Among some circles in the city, a person who tends to repeat himself was frequently labeled kua'kh bas’E (the crow of Massawa.) I gathered the reason was simple. The pied crow that are common in Massawa tend to caw endlessly and get into your nerves. Is it their big presence resulting from the abundant carrion in the small land mass of the Islands that gives us this perception? Or, are these birds croaking for water, in this water deficit port city? I don't know. I leave it to experts on bird life. I liked their sense of humor, and I believe the description fits the political authority at home.

Revolutionaries of the left type were noticed, time and again in history, quickly replaceing the odious looking facilities of the ancien regime with benign looking ones. For instance, a notorious prison would be converted to a museum or a school. This is mostly for appearances sake and propaganda. In many cases, these movements had surpassed the regimes they replaced in the construction of far numerous and bigger prisons. The atrocities were even bigger. For example, the Gulag prisons in the former Soviet Union that replaced the Peter and Paul Fortress, that at one time confined several dozen Bolshevik militants, was by far more terrible.

The authorities in Asmera have lately demolished the remains of the old Forto Baldissera which was located prominently in one of the mesas around Asmera, and replaced it with a huge building to house their propaganda ministry. An ugly architecture built by a Chinese firm, it took several years to complete. It was temporarily vacated during the latest war for fear of air attack.

The former torture chamber popularly known as Mariam Gebi during the Derg rule was instead used as the office for the Water Supply Department of the city. Mariam Gebi was briefly a popular destination center for many tourists. These gullible visitors were "unaware" that Sahel had numerous and even worse facilities in the ghedli era. And possibly even now.

These harmless looking moves have not been genuine. It has not been a secret now, that the old cinema hall at Edaga Arbi was turned into a dungeon. The Asmera Soccer stadium has been utilized to temporarily jail thousands of Asmera University students, when they protested for their rights. Nowadays, we are hearing that the rogues, similar to the military juntas of South America in the 70s, have put villas to use as torture places. Even worse, the dictator has also built many prisons across the landscape, even in several somnolent villages. Many people have mentioned that army units now have hidden areas to intern political dissenters.

A few weeks after the Birr currency went out of circulation, there were rumors that people were secretly laundering money in Asmera. One late evening, the regime commandeered many vehicles and buses (imagine city buses), and arrested hundreds of people from many bars and from the streets. This was a random and indiscriminate act against the city people. All kinds of people were trapped in this dragnet. There were even some who came for a visit from the Diaspora and were caught in between.

Despite their protestations, they were all pushed into the familiar looking buses, and driven into the former Tuberculosis Sanitarium located at Mai Temenai. No questions were asked. Like the rest of the city’s people, they were forced to spend the cold night in the open courtyard. The notoriety of the City Bus Company owned by the regime is unbelievable. Who has not heard now that this bus company obtained some award for excellent public service!

Not long before this incident, several hundred Ethiopian nationals were particularly targeted for detention. They were bused out of all places to the Sawa area. This was done clandestinely. Although, it was soon to be singled out in the inflammatory article of the Amharic version newspapers of the Reporter. A certain Sebagadis Hagos, under the title "Ethiopian In Eritrea", wrote an extensive story on alleged abuses and discrimination of Ethiopian nationals. This piece was a sequel to another one with the heading "Eritreans In Ethiopia", and argued that Eritreans in Ethiopia were accorded as much rights as the rest of their Ethiopian brothers.

I believe this was the first salvo of the coming war. Petros Tesfagiorgis, concerned about the deteriorating relations wrote a reply in one of the privately run newspapers. The pretext for the mass jailing was according to the regime's supporters in order to deal with the "criminal, and prostitute elements" among the thousands of the Ethiopian residents. During the conflict, this incident was raised by the Adiss Abeba government. The Asmera authorities' reply was that the "rehabilitation project" was launched with the blessing of the Ethiopian embassy in Asmera.

This seems incredible to believe. This is not to say that such deeds are not impossible among secretive and conniving guerrilla organizations turned into governments. Due process of law, and human rights are their least concern, even when committed on their own nationals. When "fraternal" relationships end among leftist guerrilla entities, past grievances are regurgitated for stoking rabid nationalist feelings.

Their mutual recriminations reached its peak, when both sides recounted ugly and repressive measures taken by both of them in their guerrilla dens. The current Ethiopian regime, like the former Derg regime, pointed out the killings of the so-called Menka leadership, and its many members. The Eritrean side retold the brute action carried out against the rival TLF organizations, and other dissidents.

The crow's cawing has been deafening now that it has its nest on the vantage point of the city (the best real estate.) The citizens try to keep their sanity by switching off the government TV and radio. In contrast, I argue that they suffer much terribly, when the crow keeps silent. A calamity occurred when the regime concealed information about the impending political and economic conflict with the neighbor from the south.

Sadly, the raucous croak of the crow was often repeated by most of the private press. Long before the brief honeymoon expired with the regime, most of the private newspapers were echoing the war hysteria. For instance, the dictator would every few months come up with a different epithet for the Ethiopian regime. Every one of these pejorative words, such as chifra, esle, janda, were parroted by them.

They were shrieking loud in the chorus led by the crow. They have since then been either silenced, forced to migrate or have become real jail birds. During major public holidays, the public is feted by the regime, when hundreds of doves are let loose in the square (peace doves.) It is simply a deception; the crow has emptied the nest, and is still comfortably perched.