Articles
From Sinai to Lampedusa: An Eritrean Journey
Middle East Report Online (January 19, 2015)
Two human tragedies will forever scar Eritrean memories of the years after the 1998-2000 Border War with Ethiopia, as tens of thousands of young people fled repression and indentured servitude: the brutal kidnapping, torture and ransom of refugees in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and the drowning of more than 350 refugees in a shipwreck off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa. Nataniel survived both. He narrated his story at a café in a small Swedish town where he ended up.
The Rerouted Trafficking in Eritrean Refugees
Middle East Report, No. 268 (Fall 2013)
A firsthand look at the trafficking, torture and ransom of Eritrean refugees in the Egyptian Sinai, the efforts by compassionate Sinai Bedouin who oppose the practice to disrupt it by liberating the captives, and some sinister, new developments in the highly profitable criminal enterprise.
Refugees, Ransoms and Revolt: An Update on Eritrea
Middle East Report, No.266 (Spring 2013)
A close look at the kidnapping operations in Sudanese refugee camps and the transport and sale of the victims to traffickers in Sinai torture camps, based on interviews with survivors in Israel who describe new threats from a host government that terms them “infiltrators” and, with few exceptions, denies them asylum, amidst a growing anti-African backlash by right-wing ultra-nationalists.
Escaping Eritrea: Why They Flee and What They Face
Middle East Report, No. 264 (Fall 2012)
Eritreans who flee persecution and repression in their homeland often find themselves in even greater peril from human traffickers when they try to reach Israel through the lawless Egyptian Sinai. Ironically, the safest place for them may be in the country their own government deems its arch enemy—Ethiopia.
From Resistance to Governance: Eritrea’s Trouble with Transition
Review of African Political Economy, Vol 38, No. 129 (September 2011)
Less than ten years after winning its independence from Ethiopia in a war that spanned three decades, the government set up by the liberation front declined to implement a newly ratified Constitution, postponed elections indefinitely, shut down the independent press, jailed hundreds of critics and suspected dissidents, and turned the new country into a police state. 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.
Lessons from Lebanon, 1982-83
A chapter from "Change Not Charity: Essays from Oxfam America's first 40 years," Boston: Oxfam, 2010
Humanitarian response and politics makes for a volatile mix, creating dilemmas for aid agencies in their relations with host countries and, in some cases, their own donors—nowhere more than the Middle East, as I learned during a 13-month consultancy with Oxfam America. This article presents a critical account of the Lebanon emergency program I organized during the 1982 Israeli invasion and how its cancellation in the face of external pressure and internal division led to the formation of Grassroots International, which I cofounded and directed for eight years, expanding into Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Africa and other politically charged sites of struggle and human need.
Eritrea and the United States: Towards a New US Policy
A chapter from "Eritrea’s External Relations," ed. Richard Reid (London: Chatham House, 2009)
Eritrea’s relations with the United States were fraught from the outset—overshadowed by those with Ethiopia, almost always to Eritrea’s disadvantage, starting with American support for a federation of the former Italian colony with Ethiopia in the 1950s. The 2008 arrival of a new U.S. administration under President Barack Obama seemed to offer both sides an opportunity for a fresh start, but it had to overcome a weighty legacy.
The EPLF Experience: How it Shapes Eritrea’s Regional Strategy
A chapter from "Eritrea’s External Relations," ed. Richard Reid (London: Chatham House, 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.
Enough! A Critique of Eritrea’s Post-Liberation Politics
AllAfrica.com (November 6, 2003)
A political assessment of Eritrea’s retreat from a notional commitment to participatory democratic nation-building and its sharp turn into a fiercely repressive dictatorship—and a personal account of my journey from supporter to critic: Why I broke with EPLF after writing hundreds of articles and a number of books supporting the movement.
Inside the EPLF: The Origins of the ‘People’s Party’ & its Role in the Liberation of Eritrea
Review of African Political Economy (Sheffield, U.K.: September 2001)
For most of its existence, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) was led and controlled by a secret vanguard party within its ranks—the Eritrea People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP). This article explores the origins of the party and its impact on the liberation struggle for nearly two decades. Questions I address include: How, why and by whom was the party formed? How did it function in relation to the Front as a whole? How did this change from the 1970s to the 1980s? And why was the decision taken to disband the party in 1989? In doing so, the paper sheds light on how this movement has operated since through an inner circle nested in the visible institutions of government.