Nearly a year after peace was declared in July 2018, the outlook was laced with uncertainty within both countries and the region—a jumble of promising initiatives, dangerous trends and unresolved crises. After a brief burst of excitement—and open borders—hopes for change in Eritrea were dashed as the "peace process" stalled, leaving the way forward unclear.
Articles
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Presented at a conference of Eritrea Focus (24 April 2019)
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A chapter in "Postliberation Eritrea," ed. by Tekle Mariam Woldemikael (January 2018)
This chapter is a synthesis of articles published in 2014 and 2015 and updated in 2017 for this project. The book focuses on Eritrea's strategy of nation-formation; many of the other chapters are drawn from a special issue of Africa Today. The full text of the book can be downloaded free at the Indiana University Press website.
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African Studies Review, vol. 60, no. 2 (September 2017)
Martin Plaut’s Understanding Eritrea is a highly readable handbook on the causes and consequences of despotism in Eritrea—a pocket reference on where it came from, how it works, and how it got that way.
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African Studies Review, vol. 52, no. 3 (December 2016)
A schematic overview of Eritrea’s refugee exodus: what lies behind it, what awaits the refugees at camps in neighboring states, and what can be done to mitigate the risks and begin to wind down the deepening social and political crisis that this outflow both reflects and amplifies.
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Middle East Report, No. 277 (Winter 2016)
Marginalization, cultural discrimination, political repression and now a deepening drought and a collapsing local economy are driving Eritrean Afars to seek refuge in neighboring Ethiopia. Their plight, their insular warrior heritage, and their unresolved grievances are a recipe for future instability.
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Middle East Report, N. 276 (Fall 2015)
One of Eritrea’s more downtrodden Muslim minorities, the Afars live on the margins of its exploding refugee crisis and are rarely reported on, though thousands have fled to Djibouti, Yemen and Ethiopia. This article explores who they are and traces their recent experience within the Horn of Africa.
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Middle East Report, N. 276 (Fall 2015)
"Children of the Stone" weaves together two tales heroism and resilience: a boy from an impoverished refugee family who dreams of making music and sharing its liberating beauty and a conquered community that dreams of freedom and finds its voice in a nonviolent revolt that runs up against both their occupiers and their "liberators".
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Foreign Policy in Focus (August 14, 2015)
Neema and Afrah, Muslims from Eritrea’s Blin minority, fled Eritrea a year apart. Today, they share a small house in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum with Neema’s husband and young daughter. Both dream of reaching Europe.
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Middle East Report (Summer 2015)
Hundreds of Eritrean refugees each year seek safe haven in the United States through the back door—flying to Ecuador and traveling overland, often at great risk, to reach the Mexican border. I caught up with two last March in Tapachula.
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Mail & Guardian (June 26, 2015)
Eritreans who fled political or religious persecution, forced labour and arbitrary imprisonment, find themselves the targets of anger and hate merely for being foreigners. Knowing South Africa's history, they expected a different reception.
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The Guardian (April 20, 2015)
To stem the tide of Eritrean asylum seekers heading for Italy, policymakers need to ensure the country is really on a path from dictatorship to nascent democracy.
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Mail & Guardian (March 6, 2015)
Stripped of an opportunity to pursue his own education and sent to teach in a dysfunctional rural primary school, Binyam risked everything to make a new start in Kenya.
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Foreign Policy in Focus (February 2015)
For Eritreans seeking refuge in Israel, fear and uncertainty are their constant companions.
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Middle East Report Online (January 19, 2015)
The kidnapping & torture of refugees in the Sinai and the drowning of hundreds in the Mediterranean each offer a window into the perils of human trafficking that stalks Eritreans in their quest for a safe haven. Nataniel’s experience tells it all.
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Foreign Policy in Focus (October 2014)
Central Americans are not the only ones risking their lives to get to the United States through Mexico. Tucked in among this northward flow are hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers from Eritrea.
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Foreign Policy in Focus & TheNation.com (April 2014)
Eritrean refugee flows run in all directions, facilitated by smugglers with regional or global reach who include cynical human traffickers who reap huge profits. Effective counter-measures start with the education and empowerment of the target population and demand efforts to protect refugees throughout their flight.
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Middle East Report (Fall 2013)
A firsthand look at the trafficking, torture and ransom of Eritrean refugees in the Sinai, the efforts by Sinai Bedouin to stop it, and some new and sinister developments in the highly profitable criminal operation.
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Middle East Report (Spring 2013)
A close look at the kidnapping operation in Sudan refugee camps that ends in Sinai torture camps. Survivors who reach Israel are termed "infiltrators," not refugees and face a growing anti-African backlash.
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"Middle East Report" (Fall 2012)
Eritreans who flee their repressive homeland often find themselves in even more peril from human traffickers when they try reach Israel through the lawless Sinai. Ironically, the safest place may be in the country their own government deems its arch enemy—Ethiopia.
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Review of African Political Economy (Sept. 2011)
Less than a decade after independence, the Eritrea's government shut down the press, jailed its critics, and turned the country into a political prison. This article situates this reversal within the transition from colony to independent state, explores its specific characteristics, and considers prospects for a more democratic outcome.
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A chapter from "Change Not Charity: Essays on Oxfam America's First 40 Years" (2010)
A critical account of Oxfam America's emergency program in Lebanon during the 2002 Israeli invasion and how its cancellation led to the formation of Grassroots International whose programs expanded to include Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Africa and other conflict areas.
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A chapter from "Eritrea's Foreign Relations: Understanding its Regional Role" (2009)
Eritrea’s relations with the United States have been fraught from the outset—shaped through and overshadowed by those with Ethiopia, almost always to Eritrea’s disadvantage. The arrival of a new U.S. administration under President Barack Obama offers both sides an opportunity for a fresh start, but it must build on—and overcome—a weighty legacy.
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A chapter from "Eritrea's Foreign Relations: Understanding its Regional Role" (2009)
Power in Eritrea is exercised through layers that are increasingly opaque as one approaches the center, like Russian matryoshka dolls, nesting inside one another. An exploration of this sheds light on how former guerrilla commander Isaias Afwerki governs and how his inner circle acts to extend Eritrea’s influence in the Horn of Africa.
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Presented at annual African Studies Ass'n conference and published by allAfrica.com (2003)
A political assessment of Eritrea's retreat from emerging democracy to fiercely repressive dictatorship and a personal account of the author's journey from supporter to critic.