{"id":5688,"date":"2014-10-30T09:21:28","date_gmt":"2014-10-30T09:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/munkhafadat.com\/en\/?p=5688"},"modified":"2014-10-30T09:21:28","modified_gmt":"2014-10-30T09:21:28","slug":"eritrean-resistance-steps-up-pressure-on-president-isaias-afewerki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/munkhafadat.com\/en\/uncategorized\/eritrean-resistance-steps-up-pressure-on-president-isaias-afewerki\/","title":{"rendered":"Eritrean resistance steps up pressure on President Isaias Afewerki"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5>Two opposition members tell the Guardian how Eritreans are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the repressive regime<\/h5>\n<address>Eritrea\u2019s president, Isaias Afewerki, runs a one-party state and brooks no opposition. Photograph: James Akena\/Reuters<\/address>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Eritrea is the most closed and repressive country in Africa, routinely denying access to the international media. No foreign journalists are based in the country and there is no independent local press. However, in a rare and courageous breach of the wall of silence, members of the internal opposition spoke to the Guardian and Radio France International last weekend.<br \/>\nSince independence from Ethiopia in 1993 Eritrea has been ruled by as a one-party state by President Isaias Afewerki, who brooks no opposition.<br \/>\nTwo members of the Eritrean resistance, speaking via a secure connection, described conditions inside the country. \u201cEssentials like water, electricity or petrol have disappeared,\u201d they said. Food is so expensive that even middle-class families find it difficult to find enough to eat.<br \/>\nThey said tension in the capital, Asmara, is high, with reports of trucks filled with Ethiopian \u201cmercenaries\u201d \u2013 from the Tigray People\u2019s Democratic Movement (TPDM), known locally as Demhit, which Eritrea supports \u2013 ringing the city. The last round of compulsory military service failed, with only around 50 of the expected 400 conscripts reporting for duty. \u201cWe think it is highly likely that Demhit will carry out a door to door sweep to round up recruits,\u201d said Sami (not his real name).<br \/>\nThe TPDM, drawn from the ethnic group that now rules Ethiopia, has been given sanctuary, arms and training by Afewerki. Eritrea and Ethiopia have a long-standing border dispute, which has resulted in tens of thousands of troops confronting one another in the bleak, mountainous border region. Supporting Demhit is Eritrea\u2019s means of maintaining pressure on the Ethiopian government.<br \/>\nA UN report published this month estimated that some 20,000 TPDM fighters are based in Eritrea, bolstering the president\u2019s security. The report described them as having \u201ca dual function as an Ethiopian armed opposition group and a protector of the Afewerki regime. Its fighters, who are from the same ethnic group as Afewerki, are seen to be personally loyal to him, unlike the defence forces whose loyalties have been questioned by the president in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since a failed army mutiny against the Eritrean regime in January 2013, the TPDM has become central to Afewerki\u2019s survival. This reliance on foreign forces is deeply resented by the Eritrean population. \u201cThey demanded the identity documents of a friend of mine and I,\u201d Sami said. \u201cWhen this happened earlier this year there was a riot. People really hate them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the intense security, the resistance is finding new ways of getting its message across. The group, which began over two years ago, started by helping organise phone calls from the diaspora abroad to Eritreans back home.<br \/>\nThe resistance told the Guardian how it evaded tight security to put up posters protesting against conscription. \u201cWe lay on the streets, pretending to be homeless people,\u201d said Sami. \u201cIt was freezing cold, but the security officials walked right over us. When they had gone we could put up our posters.<\/p>\n<p>A smuggled video of \u201cFreedom Friday\u201d, now on YouTube, shows people in Asmara crowding round to read the posters.<br \/>\nSami described the growing contempt for the regime. \u201cIn coffee bars you hear people talking \u2013 even high-ranking officials complain openly about the regime.\u201d The government led the struggle for Eritrean independence, and for years relied on its legitimacy to demand the population\u2019s support. \u201cThe movement was treated like a religion then, like the Bible or the Koran, and followed unquestioningly,\u201d said Sami\u2019s colleague, Temasgen. \u201cSlowly, this has fallen away \u2013 and now it is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both men know the risk they are taking in speaking to the international media. \u201cI am willing to pay with my life,\u201d Sami declared. \u201cIn history I would rather be remembered as someone who made the ultimate sacrifice rather than just sit and complain to my neighbours.\u201d<br \/>\nThey appealed for international pressure to be maintained on Afewerki: \u201cListen to our agony. We thank you for giving shelter to Eritrean refugees abroad, but if you are a decision-maker we beg you to keep up the pressure on the Eritrean regime.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The opposition\u2019s growing confidence and the fragility of the regime comes at a time when discussions are taking place about relaxing the sanctions against the Eritrean government. There are suggestions that the European Union is thinking about a new approach towards Asmara, and offering aid worth \u20ac200m (\u00a3158m) as a carrot for improved human rights.<\/p>\n<p>Previous attempts by the former EU development commissioner Louis Michel to negotiate the release of the Swedish journalist Dawit Isaak in return for aid resulted in empty promises. Neither Dawit nor other political prisoners were freed. Instead, repression intensified, resulting in an exodus of refugees, who find their way across the Sahara and the Mediterranean to arrive at Calais in their hundreds.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Source:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/munkhafadat.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/guardian.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-5690\" src=\"http:\/\/munkhafadat.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/guardian.png\" alt=\"guardian\" width=\"153\" height=\"27\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two opposition members tell the Guardian how Eritreans are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the repressive regime Eritrea\u2019s president, Isaias Afewerki, runs a one-party state and brooks no opposition. Photograph: James Akena\/Reuters Eritrea is the most closed and repressive country in Africa, routinely denying access to the international media. No foreign journalists are based in the &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13,1],"tags":[70],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.12 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Eritrean resistance steps up pressure on President Isaias Afewerki | ELL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/munkhafadat.com\/en\/uncategorized\/eritrean-resistance-steps-up-pressure-on-president-isaias-afewerki\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eritrean resistance steps up pressure on President Isaias Afewerki | ELL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two opposition members tell the Guardian how Eritreans are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the repressive regime Eritrea\u2019s president, Isaias Afewerki, runs a one-party state and brooks no opposition. Photograph: James Akena\/Reuters Eritrea is the most closed and repressive country in Africa, routinely denying access to the international media. 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