eritrean nationals abroad to strive for portraying nation’s...

Vol 22. No. 28 Saturday, 6th of june , 2015 Pages 8, Price 2.00 NFA

The Eritrean Ambassador to South African and the Southern African region, Mr. Saleh Omar, has presented his credentials to President Edgar Chagwa Lungu of Zambia.

During the presentation ceremony, the Ambassador conveyed President Isaias Afwerki’s greetings and goodwill and expressed readiness to strengthen Eritrean-Zambian relations. Mr. Saleh also noted the significance of exchanging experience on the part of both countries in the domains of

Science, Technology, Mining and Agriculture.

President Edgar Chagwa Lungu Eritrean citizens in Stockholm, Los

Angeles, Baden-Baden and Cairo have reiterated readiness to strive for portraying the nation’s correct image. This commitment featured prominently in the course the recent independence celebrations.

They also lauded the development drive in the Homeland to which objective the nationals asserted readiness to step up participation in the nation-building process.

Reports further indicated that

Eritreans living in Sudan’s Red Sea region have expressed their dedicated support to development efforts underway in their home country.

This pledge was made during celebrations marking the 24th Independence anniversary in Port Sudan city in which regional

said that his country attaches due importance in promoting closer bilateral ties.

Also in other news from Zambia, Eritrean nationals residing in Zambia have pledged to extend financial support to 70 families of

AmbAssAdor sAleh presents credentiAls to ZAmbiAn leAder

martyrs back home on a regular basis. This noble gesture was made at a public meeting of the Eritrean community in Zambia presided by Eritrea’s Ambassador to South Africa and the Southern African region, Mr. Saleh Omar.

The Ambassador highlighted current realities in Eritrea as well as developments and trends in the region.

eritreAn nAtionAls AbroAd to strive for portrAying nAtion’s correct imAge

A total of 65 students, including 24 females have graduated from Hagaz Agriculture and Technical School with Certificate.

The School director, Brother Esayas Tsegai, explained that the students pursued 2-year courses in Agro-Mechanics, Animal

Science, Plant Science, Soil and Water Conservation, in addition to Irrigation Development.

Records indicate that a total of 2,084 students, over 700 of whom are females, have so far graduated from Hagaz Agriculture and Technical School.

65 students grAduAte from hAgAZ Agriculture And technicAl

school with certificAte

Sudanese government officials also took part.

The Eritrean cultural troupe “Aula” and students of the Eritrean community school in Sudan’s Red Sea region staged performances highlighting the diversity and cultural heritage of Eritrean society.

support to development efforts

the cultural performances staged in the process made due impact on familiarizing Eritrea’s rich cultural heritage.

In other related news, Eritrean nationals living in Swakin city, Republic of the Sudan, have expressed readiness to enhance their participation in the nation-building process. This was expressed at the recent celebration marking the 24th Independence anniversary.

Speaking on the occasion in which Sudanese government officials took part, Mr. Ismael Mussa, First Secretary in charge of public affairs at the Eritrean Embassy, expounded on development programs that are in the process of implementation.

2Eritrea Profile, Saturday 6th of june , 2015

Published Every Saturday & WednesdayManaging Director Azzazi Zeremariam

Acting EditorAmanuel Mesfun

[email protected]

P.O.Box: 247Tel: 11-41-14Fax: 12-77-49

E-mail:profile@ zena.gov.er

Advertisement: 12-50-13Layout

azieb habtemariam

Meron Abraha

Movies have proved, for quite some time now, to be an easy

way to introduce and promote the tradition, values and culture of a country to people from other countries, thus promoting mutual understanding and subsequently purging barriers for those people to cultivate friendship.

Following along that model of cultural exchange, the European film week, which has become one of the biggest European cultural events in Eritrea, kicked off this past Thursday june 4, 2015 for the twelfth consecutive year.

Officially opened with a recep-tion at the premises of the Casa Degli Italiani in Asmara, this year’s edition of the annual Eu-ropean film Week began with the screening at Cinema Roma of a film from the United Kingdom.

This year’s opening film, en-titled ‘A Hundred Foot journey”, tells the story of a feud between two adjacent restaurants in a French town: one operated by a recently relocated Indian family and the other a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Speaking during the opening reception earlier Thursday after-noon, Ambassador Christian Ma-nahl, the Head of Delegation of the European Union to the State of Eritrea, stated that the annual selection of films was part of the European cultural diplomacy and a contribution to the cultural life in Asmara.

European Film Bonanza Comes Around“We hope that the European

Film Week can make a small con-tribution to the understanding of European societies in Eritrea, but also among the many internation-al visitors to this country,” said the Ambassador.

Also in his speech, the Ambas-sador pointed out that the a spe-cial program for children has been scheduled, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the Administration of the Central Re-gion, allowing children from dif-ferent schools in the city to attend film screenings at the Casa Degli Italiani right after the end of ex-ams next week.

Noting that the school initiative that started in 2010 had proved to be very positive among teachers and children, he expressed his hopes that this year’s program would be met with similar enthusiasm. A total of 11 films from coun-tries as diverse as Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom were selected for this year’s edi-tion of the European Film Week. The 12th European Film Week, which will remain open and free of charge from 4 – 10 june 2015, is hosted by the Delegation of the European Union in Eritrea along with the embassies of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom as well as the Alliance Française of Asmara.

Eritrea Profile will, starting from this edition, widen its scope of domestic news coverage and analysis to provide its readers with a more complete, timely and accurate picture of major news, events and trends unfolding in the country.

In line with this strategy, Profile will feature, with varying pe-riodicity, new columns on development challenges, diplomacy and politics, as well as informative reports that offer a glimpse of Eritrea’s varied and rich cultural heritage and archeological endowments.

A new Q & A section will explore novel findings or approaches on a wide domain of fields and conduct one-on-one interviews with the author concerned to keep Profile readers posted on such developments. On the lighter side, Profile will feature articles on seemingly mundane daily occurrences but that convey and belie more subtle social meaning.

To encourage animated interaction and feedback from its read-ers, Profile will entertain independent contributions on relevant and topical domestic and regional issues in its Opinion and Anal-ysis column. Another new platform, “Letters to the Editor” will further supplant the interactive medium.

Profile hopes that the new format will add value to its core mis-sion of providing its readers with profound information and anal-ysis on key domestic and regional events. The new effort will be successful only if it engenders interest and active contribution from its readers, both at home and in the Diaspora. Profile hopes that this will indeed be the case.

Grade 8 National General Examinations was conducted from the 3rd to 4th of june 2015. In addition to all students in the country who have completed

grade eight, Eritrean students in community schools in Riyadh and jeddah also participated, as is normal the case, in the same examinations.

“The aggregate number of students who took the examination this year is around 50,000”, Mr. Kifle Mokonen , the Head

grAde 8 nAtionAl generAl exAminAtion of National Examinations in the Education Ministry, stated. Female students comprise 46% of the total.

The Ministry of Education has deployed 3,500 examiners and 2,500 supervisors to enhance effective monitoring of the examinations.


Billion Temesghen

Mr. Lewis Ncube current presi-dent of the African Chess Con-federation along with an emi-nent chess champion from Egypt Grand Master Ahmed Adly, paid a visit to Eritrea on the second week of May 2015. On the 16thof may, their last day in Asmara, Mr. Lewis Ncube conducted a meeting with the Eritrean chess confeder-ation members and Grand Master Ahmed Adly soon after shared his knowhow’s and some tips about the sport with the young mem-bers.

Previous to that day, Grand Master Ahmed Adly joined a round game session that was or-ganized by the members of the Eritrean chess federation: he played with 21 extremely skilled and passionate players.

Grand Master Ahmed Adly re-peatedly cited his amazement on the brilliancy of the young Eri-trean players and expressed his best wishes for them to do well in this sport.

Despite their busy schedule they made some time to share with us their ideas and thoughts. And so we present you today, the interview we conducted with Mr. Lewis Ncube.

About chess.The exact origin of chess is a

great mystery. You know, there are many theories about where and when chess originated, including

some that suggest it is thousands of years old. More likely, big structure of it looks like it does date back to ancient times. The best evidence indicates that chess originated in India around 600 A.D. It was then spread rapidly through Asia, and was cultivated by the Arabs who in turn introduced it to the European territories they had con-quered. In time it spread to Spain, Italy, France and other European countries. It is also assumed that maybe it was originated by the ancient Egyptians as we can see many feature of chess related to the ancient Egyptian cultures.

Since the late eighteenth cen-tury the recognition of this sport has increased noticeably, particu-larly with the introduction of rule, matches and tournaments. Chess is now, it actually has been for a long time, a sport renewed interna-tionally and it has a lot of follow-ers. And we, FIDE, is aiming to be a community for African players to equally participate in regional and international games.

Chess in Africa. For many reasons, unfortunate-

ly, many sports could not be at the top of their expression during the past years. But we do have many countries like Egypt for example that did participate in different and significant tournaments. Now it is finally a time in which many Afri-can countries are both economical-ly and politically stable so we are contributing in many categories of sport. I see that here in Eritrea,

you are doing so well in cycling. It makes me proud as an African.

So, back to chess: a brief history of it would go back to 1980. In 1980 the General Assembly fixed that federations that have not paid their dues before the Chess Olym-piads, and that have not given rea-sons which satisfy the President, should be temporarily excluded. Later on in the Congress of 1981 the General Assembly agreed with the guideline established by the Executive Council that debts should be paid three months be-fore the two-yearly Chess Olym-piads, and that final act lies with

the President, who may use his discretion as to which route of act to take. Two years later, in the Congress of 1983 the General As-sembly decided to put into practice on 1 july 1984 the verdict of the Executive Council. Now, FIDE is more structured than ever and we are welcoming anyone that can represent Africa. And our work visit to Eritrea was part of it.

Additional purposes of the work visit to Eritrea.

Eritrea is now an official mem-ber. We have been working on involving more countries for the federation to be strong, multi lat-eral and ultimately to powerfully position ourselves, not only with spoken words but with actions, against the many negative stereo-types labeled against Africa and Africans. Sadly, many think so little of Africa. I came across a lot of individuals that think Afri-cans could only do a diminutive amount in sports which demand intelligence and accuracy. So we are currently, along with your help, about to set a positive image for the African community. Sport is always a good and peaceful way of changing things. And we aim to engage more youth since we truly believe in their potential.

Latest improvements accom-plished through the meetings and conferences held during the visit.

Yes, we talked and exchanged ideas for further success. We orga-

“. . . we will have positive interaction with our friends here in Eritrea”

Mr. Lewis Ncube current president of the African Chess Confederation

Mr. Lewis Ncube current president of the African Chess Confederation along with an eminent chess champion from Egypt Grand Master Ahmed Adly in their meeting with Eritrea’s Sport’s Commissioner Ambassador Zemede Tekle

nized tournaments and discussed how and when they will be held. We believe as this is just our first trip we will need more, but for now I am glad with how things are go-ing with the Eritrean Sport Federa-tion and of course with the chess community. Provisional member are now: General Secretary, Mr. Yassin Mahammed MAHAMUD and Mr. Teferi Ghebregziabher Mehanzel is the official Treasurer. And at the Public Relations Office we have Mr. Ahmed Mohammed Omer, Technical Officer is Mr. Napoleon Tecle Abraham, the Tournament Director is Mr. Adam Teklehaymanot Oqbamichael, Mr. Debesai Zerabruk Sahlu is Chief Arbiter and last but not least as the Women’s Affairs Officer we have Ms. Fiori Tesfu Kidanemariam.

During our encounters I realized that your culture thought you to be respectful and passionate about the things you do. And it is a very nice thing to own, so we know we will have positive interaction with our friends here in Eritrea.

Last words. I came here for work but I really

need to thank you all for making me feel at home. I received a very warm welcome. I met some nice people that thought me so much. I believe you have smart and intel-ligent young people that can make their name and the name of your country and Africa well-known trough sports and hopefully chess too. Thank you.

4Eritrea Profile, Saturday 6th of june , 2015 ADSvacancy announcement

Bisha Mining Share Company is inviting applicants for the following positions for its Bisha Site Project.

Electrical Training Officer (01) 1. Duration of Contract:-Indefinite Period Major Duties and responsibilities

Conduct training need analysis using company approved techniques and determine train-ing needs.

Prepare training and assessment packages of the electrical trades to suit work related outcomes.

Conduct practical and theoretical training, including in the practical work environment (on the job).

Generate training and assessment documents for every trainee and ensure the documents are completed to the company approved standards.

Conduct periodic and need based updating and assessment documents and associated standard work procedures.

Conduct regular and need training impact assessment survey in the practical work envi-ronment.

Prepare and submit appropriate training report.Responsible for safety and performance of trainees while attending courses.Prepare and maintain accurate and up-to-date training matrices of related training areas.Ensure training manuals and associated training aids are always ready for the trainees.Assist line management and supervisors in the Engineering department in identification

of the respective employees training needs.Develop practical training setup.Perform other related tasks assigned by the supervisor.

Knowledge and Skills

Formal Education, Certifications or Equivalents Minimum of Technical school diploma in electricity•

Working Experience – Nature & Length

For diploma level 2 years’ experience in technical •training & 3 years’ experience as electrician.

For BSC level 01 year experience as trainer & 2 years •in electrical works.

L e a d e r s h i p Experience – Nature & length of time

Ability to meet deadlines, work independently and •highly organized.

Willing to work in a team.•

Other skills and abilities

Excellent presentation skills.•Excellent oral and written communication skills in •

English and Tigrigna.Excellent in MS office applications particularly MS •

word

2 Bus/ Mini-Bus DriverDuration of Contract:- Definite Period Major Duties and responsibilities:-

Ensure safety requirements are met and safety devices are used properly•Ensure roadworthy of the vehicle before running by performing all necessary •

check upEnsure that both company and national road traffic rules and regulations are re-•

spectedEnsure passengers are guided properly during loading and offloading•Ensure fuel tank of vehicle is full with petrol before and after trips•Ensure pre start log sheet is filled properly and neatly•Ensure accident and other defect are reported to supervisor honestly and on •

timeEnsure services are delivered as planed as per drivers SOP•Other related job as assigned by the transportation supervisor •

Profile: Other skills and abilities

Formal Education, Certifications or Equiv-alents Ability to write and read English

Working Experience – Nature & Length Above three years bus/ Mini bus driving experi-

ence

Leadership Experi-ence – Nature & length of time N/A

Other skills and abili-ties

Excellent interpersonal relationshipGood communication skill local languages and English

as working languageValid grade 4 or higher driver’s license

General Information and other requirements:Place of Work : Bisha.Salary: As per Company salary scale.Additional requirement for Nationals: Having fulfilled his/her National Service obligation and provide evidence of release paper

from the Ministry of Defense. Present clearance paper from current/last employer.Testimonial documents to be attached (CV, work experience credentials, a copy of your Na-

tional Identity Card etc.).Only shortlisted applicants would be considered as potential candidates for an interview. Application documents will not be returned to sender. All applications should be sent through the post office.Deadline for application: 10 days from the day of publication in the Newspaper.

Address: Please mail your applications to; Bisha Mining Share Company, P. O. Box 4276 Asmara, Eritrea

Note to Eritrean applicants: Please send a copy of your application to Aliens Employment permit Affairs, P. O. Box 7940 Asmara, Eritrea

Chinese Classes On Summer Vacation

CI-NCHE is planning to offer more classes for the public who are interested in learning Chinese language and longing for knowing more about Chinese culture from June 15 to August 30, 2015. The registration is scheduled on June 8-9 in Room 181, University of Asmara.

The time schedule is as following: Chinese Language Class I: Tuesday&Thursday, 9:00 -11:00 a.m. Chinese Language Class II : Saturday&Sunday, 9:00-11:00 a.m. Kongfu: Wednesday&Friday, 9:00-11:00 a.m. Dance, Caligraphy: Monday, 9:00-11:00 a.m. Students of Chinese language are supposed to pay 100 Nakfa for handouts. There

is no charge for tuition fee.

General Meeting Of Shareholders Of National Insurance Corporation Of Eritrea the national insurance corporation of Eritrea cordially invites

all shareholders to attend the 11th ordinary general meeting of shareholders to be held at hotel Asmara palace on Saturday 6th of june 2015 at 08;00 hrs .

shareholders who cannot attend the meeting in person can collect their instru-ment of proxy from our head office or by downloading it form our website www.nice-ertrea.com and submit it to the head office not later than 12;00 hrs 5th june 2015.

moreover, we remind shareholders to collect their certificates and time during office hours .

National Insurance Corporation of Eritrea share company by the order of the board of Directors.


VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENTBisha Mining Share Company is inviting applicants for the following posi-

tions for its Bisha Site Project.Truck Drivers1.

Number required: - 18Duties / Functions

Preform a prestart to Bisha / OEM requirements for IVECO 10 wheel trucks•Effective operation in mining areas, tip heads, traming, dumping in confined areas, •

loading cyclesCommunication with 2 way radio.•Follow Standard operating procedures. •Identification and Hazard awareness (Spot the issues) high safety culture.•Effectively manage loading cycle as not to pool trucks.•

Profile: Qualifications and Experience

Formal Education, Certifications or Equivalents

Equipment operation, read and write local •language be able to understand Basic English as a secondary language.School certificate.•Must have 4• th grade driving license.


Hands on approach, demonstrated ability •on other machinery.

Leadership Experience – Nature & length of time

Self-starter long hours.•


Willingness to be trained to operate other •equipment ( multi-skilling and be a part of a highly motivated safe team)

Position: Data Clerk2. Required Number: 02Duties/Functions.

Handling incoming and outgoing calls.•

Input of data base and production of reports as required.•

Communication with human resource and finance departments for employment and •new starters, visa, travel permit for all mining employees.

Identification and hazard awareness (spot the issue) high safety culture.•

Follow standard operating procedures.•

Time sheet recording and attendance records.•

Efficient in Microsoft office, excel, word. •

Communication with other departments and control staff work allocation.•

Copying, printing, general administration office and filling.•

Profile: Qualifications and Experience


Read and write local language plus •English as a secondary language.School certificate, tertiary qualification •in a computer science or office administration.


Hands on approach, demonstrated •ability, 12 months minimum data base management/computer science/office management, good computer skill set.

Leadership Experience – Nature & length of time

Previous administration experience •needed


Good working knowledge of Microsoft •office, excel, word and access data base an advantage.Good spoken communication as well as •written in dual languages local language and English.Willingness to be trained (multi-skilling).•Microsoft office experience.•Able to have a help out attitude towards •the mining team.

General Information and other requirements:Place of Work:Bisha Site.Type of contract: Indefinite period Salary :As per Company salary scale.Additional requirement for Nationals: Having fulfilled his/her National Service obligation and provide evidence of release paper

from the Ministry of Defense. Present clearance paper from current/last employer.

Vacancy AnnouncementBisha Mining Share Company is inviting applicants for the following

positions for its Bisha Site Project.

Human Resources Officer- Travel (01) 1.

Major Duties and responsibilities

Assist with flight and hotel bookings Receive flight booking requests from employees and check to ensure forms are

correctly completed.Process flight booking requests through travel agencies and following up to ensure

tickets are issued.Process flight bookings at the airline offices in Asmara by visiting them in person

until tickets are issued.Follow up flight booking progress with airlines by calling or visiting them in per-

son until tickets are booked.Process travel Permit.Visit hotel to make and or cancel reservations.Requesting confirmation numbers from Asmara Palace Hotel. Follow up with Asmara Palace hotel when hotel booking request has been receive.Prepare daily activity summary report and submit to HR Supervisor.

Knowledge and Skills


Diploma or BA. In Business management or Public Administration.Basis ticketing Course

Working Experience – Nature & Length 3+ years’ experience working with overseas travel agencies, airlines and hotels.

Leadership Experience – Nature & length of time N/A


Proficient in English, Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and Outlook), familiar with the various government offices and procedures related to visas, permits and flight bookings.

General Information and other requirements:Place of Work : Asmara.Type of Contract Indefinite periodSalary: As per Company salary scale.Additional requirement for Nationals: Having fulfilled his/her National Service obligation and provide evidence of re-

lease paper from the Ministry of Defense. Present clearance paper from current/last employer.Testimonial documents to be attached (CV, work experience credentials, a copy of

your National Identity Card etc.).Only shortlisted applicants would be considered as potential candidates for an

interview. Application documents will not be returned to sender. All applications should be sent through the post office.Deadline for application: 10 days from the day of publication in the Newspaper.Address: Please mail your applications to;Bisha Mining Share Company, •P. O. Box 4276 Asmara, Eritrea•

Note to Eritrean applicants: Please send a copy of your application toAliens Employment permit Affairs,P. O. Box 7940 Asmara, Eritrea

Testimonial documents to be attached (CV, work experience credentials, a copy of your Na-tional Identity Card etc.)

Only shortlisted applicants would be considered as potential candidates for an interview. Application documents will not be returned to sender. All applications should be sent through the post office.Deadline for application: 10 days from the day of publication in the Newspaper.Address : Please mail your applications to;

Bisha Mining Share Company, P. O. Box 4276 Asmara, Eritrea

Note to Eritrean applicants: Please send a copy of your application to Aliens Employment permit Affairs,

ADS


Dear readers ‘On the Table’ always welcomes your outlooks on any of the issues raised on this column. Please mail us your comments opinions and views; we will entertain them.

On the Table: http://www.profile.gov.er Daniel Semre - [email protected] Solomon Mengsteab [email protected]

Solomon Mengsteab

I had a friend in the university, who was in her senior year when I was a freshman. When I was in sophomore, this friend of mine graduated from the university, got a scholarship for higher education and left to study abroad. While she was there, she and I used to write each other as often as we could. Naturally, in her letters would described her new environs for me and I used to send her the updates of her home town, Asmara, in mine. She was always nostalgic about her home, her neighbourhood, her family, her friends etc. But, get this; in most of her letters, the thing that she used to say she missed most was going downtown around dusk and spend the evening at the famous cafés of our beautiful city Asmara with her friends. Harnet Avenue is one of the busiest streets in Asmara, especially around the evening. It is not, however, cars thronging traffic that make the Avenue busy during the evening. Indeed, during rush-hour, the traffic is as busy as it can get in most streets of Asmara. However, it is rather pedestrians who come down town on a business or another, but mostly for recreation, walking around the pavement that makes the avenue crowded. For whatever reason they are there, however, it is more or less ordinary for most of the people, who come downtown around the evening, to visit some café and refresh themselves with a cup of tea, coffee, cappuccino, macchiato etc. Should generalization be made here; I think it is safe to say that, traditionally, Eritreans have particularly communal way of life. The arrangement and relationship among members of a given community (regardless of its form of organization) is so intricate that most of the things that an individual goes through are shared by his/her community. In the same way, the issues that the community is affected by also similarly affect the individual. The Eritrean traditional society is mainly about sharing, material or non-material, opportunities and challenges together for better or worse. It’s about going through the good and the bad times hand in hand. Needless to say, for this way of life to take effect and endure, unbroken communication and interaction is required among the members of the community. Fortunately, the ways of life in villages and small towns

has been providential for such perpetual communication and interaction. Although it needs more thorough study and analysis, the new trend of, gathering in the cafés downtown in the evenings is some form of forging such communication and interaction among each other which is becoming more difficult with the growing of the city, Asmara. It is probably why invitation for ‘a cup of tea’ has a lot more meaning to Asmara’s population. It is well known for any permanent Asmara resident that an invitation for a cup of tea, from a friend, is an invitation for catching up, discussion, confiding, relaxation, and spending time together in general. It is well understood that “We should have tea more often” means that we are not meeting, communicating, interact and spend time together as often as we are supposed to; thus, a cup of tea? Asmara’s cafés are also among the most important recreation centres in the city. They are places where people come to and just be ease, and spend a relaxed evening with their loved ones. The fact that most of them seclude the service of alcohol, cigarette and other destructive addictive substances also makes their positivity weighty. It is probably for this particular reason that parents or, guardians in general, don’t feel alarmed that their children, from time to time, go downtown for ‘a cup of tea’. Evidently, it is arguable that the idea of the habit of spending evenings in cafés might entail hazardous effects on people, especially with regard to the issues of time, and money management. However, it is understood that too much of anything would mostly bring about undesirable consequences. It is clear that spending every evening of the week and every minute of every evening at the cafés would definitely be deleterious. But, management is the key to make the best out of any given circumstance; including this one. What do you say?

There Is More To It

A cup of tea?Nowadays it has become, somewhat, customary for people to meet downtown for a cup of tea. However the positivity of the trend is

to some extent controversial. Today’s ‘On the Table’ shall glance up on the issue from two different perspectives.

Daniel Semere

Needless to say every person, no matter the person’s gender, has the right to pursue whatever profession the person is inclined in to. However, there is always a price to our choices. And in most cases it would be right to pay the price for your choices and your profession. But when the price is greater than the gain then we need to re-consider our choices. The issue of profes-sion and gender is one that is riddled with a lot of such complications. There is now an understanding that gender shouldn’t be a factor in our choice of profession. It is true that gender has been used unfairly and for very long time to discriminate women from participating in the economy of a nation or society. And much of the profession that were considered off-limit to women have seen their increased participation. And this has brought unprecedented production and wealth to humanity. But in light of all this positive outcome we should still remain re-alistic.

Natural: we need to be careful not to be oversensitive on certain matters. To begin with the natural factor limits the capability of each gender to produce effectively. In fact some of the physically strenuous jobs are al-most always and completely dominated by male worker. And that has its own valid rea-sons that can be explained biologically, psy-chologically, or other natural phenomenon. Deep mining for instance is on profession we can mention that is almost always a male profession, and rightfully so. In such cases it is natural that profession should have gen-

der consideration and even bias.There is also social factor to consider

when we think about gender and profession. No matter how we slice it mother’s role at the early stage of a child’s life is irreplace-able. A socially healthy person can only be built with the unrelenting and consistent care and follow-up of that person’s family. At the center of the family is the mother who caters for most of the formative stage of a person. This fact is need driven and has nothing to do with ascription of the responsibility on the mother by the society. This brings us to the argument that the profession shouldn’t be an obstacle to the proper care and guidance to children. This is perhaps where many people have a different perspective on. However, when parents decide to have children, there should be no excuse and obstacle that stands in the way of giving the children the proper care and guidance. Hence anyone’s future is greatly shaped by the initial encounter the person have had on so many issues. That’s why it is often said that the family as a cradle of a person’s journey in life is the most cru-cial factor in that person’s life. The moment of our lives we spend with our families is the formative stage of anyone that will shape our lives to what we will become in every aspect of it. Hence, parent’s role, and especially that of mother’s, in the lives of each and every one of us is totally critical and determines our success and failure in our future.

Everyone has a right to choose whatever profession suits the person. But I say it is im-portant to recognize the limit of the price we have to pay for our choices even if it means professionally. What do you say?

Rights and Limits


Amongst the Kunama ethnic group in Eritrea, there are people called Sanganene. Sanganene is the plural form for Sanganena. There can only be one Sanganena in any Kunama community at a time.

Sanganene is a family that only deals with reconciliation. If a mur-der occurs, all the reconciliation process is processed by the San-ganene family. The practice of San-ganene dates back over 2000 years and the elders of some villages say that the concept of Sanganene came into being during times when there was no government. The ancestors created the idea of reconciliation in order to settle murderous conflicts between families.

There is no one who dares to fight or do something bad in front of these respected families. If peo-ple are fighting and someone from the Sanganene family appears in the scene, all fighting stops imme-diately. Insults and bad behavior are never allowed in the presence of a Sanganena.

In number, the Sanganene are many. They live at different places within the Kunama ethnic group’s area. In Fode there is one San-ganena. And there are some San-ganene in areas such as Sona near the Gash River. There is a concen-tration of Sanganene families in villages such as Binbina, Sham-

biko and Bishuka.If someone kills a person, the

chief who lives in Binbina as-sumes the responsibility of a sur-rogate for the perpetrator. He sorts out the problems in the entire Ku-nama ethnic group, making him the chief Sanganena. The living Sanganena is called father Gaallee Ella. Except father Galee Ella, no one is allowed to perform any rec-onciliation activity. No one can perform the reconciliation even if they know the ritual. Only after his death can someone else inherit the title.

If there has been a murder, the killer takes refuge in either one of the Sanganene families. Hav-ing done that, he has to inform his immediate family. Following such an incident, his entire family and other relatives are in danger of fall-ing victim to an act of vengeance so the whole family and relatives have to take refuge at the nearest Sanganene family.

Once word is circulated, the San-ganene families organize a shelter for the killer’s extended family and provide round the clock protection against retaliation by the victim’s family. The next day, the main Sanganena calls for a meeting be-tween all the families involved in the feud.

The Sanganena formally informs

the victim’s family that the alleged killer is under his protection and that it would undertake full inves-tigation to determine whether the accused is guilty or not.

Once the investigation is con-ducted and any guilt is ascribed to a person, his or her family is ordered to provide compensation, which is usually in goods and live-stock. The family of the guilty par-ty is allowed a certain period to put together a compensation package. In the meantime, the family of the victim must refrain from avenging their kinsperson.

While the family of the guilty side tries to put together the com-pensation package, they must regu-larly update the Sanganena with a progress report. In turn, the San-ganena reports to the victim’s fam-ily. All communication between

the two parties is always conducted through the mediation of the San-ganena.

During the day of reconciliation between the two families, nobody is allowed to go to work. On that day, all the families meet at the place of the Sanganena. At midnight, they slaughter a goat and collect the blood in a Taffera – a small gourd. A young and strong boy from the Sanganene family is selected to go to the hut of the guilty party’s fam-ily unnoticed and throw the gourd on the roof. This symbolizes the need for reconciliation.

The actual reconciliation itself is conducted in a wild and uninhab-ited area. The Sanganena supplies a fat ox. In the wild, they go near an anthill and cut the first leg of the ox with a sword while he is alive. After it is dead, half of it is eaten

by the men present in the recon-ciliation process while half of it is taken back to the village.

Once they are all back in the village, a fully made up couple adorned in jewelry from each feud-ing family are presented to the rec-onciliation process. Each woman then proceeds to do the other one’s hair – both hairstyles have to match. Both men, dressed as if they were going to a wedding ceremony, also sit facing east.

The uncooked bone from the up-per arm of the ox, bared of all the meat and blood, is then placed in a hole on the ground along with a Teffera (gourd) filled with goat’s blood. Following that, the San-ganena spits on the Taffera three times and on the fourth go, hits the bone as hard as he can. When the bone is broken, he mixes the mar-row with a concoction prepared ritually. He spreads the mixture on the two men from forehead to chest.

Both men are then instructed to touch forehead to forehead, nose to nose, and chest to chest and the ac-tion subsequently symbolizes the merging of the respective families. Once that process is completed, there is no fight or any thought of revenge – instead, the two families become relatives. The philosophy behind Sanganene is that a killing does not get resolved by punish-ment but through unity.

The reconciliation process does not involve dancing and sing-ing like other ceremonies and the Sanganena is not paid for his ser-vices. The process helps to prevent bloody fights between families from getting out of hand and con-sume whole communities.

In line with structural adjustments being carried out in the Eritrea Profile newspaper, the Arts and Culture section is going to entertain articles pertaining to the different norms and traditions of the Eritrean multiethnic society. To that end, every other Saturday, this column will be featuring an article on different aspects of an ethnic group. In today’s edition, Samuel Mengsteab discusses how inner feuds and conflicts are resolved in the Kunama ethnic group.

SANGANENE: Conflict Resolution at Its Best


Jewahir Ibrahim

In an article that appeared in the Guardian last month, Nobel lau-reate joseph Stiglitz wrote “The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are holding an-nual meetings, but the big news in global economic governance will not be made in Washington DC in the coming days. Indeed, that news was made last month, when the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy joined more than 30 other countries as founding members of the Asian Infrastruc-ture Investment Bank (AIIB).”

The Asian Infrastructure Invest-ment Bank (AIIB) is an interna-tional financial institution pro-posed by the government of Chi-na. The purpose of the multilateral development bank is to provide finance to infrastructure projects in the Asia region. The bank was proposed by China in 2013 and launched in October 2014 at a cer-emony in Beijing, which will be the headquarters of the institution. The Articles of Agreement (AOA) would be finalized and open for signature by Prospective Founding Members (PFMs) from june 2015. The AOA is expected to enter into force and AIIB to be fully estab-lished by the end of 2015.

As of April 15, 2015, almost all Asian countries and most major countries outside Asia had joined the AIIB, except the US, Japan (which dominated the ADB) and Canada. Seven Arab nations have joined the bank, Egypt as a found-er member and the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, jordan, Oman and Kuwait as associate members.

The bank will have initial capital of $100bn, double that originally

intended. That will make it a se-rious challenger to the Asian De-velopment Bank, the 50-year-old Tokyo-dominated regional bank with capital of $150bn and the US-dominated World Bank and IMF. China will have the biggest capital quota, probably about 25 per cent. India will have the second-largest, then Russia, Germany, Australia and Indonesia. Overall, 75 per cent of the bank’s capital - and there-fore voting rights - are likely to be Asian. Initial indications are that China will not have a veto.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates that Asia faces an infrastructure funding shortfall of US$8 trillion (S$10.7 trillion) between 2010 and 2020. Existing institutions cannot hope to fill this gap. ADB has a capital base of just over US$160 billion and the World Bank has US$223 billion. While the other institutions fund a diverse range of projects, the AIIB will concentrate on infrastructure.

Already the AIIB has come under criticism from the US. One Beijing-based US executive scoffed at the very notion that Chi-na could run a multilateral institu-tion. It did not know the first thing about how such a bank should be governed, he said.

U.S. pressure allegedly tried to keep Australia and South Korea from signing up as founding mem-bers, despite the fact that they ex-pressed an interest in it. However, both Australia and South Korea have officially applied to join the bank in late March 2015, ignoring objections by the United States.

In early March 2015, the Unit-ed Kingdom’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, an-nounced that Britain had decided

to apply to join the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, becoming the first major Western country to do so. The announcement was criticized by the Obama Administration in the United States. A US government official told the Financial Times, “We are wary about a trend to-ward constant accommodation of China, which is not the best way to engage a rising power.” This of-ficial further stated that the Brit-ish decision was taken after “no consultation with the US.” In re-sponse to the US criticism, the UK claimed that the subject had been discussed between the Chancel-lor Osborne and the US Treasury Secretary jack Lew for several months preceding the decision. Osborne ventured further to say that joining the bank as a found-ing member will allow Britain to influence the development of the institution and “the City of Lon-don would become the base for the first clearing house for the Yuan outside Asia.”

Following the criticism, the White House National Security Council, in a statement to The Guardian, declared, “Our posi-tion on the AIIB remains clear and consistent…..We believe any new multilateral institution should in-corporate the high standards of the World Bank and the regional de-velopment banks. Based on many discussions, we have concerns about whether the AIIB will meet

these high standards, particularly related to governance, and envi-ronmental and social safeguards … The international community has a stake in seeing the AIIB comple-ment the existing architecture, and to work effectively alongside the World Bank and Asian Develop-ment Bank.”

In an editorial titled “The Guard-ian view on the Asian Infrastruc-ture Bank: the US should work with it, not oppose it”, published on October 26, 2014, the paper gave an encompassing preamble to the problems with existing in-stitutions such as the World Bank and IMF. The editorial stated, “It’s no surprise that China is promot-ing a solution to the shortage of infrastructure capital in Asia. It is an exaggeration to talk of the pace of reform at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, for there has been almost none to these, the so-called “Washington institutions” that, together with the US Treasury, have both sus-tained and constrained the global economy since 1945. How to re-flect the changing balance of eco-nomic power has been endlessly discussed but rarely implement-ed.”

As recently as 28 May, David Dollar, a World Bank veteran who has acted as an unpaid consultant to the AIIB, told Financial Re-views’ Lex Column that the World Bank had become so slow and risk-averse that most governments

had stopped coming to it for infra-structure financing. He quotes an Indian official, exasperated at the pace of World Bank-sponsored projects, as saying: “Mr. Dollar, the combination of our bureau-cracy and your bureaucracy is deadly.”

Perhaps joseph Stiglitz put the spotlight on the irony of US op-position to the AIIB by saying, “President Barack Obama’s ad-ministration is championing the virtues of trade; but, in developing countries, lack of infrastructure is a far more serious barrier to trade than tariffs.”

Stiglitz extolled the emergence of the AIIB while at the same time excoriating the global financial system. In his article in the Guard-ian last month, he wrote “the world suffers from insufficient aggregate demand. Financial markets have proven unequal to the task of re-cycling savings from places where incomes exceed consumption to places where investment is need-ed.”

Lex Column’s article in the Fi-nancial Review was prophetic in its statement that the AIIB might turn out to be an “entirely different institution from the one Beijing envisaged to be.” The assump-tion is not unfounded owing to the broad-based membership of the bank so far. This, in conclusion, might augur well for developing countries in other regions such as Africa and Latin America.

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: The New Kid On The Block

eritrean nationals abroad to strive for portraying nation’s...

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