Posted on 12/03/2012 6:11:43 PM PST by nickcarraway
Eritrea's entire national football team has defected while on a visit to Uganda, according to one of the players.
The footballer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told RFI that 17 footballers and the team doctor are hiding in Kampala.
"Everybody has to stay in secure places because the Eritrean government is searching for us," he said. "The Eritrean embassay in Uganda are trying to find us."
The team member said the group could make an asylum claim on Thursday.
He said he had decided to flee Eritrea because of its many problems, citing the government of President Isaias Afeworki as "the main problem" and accusing it of failing to respect human rights and having a compulsory and extensive programme of military training.
The Red Sea Boys were until now participating in the Cecafa Cup, a tournament organised by the Council for East and Central Africa Football Association.
Eritrean footballers have often defected in the past, leading to them being required to pay a "surety" before traveling abroad - and suffer the consequences if they failed to return to Asmara.
Four players of Red Sea FC sought asylum in Kenya after a CAF Champions' League match in Nairobi in 2006. Up to 12 members of the national team stayed behind after the Cecafa Cup in Tanzania in 2007.
Another six players remained in Angola after an Africa Cup of Nations match in 2008.
Eritrea Red Sea Boys played their last game with Rwanda at Lugogo Stadium in Kampala, losing 2-0.
Eritrea was better off as part of Ethiopia.
Wow. I had no idea Uganda is the kind of place one defects *to.*
Eritrea - Muslim dominated
Ethiopia - Christian dominated
yeah - it didn’t end well.
Wow...how bad does a place have to be when Uganda is a place you’d want to defect TO?
Don’t give the Eagles any ideas ..
Maybe so, but Ethiopia is also ruled by a repressive régime.
Eritrea one the most repressive regimes in the world. When you look for asylum in Uganda and Kenya...you know things are bad
They get little attention about their brutal dictatorship because they are Black, Muslim, and in Africa.
Real sad about all this is that the capital Asmara used to be one of the more civilized in Africa, and has some of the best old-style Italian architecture around (It was a colony of Italy in 19th-20th C)
Or the 49ers.
Don’t give the Eagles any ideas
Or the Jaguars.
They have been rumored to be moving for the past 10 years. Heck, with the Eritrean team gone....the Jags may just move to Eritrea
Do they run the wishbone, or are they more of a spread offense. Do they have SEC speed?
lolz
Out of the frying pan into the fire.
I believe that they are the only other country in the world, besides the U.S.A. to claim the right to tax income earned by expats working outside the country. I recall reading that one of the Eritrian revolutinary leaders was schooled in a U.S. university, and said that he got the idea from the U.S.A.
It’s soccer. Who cares.
Ugandan president repents of personal, national sins
AND
Uganda Parliament Set to Criminalize Homosexuality Month After President Leads Prayer of Repentance
Prayer of Ugandan President: “We want Uganda to be known as a nation that fears God, and as a nation whose foundations are firmly rooted in righteousness and justice to fulfill what the Bible says in Psalm 33:12: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. A people you have chosen as your own,” he said. “I renounce all the evil foundations and covenants that were laid in idolatry and witchcraft. I renounce all the satanic influence on this nation. And I hereby covenant Uganda to You, to walk in Your ways and experience all Your blessings forever.”
My usually reliable sources inform me this evening that the Jets players are considering the ideer!
Although...President Museveni has some issues with term limits and his opposition.
He actually prayed that?
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