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Eritrean refugees protest in support of renegade soldiers

By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA | Sat Feb 2, 2013 6:43pm GMT (Reuters) - Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia demonstrated on Saturday in support of soldiers who forced state media in the Eritrean capital Asmara to call for all political

By Aaron Maasho

ADDIS ABABA | Sat Feb 2, 2013 6:43pm GMT

(Reuters) – Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia demonstrated on Saturday in support of soldiers who forced state media in the Eritrean capital Asmara to call for all political prisoners to be freed.

Dissident Eritrean soldiers with tanks stormed the information ministry on January 21 and obliged the director general of state television to appeal for the prisoners’ release.

Between 5,000 and 10,000 political prisoners are held in the country of 6 million people, the U.N. human rights chief said last year, accusing Eritrea of torture and summary executions.

Eritrean opposition activists in neighbouring Ethiopia said there was growing dissent within the army, Africa’s second biggest, especially over economic hardship.

Exiled Eritreans stormed embassies in London and Rome last week to express support for the mutinous soldiers.

Eritrea has been led by the reclusive president Isaias Afewerki, 66, for two decades. Although the renegade soldiers did not go as far as to demand his overthrow, the protest was a rare glimpse of public discontent in one of Africa’s most secretive states. Asmara has dismissed the incident at the information ministry as an isolated criminal act.

U.N. officials at the Mai Aini refugee camp in northern Ethiopia, which houses around 20,000 Eritrean refugees, said around 3000 protesters had gathered to show their solidarity with the soldiers who raided the ministry.

“We are here to express our full support for the initiative of the army, but also to protest against what has been consistent arrests and killings of those opposing the regime,” said Mohamed Ali Salah, a 31-year-old former soldier who crossed the border to Ethiopia over three years ago.

“We have information that … the leader of this incident has been killed, and others arrested,” Salah added, citing sources in Asmara.

The fate of the dissident soldiers is not known and statements about the political situation inside Eritrea are hard to corroborate. However, dissent inside the one-party state is typically dealt with harshly.

More than 1,000 Eritreans cross over to Ethiopia and a similar number to Sudan each month to escape conscription and unlimited service in the army, according to figures from the United Nations refugee agency.

On a strategic strip of mountainous land along the Red Sea, Eritrea has more soldiers per person than any country except North Korea.

(Editing by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Stephen Powell)

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6 COMMENTS
  • Semhar February 4, 2013

    The solution is to finish the tyrant mad dog Isayas wedi Medhin Berad just like the Libyans did to his friend Gadafi.
    As long as this dictator crazy dog Isayas Wedi Medhin Berad is alive this will continue because his blind followers HGDEF and Rashaida are taking his orders.

  • Semhar February 4, 2013

    Good start ኤርትራውያን ደለይቲ ለውጢ in Ethiopia ፡for marching
    to victory by raising our liberation Flag! (Semayawit Banderana).
    We did it in 1991!
    Let’s do it again once and for all in 2013!
    God bless you!
    Let God bless ERITREA and Ethiopia!

  • Zebib February 5, 2013

    demo.archive.assenna.com

    Please note you have put the same photo as the one for London.

  • Semhar February 5, 2013

    ብዕራይ ናብ ዘበለ የብል ዕርፊ ኣጽንዕ ኢዩ’ሞ: ኣጆኹም ደቀይን ደቂ-ደቀይን ጀጋኑ መንእሰያትና።
ኩላትና ብሓበራ ኢደይ-ኢድካ ኢልና ነዚ መንነትና ዘዋረደን ንኤርትራ ዘብርስ ዘሎን ኣረሜን፣ ናብቲ ቀዳሞት ኣያታቱ በዓል ሳዳምን ቃዛፊን ዝኣተዉዋ ናይ ዘለኣለም መዓልብኡ ጋህሲ ንደርብዮ። ኣብ ታሪኽ ከም ዝረኣናዮን ዝሰማዕናዮን ውልቀ-ምልካውያን መራሕቲ ብዘይካ ብክፉእ ብጽቡቕ ኣማውታ እግዚኣብሄር ክሞቱ ኣይተራእዩን። ሞት ገበነኛ ኢሰያስ እውን ከም ኣማውታ ኣያታቱ ነዊሕ ዝጸንሕ ኣይኮነን። እዚ ዓመት’ዚ ጸላኢና ዓንዩ ህዝብና ነናብ ገዝኡ ዝኣትወሉ ዓመት ከም ዝኸውን ሙሉእ ዘይጉዱል እምነት ኣሎኒ።
    ዘለኣለማዊ ዝኽሪ ንስዉኣትና
    ዕድመን ጥዕናን ንደቂ ኤርትራ
    ዓወትንህዝቢኤርትራ።

  • wedi haki February 5, 2013

    Semhar
    Please can you leave that “ብዕራይ ናብ ዘበለ የብል ዕርፊ ኣጽንዕ” alone please. This applies to the tyrant which is in power.

  • Abe February 6, 2013

    It is time for action to change the regime of GUGMANGUG for ever. Isaias will be humiliated sooner than he wishes.
    TELEAL WEDI ERE.
    Tjank u asena

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