Today Eritrea is characterized by poverty, repression and severe human rights violations. By closing Asmara University – the only university in Eritrea and militarising education above 11th grade PFDJ was able to pre-empt any student protest to the mismanagements of the people and the economy.
Reporters Without Borders has called on the European Union not to hand over aid worth 122 million euros to Eritrea, after a serious deterioration in conditions for political prisoners and as authorities were launching a new wave of arrests of journalists.