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21st Round The 21st round includes two groups: those assigned to Sawa and those assigned to WiA. The Sawa contingent left on July 4th; a day later, the WIA contingent followed suit. The difference in assignments is based on examination results: those who score 50 or higher are sent to Sawa and those who score below 50 are sent to WiA. Sawa military camp, which long had been a dreaded destination, has suddenly emerged as a premium choice simply because it compares favorably to WiA, an even more punishing landscape. Consequently, parents whose sons were told to go to Wia for military training were begging teachers and directors to help their son go to Sawa. Within two years, the regime will finalize the conversion of another location, Me’iter, into a full-fledged military training camp and military personnel are speculating that, by then, parents will be begging to have their sons sent to Wia to avoid Me’iter. According to military personnel who have visited the place, Me’iter is an arid desert. It was chosen precisely because it is remote, without water and inaccessible: the flaw in Sawa, Kiloma and WiA was that trainees were always able to flee either to the Sudan or Ethiopia (if stationed at Sawa or Kiloma) or to their hometowns in Eritrea (if station at WiA.)
Yimerenalo Every year, parents and siblings are able to bid farewell to their loved ones at the school compound where the 17 and 18 year old students congregate heading to their destination. It is an emotional moment with mothers crying inconsolably, and parents blessing their children. The buses then leave amidst uproarious clapping. This year, the regime chose to push away the parents from the school compounds—MPs with batons pushed them all the way to the other side of the road and those who did not keep their distance were dealt the stick. The buses finally left with the students singing an improvised version of Yohannes Tikabo’s Yigermenalo [we are amazed]: except that they changed the word to Yimerenalo [we are embittered.] The buses were accompanied by traffic police until they exited the city limits of Asmara. Once in Keren, they were accompanied by a land cruiser and an ambulance until they reached Agordat. But things went badly for some when they reached the environs of Kerkebet. Substandard Bridges Due to the heavy rains, the roads were flooded and the buses could not move. The bridges that the regime constructs have no railings and, once flooded, drivers cannot estimate their width. Cautionary drivers wait for the flood to subside and the risk-takers driver on. One such risk-taker, who was driving the bus carrying students of Keyih Bahri Comprehensive School, attempted the cross but he missed the cement floor and his bus tipped over. Luckily, most or all of the students were rescued but most of their luggage—clothing, food items and cash—was carried by the flood. The state media did not cover this news—and parents will know about it only if the regime allows the students to send mail. On the same day that the students’ bus tipped over, an EDF URAL truck attempting to cross the same bridge also missed. The problem is with the quality of the “bridges”: the builders have no expertise and the supervisors have no standards. After three days of heavy rain, all the improvised cement crossings built by the Warsay Ykealo have been destroyed. Consequently, Sawa is impassable through Haikota and Keru for the next two weeks.
The EDF driver and two of his colleagues are presumed to have drowned in the flood.
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