Ciham’s Uncle

Editor: Uncle of imprisoned niece Ciham Ali. Advocacy: Education, Eritrea, Africa, America, Humanity.

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

@Sidicolla1812 The Departments of ሕርር ደኣ በሉ and ካብኡ ኣይትሕለፋ celebrate sadism. The department of Low Expectations, meanwhile, celebrates meaningless things like the city hall of Whocaresville (population 12,000) celebrating Eritrea Day. 😎

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

UN Checks Off A Box

🇺🇳ECOSOC has 54 members.
🇺🇳 Africa is assigned 14 seats
🇺🇳 So far, only 3 African countries have never been members:
São Tomè (pop: 250k),
South Sudan (a State for fewer than 15 years) and
Eritrea (prickly by nature)
🇺🇳 Eritrea just got chosen. The Department of Low Expectations is celebrating.

[Ghideon Musa @GhideonMusa]

#Eritrea has been elected as a member of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for the 2027–2029 term.

This marks a notable diplomatic achievement for the country in the United Nations system.

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

First there was the quartet: UK, USA, UAE, KSA.

Then there was the quad: Egypt, USA, UAE, KSA.

Now, there is the quintet👇🏾

☮️ for 🇸🇩

[The Sudan Times @thesudantimes]

Sudanese political groups have confirmed their participation in a major diplomatic summit set to begin on Wednesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The two-day conference is being held under the supervision of the international five-party mechanism and aims to launch a comprehensive Sudanese-led dialogue process.

https://t.co/k5hfZ0k1oV

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

TPLF would do well to remember it’s not in charge of a sovereign state but one of 12 Ethiopian regional states which must yield to Caesar (Addis Abeba) what’s Caesar’s.

Interpreting constitutions and their rendering judgement on the constitutionality of an act is the job of the House of Federation, not TPLF

Electoral laws are the domain of Addis.

Foreign policy is the domain of Addis.

Certain heavy armaments are the domain of Addis.

TPLF never answered its 1990 question: should we go for governing of Ethiopia or declaring Tigray independent and running it.

And you know what psychologists say about unresolved childhood trauma. It affects all your decisions.

Including hating everyone for the crimes it inflicted on its people.

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

Consequences have no elections. Just realignment of friends and foes.

1. Ethiopia: country had an election on June 1 and the results are not announced yet, keeping everyone in suspense as to who will win— when only one party is running. Will it be 86% blowout? 90%?

So much suspense.

There were no elections in the entire region of Tigray and parts of Amhara and Oromia due to safety concerns. But both AU and EU said “oh well whatcha gonna do?” It sounds free and fair for PP and that’s good enough for now.

2. Tigray Region: remember that illegal election we had in 2020 that was one of the triggers that caused the devastating wars of 2020-22?

We have decided that same group of politicians who were elected by people who have died and been displaced by the war should assume power again. What’s the worst that can happen: ethnic cleansing, devastating wars and displacement? It’s a price the politicians are willing to pay by rounding up the underaged.

3. Eritrea: the only Eritrean who has ever had any experience at all presiding over the country is, clearly, the only one qualified to be president and we will save the country all the time and resources used in elections and just endorse him.

Times of war are not the time to gamble and experiment. And it’s always time for war which is always forced on us.

4. New Friends & Foes: you might say “that’s boring, we need change!” They have thought of that too.

For the next 5 years, it’s no longer Dr Debrexion vs Isaias & Abiy, as it was in 2020-22.

A new realignment is necessary.

We had at first decided it should be Dr Debrexion & Abiy vs Isaias (2023.) But Team Debrexion said they are not going to sign up for an invasion to liberate Assab, Eritrea and return it to its motherland Ethiopia. Traitors.

So now, it’s Abiy vs Debrexion & Isaias. And their allies.

It’s Abiy, UAE, Israel, RSF vs Debrexion, Isaias, FANO, OLA, ONLF, SAF, and Egypt.

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

It’s an incumbent loving country, Ethiopia. When most of the country believes every ruler is an Elect of God, then the ruler rules until he is overruled by a new Elect of God.

When Teddy sang አዲስ ንጉሥ እንጂ ለውጥ መቼ መጣ he wasn’t complaining; he was describing. That’s why his next line is what it is.

Some of us judge the quality of elections by how many people did not die while having it. That’s why the Kenyan former president has been so complimentary to you.

Different perspective.

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

@ADawit Yeah for sub Saharan Africa the average is 7.1. And this is why institutions like World Bank say Eritrea’s population is 7 million just by extrapolating

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

2025 vs 2024: 16,288 “forcibly displaced” Eritreans

The differences between the cumulative number for 2025 and 2024 is the number of Eritreans who were granted a refugee or asylum-seeker status in 2025.

16,288. More than a thousand per month. In a time of “relative peace.” There is never peace, just relative peace.

Three of our neighbors—Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti-did not even send us felicity letters on our Independence Day. Who cares: the U.S. didn’t sent a diplomatic pouch: it had a representative of the State Department actually read the letter. I imagined it or I heard it: he say we thank the Eritrean government for its assurances of the well being of American citizens. He ended it with yekenyeley.

Genzebka.

The cumulative number of the forcibly displaced, 679,346, does NOT include you or me: it does not include Eritreans who have been naturalized or granted permanent residence with a secure status in their host country.

The entire Diaspora is probably a multiple of that. Meanwhile, the in-country population of Eritreans was 3.65 million, per an Eritrean government report, about 5 years ago.

At what point will this be agenda that makes it to interviews of, and speeches by, President Isaias Afwerki and his government?

I mean more constructively than (a) there should be return fee, to compensate the people of Eritrea, for all the social investment these escapees cost the country and (b) stay where you are until you earn educational credentials or a thick bank account.

2025 vs 2024.

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

Gotta tell you your own history:

1. FANO: a mythological Amhara entity that Abiy armed to the teeth to fight Weyane and then sidelined them to make peace with Weyane.

Fault: Ethiopian mythology, Abiy treachery

2. OLA: armed wing of Oromo Liberation Front formed in the 1970s to fight against land dispossession, marginalization. Pushed out of coalition government in 1990s by TPLF

Fault: Menelik II (dispossession), Meles (power monopolization)

All Isaias does is provide shelter and social services to those that Ethiopian rulers discard.

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

Leader Praises Citizens For Ignoring Armed Rebels He Created, Calls It Historic Democratic Triumph.

There are three types of democracies

1. Those who are devoted to serving people so much so that they will even vote for themselves on their behalf.

2. Those who respect the people enough to conduct a beautifully performative gratitude and humility.

3. Those who created the systems to require them to persuade people to vote for them.

Ethiopia has made it to Phase 2.

[Abiy Ahmed Ali 🇪🇹 @AbiyAhmedAli]

The people of Ethiopia are an extraordinary and remarkable people. Other than the Creator, who can truly know and assess our people in their entirety? Through this year’s election, Ethiopians have once again shown the world that they are a people with a rich culture, deep patriotism, and the ability to safeguard the common good.

On this historic day:

* Citizens who were not intimidated by the cold and darkness of the night,
* Who were not deterred by the midday sun or sudden rain,
* Whom weddings, funerals, childbirth, and other social obligations did not prevent from participating,
* Who were not wearied by long lines,
* Whose physical disabilities did not stop them from casting their vote,
* Those whose illness and old age did not prevent from witnessing the hope of their country,
* Who were not exhausted by carrying their infant children; the future inheritors of the nation,
* And above all, whom the shouting and threats of enemies could not intimidate or stop;

The perseverance you demonstrated amid many challenges and hardships, against all odds, was a contribution made for democracy and for the very survival of the nation. For this, you deserve heartfelt gratitude.

It is a privilege to serve such a people. Therefore, may those who have been elected honor the trust placed in them and serve this people, with integrity and sincerity! A people who have paid a great price for the democratic system. May you be worthy of that responsibility.

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

It’s more than that.

GERD is to be celebrated NOT as a TPLF/EPRDF initiative but its successful completion due to the visionary leadership of Abiy who intervened with hands-on micromanagement to save it from its derailment.

Bonus: restoration of Egypt as “historical enemy”, a phrase designed to communicate the irreconcilably of the Ethiopia-Egypt relationship.

The industrial parks of EPRDF are all wasteful.

In 17 years, EPRDF built over 40 universities. In just about 8 years, Abiy has built the world’s and most likely the universe’s first ever AI University.

And every other week, some mega project. Great airline? Check. Tourist/convention center? Coming. Digitization, commercial hub? Maybe if Nairobi doesn’t have a say.

Meanwhile, TPLF is saying you know this is still a federal state and the politicians shall have the right to avoid prison terms by raising (rounding up) a standing army. It’s in the constitution somewhere.

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

May 29, 1991: This Day in Ethiopian History

Whereas there are many reports on the fierce and devastating battle Ethiopia waged to retain control of the port city of Massawa, there are none for the port city of Assab, which EPLF established control of days AFTER it liberated the capital city.

Prosperity Party Historian: That we didn’t fight for it proves, once again, that Assab has always been Ethiopian.

Photo courtesy: @GhideonMusa

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

Nah. A cursory read of the country called Eritrea will show you the country as an entity with political consciousness existed before Isaias. And therefore will outlast Isaias.

Although I hear that as wishful thinking of Ethiopia’s ruling class and Ethiopianists: the sooner the State of Eritrea is gone the sooner we forget Ethiopia’s greatest military loss.

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

Eritrea and Ethiopia overthrew Ethiopia’s Black Stalin (Mengistu) in May 1991. Since then, Ethiopia has had/will have 7 nationwide elections (1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2021 and 2026) with the following winners: Meles, Meles, Meles, Meles, Hailemariam, Abiy, Abiy.

Eritrea has had zero nationwide elections resulting in Isaias Afwerki being the only head of government/state since its independence in 1991. Eritrea finds it much easier to mock the rigged elections of Ethiopia.

But this is why a rigged election is better than no election, as AU observer team member Uhuru Kenyatta explains:

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

ምሊሻ:: if you read their story, they were Ethiopian ruling party loyalists. Ergo presto that applies to those who support the Eritrean government. They know that it’s abnormal to have a country without a constitution or elections, but you are the weird one for pointing out. Because it’s not the right time. Because it’s never the right time 😎

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

The membership of the Tolerated Opposition will be more than the previous election because the ruling party is not even fielding candidates in these win-by-forfeit elections.

The opposition is what’s left over from those who were not arrested or exiled. The contest is lopsidedly in favor of the incumbent.

And they will rightfully be criticized for it.

And maybe they will get better in the next election. Or the one after that. All the East Asian tigers started out that way. You gotta run to get better at running.

You are never gonna be good at it sitting at a couch and watching it.

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

That’s funny 🤣

If the people can be trusted with most important the country will ever have (vote for referendum), why can’t they be trusted to elect who governs them?

What is the fear? Ethnic politics? Religious politics? It’s banned in the Electoral Law and Party Formation Law that the assembly-appointed committee finalized in 2001.

You consider elections risky and expensive? Make them less risky so that it’s even PFDJ1 vs PFDJ2, like they do for local elections. Then we will have empowered politicians owing their legitimacy to elections, not whether Isaias is having a good day or a bad day.

Right now the reason the ministries can’t tell us their budgets is because they don’t know what their budget is. The sooner we start at this the sooner we perfect it. It will never be born perfect.

[Ciham’s Uncle @saayEritrea]

Mainstream Western media: shareholder value maximization + eyeballs maximization + as told by people attracted to journalism as a calling (and are therefore stubbornly biased). The plebes get what Orwell predicted they would (sex and violence) and the ruling class sends messages to each other via leaks to the journalists.

New fragmented citizen media: somebody you never heard of but the algorithm tells you he is jmportant says something sensational. Then you ask Grok “is this true?” 50% of the time, Grok will tell you it is not true because if it were true the mainstream western media would have published it.

Winning.