Month

BOSTON — Something unusual happened when Meb Keflezighi, far ahead of his competitors, began passing some of the elite women who had started before the men on Monday in the Boston Marathon. As he charged by, many of the women — exhausted and in pain — cheered him on.

Three years ago, Keflezighi was widely considered to be on the downward slope of his marathon career. He had lost his Nike shoe sponsorship. His best running days were probably behind him.

Keflezighi managed to find a new shoe sponsor, but the company was not exactly a powerhouse in the running world. He was picked up by Skechers, a brand primarily known for skateboard shoes.

On Monday, Keflezighi, who turns 39 in two weeks, introduced the running world to Skechers as he and his red and silver sneakers stepped across the finish line of the Boston Marathon a good 11 seconds ahead of anyone else.

Keflezighi was the first American man to win the race in more than 30 years.

The story of Meb Keflezighi, the oldest Boston Marathon winner since at least 1930, would have been resonant any year.

But his surprising victory was especially powerful this year, the first Boston Marathon since the 2013 bombing that killed three people, wounded hundreds and ravaged an exultant city tradition more than a century old.

“This is probably the most meaningful victory for an American because of what happened last year,” he said. “I’m almost 39. I just ran a personal best. I just won the Boston Marathon. I feel blessed.”

After 2 hours 8 minutes 37 seconds of hard running, Keflezighi stepped across the finish line at Boylston Street with his arms spread nearly as wide as the finish tape, nearly as wide as his smile. The record-setting crowd got a clear view of his bib which read, simply, “Meb.”

To the deafening cheers of the throngs that gathered to watch the race, Keflezighi changed Boylston Street from a place remembered for the carnage that happened there into a place for celebration and delight.

Keflezighi gave fist bumps to the enormous crowds in the finish area, not far from where the blasts occurred. He was embraced by the 1983 men’s champion, Greg Meyer, the previous American man to win the race. He shook hands with Jeff Bauman, who lost his legs last year when he attended the race to cheer on his girlfriend, Erin Hurley. On Monday, Bauman and Hurley returned to the finish line — the two are now engaged and expecting their first child.

The race, the world’s oldest annually run marathon, felt like a catharsis for this city. A crowd of one million people, twice the usual number, showed up to cheer the runners, which featured 36,000 athletes, 9,000 more than usual.

Twice as many law enforcement officials patrolled the racecourse as well, a sobering reminder of just one way that the blasts had reshaped the race.

The list of winners of all major marathons in recent decades is dominated by Kenyans and Ethiopians. (Wilson Chebet and Frankline Chepkwony, both of Kenya, finished second and third this year.) Runners from those countries had won 24 of the 30 Boston Marathons since 1983.

Nothing about Keflezighi’s story fits history or convention.

One of 10 children, Keflezighi (pronounced kah-FLEZ-ghee) fled to Italy from Eritrea with his mother and his siblings while his father worked cleaning jobs to support the family while arranging for them to immigrate to San Diego. In the seventh grade, he ran a 5:10 mile. (On Monday, he sustained a pace of 4:54 over the 26.2 miles.) He was a high school champion who went on to thrive at U.C.L.A. and then win a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

At age 34, Keflezighi won the 2009 New York City Marathon, becoming the first American winner in that race since 1982.

On Monday, a moment of silence was held at 8:45 a.m. to honor last year’s victims.

Keflezighi and Josphat Boit pulled away from the pack midway through the race. Once the runners hit the hills of Newton, about 10 miles from the finish, Keflezighi made his pivotal move. “He was so far away,” said Chebet, the runner-up. “I couldn’t see Meb. I only saw straight road.”

Keflezighi said he fought off a stomach ailment around the 20th mile and then “prayed a lot” to make it to the finish line ahead of the fast-closing Kenyans.

Chebet finished in 2:08:48. The defending men’s champion, Lelisa Desisa, who is 15 years younger than Keflezighi, dropped out near the 22-mile mark, race officials said.

Rita Jeptoo of Kenya defended her women’s title, pulling away in the final three miles to easily win Boston for the third time. Jeptoo, 33, set a course record, 2:18:57.

Each winner receives $150,000, but Keflezighi said that the victory was worth far more than the amount written on the congratulatory check.

“My career is fulfilled,” he said. “Since 2008, it’s been frosting on the cake. It’s just getting better and better.”

The New York Times

A number of long-term prisoners in Eritrea have been released by the regime.

It writes the standalone Eritrean News Agency Zajel.

Releasing Dena raises new hope for Swedish Dawit Isaak’s relatives in Sweden.

4593 days.

So far, Dawit Isaak, imprisoned in Eritrea. Without trial. Without formal charges.

He was arrested at his home in Eritrea , where he returned after living in Sweden for over a decade , in September 2001.

Worked as a journalist

Dawit Isaak was working as a journalist for an anti-regime newspaper in Eritrea and with him were arrested another ten journalists from the independent press.

According to news agency Zajel now has dozens of prisoners released from his imprisonment. Several of them have been imprisoned for over eight years , state news agency.

According Zajal were prisoners who fled Eritrea, but returned to the country after it gained independence in 1993 to help with reconstruction.

”More can be dropped ”

Releasing defendants should have taken place for nearly a week ago, but still has no interviews or statements from the released arrived , which according to Expressen is because the regime does not want to make a big deal of their decisions.

Furthermore , according to sources Expressen, it could be a sign that more people could be released.

And it raises hopes of Dawit Isaak’s close in Sweden.

– Given all the attention that Dawit’s case has received over the years increases the jump now. It is perceived as a big burden on Eritrea , says Dawit Isaak’s brother Esayas Isaak Expressen.

The Government of Djibouti has released over 267 Eritrean citizens who have been in detention in the country for reportedly close to five years.

Reports indicate that the group have been released into the custody of the United Nations refugee agency.

Djiboutian presidential adviser, Najib Ali Tahir, told the press on Monday that “We have made them talk to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to facilitate their return to their country, and we’re doing this despite the fact that we never heard of Djibouti’s POWs.”

The release of the group reportedly comes after pressure from the United Nations and activists on Djiboutian authorities. This culminated in their release agreement in on April 13.

Reports indicate some of the prisoners are part of a group of Eritrean asylum seekers who crossed over to Djibouti in 2008 – ultimately fuelling the short war between the two countries. The others are reportedly part of the prisoners of war (POWs) Djiboutian forces captured from the neighbouring country during the short exchanges.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has confirmed the release of the group from the Nagad Detention Facility to the Ali Addeh refugee camp south of the nation’s capital, Djibouti City.

The United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Shiela B. Keetharuth, applauded the move by the Djiboutian government.

She, however, expressed worries over the human rights situation in Eritrea and has called on the international community “to grant at least temporary refuge or protection to the more than 300,000 Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers, in line with their obligations under the international refugee and human rights law.”

Reports indicate that at least 19 Eritrean POWs are still being held in Djibouti.

ADDIS ABABA — The Djiboutian government has handed 267 Eritreans, seized during a three-day border conflict in 2008, over to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), presidential adviser Najib Ali Tahir said Monday.

”Some of them are military deserters and prisoners of the Djibouti-Eritrea war, which broke out on June 10, 2008,” Tahir told Anadolu Agency.

Tahir said the Eritreans were technically under Djibouti’s protection, going on to note that ”there are [another] 19 prisoners of war (POWs) temporarily under our protection.”

”We have made them talk to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to facilitate their return to their country, and we’re doing this despite the fact that we never heard of Djibouti’s POWs,” Tahir said.

U.N. Special Envoy to the African Union Ambassador Haile Menkerios welcomed the announcement.

“Eritreans and Djiboutians are brotherly people,” Menkerios  told Anadolu Agency via phone. “No political tension between the governments of the two countries should affect the peoples.”

Djibouti and neighboring Eritrea have twice engaged in border conflicts. In April 1996, they almost went to war after a Djiboutian official accused Eritrea of shelling the town of Ras Doumeira.

Three years later in 1999, Eritrea accused Djibouti of siding with its longstanding rival, Ethiopia, while Djibouti counter-accused Eritrea of supporting rebels fighting against its government.

As a result, Djibouti recalled its ambassador and broke off relations with Eritrea, which weren’t fully restored until 2001.

The two countries clashed again for three days in June of 2008, leading to another deterioration of ties and a U.N. embargo on Eritrea.

Turkish Press

ፈሊጥና ንኹን ከይፈለጥና ደቂስና ኣለና!

ኣቦዋት ክምስሉ እናፈለጠ ዝሞተስ እናሰመዐ ቅበሮ ኢዩ፡፡ ብዘይ ቀልዓለም ንሕና ኤርትራውያን ሎሚ እናፈለጥና ኢና ንመውት ንጠፍእ ንበታተን ዘለና፡፡ እቲ ድሕረይ ዋላ ሳዕሪ እውን  ኣይትብቆላ ብምባል ሱር መሰረትና ሓግሒጉ ከጥፍኣና ዘንቀደ ኢሳይያስ ድማ እናሰማዕና ኢዩ ምስ ትንፋስና ዝቐብረና ዘሎ፡፡ ኣረ እናታይ ኢና ንኸውን ዘለና….? እንታይ ክሳብ ንኸውን ኢና ድምጽና ዓቢስና ኣእዳውና ኣጣሚርና ንምጾታትና ንጽበ ዘለና….? ነቲ ቀታልን በታታንን ስርዓት ህግደፍ ንይምሰል ንቃለሶ ኣለና ካብ ንብል ሓያለይ ዓመታት ንኾንቱ ባኺኑ ኢዩ፡፡ ነቲ ሰላምን ራህዋን ክርኢ ሃንቀው ዝብል ዘሎ ሓፋሽ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ግን ንእሽቶ ጩራ ብርሃን ንተስፋ እውን ከነርእዮ ኣይከኣልናን፡፡ ይቃለሱ ዘይኮኑ ዘለዉ ይነብሩ ኢዮም ዘለዉ ኣብ ምባል እውን ተበጺሑ፡፡

ከም ነገር ሓባኢ ቁስሉ ሓባኢ ፈውሱ ክንከውን የብልናን፡፡ እቲ ናብ ጉጅለ ህግደፍ ጥራይ ኣቕኒዕናዮ ዘለና መስትያት ምስልናን ተግባርናን ክንፍልጥን ክርእየሉን  ናባና እውን ከነዝሮ ኣለና፡፡ ነብስናን ኣካይዳናን ክንፍትሽን ክንምርምርን ኣለና፡፡ ካብ ምቅዋም ሓሊፍና ንኸይንቃለስ ዝኽልክለናን ዝዕንቅፈናን ዘሎ ንረብሓ ውልቀ ሰባት ዝተደኮነ ዘየፋላልየና መፈላየይታት ክንስዕሮን ነቶም ኣብዚ ሕዛእቲʼዚ ተሸጊጦም ሕምስምስ ዘእትዉልና ዘለዉ ብዝሰመረ ድምጺ ኣይፋልኩምን ክንብልን ክንክእል ኣለና፡፡ ኣብ ክንዲ ካብዚ ኣንጸላልዩና ዘሎ ናይ ጥፍኣት ደበና ብኸመይ ብዝቐልጠፈ ንድሕን ገዲፎም፡ ኣብ ጽልእን ቅርሕንትን ዝተነድቐ  ፖለቲካዊ ኣጀንደኦም ሸንኮለል ዘቡሉና ዘለዉ፡ ዋላኳ ካብ ቃልሲ ጡረታ ክንብሎም ዝኸብድ እንተኾነ፡ ከምቲ ንስርዓት ህግደፍ ስልጣን ናብ ህዝቢ ከረክቦ ኣለዎ እንብሎ፡ እቶም ብዜካ ምምራሕ ተመሪሖም ክኸዱ ፍጹም ፍቓደኛታት ዘይኮኑ ኣብዝሓ መራሕቲ ደምበ ተቓውሞ ብጊደኦም መቐይሮ ከምጽኡ ንእሽቶ ተስፋ ክሶኽዑልና ካብ ዘይከኣሉ ንኽመርሕ ዝኽእል ከረክብዎ ኣለዎም፡፡

ጸላኢ መላእ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ጉጅለ ህግደፍ ምዃኑ እንተ ኣሚናሉን ኣስሚርናሉን ናብ ጓል መገዲ ዘኺደና ነገራት ብፍጹም የለን፡፡ የግዳስ ኣብ ባይታ ንርእዮ ዘለና ጭቡጥ ኣካይዳ ደምበ ተቓውሞ ግን፡ ኣዲኣ ገዲፋስ ሓትነኣ ትናፍቕ ዝዓይነቱ ኢዩ፡፡ ነቲ ቀንዲ ጸላኢ ንጉጅለ ህግደፍ ረሲዕና ንሕድሕድና ከም ኣናብራ ዓሳ ክንበላላዕን ክንወናጀልን ነባኽኖ ግዜ ነጥፍኦ ገንዘብ ኢቲ ዝበዘሐ ኢዩ፡፡ ሎሚ ሓደ ነገር ኣንፈት ሒዙ ኢልካ ተስፋ ትገብር፡፡ ኣይ ሰሙን ኣይሳልስቲ እቶም ጽቡቕ አንተራኣዩ ውቃቤኦም ዝለዓሎም ጋንግሪን ዝገበሩ መራሕቲ ደምበ ተቓውሞ መስአን በሊሕ ፋስን ተዓጢቆም ከፍርስዎን ክቖራርጽዎን ትርኢ፡፡ እዋእ እንታዩ ኢዩ ዝግበር ዘሎ፡፡ ከምዚ ደምበ ተቓውሞ ኤርትራ ዝኸዶ ዘሎ ዘይተነጸረ ሓበጀረዋይ ጉዕዞ ኣብ ዓለም ምሉእ እውን ኣይተራኣየን፡፡ ከም መእሰሪ ዘይብሉ ማእዶ ኮይና ተበታቲና ንህግደፍ ክንኣልዮን ህዝብን ሃገርን ካብ ምጽናትን ምብትታንን ከነድሕኖ ድማ ሕልሚ ኢዩ፡፡ እዚ ፍጹም መቐይሮ ከምጽእ ዘይክእል ፋሕ ፋሕ ዝበለ ናይ ደቂ ዛግራ ኣካይዳና ድማ ኢዩ ይቃለሱ ዘይኮኑ ይነብሩ ኢዮም ዘለዉ ዘብለና፡፡ ምንባርን ምቅላስን በበይኑ ስለ ዝኾነ፡፡

ብዙሓት ካብቶም ብልቢ ብቕንዕና ሕልንኦም ገዲድዎም ክቃለሱ ዝደልዩ ኣብ ምቅዋም ተሓጾሮም ዘለዉ፡ በቶም እናፈለጡ ደቂሶም ዘለዉ ብቕዓት ኣመራርሓ ዝጎደሎም መራሕቲ ደምበ ተቓውሞ፡ ንሶም እውን ከይፈለጡ ደቂሶም ምህላዎም ዘማትእ ኣይኮነን፡፡ “እንታይ እሞ ክንገብር ዝመርሓና ስኢና! ምስማር እኮ ኣብዮም! እንተዝሓብሩ ከምዝን ከምዝን እንተዝገብሩ ንሕና እውን እቲ ዝግበር ምገበርና!” ዝብሉ ደለይቲ ዲሞክራስያዊ ለውጢ እቶም ዝበዝሑ ኢዮም፡፡ በቶም እናፈለጡ ዝደቀሱ ተጸልዮም ከይፈለጡ ደቂሶም ምህላዎም ንባዕሎም ኣየስተባሃሉን ዘለዉ፡፡ ስለምንታይ ተጸበይቲ ጥራይ ንኸውን…? ስለምንታይ ክንመርሕን መቐይሮ ክንገብርን ከም ንኽእል ንነብስና ዘይነእምና….? ስለምንታይ ነቶም ሱር ዝሰደዱ ዓንቀፍቲ ድሕሪ ደጊም ይኣክል! ዝብል ሓባራዊ ድምጺ ዘይነስምዕ..? ስለምንታይ ነቲ ኣብ ህልኽን ቅርሕንትን ዝተሰረተ ዘየሰጉም ዝበለየ ኣተሓሳስባ ደምበ ተቓውሞ ኤርትራ ያዕ ኢልና ሰፊሕን ህዝባዊ ሰረት ዘለዎን ናይ መቃለሲ ባይታ ክንፈጥርን ከነንጽፍን ወንን ትብዓትን ዘይንዕጠቕ…? በቲ ንበሎ በቲ ፈሊጥና ንኹን ከይፈለጥና ደቂስና ኢና ዘለና፡፡

ሓደ ካብቲ ንኤርትራዊ መንእሰይ ኣብ ናይ እንታይ ገደሰኒ ዘይቅኑዕ ኣተሓሳስባ ኣእትዩ፡ ኣብ ክንዲ ንመሰረታዊ ፍታሕ ንልብያን ሰሃራን ንሲናይን ባሕርን ንኸምርሕ ዝዳርጎ ዘሎ፡ ተስፋ ዘይብሉ ኣካይዳ ደምበ ተቓውሞ ኢዩ፡፡ ተስፋ ዘለዎ ነገር ምስ ሰኣነ ሚእቲ ካብ ሚእቲ ሓደጋ ኣብ ዘለዎ ነገር ኣትዩ፡ ንህይወቱ ንሞት ኣረኪቡ፡ ብተኣምራት ከም ገለ እንተደሓነ ካብ ኣይፈተንካን ፈቲነ ንምባል፡ ናይ ዓቕሊ ጽበት ውሳነ ኢዩ ንርሑቕ ማዕዶ ስደት ከም ዘቋምት ዝገብሮ ዘሎ፡፡ ንብዙሓት ተወኪሰ ዝረኸብኩዎ መልሲ ዘሕዝን ኢዩ፡፡ “ምተቓለስና ጽባሕ ንግሆʼሞ መንʼዩ ክመጽእ…?” መልሲ ዘይብሉ ዝተንጠልጠለ ሕቶ ኢዩ፡፡ ተስፍኡ ኣብ ደምበ ተቓውሞ ኣዝዩ ዝማህመነ ኢዩ፡፡ ስለምንታይ…..? እቲ መልሲ ደምበ ተቓውሞ ኤርትራ ድርዕቶ ተጎምጊሙ እናፈለጠ ደቂሱ ስለ ዘሎ ኢዩ፡፡ ዋዕላ ቃሊቲ፡ ዋዕላ ምሁራን ግዮን፡ ጉባኤ ኣዋሳ፡ መኣዲ ዘተ ደብረዘይቲ፡ ሰሚት ቦለኛ፡ መድረኽ …….. ወዘተ ኩሎም ጽቡቕ ኣስማት ለቢሶም ግን ከኣ ደቂሶም ዘለዉ ስራሓት ኢዩም፡፡ ስለምንታይ…..? እቲ ዝዕንቅፍ ዘሎ መን እንታይʼዩ..?

እቲ ቀንዲ ጸገምና እንታይ ኢዩ ሓቲትናሉን ሓሲብናሉን ንፈልጥ ዶ…? እቶም ንኽመርሑናን ከማእዙኑናን እንመርጾም መራሕቲ ብሕኸኸኒ ክሓከካ ብቲፎዞይ ቲፎዞኻ ኣብ ቦታ ሓላፍነት ኮፍ ነብሎም ስለ ዝለና ኢዩ፡፡ እንትርፎ ንጉጅለ ንዕብይ ዝበለ እኩብ ሃገራዊ ሓይሊ ክመርሑ ዘይክእሉ፡ ብቕዓትን ክእለትን ጹረትን ዝጎደሎም ስለ ዝኾኑ ኢዮም፡፡ ስለ ዝኾነ ቃልስና ክዕወት ህዝብን ሃገርን ካብ ጥፍኣትን ምብትታንን ከነድሕኖ፡ እቲ ናይ ሞትን ማእሰርትን ግልያነትን ሕሱም እዋን ህግደፍ ከነሕጽሮ፡ ሒዞምና ዝድቅሱ መራሕቲ ዘይኮና ክንመርጽ ዘለና፡ ካርዝማቲክ ዝኾኑ፡ ኣሚኖም ዝእመኑ፡ ዓብይ ልቦናን ሰፊሕ ኣመለኻኽታን ዝውንኑ፡ ካብ ናይ ህልኽን ቅርሕንትን ኣከያይዳ ነጻ ዝኾኑ፡ ንሰባት ብኽእለቶምን ፍልጦቶምን ብቕዓቶምን እምበር ብመልክዖምን ኣለባብሶኦምን ዘይመዝኑ፡ ንጉጅለ ዘይኮነ ሰፊሕ ህዝባዊ ሰረት ዘለዎ ግንባር ክመርሑን ከዓውቱን ዓቕሚ ዘለዎም መራሕቲ ክንመርጽ ኣለና፡፡ ኣይኮነን ካብቲ ፈሊጥና ዲና ከይፈለጥና ደቂስናዮ ዘለና ካብ ሞት ዘይንእስ ከቢድ ድቃስ ክንባራበር ዝከኣል ኣይኮነን፡፡ ሕጂ ውን ከምቶም ዝሓለፉ ዋዕላታት ኣኼባታት ምግባሮም ዘይተርፍ ኢዩ፡፡ ኣብቲ ዝግበር ኣኼባታት በቶም እናፈለጡ ደቂሶም ዘለዉ መራሕቲ ደምበ ተቓውሞ ንሕና እውን ምስኦም ተሰሪዕና ንኽንድቅስ ዝወሃብ መደቀሲ ከኒና ውሒጥና ንድቅስ እንተድኣ ኮይና ምቅላስና ፍረ ኣይክህልዎን ኢዩ፡፡ ፈሊጥና ንኹን ከይፈለጥና ደቂስና ኢና ዘለና፡፡ ዝደንዘዘ ሰብነትና ማይ ዝሑል ነፍስሰሉ ንበራበር፡፡

ሚኪኤል እምባየ (ኣራንቺ)

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