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ERITREA EU plans to provide Eritrea’s oppressive regime with new funding

Reporters Without Borders (www.rsf.org) Press release 28 April 2015 ERITREA EU plans to provide Eritrea’s oppressive regime with new funding Reporters Without Borders calls on the European Union to condition additional aid to Eritrea via the European Development Fund (EDF)

Reporters Without Borders (www.rsf.org)

Press release

28 April 2015


ERITREA
EU plans to provide Eritrea’s oppressive regime with new funding

Reporters Without Borders calls on the European Union to condition additional aid to Eritrea via the European Development Fund (EDF) on a significant improvement in fundamental freedoms, including freedom of information.

The EDF is the main instrument for EU development assistance. Under the 11th EDF, the EU’s Eritrean “partner” is to get 312 million euros in aid between now and 2020 – three times what it was awarded in 2009 for the following five years – although it continues to flout freedom of expression and information, and human rights in general.

An Italian delegation that visited Eritrea from 24 to 26 March met with President Issayas Afeworki, his political adviser Yemane Ghebreaben, and several ministers. Ghebreaben assured the delegation that Eritrea would carry out democratic reforms “in its own way” during the next three to five years.

Such promises have been made in the past without any significant improvements ever being seen. The Eritrean authorities continue to be inflexible as regards the detention of political prisoners, including many journalists, claiming that high treason and national sovereignty issues are involved.

“It is astounding that the European Union provides Issayas Afeworki’s regime with so much aid without seeking anything in return in the areas of human rights and freedom of expression, although Eritrea’s constitution guarantees the right to free speech,” said Cléa Kahn-Sriber, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Africa desk.

“This country, which has never had democratic elections, is subject to a single man’s will. How can the European Union, which defends the rule of law and democratic values, support such a regime? While it is important to maintain a dialogue, there is a limit to how far you can go in accommodating a dictatorship that does not keep its promises”.

“Wouldn’t it be in the EU’s own interest, as the recent deaths of hundreds migrants in the Mediterranean have reminded us, to encourage the development of a government that respects human rights and allows young Eritreans to see an alternative to a future of forced conscription of indeterminate duration?”

Kahn-Sriber added: “We call on the European Union to condition its funding on Eritrean government guarantees for more respect for human rights, including the release of imprisoned journalists who are political prisoners and authorization for media pluralism.”

Reporters Without Borders condemned the five-year EDF funding that the European Union awarded Eritrea in 2009 although the situation of political prisoners had worsened considerably and more journalists had been arrested.

Contrary to its repeated promises to improve respect for human rights, the Eritrean regime has become steadily more oppressive and, although a small country, detains more journalists than any other African nation.

Since closing down all privately-owned media outlets in 2001, the government has exercised complete control over news and information, repeatedly cracking down on independent journalism and trying to jam independent news radio broadcasts from outside the country.

The least critical opinion can lead to permanent incarceration without trial in unbearable conditions in one of the country prison camps. Of the 11 journalists arrested in 2001, at least seven have died or taken their own lives in detention.

Eritrea is ranked last in the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index for the eighth year running.

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23 COMMENTS
  • Tekle Haile April 28, 2015

    ኤርትራውያን ኣይንዓሹ ንሕበር ንቃለስ ፡ ምዕራባውያን ክሓስቡልና ደሞክራሲ ክመጽእ ካብኣቶም ምጽባይ የዋህነት እዩ፡ ንሳቶም ጥቕሞም እዮም ዘቐድሙ ። ብዝሓለፈ ታሪኽ ኣቦታትና ንመሃር። እዞም ሓገዝ ክምጥውሉ ዝሓስቡ ሃገራት ኤውሮፓ ዝይተጸበይዎ ሃገራቶም ብስደተኛ ስለዘዕለቐለቐ እዩ ። ኣብ እስራኤል 30-40 ሽሕ ኤርትራውያን ኣለዉ ይብሃል እንታይ ኮይኖም ናብ ካልእ ኤውሮፓ ዘየሳጋግሩኦም ? በቲ ገንዘብ 300 ሚልዮን ንዓኣቶም ዘየማሓድሩልና ኣብ ሱዳን 250 ሽሕ ኣለዉ ይብሃል፡ ኣብ ኢትዮጵያ ክንድኡዱ ፡ ስር ኢሎም ንኢሳያስን ሂወት ክሰኹዑሉ ዝሓስቡ፡ ንሱ ገንዘብ እዩ ዘድልዮ፡ ናይ ኤርትራውያን ስቓይ እንታይ ገደሶ ? እቲ ጠንቂ እቲ መላኺ ስርዓት ሕጊ ዘይፈልጥ ብሕጊ ናይ ዱር ጫካ ዝነብር እዩ፡ ኣቱም ምሁራት ኣብ ኣመሪካ ኣብ ኤውሮፓ ዘለኹም ድምጽኹም ብምስማዕ ዓገብ በሉ ። ኣብ ሰላም ዘለዎ ሃገር ገንዘብ ምሕጋዝ ቅኑዕ እዩ፡ ኣብ ኤርትራ ግን እቲ ገንዘብ ንህዝቢ መርገጺ እዩ ። ንሰማማዕ ንሕበር ንቃለስ ተጸበይቲ ኣይንኹን ፡ምዕራባውያን ቅድሚ ሕጂ ፍታሕ ኣየምጽኡልናን ብቕልጽምና ኢና ናጽነትና ረኺብና ነቲ ተመንዝዕናዮ ዘለና መሰል ብቓልስና ነምጽ ኣዮ ።

  • Mahta April 28, 2015

    How on earth are we blaming the EU now? They are trying to solve their problem in their own way.we in the opposition group has failed to challenge, all we have done in the last year’s is dividing our selves to pieces all the way long. Based of the evidence, we failed to convice them to get more of their support. Unless, we learn from our mistake and United, to prevent their interest they will not afraid to deal with the devil himself.

  • Weyo April 28, 2015

    Before Dangers at Sea, African Migrants Face Perils of a Lawless Libya

    By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICKAPRIL 27, 2015

    ZAWIYAH, Libya — The two 8-year-old Eritrean boys had ridden for days across the deserts of Ethiopia, Sudan and Libya packed in the back of a truck with two other children and a dozen adults. Then they spent another month trapped in a crowded farmhouse that the smugglers used as a pen to store their human cargo.

    Finally, in the dark of night, a rubber dinghy ferried the two boys, Hermon Angosom and Efrem Fitwi, out to a creaking fishing boat jammed with more than 200 others, including 39 children — the youngest a 2-year-old in the arms of his mother.

    Both cried. “We were afraid of the boat,” Hermon recounted impassively. …

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/28/world/africa/libya-migrants-mediterranean.html?_r=0

    ——————————

  • Meharenazgi Merhawi April 28, 2015

    shame on EU to boost this much amount of money to a DICTATOR ie to strengthen his DICTATORIAL Regime.It is a dream to get a solution of Human Rights and freedom of information from Isayas.
    EU doesn’t care about the oppressed people of Eritrea, had it been for the use of Eritreans it had to be given for our people who are suffering in the refugee camps of Ethiopia and Sudan, but every organization EU,AU,UN etc work for their advantages not for the advantage of people who suffer under the DICTATORIAL yoke.

  • monica salguero April 28, 2015

    Ata nay EU Gedifna gda GUDAYNA DEYNGEBER.
    ksab meas XGETENA kona kneber. EU dka-ala tgeber ala. Bflay eti nefsi adhin cab bahri.
    Nahna wex-a harenet Msean tray ya.
    Dkatat-mesakin aykonan. Hahatna meret keterefe zguaret zelo, neharenetna ntkemelu.

    kulu gzie ab naxnet hagzeni kkefleka ye eyu dsereh ab mlue Alem. Dbezih menti tekmu tray yu dsereh kabana gemirka behelfi nay hegi Eritrawi. Kemu entedeykown abzi zelonayo Azekti amayatonan.

  • AHMED SALEH April 28, 2015

    ” IF YOU CAN’T WIN THEM , JOIN THEM ” happens with Eurpeans approach for solution on Eritreans issues . There
    is no alternative way to deal with HGDF regime since we do
    not have recognized political group who represent the interest
    of the country .
    The opposition failed to convince the world that they are well
    prepared and ready to handle the transition for democratic
    and peaceful future .
    If they think the only way out from refugee crises in their land
    is to make a deal with the source of that problem , we can’t
    say a word to convince them otherwise with silent reaction
    they observed by majority people from Eritrea .

  • Hag pag April 28, 2015

    ኣውሮጳዊ ሕብረት ቢፊላይ ጣልያን ኣብ ረብሓኦም ኢዮም ዘለዉ። ኮይኑ ኣይኮይኑ ኣብዛ ዓለም ደንገጵቲ ሃሰስ ምባል ዘሞዕረልና እዋን ስለዘይኮነ ሎሚ ከም ትማሊ ኣባይና ከልግስ ኣለዎ።ሞዕራባውያን፡ንኤሪትራዊ ከም ሽከም ኣፍሪቃ ኪሳብ ትማሊ፡ ሎሚ ከኣ ናይ ኣውሮጳ ኢንኮላይ ናይ ዓለም ብሙኻንና ዘስደምም ኢኮ ኢዩ።ኢምበኣር፡ ሃየ ደኣ ገለስ ንግበር።

  • monica salguero April 28, 2015

    Nay hezbna shger nalem kteflet ente delina kexali habereta mzrgah.
    Ab zezelonayo adi.
    Kemuwn Deplomasy mstom sebeseltan poletican ms mahkenat zenan kale zegatat.
    kemey Elumo kkeneh wdbey wdbka Ksab zelo.

  • Kilo April 28, 2015

    Europeans are not interested in regime change in Eritrea. They have already seen what that means in Libya and other countries across Middle East. They know very well the regime is the most brutal clique on earth, but they know also too well the opposition is not ready to replace it. The latter is too divided and ineffective.
    They think the only available option for them at the moment is to stop the flow of migrants at the source, thus the need to bribe the dictator.

    Honestly, the only way out of this situation is in the hands of ordinary people, who should not wait anyone to do the home work for them.
    The opposition is controlled by elements who are more concerned about old issues or post-Iseyas era than, the current issues and those of immediate importance now. The regime is made mostly of people who are not ready to lose their privileges. Too many of them have too much blood on their hands. They have no interest in any change. They will resist to the bitter end.
    So, do we have to continue blaming the opposition and the regime, while our young die in hundreds ?, for how long this situation can continue before we perish as people ?
    In my humble opinion, we will be able to bring change only if we rely on our selves. If we work hard to put our resources together and work in unison to organize our people. Organization is power. Unity is power.
    Freedom is expensive, it costs not money but blood. If we are not ready to pay what is costs we will not be able to get back our freedom.
    Stop blaming the opposition, it’s waste of time, just work hard day and night to remove the tyrant and his regime, at any cost.

  • Amleset H. April 28, 2015

    These white Europeans have been telling and preaching us that CRIME doesn’t pay or reward.
    And likewise, we have been teaching our young sons (in order to keep them away from troubles) the same thing.
    But now to our surprise and shock they are about to REWARD the criminal and brutal Eritrean regime Higdef.
    Sadly, we are being challenged by our children that crime does pay after all if you are smart like PFDJ. I am really stuck and at a loss as to how to explain to my two young sons who follow all the Eritrean tragedies.

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