We invite you to join us for a live webinar on Saturday, March 15, 2025 at 10:00 am California, 1 pm New York, 5 pm London, 8 pm Asmara time. Eritrean diaspora professionals with different views will discuss their vision and ideas for the future of Eritrea’s politics. Representative of the Eritrean government have also been invited to participate. Watch virtually on YouTube via SETIT, ERISAT, and AWATE media channels. For more information or to submit questions for the panelists in advance, send an email to Meron Semedar, meronsemedar@berkeley.edu.
Eritrea gained its independence in 1991 after a 30-year war for independence with Ethiopia. Two years later, in 1993, Eritrea became an internationally recognized country following a monitored referendum in which Eritreans voted overwhelmingly for independence. Since then, Eritrea has been ruled by the only political party in the country, the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ). Isaias Afwerki was elected as the president of the State of Eritrea by the National Assembly and declared the first head of state, a position he has held ever since the end of the war for independence.
In 1997, a new constitution was drafted and ratified, but it was never enacted. A parliamentary election scheduled for 2001 was indefinitely postponed, and to this day, the country has never held any national election. In 2014, Isaias declared that “the 1997 constitution is dead, and we will draft a new constitution”. Since then, no new constitution has been produced or brought forward for discussion. With the rule of law suspended, the president and his party govern the country by decree, according to their will and interests.
For more than two decades, many Eritreans have fled the country to avoid indefinite national service, forced disappearances, and to seek a dignified life elsewhere. Those forced to flee face death at borders, perilous journeys, destitution in refugee camps, drowning in treacherous waters, and debasement within bureaucratic asylum regimes designed to exceptionalize them.
With very limited resources and far from home, many Eritreans not only remain politically conscious of what is happening in their country but are also actively resisting the regime by forming opposition groups. However, Eritrea’s opposition political organizations are not permitted to operate within the country, and so they are scattered across the globe in the diaspora.
Recently, a new wave of opposition groups, led by youth who fled the country, have formed and reformed several times. Some advocate for reform, while others call for regime change in the hope of creating internal transformation. Analysts warn that neither option is without grave consequences for the country, its people, and its sovereignty. A vision for change has increasingly become both a stalemate and an allegory for opposition activists and concerned international groups.
About the speakers
Meron Semedar (Organizer): Educator, community organizer, human rights and international refugee advocate. Meron has addressed the UN, USCIS, One Young World, many universities and communities on the global refugee crisis and human rights in Eritrea. His works have been featured in Vanity Fair, Huffington Post, the G7G20, the International Organization for Migrants (IOM), African Voice, BBC Tigrinya, Voice of America and SBS Australia. A short version of his story has been published in a book called Refugees in America in 2019. He holds a South African degree in Civil Engineering, M.A. in International Studies from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Public Affairs (MPA) from UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy. He works as a student advisor to Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at the Center for African Studies at UC Berkeley and is also the Executive Director of a non-profit called Mentor a New Comer.
Saleh “Gadi” Johar (Panelist) Born and raised in Keren, Eritrea, and now a US citizen residing in California, Mr. Saleh "Gadi" Johar is the founder and publisher of Awate.com. He is the author of Miriam Was Here, Of Kings and Bandits, and Simply Echoes. Saleh is renowned for his deep knowledge and extensive experience in the history and politics of the Horn of Africa. He is a well-known public speaker, researcher, and writer. Over the years, Mr. Johar has delivered numerous lectures, written hundreds of articles, and participated in various international seminars and conferences. In Sept 1, 2000, Saleh founded Awate.com with the aim of fostering public awareness and filling the void left by the closure of Eritrea’s independent press. The Awate platform has provided vital information often hidden by the Eritrean regime, offered a space for open discussion, and inspired Eritreans to work for reconciliation grounded in truth and justice.
Dr. Daniel Ogbaharya (Panelist) is a scholar and educator specializing in Leadership Studies, Public Policy, and Social Change. He currently teaches at Shenyang Normal University in China as part of a joint Sino-American program with Fort Hays State University. In addition, he is affiliated with Antioch University’s Graduate School of Leadership and Change (GSLC), where he mentors and supervises doctoral students. Dr. Ogbaharya holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Asmara (2001), Master’s degrees in International Studies and Environmental Policy from Ohio University, and a Doctorate in Comparative Politics, International Relations, and African Development from Northern Arizona University. His research focuses on the political economy of development and environmental sustainability, with a particular emphasis on community-based natural resource management in Africa. Dr. Ogbaharya’s work has been published in notable platforms, including The Cambridge Handbook of Commons Research Innovations (2021), African Arguments (2015), Journal of Eastern African Studies (2010), and Journal of Third World Studies (2009).
Dr. Selam Kidane (Panelist) is a systemic psychotherapist trained at the Institute of Family Therapy in London, UK. She is currently based at the University of West London, where she teaches clinical and counselling psychology. Her research focuses on trauma, resilience, and mental health, with a particular emphasis on refugee communities. She has worked extensively with separated refugee children in the UK and has authored several practice guides and training manuals related to this area of work. Additionally, Dr. Kidane has conducted research in Uganda among survivors of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) atrocities and in refugee camps in Ethiopia, focusing on Eritrean refugees. Prior to her role at UWL, Dr. Kidane worked as a systemic therapist within an integrated clinical service in London. Her book, Trauma, Collective Trauma, and Refugee Trajectories in the Digital Era, presents her research on Eritrean refugees.
Daniel Teklai (Panelist) is a writer and activist who is a co-founder and chairman of One Nation, a grassroots-based organization seeking to bring democratic change in Eritrea. In 2011, he also co-founded the cyber-based Eritrean Youth Solidarity of Change (EYSC) and served as its chairman until 2015. Over the years, he has written dozens of articles on issues of constitutional governance and is one of the contributing authors of the book, Eritrea: Affirming Nationhood and Sovereignty. He is also a regular commentator on Eritrean media, providing insights on political issues. Daniel is a bank marketer by profession and has over 20 years’ experience in retail, commercial and investment banking. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware and lives in California with his wife and two children.
Kebreab Hailegiorgis (Panelist) is a Consultant at the Washington State's Department of Children Youth and Services. He holds his BSc in Physics from University of Asmera and Masters in Professional Counseling from Liberty University. He is also a board chair of a non-for-profit organization that serves refugees and immigrants.
Professor Emeritus Edmond J. Keller (Moderator) is professor and former chair of Political Science, Director of the UCLA Globalization Research Center-Africa and former Director of the James S. Coleman African Studies Center at the University of California-Los Angeles. He specializes in comparative politics with an emphasis on Africa. Keller received his B.A. in Government from Louisiana State University in New Orleans, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has taught at Indiana University, Dartmouth College, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Xavier University (New Orleans), and the University of California-Santa Barbara. Keller has been a visiting research scholar at the Institute for Development Studies (Nairobi, Kenya), the Bureau of Educational Research (Nairobi), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the Africa Institute of South Africa, and the University of California-Berkeley Institute for International Studies. Also, he has consulted widely on issues relating to African Development and public policy, and, more recently, on the process of political transitions in Africa, and on African regional security issues.
Among his professional activities, Keller served on the Council of the American Political Science Association (APSA), 2000-2002; and the Executive Committee of the Comparative Politics Section of the APSA, 1996-1998. He has also served on the Editorial Board of the Western Political Science Association and the National Journal of Political Science; as Editor of the Journal of African Policy Studies, and as vice president and president of the African Studies Association. Keller was the recipient of the African Studies Distinguished Africanist Award for 2008.
Keller is the author of two monographs: Education, Manpower and Development: The Impact of Educational Policy in Kenya (1980) and Revolutionary Ethiopia: From Empire to People’s Republic (1988). Professor Keller has also written more than 50 articles on African and African American politics, and has co-edited four books: Afro-marxist Regimes: Ideology and Public Policy (with Donald Rothchild, 1987); South Africa in Southern Africa: Domestic Change and International Conflict (with Louis Picard, 1989), and Africa in the New International Order: Rethinking State Sovereignty and Regional Security (with Donald Rothchild, 1996). Africa-US Relations: Strategic Encounters (with Donald Rothchild, 2006). Presently Keller’s main research is on issues of political transitions in Africa, cultural pluralism and nationalism, and conflict and conflict management in Africa as most recently detailed in his book Identity, Citizenship, and Political Conflict in Africa.
Trustee for the Human Community: Ralph J. Bunche, the United Nations, and the Decolonization of Africa. Robert A. Hill (Editor), Edmond J. Keller (Editor).
Ralph J. Bunche (1904-1971), winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950, was a key U.S. diplomat in the planning and creation of the United Nations in 1945. In 1947, he was invited to join the permanent UN Secretariat as director of the new Trusteeship Department. In this position, Bunche played a key role in setting up the trusteeship system that provided important impetus for the postwar decolonization ending European control of Africa as well as an international framework for the oversight of the process after the Second World War. Trustee for the Human Community is the first volume to examine the totality of Bunche’s unrivaled role in the struggle for African independence both as a key intellectual and an international diplomat and to illuminate it from the broader African American perspective. These commissioned essays examine the full range of Ralph Bunche’s involvement in Africa. The scholars explore sensitive political issues, such as Bunche’s role in the Congo and his views on the struggle in South Africa. Trustee for the Human Community stands as a monument to the profoundly important role of one of the greatest Americans in one of the greatest political movements in the history of the twentieth century.
