Tigrinya Applicatives in Lexical-Functional Grammar by Nazareth Amlesom

Tigrinya Applicatives in Lexical-Functional Grammar, a 2011 PhD Thesis by Nazareth Amlesom, Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies University of Bergen

Part of the Abstract:

The primary goal of this thesis is to describe and analyze applicative constructions in Tigrinya. An applicative construction is characterized by a verb that bears an affix for an argument that either has a semantic role that is not normally entailed by the lexical meaning of the base verb or is specified as a peripheral argument. The choice of an applicative expression is motivated by semantic and discourse factors. Applicatively expressed arguments are associated with referents that possess high semantic prominence and discourse salience. The applicative phenomenon is viewed as a morphosyntactic strategy that introduces a core object function that is salient in the discourse event described by the verb. The theoretical motivation of this study is to explore the conditions that trigger object marking in Tigrinya so as to examine the semantic, functional and discourse properties of objects. The main theoretical framework used in this research is Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG). This formalism assumes that the different linguistic information pertaining to functional, semantic and discourse structures can be modeled as interrelated parallel representations.

https://bora.uib.no/bitstream/handle/1956/5730/42478%20Nazareth%20Kifle%20materie.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

IOM WORLD MIGRATION REPORT 2020

IOM WORLD MIGRATION REPORT 2020

Eritrea is the only country in Africa that has no civil strife, but yet produces the largest number of refugees

https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/wmr_2020.pdf

Eritrea: Miscellaneous historical Documents from the 40s & 50s

Eritrea: Miscellaneous historical Documents from the 40s & 50s

Abdulgadir Kebire replying to a person who accused him in the Ethiopian sponsored newspapers

 British Statistics on Casualties due to Shifta activities and casualties inflicted on them

1948 - April 1950

 Police Commissioner authorizing the flying of the Muslim League flag 1951

  Police Commissioner's copy to Ibrahim Sultan authorizing the flying of the Muslim League flag 1951

Thanks to Jelal Yassin for sharing

Animal Diseases and Veterinary Services in Eritrea 2001

Animal Diseases and Veterinary Services in Eritrea: The Past, Present and Future Challenges

Mohamed Kheir Omer, Gebrehiwet Taeme and Andom Gebremeskel

A paper presented at the Eritrean Studies Association Conference held at Asmara, Eritrea

June 2001

Can be downloaded at the link below:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/fipdne3jy4bo9x6/Veterinary_Services_2001.pdf/file

Refugees and citizens: Understanding Eritrean refugees’ ambivalence towards homeland politics

Refugees and citizens: Understanding Eritrean refugees’ ambivalence towards homeland politics, a 2019 article by Milena Belloni, University of Antwerp, Belgium

Abstract
This article revisits ambivalence as a protracted state which does not simply develop as a result of the migration experience but stems from overlapping levels of normative inconsistency. Drawing from my ethnography of Eritreans’ everyday life in the homeland and abroad, I analyse their attitudes of patriotism and disenchantment through an ambivalence lens. Their ambiguous attitudes are arising from national and transnational Eritrean state policies and are further complicated by their role as “political refugees” in host countries. My informants’ ambivalence stems from them embodying more than one role (i.e. patriots, family breadwinners, refugees from and citizens of their homeland), from contradictory expectations pertaining to the same role (i.e. young citizens in Eritrea) and from clashing implications of being members of two different social systems (i.e. the destination country and the country of origin). Thus, Eritreans’ political loyalties and actions are characterized by a state of ambivalence throughout their migration process. Despite its peculiar characteristics, this case study sheds light on the complexity of ambivalence, as more than a temporary condition, for migrants and refugees in particular. In the current scenario of emigrant states’ transnational governance, protracted ambivalence is likely to mark the attitudes of an increasing number of people on the move as both refugees from and citizens of their country of origin.

You can access the full text at the link:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0020715218760382

Introducing Haji Jaber's award winning Arabic novels

Introducing Haji Jabir's award winning Arabic novels

Haji Jaber is an Eritrean novelist, born in the coastal city of Massawa in 1976. He escaped with his family to Jeddah while he was breast feeding, to escape Ethiopian atrocities. He grew up and studied in Jeddah. As an immigrant in Saudi Arabia it was difficult for his family to find him a school but at last, he was able to get private education. He has published so far four novels: Samrawit (2012), winner of the Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity in 2012, Fatma's Harbour (2013), The Game of the Spindle (2015), which was longlisted for the 2016 Sheikh Zayed Book Award, and Black Foam (2018) which won the prestigious ‘Katara Prize’ In the category of the published Arabic novel. Eritrea is vividly present in his novels.

Samrawit (2012) is about discovering Eritrea after a long immigrant life in Jeddah, it is about the author’s or at times the main character’s first his interaction with the Eritrean Embassy there. It was about ‘home coming’. His first emotion-laden travel to Asmara and Massawa. Though the author had no personal memories about Eritrea, his collective memories are rich taken from his family who talked about the country daily. His mother’s longing to Zewditu, her close friend in Massawa. The main character falls in love with an Eritrean girl, Samrawit who lives abroad but was visiting Eritrea the same time he was there, he is being a Muslim and she being a Christian had its challenges. Samrawit is about this journey.

His second novel, Fatma's Harbour (2013) is about the main character from Ghinda who lives in Asmara and falls in love with a secondary school student who fails her exams deliberately to avoid Sawa and who lives at the old street of ‘Mersa Fatma’ meaning Fatma’s harbour. The street is close to Enda Mariam. Through the main character, the author takes us to youth life in Asmara, the Asmara University refusal to go to Kemtawi Maatot in 2001, the measures taken by Eritrean government, life in the national service in Sawa, the kidnapping by the Rashaida (what the author calls the Shifta), life in Shegerb refugee camp in Sudan with its old refugees of the 1960s and the new one. All those events are beautifully narrated in the journey of the main character in search for his lover. The novel was translated to Italian under the title’ L‏a fuga della picola Roma’.

His third novel, The Game of the Spindle, centers around the main character, who is a charming girl who had lost her both parents in the struggle and who lives with her grandmother who excels in spinning yarn and telling stories. The story centers in the newly formed Archives Department, where the charming girl is employed. The archives department aim is to digitalize documents written by fighters during the liberation. The folders are marked by three colors, BROWN which are considered public, YELLOW which are regarded semi-confidential and RED which are strictly confidential. People are recruited to this department after a lot of scrutiny. The beginners are given only the BROWN files and as their loyalty is tested their gradually deal with the confidential files. The main character starts with the BROWN ones, but quickly finds them boring and uses her beauty to get to the RED files.  The Red files get edited by the president of the state. She starts manipulating the stories in the files, re-writing them as she would tell the story. It is in those RED files she discovers a stunning history about her parents and about the President.

Black Foam follows a group of Ethiopian Jews, the “Falash Mura”, who are driven by poverty and desperation, emigrate to Israel in search of a better life. Amongest them is Dawoud, who changed his name to “Dawit” so that western NGOs can take him to Europe but fails. Upon learning that Falasha Jews are being transported to Israel, he invents a new identity, changing his name and history, so that he can travel to Israel alongside the Falasha Jews. However, on arrival, he faces the trials and suffering experienced by dark-skinned immigrants in the country.

Tigre (Tigrait) Studies in the 21st Century

Tigre (Tigrait) Studies in the 21st Century;  A 2015 book with 241 pages:

The book can be downloaded here; https://www.mediafire.com/file/48er96shz1vqpbv/Tigre+in+21st+century.pdf/file

 Tigre Studies in the 21st Century: A Review of the book;, RAINER VOIGT, ed. / Tigre-Studien im 21. Jahrhundert, Studien zum Horn von Afrika, 2 (Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, 2015). xi, 241 p

At the 3rd International Enno Littmann Conference held at the Freie Universität in Berlin
On April 1–4, 2009, under the heading "Tigre, Aksum, and More," a special panel was devoted to the Tigre language and literature, as well as Tigre society.  The present volume, carefully edited by Rainer Voigt, who also organized the conference, contains the papers presented on this panel, in which scholars from Eritrea actively participated. It is doubtless to their presence that we owe a refreshing first in Ethiopian and Eritrean studies, namely, abstracts of the articles also in Tigre. This language is described by the editor in the Introduction as the third largest Ethiopic-Semitic language after Amharic and Tigriñña;  this is true only if we adopt the new trend in Ethiopian studies, and consider what used to be the Gurage dialect cluster with nearly 3,000,000 speakers or more, as a distinct group of several separate languages.

https://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/aethiopica/article/view/978/1000

The book: https://www.koeppe.de/titel_tigre-studies-in-the-21st-century-tigre-studien-im-21-jahrhundert

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Thanks to Suleiman Bekit for sharing

Eritrea - Ethiopia Boundary Commission DECISION Regarding Delimitation of the Border

Eritrea - Ethiopia Boundary Commission DECISION Regarding Delimitation of the Border between The State of Eritrea and The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia



http://www.eritrea.be/EEBC_decisions_2002.pdf 

Aspects of Tigrinya Literature until 1974

Aspects of Tigrinya Literature (until 1974) by Hailu Habtu, a M.Phil. thesis, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1981

ABSTRACT
This dissertation aims to study the origin and development of Tigrinya as a written language-a topic that has so far received little scholarly attention. As time and the easy accessibility of all the relevant material are limiting factors,this investigation is necessarily selective. Chapter One takes stock of all available writing in the Tigrinya language frcm its beginning in the middle of the last century up to 1974. Chapter Two briefly investigates the development of written Tigrinya to serve varying functions and ends and the general direction that its development took. Chapter Three provides a glimpse of the breadth and variety of literature incorporated in the Eritrean Weekly News published in Asmara by the British Information Services frcm 1942 to 1952. The E W N represented the sudden birth and development of a secular writing and provided a tradition and a reservoir of literature on which Tigrinya fiction later drew. Chapters Four, Five and Six deal with Tigrinya fictional literature on the basis of selected themes v. g. historical and political themes (Chapter Four), prostitution and approbation against dissolute life (Chapter Five), and education and success (Chapter Six)

https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/28848/1/10673017.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1KCJ2H3u34s6EzFSsaHI_eiHn07ihprNxviuPMWKHtgWkV9wkdEjKu-f4

Naud's Novel 'SALEH' - رواية محمد سعيد ناود، صالح

 رواية محمد سعيد ناود، صالح

Mohamed Saeed Naud's novel, in Arabic, 'Saleh'

http://www.mediafire.com/file/b5vx8dl0cw9kkqw/Naud_novel_%25D8%25B1%25D8%25AD%25D9%2584%25D8%25A9_%25D8%25A7%25D9%2584%25D8%25B4%25D8%25AA%25D8%25A7%25D8%25A1.pdf/file

Thanks to Ibrahim Idris, Adal House for sharing

Günter Schröder on what is the real population in Eritrea and why it is kept as confidential:

Günter Schröder, who is a German scholar with extensive research on Eritrea in particular and in the Horn of Africa in general and this is his take on what is the real population and why does the government doesn’t publish actual surveys done or conduct a population census. Based on available data and on population growth, he estimates the resident population to be 3.2 million and explains the distubing population trends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK0ZBDxHiS8&feature=youtu.be

How Eritrea's regime policies causing large scale exodus of mainly young men impact on gender distribution and population growth in the country

Günter Schröder, who is a German researcher with extensive research on Eritrea in particular and in the Horn of Africa in general and this is his take on how the large scale exodus of mainly young men impact on gender distribution and population growth in the country. This is part of his engagement with EriMedrek.

Watch the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6Cuwvj0p-k

Eritrea regime's social engineering impact on ethno-demographic balance of population

Günter Schröder, who is a German researcher with extensive research on Eritrea in particular and in the Horn of Africa in general and this is his take on Eritrea's regime social engineering impact on ethno-demographic balance of population. This part of his engagement with EriMedrek. On this part he explains that the average population growth in the country was 12 % but the corresponding population growth in the Central Region was 20 % that shows more and more people have migrated to Asmara, but there has been a big original population loss in the Northern Red Sea Zone (NRZ), and Southern Red Sea Zone (SRZ) corresponding respectively to 30 % and 20 %. In case of NRZ the Tigrait speaking population has emigrated to Sudan and the Afar in the SRZ have emigrated to the Afar Region in Ethiopia. This population loss was compensated by the settlement of the Tigrinya speaking highlanders in those areas. The biggest population growth has been in Gash-Barka (36 %) mainly due to the government schemes of settling Tigrinya speaking highlanders in the region.

Watch the video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iicCCe90HHs

Asmara Pictorial Book 1890-1938 Print and ebook in Italian English Arabic Tigrinya

ASMARA

From 4 villages to a UNESCO’s World Heritage Site

أسمرة

 من ٤ قرى صغيرة لـ" قائمة التراث العالمى" لليونسكو

ኣስመራ 

ካብ ኣርባዕተ ዓድታት ናብ ቦታ ቅርስታት ዓለም ባህልን ትምህርትን ውድብ ሕቡራት ሃገራት(UNESCO)

From 4 villages to a UNESCO World Heritage Site This is the first part of pictorial books about Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, covering the period 1890 -1938. On the 8th of July, 2017, Asmara was included in the UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. UNESCO, described Asmara as a Modernist City of Africa and added, “Located at over 2,000 m above sea level, the capital of Eritrea developed from the 1890s onwards as a military outpost for the Italian colonial power. After 1935, Asmara underwent a large scale programme of construction applying the Italian rationalist idiom of the time to governmental edifices, residential and commercial buildings, churches, mosques, synagogues, cinemas, hotels, etc.” This pictorial book takes you through that journey on how Asmara developed from four villages to a modernist city, with explanatory captions in Italian, English Arabic and Tigrinya.

SBS Tigrinya interview with the authors:

"ኣስመራ፡ ካብ ኣርባዕተ ዓድታት ናብ ቦታ ቅርስታት ዓለም" ዕላል መጽሓፍ ምስ ዶ/ር መሓመድ፡ ኣቶ ነጋሽን ኣቶ ጀላልን

https://www.sbs.com.au/language/tigrinya/audio/aasemaraa-kaabe-aarebaaeta-aadetaate-naabe-botaa-qeresetaate-aalame-elaale-matsehhaafe?fbclid=IwAR3rmXaM6ZV0TmBCvgSfCrWqn4EfJjC2TNWy4aQFWPHcH_YLVDgzzkRIcZk
=========================

A summary of  book promotion with Asmara Shuker music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5SzubOBk4U&t=27s
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The book is available at:

https://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=Asmara%3A+Pictorial+Book+1890+-+1938&type=

Characteristics of typical African elections

Characteristics of typical African elections:

- There is lack of transparency in the process of elections
- The incumbent President has a better chance of cheating
- The loser does not acknowledge defeat even if the country is on fire
- Some times one can never make it to the presidency if one has a smaller social base, as people are more liable to elect persons from their own social base, but for some the only goal in life is to be a president, all or none
- The opposition wants to rule, in the first free elections, instead of building up on their achievements and prepare for the next elections

RIVALRY, ANTAGONISM AND WAR IN THE NATION- & STATE-BUILDING PROCESS

RIVALRY, ANTAGONISM AND WAR IN THE NATION- & STATE-BUILDING PROCESS: THE H FACTOR IN THE RELATIONS BETWEEN ERITREA AND ETHIOPIA, an article by Uoldelul Chelati Dirar

Märäb Mällaš is defi nitely the toponym which has enjoyed the greatest favour thanks also to the homonymous title of Perini’s book. However, the very adoption of those two toponyms speak volumes about dominant perceptions of land and polities. In fact both denominations and particularly Märäb Mällaš refl ects a geographical position which betrays the location of the observant and, therefore his/her perception of space and power relations from a perspective strongly infl uenced by the Ethiopian polity taken as a main reference and Təgrəñña and or Amharic languages as main medium of communication. I wonder if this representation of space and polities would equally satisfy an Afar, Təgre, Kunama, Nara or Beni Amer speaker. Would it accommodate his/her perception of spatial and political hierarchies? It seems to me that dominant narratives on Eritrea and on Eritrean-Ethiopian relations implicitly assume Eritrean Təgrəñña-speaking highlanders as their main object and by so doing tend to fall in the common mistake of confusing the part for the whole. Until now historiographic analyses of pre-colonial balances of power in the region have failed in taking into adequate consideration narratives from the Western lowlands and, to a certain extent, also those from the Eastern lowlands of what is today the State of Eritrea. They have remained marginal both in colonial and post-colonial literature. 

Within this perspective a fi rst crucial step to be taken in order to draft a fair and It seems to me that dominant narratives on Eritrea and on Eritrean-Ethiopian relations implicitly assume Eritrean Təgrəñña-speaking highlanders as their main object and by so doing tend to fall in the common mistake of confusing the part for the whole. Until now historiographic analyses of pre-colonial balances of power in the region have failed in taking into adequate consideration narratives from the Western lowlands and, to a certain extent, also those from the Eastern lowlands of what is today the State of Eritrea. They have remained marginal both in colonial and post-colonial literature.

https://u-pad.unimc.it/retrieve/handle/11393/41720/958/Uoldelul_Rivalry%20Antagonism%20and%20War.pdf

Human Rights in Eritrea 1955

Human Rights in Eritrea 1955, Modern Law Review 1955 Vol 18, pp. 484-486, article by Clarence Smith

The idea of the citizen having any rights against the authorities being a startling innovation in Eritrea, resort to the Supreme Court in defence of constitutional rights has been rare, but five cases have arisen in the first two and a half years of self-government. The earliest case, decided in August, 1953, concerned the “right to freedom of opinion and expression,” a newspaper having been suppressed by the withdrawal of its licence to print just before the persons concerned had been acquitted of a criminal charge of seditious libel. Under an Italian law no one could print without a licence, and the court held that this provision was constitutional as a means of raising revenue and of keeping the authorities informed of the existence and locality of printing presses; but that it was unconstitutional as a means of controlling the press, and that the withdrawal of the licence for this purpose was therefore unlawful.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1955.tb00316.x

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Thanks to Prof. Kjetil Tronvoll for making me aware of the article

Jeberti Women Traders’Innumeracy

Jeberti Women Traders’Innumeracy, Its Impact on Commercial Activity

in Eritrea, a 2009 artcle  by Abbebe Kifleyesus 

Throughout the last millennium the Muslim Jeberti traders of Eritrea played a critical role in linking the diverse reaches of the plateau districts of Hamasien, Seraye and Akkele Guzay (Zoba Debub in present day Eritrea) to carry their goods and, in the process, ideas and news from one region to another. As the Red Sea trade increased in volume and momentum in the late xviiith and xixth centuries, the Jeberti confronted commercial competition from coastal peoples. Yet the Jeberti who at present represent some seven percent of the Tigrigna population of Eritrea have as Muslims always felt a divine mandate to be merchants and have traditionally posited a high institutional affinity for commercial undertaking using folk systems of numbering as a means for achieving upward mobility, social respect and upholding family economic benefits.

https://journals.openedition.org/lhomme/21986

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Thanks to Jelal Yassin for sharing

Dr. Hashim A-Shami: On the Afar roots of martyr Abdulgader Mohamed Saleh Kebire

Dr. Hashim A-Shami: On the Afar roots of martyr Abdulgader Mohamed Saleh Kebire

I asked Dr. Hashim Jamal al-Din A-Shami (widely known as Hashim A-Shami ^*) about the links of late Eritrean politician, martyr Abdulgader Kebire to the Afar and he wrote this note hastily in Arabic and below is a translation of his note, in English. Any mistakes in translation, mine.

"The great and veteran politician, martyr Abdulgadir Mohamed Saleh Kebire, is of Afar-Jeberti origins[1] and was born on Dese island, which is part of the Afar region within the Buri Peninsula. His mother, Fatima Kebir was from the Dahimela tribe. His brother, Ibrahim, lived and was buried in the Qenfur area, near Dese island. Kebire married Zeinab Ishaq Adam from the tribe of Sheikh Adamtu (son of Sheikh Adem). The uncles of his wife are from the tribe of Qaas Sambo. One of Abdulgadir’s sisters, Aisha Kebri was married to Ibrahim from the tribe of Kifertu. His second sister, Madina was married to Rashid Abdu from the  'Ante li Sheikh Ali' tribe  It should be noted that his mother Fatima and his sisters, Aisha and Madina died in and were buried in the village of Adai le Dora Dese Peninsula.

There is no doubt that Mr. Abdulgadir Kebire also lived in among the Jeberti in Asmara where he practiced his political and daily life and had children from his Jeberti wife. The influence of the Jeberti community was very important in the formation of his personality, development and the special social status he achieved. It is worthy to note that the Afar, and the Jeberti in general and Argobba (Arab Jebey) had important historical relations in the Sultanate of IFAT. The Ifat Sultanate was dependent on the Emirate of Adal which was in part of the Afar region. The center of the Sultanate of IFAT was in the city of 'Dawe', which is currently part of the Afar region in Ethiopia. It was the hub and zone of influence of the Emirate of Bodaye. Amir Mohamed Bodaye had authority over the city of ‘Dawe’ in the 19^th and 20^th century and it was the core of his Dahimele tribe.

The jeberti are originally, from the land of IFAT. According to Ibn Saeed, who lived 1214 – 1287 AD, IFAT was also known as the land of the Jeberti (Jeberta)[2] and he stated, “It has a Muslim king and the inhabitants are Muslims from different ethnic groups and IFAT city lies on higher ground.”  

Even the historian, Al-Mughrizi pointed that the Welashma family that claims to be from Arabian roots from Al- Hijaz, had settled in the land of al-Jabr (Jeberta)[3].

The great Italian historian, E. Cerulli[4], obtained, during the occupation of Ethiopia by Italy, a document written in Arabic that clearly indicates that there was a Makhzoumi Sultanate in East of Shoa established in 283 according to the Hijra calender corresponding to 896/897 AD and it was destroyed due to internal conflicts and in addition to the invasion of Ali Ibn Waliasma in 1277 AD.

As is well-known to all, Beni Makhzoum is a very famous Mekka tribe, where the great Muslim military leader, Khalid Bin Al Waleed belonged to. The Beni Makhzoum were at odds with Beni Umiah. It is believed that an important part of this tribe migrated to Abyssinia during the Islamic rule of caliph Omar Bin Al Khattab. Thus, one can say, in brief, that the Jeberti are of Arab origin who lived in east Shoa, and especially around the IFAT. As has been stated above the Sultanate of IFAT, had different ethnic groups within it (Afar, Jeberti and Argobba).

In addition to that, the Jeberti had very important contributions to safeguard  Islam and to raise its status in Gondar, Tigray, Seraye and Hamassein (Asmara). Due to that, the name Jeberti became tied to Islam such that the Islamic institution, Al Azhar established centuries ago, a special gallery (learning unit) for students from Abyssinia, known as the Jeberta gallery (riwag al jeberta).

The Jeberti, particulary in Seraye and Asmara were dynamic and active in the commercial, cultural, scientific and political fields in Eritrea in the period from 1942 to 1952. They played also big role the preservation and practice of moderate Islam, which believes and calls for moderation and coexistence among the national components, Muslims and non-Muslims. The Grand mufti, Sheikh Ibrahim Mokhtar, a graduate of Al Azhar University, played also a big role in this regard with his reformist directives. In addition to that, the presence of families and members of the Jeberti community, such as the families of Aberra,  Hagos, and Khairallah and others played an important role, too. Among the individuals, to name a few were Berhanu Ahmeddin, the veteran and courageous politician, as well as the writer and intellectual, Mahmoud Noor Hussain.

Mahmoud may have been one of the most prominent intellectuals of his time. He was fluent in Italian, Arabic and English languages, and his books in Arabic history and language, including translations of some publications from English and Italian to Arabic and vice versa, was a great contribution. I thus urge for the works of Mahmoud Nour Hussein be published. Thus, the Jeberti activity was not limited to trade, as some components of Eritreans, fond of stereotypes want to portray them. This reflects their shallow understanding of the Jeberti. Some components do this to undermine or do injustice to others.

Abdulgadir Kebire was also married to a Yemeni woman and had children from her. Abdulgadir’s son, Saleh Abdulgadir kebire was an intellectual. He graduated from the American University in Beirut. He was aware of his Afar roots and had close and daily contacts with many of the Afar, while he was the Mayor of Massawa and during his long stay in Addis Ababa, where he practised as a lawyer and later became the Chair of the Ethiopian Lawyers’ Association. During his stay in Massawa and Asmara, he was in contact with his relatives in the Buri Peninsula, especially with his aunt Aisha, who used to visit the family of Abdulgadir Kebire in Asmara. Saleh Kebire died in March 2000 and was buried in Addis Ababa.

It is known that the leader Abdulgadir Kebire was a friend of several Afar dignitaries, including, among others, Sheikh Yassin Mahamodah Qahmed, Sheikh Musa Qaas Mohamed, Sheikh Jamal al-Din Ibrahim Khalil al-Shami, Sheikh Siraj Mohamed Kamel, Haj Mohamed Osman Houri and Sheikh Rashid Ismail Hamid Hassen. Sheikh Siraj Mohamed Kamel was one of the closest friends of Abdulgadir. When World War II broke out, Abdulgadir sent his elder son, Saleh, to Dahlak to study with the family of Sheikh Siraj Mohammed Kamel and under his supervision. Saleh returned to Asmara after the British occupation and the end of the war.

I would like to reiterate again about the importance of the Jebrti’s community in Asmara in the formation and development of the personality of the leader Abdulgadir. There is no doubt that Abdulgadir had all the characteristics of leadership, knowledge and a solid will. He was an intellectual who was loyal to his principles.

To sum up what is important is not a personal affiliation of an individual to a particular tribe or a social component, but what matters most is a person’s achievement to his country and endeavours to raise the value of humanity in general and efforts in achieving freedom and social justice.

On the other hand, it is very important, but not the most important for me (Hashim Jamal al-Din A-Shami) to answer the question by Dr. Mohamed Kheir Omer. It is the right of researchers and citizens to know the background of a public person, particularly about leaders and the people who left their distinguished marks on a particular region or country. “

Signature

Hashim Jamal al-Din A-Shami

  

*Hashim Gamaluddin Ibrahim Al-Shami, holds a doctorate degree in Economics from the University of University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA. He is interested in the history and studies of East Africa and Southern Arabian Peninsula. He is a co-author (the other author was his father, Sheikh Gamaluddin Ibrahim Al-Shami) of the book on the History of the Afar, in Arabic that was issued in 1991, and the second edition was published in 1996. The book is in about 750 pages. His father wrote 182 pages of the book.  The book was translated to Amharic, with additions to the Arabic version in 2007 with the title (ዓፋር (ደንከል) ታሪክና መረጃ አርክ ምንጭ). The book was recently translated to English.

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¹المنهل في تأريخ وأخبار العفر (الدناكل) : تأليف الشيخ جمال الدين الشامى ابن ابراهيم بن خليل الشامي وابنه  الدكتورهاشم جمال الدين الشامى, الصادر في عام 1996 ص297 

²إبن سعيد: من خلال كتاب أبو الفداء: السلطان اسماعيل بن علي بن جمال الدين صاحب حماة, المعروف بأبي الفداء " كتاب تقويم البلدان", طبع في باريس بدار الطباعة السلطانية في عام 1850م

[3] المغريزي: أحمد بن علي بن عبدالقادر بن محمد المغريزي " كتاب الألمام بأخبارمن تأريخ ارض الحبشة من ملوك الأسلام", مطبعة التأليف بمصر

4 E. Cerulli, Documenti Arabi per La Storia Dell' Etiopia, pp. 39-101, ATTi Della Reale Academia De Lince, Volume IV, 1931

A Preliminary Conservation and Development Scheme for Old Massawa: UNESCO 1998

A Preliminary Conservation and Development Scheme for Old Massawa (Eritrea's Oldest Living town) by Ann Pulver and Arnaud  Goujon, UNESCO 1998

According to the document, the town is situated on two coral islands, Massawa and Taulud. A detailed map of the town in 1885 records 5000 inhabitants, 216 masonry houses, 233 huts, 3 main mosques with minarates, 10 secondary mosques, and 22 Arab and European Cafes. In 1888 part of the town was destroyed by fire and on 14 August 1921 most of the town was destroyed by an earthquake.

www.mediafire.com/file/76lgbcyksbscxw5/UNESCO+development+scheme+for+Massawa.pdf