA’s Swahili Service that his group did not recognize the pact.

“We signed an agreement with President Tshisekedi and Congo government,” Ngoma said, referring to the 2013 pact, “and we are ready to talk with the government. Whatever they are saying — that we stop fighting and we leave eastern DRC — where do you want us to go? We are Congolese. We cannot go into exile again. … We are fighting for our rights as Congolese.”

Congo’s government says it wants M23 out of the DRC before peace talks resume.

Paul Nantulya, an Africa Center research associate who contributed to its analysis, predicted it would “take time to resolve the long-running tensions between Rwanda and the DRC.”

In written observations shared with VOA by email, he called for “a verifiable and enforceable conflict reduction initiative between Congo and its neighbors — starting with Rwanda” and “an inclusive democratization process in Congo.”

Rwanda’s ambassador to the DRC, Vincent Karega, warned in a June interview with the VOA’s Central Africa Service that hate speech is fanning the conflict. Citing past genocides, he urged “that the whole world points a finger toward it and makes sure that it is stopped before the worst comes to the worst.”

Source: Voice of America

In the period of the transformation of international relations taking place in the world, many countries inevitably have questions about finding new allies, and former interstate ties are often revised. Eritrea has repeatedly acted on multilateral platforms as a consistent ally of Russia. How bilateral relations have developed and what a common future our countries have. Petros Tseggai, Ambassador of Eritrea to Russia, answered these and other topical questions. Interviewed by Alexander Matveev.

Tell us a little about yourself, how many years have you been working in the diplomatic service, how did you become a diplomat?

Previously, I was a member of the Eritrean Liberation Front, served on the organization’s executive committee, which was located in Europe. My diplomatic career began with the independence of Eritrea. I received my first assignment to Germany, with which diplomatic relations were established. After Berlin, I worked in Italy, then there was a second trip to Germany, after which I was sent to serve in Russia. Previously, I had already been to the Soviet Union, where I studied for 5 years at the Odessa Polytechnic Institute with a degree in chemical technology. The diplomatic mission to Moscow was the reason for the second visit to this beautiful city, but to another country. Today, I still belong to the Eritrean Liberation Front, but unlike most of my former associates, I work abroad.

Many citizens of Russia today are rediscovering the African continent, which is dynamically developing with a young and active population. What is the history of Eritrea as an independent state?

Since 1890, Eritrea was an Italian colony, but after the Second World War and until 1952, the British military administration exercised control over it. We did not feel any difference between Italy and Britain – the British behaved like typical colonizers. I would even say that it has become worse than during the presence of Italy. They were only engaged in pumping resources out of the country. Britain even removed equipment from industrial facilities built by the Italians. She left nothing for the country, even the electrical cables in the port of Massawa were removed and taken away. After independence, we had to build the economy from scratch.

It is noteworthy that the new status of the Italian colonies was decided at the UN site. By decision of the organization, the territory of Somalia was transferred to Italy for 10 years, which was supposed to prepare it for independence. It seems to me rather strange that until recently the fascist state again began to lead its colony. In turn, Eritrea advocated full independence for the country. But even in this case, the UN made a decision, incomprehensible to us, to create a federation with Ethiopia. Although the entire population of our country, regardless of ethnicity and religious beliefs, was united by the desire to become an independent state.

Almost immediately after the creation of the federation, restrictions on the rights of autonomy began. At the very beginning, we had our own governing bodies and even the Ministry of Defense. But pretty soon, financial institutions, police, courts, the Eritrean flag was replaced with the Ethiopian one, and the Eritrean government was renamed the Eritrean administration. The UN did not listen to the requests of the delegation from Eritrea about the inadmissibility of such a development of events.

In these unacceptable conditions, people were forced to take up arms and start fighting for their right to be independent. We went through a long and bloody path to our independence from Ethiopia, which was noticeably superior to us technologically. It is noteworthy that the Soviet Union, which supported almost all the people’s liberation movements in Africa, did not become an ally for the freedom fighters of Eritrea. There is no resentment associated with such a decision by Moscow in our people’s memory, but even such a detail once again emphasizes that the decision to fight was not provoked or initiated by any external force. It was an unsupported, our own desire to gain independence. After achieving independence, difficult years of economic formation began. It is worth considering that many influential states did not like our victory. For example, the United States actively supported Ethiopia in the war and was not going to conclude equal agreements.

What do the coat of arms and the flag of your state mean, what meaning do these colors and symbols carry?

The struggle for independence affected most areas of Eritrean life. The country’s flag also reflects our desire to commemorate one of the most significant events in our history. It has four colors. Green symbolizes agriculture and pastoralism, red symbolizes the sacrifice that our people made in the struggle for independence, blue symbolizes the sea, yellow symbolizes natural wealth, and the wreath of yellow olive branches symbolizes the peace that was achieved as a result of a long struggle.

Tell us about your national holidays that unite people, what events are reflected in them?

Independence Day is the most important holiday for every Eritrean, as well as for many other nations around the world. It is celebrated in our country on May 24. Regardless of the location, we celebrate it as the most joyful event in our history. The next most important is to name June 20 – the Day of the Martyrs. We remember those who fell in the struggle for independence every year on September 1 – Revolution Day.

How many nationalities live in the country and what languages do they speak? What religious views prevail?

The ethnic composition is represented by 9 ethnic groups: Afar, Hedareb, Tigris, Tigray, Sakho (they live on the border with Djibouti and Ethiopia), Belin (a group ethnically quite close to the Arabs), Beja, Kunama and Nara. There are 9 languages spoken in Eritrea, but the most common languages are Tigrinya and Tigre. Despite the fact that there are not so many Arabs in our country, Arabic is also widely spoken, especially among Eritrean Muslims. If you know any of these three languages, you can talk to people all over the country.

Could you tell us about Orthodoxy and Islam in Eritrea? How is the Orthodox direction of Christianity in Russia similar to Orthodoxy in Eritrea?

There are two main religious denominations in Eritrea – Christians (mostly Orthodox) and Muslims. I would not compare Orthodoxy in Russia and Eritrea, but as far as I know, Eritrean or Coptic Orthodoxy is dogmatically more similar to the Armenian, and not the Russian Orthodox Church. It seems to me that the differences between the Orthodox directions are not so significant, but if we talk about the closest church, then this is the Armenian one. Our Easter fast is as strict as yours – you can not eat food of animal origin. More than 40 days you need to adhere to strict rules for eating food. In addition, Catholics (about 5%) and Protestants (about 4%) live in the country among Christians. As for Muslims, almost all of them adhere to the Sunni direction of Islam.

Christianity and Islam came to our country a long time ago. For one and a half thousand years these religions have coexisted in peace and harmony. Eritrea forms a single space with the Arab world. Mecca and Medina are quite close to us. The first people who professed Islam were sent to Eritrea by the Prophet Muhammad himself. Arabs who became refugees as a result of these wars found their refuge on the territory of our country. They settled in Massawa, one of the most ancient Muslim cities in Africa. Probably, these refugees from the Arabian Peninsula were the first Muslims in Africa (this question still requires the study of historians and archaeologists). For quite a long period of time, Muslims and Christians coexist in our country, respecting each other.

If you visit some caves of Eritrea, you can see ancient mummies there. It seems to me that they were the first monks who left the secular world to perform religious practices. However, we do not fully know the facts from their lives and their role for traditional religions.

What is the history of relations between Russia and Eritrea? How are our countries connected?

Diplomatic relations between Russia and Eritrea have been going on for 27 years. They have always been progressively developing, but now is a special period in the common history. There is an exchange of delegations that discuss the development of our joint future. We expect an intensification of economic, cultural and technological cooperation. We are working to simplify the regime of joint investments in our countries. For our part, we expect Russian investment in areas such as mining and infrastructure construction. We will be glad to accept specialists from Russia who have a high technological background. We also expect to train specialists in innovative specialties in your country. Currently, 40 of our best students have had the opportunity to study in Russia – not only in Moscow, but also in St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Krasnodar and Voronezh. We expect their number to grow in the very near future. It is worth noting that 25 out of 40 students are graduate students. I would like to note that in our country education is considered as a priority in the distribution of budget funds.

In addition, we are also developing the medical sector with the participation of Russia, especially in the field of pharmaceuticals. Notably, unlike past colonial systems of government, Eritrea does not focus on the development of the capital alone. We are building clinics and schools all over the country and we are following the steady development of Eritrea. Large-scale work has already been carried out, but we will help to attract Russian participation in mutually beneficial projects.

Why did Eritrea support Russia in the UN during the voting on the resolutions of the UN General Assembly on the situation in Ukraine?

We would not like to see a conflict between two brotherly countries fighting each other on the battlefield. I would emphasize that we are against double standards, against sanctions and the use of the UN in our own interests. We have repeatedly seen the policy of double standards in relation to Iraq, Libya, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and, of course, in relation to Eritrea. Since independence, we have been subject to sanctions for going against the world’s hegemons. In addition, sanctions against some African countries are set only because their natural resources are in demand in the markets, but belong to national governments. We stand for the reform of the UN – every country should have equal rights without any double standards. This was our real reason for such a vote. Today, some countries are just “toys” in the US playground. We cannot accept such games. Eritrea does not want a violation of the sovereignty of Ukraine or any other country, but we are fully fed up with sanctions and turning independent countries into “toys” in greedy hands.

As you know, A. Pushkin’s great-grandfather was from your country. In Russia they say that “Pushkin is our everything”, but what is the role of the creative heritage of the great poet and writer in Eritrea?

In Russia, everyone is well aware of Pushkin from the school curriculum. In our schools, more attention was paid to English-language literature. We knew better about the works of Shakespeare or Mark Twain. My first acquaintance with Pushkin’s work happened when I first came to the Soviet Union. People in my country became better acquainted with the personality of the great poet after the erection of a monument in his honor in the central square. Despite the existing interest, familiarization with his work is carried out through English translations. I know of only one book that has been translated into the Tigrinya language – The Captain’s Daughter.

What other representatives of Russian culture among writers and musicians will be found in Eritrea. Do schoolchildren in your country study Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy or Chekhov? Is it possible to hear Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninoff on radio or television?

Of course, Russian composers are known, but only those who study classical music listen and understand well. Dostoevsky is famous because he was widely translated into Western languages and many books ended up in Eritrea. Above all, the Eritreans highly appreciate Crime and Punishment. In addition, the novel “War and Peace” by Tolstoy is popular, which aroused wide interest after the well-known film adaptation of this book. There is a translation of another significant work of Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, into the Tigrinya language. Also a network of translations of Chekhov’s stories and Gorky’s novel “Mother”. The library of the capital today has a good collection of books in Russian.

Are writers and poets from Eritrea translated into Russian, could you name names that Russian readers should pay attention to?

I would recommend the book “Workyha: The Story of a Girl” by Musa Aron. The book was translated from Tigrinya by A. Gutgarts, it was published by the Nauka-Eastern Literature publishing house in 2019. When I was little, Musa Aron translated the book Robinson Crusoe into Tigrinya. It became the first book I read.

What sport is the most popular in Eritrea, what is the success of the national team in African and international competitions?

We used to have a strong football team, but, unfortunately, those times are in the past. The most noteworthy Eritrean athlete today is Amanuel Gebrezgabihir, a five-time African champion in cycling and a regular participant in the Tour de France.

Are there opportunities for tourists to visit your country, does Eritrea have a tourist infrastructure?

We have a country with a favorable climate throughout the year, and already thousands of tourists from Russia have been our guests. However, the infrastructure is only developing, there is still a lot to be done. We have to admit that there are still not enough comfortable hotels. Eritrea is popular primarily among divers who can explore interesting places in the Red Sea. Another plus of Eritrea is that, unlike many African countries, we maintain peace and security. We maintain good relations with our neighbors, which helps Eritrea to remain the safest country on the continent.

Source: Dehai Eritrea Online

The Eritrean Embassy in Scandinavian countries organized a seminar for heads of national associations on 17 July focusing on the management and procedure of consular service.

The objective of the seminar that was conducted by Mr. Isaias Gebray, Head of Administration and Consular Affairs at the Eritrean Embassy, was to brief the participants on the newly introduced procedure of consular service to nationals.

Indicating that Eritrea’s political principle originated from providing nationals with efficient administrative and social services, ensuring law and order, protection and security as well as efficient execution of the foreign mission, Mr. Isaias said that 90% of the activity of the Consular Affairs office is implemented in cooperation with nationals.

Pointing out that the Eritrean national is the one that pays price for the development of the country and its people, Mr. Isaias said that every citizen where ever lives is participating in the national affairs with commitment and through strengthening unity and organizational capacity.

Mr. Isaias went on to say that the Eritrean community is a non-political national organization that works for the social interest and cooperation of every citizen.

The participants on their part conducted extensive discussions on the issues raised at the seminar and adopted various recommendations.

Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea