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The Church
Last Tuesday, security forces sealed the alms boxes (known as Mobae) of various churches in Asmara including Mariam Debretsion of Asmara. People who wanted to give alms to their church were startled to find the metal boxes sealed. The aim is not clear but people are saying that the government is short of cash and will take all church cash from alms. There are unconfirmed reports that they found around 200,000 Nakfa in a certain church and took it away. Meanwhile, Compass Direct, a Christian advocacy group, has explained the governments latest actions as a means to seize financial and personnel control away from the Eritrean Orthodox Church.
The School
Last weekend, a directive was passed ordering students who were 2005-06 matriculation finalists to report to Sawa. Mai Nefhi Technical College has already been impacted and could only accommodate 300 of the graduates. The government has no institution to refer the graduates to; consequently, it issued a directive ordering all eligible graduates to report back to Sawa. The order applies to boys and girls.
Sawa Camp is the only place where students can attend their 12th grade: students from secondary schools throughout Eritrea are transferred there upon completing 11th grade. The matriculation exams determine referrals either to technical colleges, like Mai Nefhi or military training held at Me'etir, Shi'eb, Wia and Kiloma. The hybridization of the countrys military and education departments has created an environment where unqualified colonels serve as college presidents and boot camps are used as holding bins between classes. Meanwhile, the University of Asmara is in its 4th year of not admitting new students, a move which was explained as a temporary measure while the country restructures its education policies. The Military
Meanwhile, many parents who went to Kiloma to attend the graduation ceremony of their children and could not find them have been told that their children are alive and well and that the confusion was due to bureaucratic snafu. This is because parents whose children were participating in this 19th Round could only provide names of their children, with no additional details, since the units they are assigned to are state secrets. The government now says that 200 of the conscripts had deserted and 18 had been martyred. But many of the graduates say that they had witnessed approximately 60 trainees who were executed in their presence after attempting to escape. Asmara is rife with speculations as to why President Isaias Afwerki, who had been on a private visit to Italy the previous week, did not attend the ceremony. The government website, shabait.com, had taken the unusual step of notifying its readers that he arrived in Asmara at exactly 10:00 PM local time last night December 9th, the day the graduation ceremony was held at Kiloma. But the report was not accompanied by the usual line-up of ministries greeting the president; nor was a press conference held at Asmara Airport, which is customarily done when he returns from overseas. The speculation is that the president was in Asmara but, for whatever reason, chose not to attend the ceremony. "Isaias is everywhere he shouldn't be, and nowhere he should be" - Awate Source |
