Free Republic

September 14, 2005: A secular Moslem country of about 4.5 million, Eritrea is a one-party state with a poor human-rights record, controlled by the authoritarian Isaias Afwerki and the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), formed out of the original national front that led the Eritrean fight for independence from Ethiopia (1961-1993). The country occupies a dangerous part of the Horn of Africa, surrounded by a number of hostile neighbors, notably Sudan and Ethiopia, and close to Yemen, a potential failed state, as well as Somalia, which continues in anarchy. There is evidence that a number of insurgent groups...

ASMARA, July 12 (AFP) -- At least 56 people were killed and 30 seriously injured in Eritrea's worst-ever road accident when an overloaded bus plunged over an embankment southwest of Asmara, officials said Tuesday. The bus was travelling between the towns of Adi Quala and Maimene in southern Eritrea on Sunday when the driver swerved to avoid rocks on a wet road and slid down a 100-meter (330-foot) ravine, they said. The passengers were all Eritreans and the injured were being treated at hospitals in the towns of Adi Quala and Mendefera, which are along Eritrea's southern border with Ethiopia,...

LOS ANGELES, Apr 22, 2005 (AP) -- A former Eritrean soldier ordered deported by a Los Angeles judge who called him a "common deserter" should be granted U.S. asylum because he was tortured for protesting against his country's war, a federal appeals court ruled. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found Thursday that a Los Angeles immigration judge was wrong in 2001 when he denied a petition by Ukashu Nuru to remain in the U.S.

Matthewos sensed the danger. When last I saw him, in April 2001, he handed me his photograph. "Just in case," he said. I dismissed the concern. It was a cheery spring day in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. Matthewos Habteab was the editor of Meqaleh, one of nearly a dozen newspapers that had sprung up over the previous four years. The young country had passed a constitution and elected as president the guerrilla hero who had won Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia. Even U.S. first lady Hillary Clinton had come to visit. The people, including the journalists, were loyal and hopeful...

Eritreans celebrate highlight of orthodox calendar Nicolas Germain | Asmara 29 September 2004 11:12 Draped in white shawls, thousands of Asmarinos thronged September Square, the largest in the Eritrean capital, to mark the Meskel, the highlight of the orthodox religious calendar, which commemorates the discovery of Christ's cross by Saint Helen. About half of Eritrea's four million inhabitants are Orthodox Christians, according to the government. Some at Monday's festival sat on terraces around the square. Others, including many children, were standing, forming a circle around a wooden pyramid-shaped construction, which would later be burnt. In the square itself, priests held...

WASHINGTON - In an unusual censure of a key ally in the war on terrorism, the Bush administration on Wednesday accused Saudi Arabia of "particularly severe violations" The State Department also included the kingdom for the first time on a list of countries that could be subject to U.S. sanctions because of religious intolerance. Nations in this category carry a special designation: "countries of particular concern," or CPCs. "Freedom of religion does not exist," the State Department said, summing up the situation in Saudi Arabia in a report that covered religious freedom in 191 countries. Those who do not adhere...

The population is equally divided between Christian (Coptic Christians, Ethiopian Orthodox, Roman catholic and Lutheran protestants) and Muslim religions. The population of the high plateau (Asmara) is predominantly Christian, whereas that of the lowlands and the coast are predominantly Muslim. Despite contrasts between the Muslim and Christian religions and the potential for conflict, both religious groups have managed to live together in harmony and in peace. There is also a small community of Kunamas (Gash-Setit), who practice their own traditional religion, centered around worship of Anna, the creator, and veneration of ancestral heroes. The conversion of Axum to Christianity dates...

In 2002, the spokesman for FBI director Robert Mueller memorably described the American Muslim Council (AMC) as the "the most mainstream Muslim group in the United States." A year later, the Catholic bishops called the AMC "the premier, mainstream Muslim group in Washington." Its founder and long-time chief, Abdurahman Alamoudi, was a Washington fixture. He had many meetings with both Clintons in the White House and once joined George W. Bush at a prayer service dedicated to victims of the 9/11 attacks. Alamoudi arranged a Ramadan fast-breaking dinner for congressional leaders. He six times lectured abroad for the State Department...

Some UN Troops "Misbehaved" Along Eritrean-Ethiopian Border Cathy Majtenyi Washington 10 May 2004, 14:27 UTC The head of the United Nations mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea concedes that some U-N peacekeeping troops patrolling the contested border have misbehaved, but he insists that a recent broadcast by the Eritrean government describing serious allegations of misconduct by the mission is unfair and in some cases exaggerated. The U-N mission chief in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila, told V-O-A Monday that last week's national television broadcast by the Eritrean government accusing U-N peacekeepers of having sex with minors, using Eritrean currency as...

UN-Eritrea row sinks to new low UN peacekeepers have been accused of severe crimes The UN has delivered an ultimatum to Eritrea after relations between the two sunk to a new low. The UN said Eritrea must cooperate with its peacekeeping force patrolling the border with Ethiopia, or else ask the UN to leave. The UN says its staff have been illegally detained, while Eritrea accuses the peacekeepers of serious crimes including paedophilia. Eritrea also claims the UN is destabilising the region. The UN Mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea (Unmee) patrols a 1,000km (620 mile) border between the two Horn...

5million Returning To Home Countries In AfricaMonday, 16 February 2004, 9:33 amPress Release: United Nations UN Refugee Agency Anticipates Millions Returning To Home Countries In Africa With more than 5 million African refugees and internally displaced people preparing to return home, the United Nations refugee agency announced plans today to hold a ministerial-level meeting next month on comprehensive regional approaches to repatriation and sustainable reintegration on the continent. The Dialogue on Voluntary Repatriation and Sustainable Reintegration in Africa will bring together key ministers, donor governments and other partners at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss peace processes...

Open Doors reports that Eritrean police have arrested and jailed another Protestant evangelical pastor, taking him and seven of his church members to prison. Pastor Iyob of the Kale Hiwot Church was arrested off the street on November 23 in Mendefera, a market town about 30 miles south of the capital of Asmara. In separate arrests the same day, seven of his church members, four men and three women, were taken into custody, according to Compass Direct. Friends of the jailed Christians have not yet been able to confirm the alleged charges against the pastor and his church members. A...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - After months at sea and unwanted by dozens of nations on health grounds, the African nation of Eritrea has agreed to take a shipment of 52,000 Australian sheep, the Australian government says. The sheep were being unloaded at the Eritrean port of Massawa on Friday after the Dutch-owned ship carrying the sheep, the Cormo Express, was secretly turned around in recent days during a trip back to Australia. "It's all signed, sealed and delivered," a spokesman for Australian Agriculture Minister Warren Truss said on Friday. "It's a huge relief". Eritrea issued an import permit for the sheep...

Sorry for the vanity but today at work some liberals were trashing Bush over Iraq- one was touting Ted Kennedy claiming that the only reason we're in Iraq is because Saddam tried to kill Dubya's father. That's when I lost it and said that I was sick and tired of the liberal lies about the war and that there hasn't been another attack in this country since we went into Afghanistan. I was then informed that another attack is imminent. The conversation got around to the libs saying that we don't have any support from the world and we should...

Eritrea: 57 Christian girls and boys held in metal containers for possessing bibles Amnesty International is deeply concerned for the safety of 57 boy and girl members of minority Christian churches being held in metal shipping containers at Sawa military camp in western Eritrea. The children - detained for possession of bibles - are being held in unventilated, overcrowded and extremely hot conditions, with inadequate food and medical care. Amnesty International is calling for their immediate and unconditional release. The 57 prisoners of conscience are school children from various parts of Eritrea sent for a compulsory course at Sawa military...

ERITREA Voice of America correspondent arrested Reporters Without Borders today condemned the arrest and conscription into the Eritrean army of the local correspondent of the radio station Voice of America (VOA) and called for the immediate release of him and 18 other jailed media workers in the country, which it said was "Africa's biggest prison for journalists." The journalist, Akhilu Solomon, 32, was arrested at his home on 8 July and taken to an army camp to do his compulsory military service. However, VOA said he had already done part of it and been exempted from the rest on medical...

Meet Aberash Andreos. She's a 6-year-old girl from a remote village in southern Ethiopia. I met her at a Catholic-run clinic near the town of Awassa, where she was among the throngs of children awaiting lifesaving milk to rescue them from the famine that threatens millions of people in the Horn of Africa. Aberash is not one of the worst off. The really desperate children are inside the clinic, lying comatose on beds (two children to a bed) as nurses fight to keep them alive, or they are dying in their villages. The better-off children, like Aberash, can stand on...

ASMARA, ERITREA - When Eritrea marks the 10th anniversary of its independence Friday, Alli Alamin and Kiflom Ghebremichael won't be joining in the celebrations. The two employees of the US Embassy here in the Eritrean capital are imprisoned without charge; US diplomats don't know where they're being held. The detention of the two men for the past year and a half is part of what human rights groups describe as a wider crackdown on political freedoms that is tarnishing the reputation of a country previously seen as one of Africa's bright stars. More than 300 people - ruling party dissidents,...

THE United States has warned citizens of possible new terrorist threats in East Africa from affiliates and sympathisers of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. The State Department "continues to receive threat information pertaining to this region", it said today. The statement renewed an existing January 4 alert and added seaports to a lengthy list of possible targets. "Supporters of al-Qaeda and other extremists are still active in East Africa," it said. The department "believes it is prudent to alert American citizens that such information is being received so American citizens can make an informed decision whether to travel to or...

Ethiopia Grants Airspace Rights to U.S. .c The Associated Press ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - Ethiopia, one of two African nations publicly supporting the U.S.-led war in Iraq, said Friday it had granted the United States access to its airspace and air bases. Tekeda Alemu, minister of state for foreign affairs, said he did not know when or whether the United States would use the access. He said the United States, a longtime ally of Ethiopia, had requested the rights. Ethiopia, a predominantly Christian nation on the Horn of Africa, has two main air bases - one outside the capital...

Thirty governments have agreed to be named in public as supporters of a U.S. invasion of Iraq, and about 15 others are cooperating behind the scenes, the State Department said on Tuesday. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the basic criterion for inclusion of the published list was that the countries wanted to be publicly associated with the idea that Iraq has to be disarmed now. They are not necessarily providing any assistance to the U.S. war effort. The only allies known to be contributing offensive military forces are Britain and Australia, but the Danish government offered on Tuesday to...

In a region packed with squeamish U.S. allies, one nation is working overtime to be part of Washington's plans for war against Iraq. Eritrea, a tiny desert nation across the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia, has even hired a Washington lobbying firm to press its invitation to American troops. "Eritrea provides the United States with a strategic advantage and hospitable atmosphere that cannot be matched in the region," says the Washington lobbying firm Greenberg Traurig LLP, which was hired by Eritrea in May for an estimated $50,000 a month. In a press release titled "Why Not Eritrea?" that reads somewhat...

SOUDA BAY, Crete - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Monday left open the possibility of expanding the new U.S. military presence in the Horn of Africa, where hundreds of American troops are based as part of a land, sea and air campaign to root out al-Qaida terrorists. In an interview en route to his first visit to the Horn of Africa since taking office, Rumsfeld said some countries in that unstable region had offered the use of military facilities, but that so far the United States had only agreed to use Camp Le Monier in the desert hinterland of...

Sudan's ambassador to Ethiopia said war could break out between his country and neighbouring Eritrea, whose president he described as "unpredictable". "When we are dealing with somebody like (Eritrean President) Issaias Afeworki, anything is to be expected," said Ambassador Osman El-Sayed in an interview published in Wednesday's edition of 'The Reporter'. Tensions have been heightened between Sudan and Eritrea since Khartoum accused Asmara of being behind an offensive in early October by rebels in the east of the country, charges Asmara denied. "We have information that he (Afeworki) has already started making trenches in areas bordering Sudan," El-Sayed said Wednesday....

The Eritrean Government has reacted furiously to criticism from the US State Department. The US State Department called on the Eritrean Government to release two local employees of the US embassy in Eritrea who have been in detention since last year; Ali Alamin and Kiflom Gebremichael. It also urged the Eritrean Government to grant them an open and fair trail and "respect fundamental human rights." The Eritrean Foreign Ministry released a statement which said it totally rejected the state department's position, and called on it to refrain from unwarranted intervention. But the statement also contains some surprises, with the government...

TEHRAN -- Washington recently sent a confidential message to Tehran to ascertain Iran's stance on the U.S. plan to attack Iraq, which is being discussed by high-ranking Iranian officials, a Tehran-based diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity told the TEHRAN TIMES. No decision has been taken about the message and no answer has yet been given to Washington, he said. The Americans have not offered any specific proposal, he said, adding that there is no reference to what the U.S. would give Iran for its cooperation. Washington has announced that the Iraqi regime must abide by UN resolutions and...

In Donald Rumsfeld's current swing thru the Mideast, the Secretary of Defense has been attempting to line up allies in order to pave the way for a hopefully imminent attack of Iraq. One nation in the region that doesn't need its arm twisted is one that itself has been the victim of terrorism: Eritrea, the half-Muslim, half-Christian coastal country on the Red Sea that won its freedom from Ethiopia after a 30-year armed struggle. Located just across the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia and Yemen, many in the Pentagon eye Eritrea as a valuable strategic ally in the Mideast,...

The U.S. Defense Department is considering establishing a military base in Eritrea. With newly established bases in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Pakistan, along with preexisting bases in Greece and Turkey, Eritrea would be the final geographical link in the administration of President George W. Bush strategy to create a military perimeter around the Middle East. Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of U.S. Central Command, has traveled to the country at least four times since Sept. 11 in an effort to work out details for such a plan. Girma Asmerom, the Eritrean ambassador to the United States, has confirmed that Franks...

Pentagon - The Pentagon has confirmed 30 U.S. military personnel have been dispatched to Yemen to begin training forces there in counter- terrorism tactics. But defense officials may be contemplating an even more extensive military relationship with another strategically-positioned Red Sea state, Eritrea. Top Pentagon African affairs official Michael Westphal acknowledges closer military links between the United States and Eritrea would be beneficial. Still, in a VOA interview, Mr. Westphal is careful to say no concrete decisions have been made about the direction of any future defense cooperation with the small Red Sea country, regarded by military officials as a...