Tag Archives: conflict

04/18/12

Our national identity is as African-style as yours: MNLA’s multiethnic discourse for Azawad

There is a wide agreement among analysts on the fact that the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) is basically made up of Tuareg fighters trying to establish the first-ever independent Tuareg state in modern Africa. Most of MNLA leaders are Tuareg, just as are Tuareg the best-known advocates of an Azawadi state, the members of renowned music band Tinariwen. Does this mean that MNLA is introducing itself to the world as a proponent of an ethnic Tuareg state trying to secede from Mali? Not at all. And they would be fool if they did so. Continue reading →

03/28/12

The Eritrean national identity: an untenable obsession with struggle, sacrifice and military?

Eritrea is back in the news since Ethiopian forces carried out earlier this month a military attack on rebel bases within the Eritrean boundaries. This has again been used by the media to remind people of the extremely harsh conditions undergone by political opponents and human rights activists in Eritrea, a country that got its independence in 1993 and has since been ruled by a dictatorial regime led by Isaias Afewerki, the long-standing leader of the former armed organization Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) and current president of this African country. Afewerki belongs to the Biher-Tigrinya, the larger of nine ethnic groups officially recognized in Eritrea. Continue reading →