Unesco's Mohamed Asmara Isn't Only Z Capital Of Eritrea,But It's Also Z Pride Of UNESCO 2.(((HAHAHA))).!!! WEEY GUUD !!!
Posted: 30 May 2026, 16:09
Asmara Is Not Only the Capital, It Is a Pride of UNESCO”: An Interview with UNESCO’s Mr. Mohamed El Faranawy
By : - Sabrina Solomon
Mr. Mohamed El Faranawy, Acting Assistant Director General at UNESCO for Priority Africa, is currently on a working visit to Eritrea. As part of his trip, the senior official who oversees UNESCO’s flagship “General History of Africa” project and champions youth coding initiatives across the continent has met with high-level Eritrean officials and toured Asmara, a UNESCO World Heritage site, as well as other cultural landmarks. Upon concluding his visit, Mr. Mohamed El Faranawy sat down with Eri TV’s Rafael Giuseppe and Eritrea Profile’s Sabrina Solomon. Excerpts of the interview follow.
- Mr. Mohamed El Faranawy, you have met with several government officials. How do you assess your meetings and visit to Eritrea so far, and what specific goals do you hope to achieve to strengthen cooperation in heritage protection and sustainable development?
Thank you very much. It’s a pleasure to be here. This is my first visit to Eritrea, hopefully not my last. From UNESCO, we see great potential in Eritrea. I bring the greetings of UNESCO’s Director General, who is keenly interested in prioritizing engagement not only in Africa (which is one of the two priority areas of UNESCO) but is also keen on seeing how to develop the relationship with Eritrea and how to support Eritrea on cultural heritage, and also a number of other aspects that are within the UNESCO goals. The meetings have also shown that UNESCO is back to engaging with Eritrea, and we look forward to building on this collaboration. We also look forward to rebuilding and strengthening the relationship over the months and years to come.
- Asmara was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2017. How do you assess its current state of conservation, and what support can UNESCO offer to enlist other sites and intangible heritage in Eritrea?
Asmara is not only the capital of Eritrea. It is also a pride of UNESCO in terms of cultural heritage. It is a city that has great potential, but also showcases throughout the continent and globally what a modern city is and how it can be conserved and protected. We hope that after nine years of its inscription, we can collaborate more closely with officials here, and I have the specific directions of the UNESCO leadership to see how we can support Asmara, and showcase it as a proud capital of Eritrea and a proud heritage site of UNESCO. We are looking— we have discussed and will continue discussing with Eritrean officials about their priorities, what they would like to inscribe both in terms of tangible and intangible cultural heritage. We know there are a few sites on Eritrea’s radar that it would like to prioritize. Eritrea has Asmara to offer, but it also has a whole host of other activities, sites, and locations that showcase the heritage, history, and culture of Eritrea and its people.
- You have worked on several projects for Africa, including the Pan-African General History of Africa project. How can Eritrea’s unique historical narrative be better integrated into this narrative?
The General History of Africa is a series of well-thought-out and well-written volumes by Africans on Africa. Eritrea is an integral part of this continent. It is reflected in the volumes of the General History of Africa throughout the years. We would like to work with the Eritrean authorities, and we intend to collaborate and discuss with them the potential for translating the volumes of the General History of Africa and the pedagogical material into the school system in Eritrea. We have a number of examples throughout the continent to really put forward the history of the people of the continent to students, youth, and the people, and to help them learn more about their culture and be proud of their heritage and history.
- Eritrea recently ratified the 2003 Convention for Intangible Heritage. Looking ahead, which areas (education, science, or culture) hold the most promise for deeper UNESCO-Eritrea collaboration?
We think that Eritrea and UNESCO can collaborate throughout the scope of UNESCO’s mandate. It ranges, as you mentioned, from education to culture to science and technology. We see great potential for collaboration on girls’ education, working on digitalization, and working together on heritage protection. And we believe that this country has great potential for collaboration within the context of existing conventions to which Eritrea has signed, as well as outside that context. We are here, and my presence, along with the regional director, is here to present to you what it is we can work on, and we have already agreed on a timeline of engagement within the context of UNESCO’s mandate on certain aspects of higher education. We will have meetings with the Minister of Education as well; we’ve had meetings with a number of principals from the Foreign Ministry to the Ministry of Information to Culture, and we believe that each of those key entities of the Eritrean government has great potential to work closely with our institution. And UNESCO is ready to bring all of its capacity to bear.
- During your visit to some sites in Asmara, what impressed you the most?
Unfortunately, because of time constraints, I have been limited to Asmara. But I know, and I am aware that Eritrea has a lot more to offer. What I saw in Asmara reflected deeply the jealousy my colleagues felt when I told them I was coming to Eritrea. They were not only curious but also wanted to know more and wanted to engage in the various competencies of UNESCO, be it in heritage or education. And I can tell you that what I have found as most striking is the people of Eritrea and how friendly, how welcoming, how warm they are, and how much this country has to offer in terms of tangible and intangible heritage and in terms of tourism, with all that it has to offer, along with its beautiful people and weather. You are a very lucky people; you have great potential, and with the wisdom of the leadership and the support of UNESCO and other organizations that would like to support this country, we believe that what you have to offer can really be showcased not only as the pride of Eritreans but also the pride of the international community.
- Is there anything that you would like to add, or any message you wish to convey to our readers?
As long as we are welcomed in #Eritrea, we are happy to engage, happy to support, and we will offer it to various other entities for the people of Eritrea, because UNESCO is UNESCO for the people, and we are proud to support and help the people of this country.
- Thank you, Mr. Mohamed.
By : - Sabrina Solomon
Mr. Mohamed El Faranawy, Acting Assistant Director General at UNESCO for Priority Africa, is currently on a working visit to Eritrea. As part of his trip, the senior official who oversees UNESCO’s flagship “General History of Africa” project and champions youth coding initiatives across the continent has met with high-level Eritrean officials and toured Asmara, a UNESCO World Heritage site, as well as other cultural landmarks. Upon concluding his visit, Mr. Mohamed El Faranawy sat down with Eri TV’s Rafael Giuseppe and Eritrea Profile’s Sabrina Solomon. Excerpts of the interview follow.
- Mr. Mohamed El Faranawy, you have met with several government officials. How do you assess your meetings and visit to Eritrea so far, and what specific goals do you hope to achieve to strengthen cooperation in heritage protection and sustainable development?
Thank you very much. It’s a pleasure to be here. This is my first visit to Eritrea, hopefully not my last. From UNESCO, we see great potential in Eritrea. I bring the greetings of UNESCO’s Director General, who is keenly interested in prioritizing engagement not only in Africa (which is one of the two priority areas of UNESCO) but is also keen on seeing how to develop the relationship with Eritrea and how to support Eritrea on cultural heritage, and also a number of other aspects that are within the UNESCO goals. The meetings have also shown that UNESCO is back to engaging with Eritrea, and we look forward to building on this collaboration. We also look forward to rebuilding and strengthening the relationship over the months and years to come.
- Asmara was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2017. How do you assess its current state of conservation, and what support can UNESCO offer to enlist other sites and intangible heritage in Eritrea?
Asmara is not only the capital of Eritrea. It is also a pride of UNESCO in terms of cultural heritage. It is a city that has great potential, but also showcases throughout the continent and globally what a modern city is and how it can be conserved and protected. We hope that after nine years of its inscription, we can collaborate more closely with officials here, and I have the specific directions of the UNESCO leadership to see how we can support Asmara, and showcase it as a proud capital of Eritrea and a proud heritage site of UNESCO. We are looking— we have discussed and will continue discussing with Eritrean officials about their priorities, what they would like to inscribe both in terms of tangible and intangible cultural heritage. We know there are a few sites on Eritrea’s radar that it would like to prioritize. Eritrea has Asmara to offer, but it also has a whole host of other activities, sites, and locations that showcase the heritage, history, and culture of Eritrea and its people.
- You have worked on several projects for Africa, including the Pan-African General History of Africa project. How can Eritrea’s unique historical narrative be better integrated into this narrative?
The General History of Africa is a series of well-thought-out and well-written volumes by Africans on Africa. Eritrea is an integral part of this continent. It is reflected in the volumes of the General History of Africa throughout the years. We would like to work with the Eritrean authorities, and we intend to collaborate and discuss with them the potential for translating the volumes of the General History of Africa and the pedagogical material into the school system in Eritrea. We have a number of examples throughout the continent to really put forward the history of the people of the continent to students, youth, and the people, and to help them learn more about their culture and be proud of their heritage and history.
- Eritrea recently ratified the 2003 Convention for Intangible Heritage. Looking ahead, which areas (education, science, or culture) hold the most promise for deeper UNESCO-Eritrea collaboration?
We think that Eritrea and UNESCO can collaborate throughout the scope of UNESCO’s mandate. It ranges, as you mentioned, from education to culture to science and technology. We see great potential for collaboration on girls’ education, working on digitalization, and working together on heritage protection. And we believe that this country has great potential for collaboration within the context of existing conventions to which Eritrea has signed, as well as outside that context. We are here, and my presence, along with the regional director, is here to present to you what it is we can work on, and we have already agreed on a timeline of engagement within the context of UNESCO’s mandate on certain aspects of higher education. We will have meetings with the Minister of Education as well; we’ve had meetings with a number of principals from the Foreign Ministry to the Ministry of Information to Culture, and we believe that each of those key entities of the Eritrean government has great potential to work closely with our institution. And UNESCO is ready to bring all of its capacity to bear.
- During your visit to some sites in Asmara, what impressed you the most?
Unfortunately, because of time constraints, I have been limited to Asmara. But I know, and I am aware that Eritrea has a lot more to offer. What I saw in Asmara reflected deeply the jealousy my colleagues felt when I told them I was coming to Eritrea. They were not only curious but also wanted to know more and wanted to engage in the various competencies of UNESCO, be it in heritage or education. And I can tell you that what I have found as most striking is the people of Eritrea and how friendly, how welcoming, how warm they are, and how much this country has to offer in terms of tangible and intangible heritage and in terms of tourism, with all that it has to offer, along with its beautiful people and weather. You are a very lucky people; you have great potential, and with the wisdom of the leadership and the support of UNESCO and other organizations that would like to support this country, we believe that what you have to offer can really be showcased not only as the pride of Eritreans but also the pride of the international community.
- Is there anything that you would like to add, or any message you wish to convey to our readers?
As long as we are welcomed in #Eritrea, we are happy to engage, happy to support, and we will offer it to various other entities for the people of Eritrea, because UNESCO is UNESCO for the people, and we are proud to support and help the people of this country.
- Thank you, Mr. Mohamed.
