It is alleged that General Samuel ‘ China’, who was the military ruler of Eritrea’s Southern Red Region until late 2008, put Prince Shami Ahaw in prison for alleged personal conflict. Such practices by the ruling party in Eritrea are an everyday occurrence. There is a growing international concern over severe abuse of human rights and absence of rule of law in the country...

 **********************************************

Prince Shami Ahaw freed

Prince Shami Mohammed Ahaw of  Girrifo Sultanate (Biru area in the highlands of Eritrea’s Southern Red Sea region) has been released from detention in Asmara on Tuesday 20 April 2010. The prince’s release comes after six years imprisonment without any recourse to justice.

It is alleged that General Samuel ‘ China’, who was the military ruler of Eritrea’s Southern Red Region until late 2008*, put Prince Shami Ahaw in prison for alleged personal conflict. Such practices by the ruling party in Eritrea are an everyday occurrence. There is a growing international concern over severe abuse of human rights and absence of rule of law in the country.

Prior to Italian colonisation, the Afar nation had functioning local authorities known as Sultanates. The Sultanates had independent rulers referred to as “Sultan”.  With the advent of European colonialism in the Horn of Africa region in 19^th Century, the Afar people and their land were divided into three artificial state boundaries created by French (Yibouti), Italian ( Eritrea) and Abyssinian ( Ethiopia). The latter was a local colonial force that committed genocides to conquer and subdue the nations of Afar, Somali, Oromos and others in today’s Ethiopia.   

The historic Afar Sultanates were: the Sultanates of Girrifu and Rahayta in present day Eritrea, Sultanates Tajura and GobaAd in today’s Yibouti ( Djibouti).  Sultanate of Ausa in Ethiopia. The five Sultanates had a quasi confederal system in place. 

_____________________________________________

* Special thanks to Günter SChröder for this  useful comment: 

Dear friends, just a short comment. Gneral Haile was the head of the Eastern Military Operation Zone but since late 2008 he is the head of the Western Military Command. The Eastern Military Command is now held by General Gerezgiher "Wuch" Andemariam. Best regards Günter SChröder Independent Consultant and Researcher Frankfurt Germany

Comments (2) >>

...
written by زين العابدين شوكاي, July 22, 2010

Dear Gunter Schröder
I need to have a contact with you. We met in the Kassel festival some years ago. I promised to connect you to somebody who lives in Sweden and is important for your research on Eritrea. Please write to me in this e-mail to finish this job that I felt guilty about for such a long time. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Please, dear Afar Friends,
Where can I find a good book on the history of the Afar nation in English or Arabic, I have seen some of them abd they were not good enough to know better about the Afars whom I feel a special love and bond to
Zein Shokai

...
written by Günter SChröder, April 22, 2010

Dear friends, just a short comment. Gneral Haile was the head of the Eastern Military Operation Zone but since late 2008 he is the head of the Western Military Command. The Eastern Military Command is now held by General Gerezgiher "Wuch" Andemariam. Best regards Günter SChröder Independent Consultant and Researcher Frankfurt Germany

Write comment

Name

Email

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment