EthioBlog

Eritrea is Focus of Brussels Meeting

By Lisa Bryant
VOA News

Paris
09 November 2009

International experts and politicians are in Brussels for a two-day meeting on ways to harmonize European and American policy on Eritrea and other parts of the Horn of Africa.

The meeting is sponsored by Europe External Policy Advisors, a Brussels-based research group. It is being held amid mounting international concern about Eritrea's human-rights policy and allegations the Eritrean government supports Islamist insurgents in neighboring Somalia.

In August, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned the Eritrean government would face sanctions if it continued aiding Somalia's al-Shabab insurgent group, which allegedly has ties to al-Qaida. Eritrea denies arming the group.

Horn of Africa conference spokesman Abdulrahman Sayed says he hopes it will forge a consensus between the U.S. policy on Eritrea and the European Union one, which he describes as more open to dialogue with the Eritrean government.

"What we hope this conference [will] accomplish is to at least produce a guideline with some concrete recommendations by both the United States and European Union policy makers as well as other players like legislators and commissioners and also allow the civic society and political opposition figures in the diaspora to be engaged with those parties in the U.S. and the European Union to direct and influence their policy in Eritrea," said Abdulrahman Sayed.

While Eritrea is the focus of the conference, participants from neighboring Horn of Africa countries have been invited. Eritrea's internal problems, including widespread allegations of human-rights abuses, are spilling across its borders. Sayed says tens of thousands of Eritreans have fled to Sudan and Ethiopia. Others seek refugee status in Europe and the United States.

Conference participant Woldeyesus Ammar wants clearer from Europe and the United States. Ammar is chair of the Joint Leadership Committee, an umbrella organization of Eritrean opposition groups that plans to form a political party by the end of the year.

"Any action against the regime has not been cohesive," said Woldeyesus Ammar. "They [Europe and the United States] have been pointing fingers against the regime, but not doing more than that. It has been always talk, but no action. We want them to do some action now."

Organizers hope the Brussels talks will lead to a more active international policy toward Eritrea that possibly includes targeted sanctions against the government.

Elen Negasi speaks to reporters outside the Edmonton courthouse Tuesday. Her father, Tesfai Negasi, is charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of her mother, Selamawit Negasi. (CBC)

Eritrea - 'You killed my mom,' daughter shouts at father in court

The daughter of a slain Edmonton woman who police believe was killed by her husband let out a blood-curdling scream in a courtroom Tuesday as her father made a brief appearance before a judge.

"You killed my mom," Elen Negasi, 27, shouted at Tesfai Negasi, 52, who is facing charges of second-degree murder and offering an indignity to a dead body in the death of his wife, Selamawit Negasi, 46.

Read Complete Story from CBC

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Edmonton man charged with murder faces daughter’s outrage

EDMONTON — A horrifying scream pierced an Edmonton courtroom Tuesday morning when a man charged last month with killing his wife made an appearance.

“You killed my mother, you .... piece of ....,” shouted Ellen Negasi at her father, Tesfai Negasi, her voice rising above other screams in the courtroom.

Family members tried to calm the young woman before she was escorted out. Other supporters in the courtroom put their hands to their faces and wept.


Read More from Calgary Herald

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Man charged with murder in wife’s death in Canada

How to become a Pariah state--Eritrean edition

By Mark Leon Goldberg

It all began in 2000, when Eritrea and Ethiopia, exhausted from war, decided to end their bloody border dispute by submitting to international arbitration. When the arbiters in the Hague handed down their ruling, they awarded the key disputed territory to Eritrea. End of story, right? Wrong. Ethiopia simply refused to withdraw and a stalemate ensued.

A changing international scene did not help things. The Clinton administration was instrumental in forging the original settlement between Ethiopia and Eritrea. But by the time of the arbitration ruling, September 11 had already occurred and the Bush administration was focused on leveraging the support of Ethiopia on terrorism issues in the Horn of Africa. Accordingly, the United States was reluctant to press Ethiopia to abide by the ruling.

Read More from UN Dispatch

Ambassador Susan E. Rice UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

US's UN ambassador warns Eritrea over Somalia rebels

WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) - Eritrea has only a short time to stop undermining security in Somalia or face possible U.N. sanctions, Washington's ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said on Wednesday.

Rice told a congressional committee the United States was "deeply concerned and very frustrated" with Eritrea's behavior in Somalia, including arming and funding Islamist insurgents

"It is unacceptable, and we will not tolerate it, and nor will other members of the Security Council," she told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The U.N. Security Council warned Eritrea this month it would consider action against anyone undermining peace in Somalia.

"We will continue to discuss with colleagues in the Security Council, appropriate measures including potentially sanctions, against Eritrea for its actions in Somalia," Rice told the committee.

"There is a very short window for Eritrea to signal through its actions that it wishes a better relationship with the United States and indeed the wider international community.

"If we do not see signs of that signal in short order, I can assure you that we will be taking appropriate steps with partners in Africa and the Security Council," she said.

Somalia's government and others have accused Eritrea of supplying arms to insurgents in breach of a U.N. embargo that allows such shipments only to the government.

The African Union, which has a force of 4,300 peacekeepers in Somalia, has called on the United Nations to impose sanctions on Eritrea for backing the rebels.

Eritrean officials deny the charges of arms supplies.

Al Qaeda-linked fighters belonging to the al Shabaab insurgent group control much of southern and central Somalia and most of the capital Mogadishu.

Rice said the Eritreans had rebuffed repeated U.N. attempts to discuss the situation. She said that Eritrea had essentially "stiffed and stonewalled" the U.N.

Eritrean Christians say they are being tortured

By: Judy West

religiousintelligence

Christians in Eritrea who were tortured and jailed for their faith have given searing accounts of the brutality they faced to Release International, which serves the persecuted church worldwide.

‘The government has imprisoned Christians, they are torturing Christians, they are killing Christians,’ says Hanibal, a Christian activist who is documenting the persecution in Eritrea. ‘Christians are treated like animals.’

Another prisoner, Hzkias, was chained and kept in solitary confinement in a tiny pitch-black cell for five months. He said that when he was finally let out, he ‘looked like another creature. My hair and nails were long. My body colour was yellow.’

Other prisoners have described being tortured to try to make them renounce their faith. They tell their stories in the latest edition of Release magazine, by Release International. Their accounts were compiled during a recent fact-finding visit to refugee camps.

Release has launched a major campaign to highlight the plight of Christians who are persecuted by the military regime in Eritrea. The campaign includes an on-line petition calling on Eritrea to honour the right to freedom of religion, guaranteed under its constitution. The petition can be downloaded, or signed at: www.releaseinternational.org/pages/take-action/current-campaign/online-petition.php

Some 160,000 Eritreans have escaped to neighbouring Sudan, and more than 20,000 have fled across the border into Ethiopia. Thousands more have tried to cross the Red Sea into Yemen.

“Up to 500 Eritreans a week are risking the dangers of minefields, crocodile-inhabited rivers and border guards who’ve been ordered to shoot to kill,” says Release CEO Andy Dipper. “Many are being hounded out, jailed and tortured for no other reason than their Christian faith. Yet those we speak to love their country and want nothing more than to live in freedom as good citizens. Our message to Eritrea is stop the brutality.”