On August 14, at the military base of Sawa, in Eritrea, a ceremony was held to award diplomas to students who had completed their basic school and military training.
In the presence of President Isaias Afwerki, who gave the usual speech at the end of the program, the military units and the young Eritrean students of the 34th round of the National Service and those of the 12th course of the Vocational Training Center paraded.
The ceremony took place in the usual setting of the parade ground of the military base, as every year characterized by a choreography of young people who enthusiastically welcome the President in an atmosphere of jubilation. The repetition of a ceremony that the Eritrean opposition defines as artificial and organized only for propaganda purposes.
President Afwerki’s speech this year mainly touched on issues related to the need to ensure an adequate education to young Eritreans, while any reference to the conflict in neighboring Ethiopia was completely absent.
