The Tears of Enslaved Eritrea

Eritrea is suffering. It's birth as an independent country was attended by high hopes. It started off with a free wheeling press, equality for women and an array of civil liberties that would be the envy of many in the world. Then, things started going terribly wrong in this tormented nation of five million people.

A border war with neighbouring Ethiopia became the pretext for suppression of civil liberties and universal conscription. This tense state of affairs has morphed into a system of universal and indefinite conscription not only into the military but into labour units as well. The BBC reports as follows on the crisis that has turned Eritrea into a leading source of desperate refugees.

"HRW (Human Rights Watch) says every year thousands of Eritreans flee their country, where statutory national service, which used to last 18 months, has been made indefinite.

The advocacy group says most of Eritrea's adult population is currently conscripted.

Sixteen years after it won independence from Ethiopia following a three-decade war, Eritrea is one of the most closed and repressive states in the world, says the report.

It accuses President Isayas Afewerki of using an unresolved border dispute with Ethiopia to keep Eritrea on a permanent war-footing.

HRW says there is no independent civil society and all independent media outlets have been shut down."

The measures undertaken by the Eritrean government to stem the tide of refugees are as harsh as anything ever done by the former USSR and its Eastern European allies. Those caught fleeing Eritrea are often shot at the border. Those who are returned by countries into which Eritreans have fled are subject to harsh and brutal imprisonment upon their return. The families of those who have fled are likewise hit with fines and imprisonment.

Human Rights Watch and other organisations monitoring Eritrea have uniformly advised against returning Eritreans to their homeland because of the harsh treatment that would undoubtedly await them.

It is not only political dissidents that are suffering under the Eritrean regime. Christians have been singled out for harsh and brutal persecution. There have been many accounts of Eritreans being tortured and imprisoned in a bid to induce them to recant their Christian faith. The BBC reports as follows about such widespread instances.

"Evangelical Christians who have been arrested face severe pressure to recant their faith. Some prisoners have been held in metal shipping containers.

Accounts of torture, lack of food and terrible conditions are commonplace.

Samuel (not his real name) is 24 and university-educated. Along with 19 others, he was arrested in 2005 when he attended the wedding of a friend.

"For the next 12 months, he was imprisoned and forced to do backbreaking manual labour. He was also regularly beaten.

On one occasion, Samuel said, he was suspended by his arms from a tree for three days in the form of a crucifixion. He was also constantly pressured to leave his faith.

"They asked me if I would like to leave it. They asked every night for four months," he said. Some of his friends did recant after endless beatings.

Samuel, as well as Paulus, were repeatedly asked about their links with the US. Evangelical and Pentecostal churches are widely perceived by the Eritrean authorities as having originated in the States, even though many fund themselves."

Even the Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Abune Antonios has been under house arrest for two years. His health has been endangered by the refusal of the Eritrean authorities to allow him diabetic medication. For the last four months, the Patriarch has been held in an undisclosed location. Although no official reason has been given for the treatment meted out to Abune Antonios, his support for Medhane Alem, a movement within the Eritrean Orthodox church has been cited. With government support, a new Patriarch has been installed with official government approval. Such moves evoke comparisons with Communist China which created the "Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association." East Germany also created docile churches that were permitted to function legally.

There are too many similarities between the stories told by those escaping the prison that Eritrea has become. The persistence of a steady flow of refugees from that tormented country continues unabated despite the harsh efforts to stop it.

Even on the neglected continent that is Africa, Eritrea stands out as crying for attention from the West. The growing number of refugees from this tormented nation must not be sent back to Eritrea. Pressure must be put upon Eritrea to restore the civil liberties once enjoyed by its citizens. Amnesty International initiated the strategy of adopting prisoners and having small groups of activists advocate for them. Perhaps the troubled nations within Africa such as Sudan, Mauritania and the Congo could be similarly adopted by free citizens of the West who are troubled by their suffering. Africa has been badly neglected by the world since its colonies became independent during the middle of the 20th century. In the name of the equality that is a cornerstone of our political value system, we must not esteem lightly voiceless and silenced people such as the Eritreans. We must not forget the suffering of the Eritrean people. The freedom with which we are blessed must be used for their benefit. It is the right thing to do.