A popular joke in Asmara goes like this:
“A man and his children watch the state TV every night because they are
too poor to afford a satellite receiver. The president is always on TV and the
father, like every other Eritrean, cries ‘Thief!’ whenever he sees the image of
the president on the screen.
The father takes his youngest son to the yearly festival in Asmara. He
walks around the exposition grounds carrying his son on his shoulders. The president
is visiting the various attractions at the festival. The son sees him and
cries, ‘Daddy, daddy! The thief is here, the thief is here'.
The father lifts the child from his shoulder and cries out, ‘Has anyone
lost a boy? Has anyone lost a boy?!’
****
