Over the past two days, Thursday and Friday, a small group of activists and researchers on Eritrean studies gathered in Geneva with the aim of stocktaking on the post-independence experience of Eritrea (on the occasion of the country’s 25th year of independence). A conference like this should have ideally taken place in Eritrea. As is known to many, due to the sad political reality in Eritrea, this was not possible; thus, the conference had to take place in exile. The conference featured a very proactive engagement, lively discussions, and most of all civilized discourse among participants. Given Eritrea’s highly polarized political landscape, and the fact that some of the speakers at the conference subscribe to fundamentally divergent views with those of others, did not come as an obstacle for a civilized discourse (as some observers may have anticipated).

In the afternoon hours of Thursday, the 19th of May, we had an Opening Speech by Mr. Manuel Tornare, Member of the Swiss Parliament (National Council) and former Major of Geneva, among other things. This was followed by a Panel Discussion with Tanja Müller, Selam Kidane and Salih Nur (with Daniel R. Mekonnen as moderator and discussant). In the evening hours, there was a Welcoming Dinner for presenters, speakers and invited guests.

On Friday, the 20th of May, we had the following presentations:

Mother Tongue versus Arabic: The Post-Independence Eritrean Language Policy Debate, by Abdulkader Saleh M Ohammad
Eritrea’s Wrong Start in 1991: How It Contributed to Where and What It is Today, by Wolde Ammar
Authoritarian Resilience in Eritrea: The Dual Role of Nationalism, by Goitom Gebreluel & Daniel R. Mekonnen (presented by Daniel)
Dynamics of Post-liberation Politics – Interrogating Aspirations and Political Space in Eritrea, by Tanja R. Müller
Making Sense of Post-independence Eritrea: A Late African Postcolonial State or a Misunderstood African Exceptionalism?, by Salih Nur
Civil Society Space in Post-Independence Eritrea, by Wegahtabrhan Sereke
By Way of Patriotism, Coercion or Instrumentalisation: How the Eritrean Regime Makes Use of the Diaspora to Stabilise its Rule, by Nicole Hirt & Abdulkader Saleh Mohammad
Collective Trauma: A Major Component of the Eritrean Refugee Crisis, by Selam Kidane
Legal Battles in Eritrean Transnational Communities, by Tricia Redeker Hepner & Daniel R. Mekonnen (presented by Daniel)
Leaving Eritrea and Looking for a Safe Haven: Reflections from the Experiences of Eritrean Refugees in Selected Eritrean Diaspora Communities, by Sadia Hassanen & Beyan Negash (partly presented in the form of a video presentation of Sadia)

The above contributions will make part of a forthcoming conference proceeding (edited volume) that will be refined in the coming months. Other contributors who showed initial interest in participating at the conference but were not able to make it to Geneva have also submitted full version papers that shall make part of the forthcoming edited volume. These include Gaim Kibreab’s “The Military in Post-Independence Eritrea” and Joseph Venosa’s “Liberating Eritrea from Abroad: Diaspora Activism on the eve of Eritrea’s War of Independence, 1958-62.”

The successful finalization of the conference would not have materialized without the active participation and involvement of everyone who played a role in different ways, and in particular the presenters, speakers, commentators and funders. As Convener of the Conference, I am deeply indebted to all of these stakeholders. While the conference may have had its own limitations in some ways, on balance, I am glad to see it coming to fruition the way it did. My effort of the last several months (starting from October 2015) has paid off satisfactorily, thanks to all who have helped in many ways, some of whom are already tagged in this posting; others are unfortunately not on Facebook. Some more colleagues, whose names I see on Facebook, and who deserve a word of thanks include the following: Michael Guggenheimer, Veronica Almedom, and Awet Kidane.