Eric Lafforgue
Eric Lafforgue has his own website about his trip to Eritrea.

All images on this page are courtesy of Eric.

Hans and Mebrat sent me an e-mail pointing out Eric's site.

On Eric's site was a picture of a train arriving at the Island of Massawa.  I wrote him and he was kind enough to send me a higher resolution version and the following three additional pictures.

A closer look at the first image shows a banner on the train. Hans provided that the text in Tigrignya is incomplete (words are missing) a bit difficult.  You could say it expresses the non-positive feelings about the Woyanes (Tigray/Ethiopians).  Eric provided the explanation:

These pictures were taken around Febrary 10, 2000.  It was a celebration for the 10th anniversary of the liberation of Massawa against Ethiopians.  The EPLA liberation of Massawa from  was the beginning of the End of the Derg.  This was associated with that.The feast lasted for two days.  It was very beautiful, and a little bit sad, because many people were injured...The train was full of people coming from all the areas of eritrea and those people sang and danced
great time!

Prior to a second reading of Hans' translation, I thought this may have been the celebration of the opening of the line from Taulud Island to Massawa Island.  This is particularly true with the women above carrying wheat.

The flags and bunting indicate it was of national significance.
 
 
 

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