“When prison became a synonym for Eritrea…you can only flee.”

In Eritrea, even being part of the East African nation’s tame state media is no protection. That was the conclusion Abraham Zere reached after years of working as a columnist for the government newspaper Hadas Erta and later for the ruling party’s magazine. 

All independent media outlets in the country of 6 million were closed in 2001 amid a massive crackdown on internal dissent following the country’s disastrous two-year border-war with Ethiopia. More than a dozen prominent journalists were jailed – and to this day it’s not known how many are still alive.

“I felt like I was waking up from a nightmare.”

Temesghen Debesai decided to flee the East African nation of Eritrea in 2001. A prominent broadcaster on state television, he wouldn’t have a chance to follow through for five years.

Born in what was then a province of Ethiopia, Temesghen spent much of his childhood in Saudi Arabia before returning in 1992 amidst the euphoria over Eritrea’s imminent independence after decades of war. Six years later, he went to work for Eritrean state media. 

Temesghen was untroubled by the rule of President Isaias Afewerki for years. “I didn’t have a lot of question marks as to how the government was running the country,” he says. “Generally Eritreans were not really interested in the political structure of the country.

All Eritreans must do national service, but in practice, military service can be extended indefinitely, human rights groups say.
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A study of the North African country lays bare a ruler at war with his own people, says Joanna Lewis

President Isaias Afewerki (aka Dictator Isayas Afeworki, DIA)
Chairman of the State Council
Chairman of the Transitional National Assembly
C-in-c of the Armed Forces
Chancellor of Institutes of Higher Learning
Chairman of the PFDJ [the sole political party]
Vice-President – vacant since 2001

The Home Office has been criticised for a policy which excluded Eritrean children evicted from the Calais Jungle camp from resettlement in the UK. Documents obtained by the Public Law Project show how asylum decisions for Eritreans have been based on questionable information about conditions in the country.

Information downplayed rights abuses and meant some Eritrean children in Calais were refused entry to UK

The Home Office used the lower grant rates as a reason for excluding almost all Eritrean children in the Calais refugee camp aged 13-15. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

By +972 Blog

|Published January 20, 2017

What will happen to Eritrean asylum seekers after Israel deports them?

The Israeli government must not withhold information from the public about the dangers faced by Eritrean asylum seekers it is planning to deport.

By Sigal Avivi