GENEVA (31 March 2014) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth, today expressed deep concern about persisting human rights violations in the country in the context of the Eritrean national service.

“National service dominates life in Eritrea entirely,” Ms. Keetharuth said at the end of an official visit to Germany and Switzerland from 17 to 28 March 2014 during which she collected first-hand information from Eritrean refugees and migrants on the human rights situation in Eritrea.

The bulk of what the human rights expert documented reconfirmed her earlier findings: “The main reasons spurring Eritreans to flee their country are linked to the indefinite national service and the constant fear of being targeted,” she said.

Young people are conscripted into the military without any prospect of demobilization. Once they complete military training, they are assigned to various Government sectors, including in the civilian administration.

A conscript who spent almost 14 years in national service told the Special Rapporteur that ‘some families have three or four sons and daughters in the national service. The salary is paltry – too low to cover the prevailing cost of living, let alone support family members, especially children, the elderly or siblings.’

During the interviews with the Special Rapporteur, refugees described in great detail the widespread insecurity that every Eritrean citizen experienced, irrespectively of whether he or she was a national service conscript.

“In addition to regular round-ups by the military, citizens are targeted arbitrarily for reasons that remain mostly unknown to the victims or beyond their control, or at times on charges of ‘plotting to leave the country,’” the independent expert explained.

Severe punishment, including of family members of those who fled, often takes the form of arrest and detention, sometimes for prolonged periods in inhumane conditions and systematic ill-treatment. Other forms of punishment may include the payment of heavy fines, thus depriving entire families of their means of livelihood.
Harassment and intimidation of family members, including elderly parents, is routine.

“Accountability mechanisms do not exist, leaving victims without any access to justice and perpetuating a climate of impunity and fear which extends beyond the borders of the country,” the Special Rapporteur warned.

Ms. Keetharuth also expressed concern about the plight of 276 Eritreans detained in Nagad, Djibouti, with two having reportedly died while in custody. “I reiterate my call on the international community to strengthen efforts to ensure the protection of those fleeing from Eritrea by granting at least temporary refuge or protection in line with their obligations under international refugee and human rights law.”

“I request the Eritrean Government to demonstrate its willingness to deal with its human rights challenges by taking immediate positive steps to reverse the climate of impunity and fear and by inviting me to assess the situation of human rights in the country first hand so as to find lasting solutions,” she stressed.

Eritrea continues to refuse to cooperate with the country mandate created unanimously by the UN Human Rights Council and has not yet granted the Special Rapporteur a visa to visit the country.

“Due to lack of access to Eritrea, I will continue to link up with Eritrean refugees and migrants outside of their home country, as well as with all others concerned by human rights in Eritrea, including those who consider themselves to be victims of alleged human rights violations, human rights defenders and other civil society actors,” Ms. Keetharuth said.

The result of her findings, which will be strictly limited to the situation inside Eritrea, will be reflected in her second report to the Human Rights Council in June 2014.

Sheila B. Keetharuth was appointed as the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea during the 21st Session of the UN Human Rights Council in September 2012.  She took her functions on 1 November 2012.  As Special Rapporteur, she is independent from any government or organization and serves in her individual capacity.  A lawyer from Mauritius, she has extensive experience in monitoring and documenting human rights violations, advocacy, training and litigation in human rights in Africa.

Learn more, log on to:http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/CountriesMandates/ER/Pages/SREritrea.aspx

ADDIS ABABA – An Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman has lashed out at longstanding rival Eritrea, accusing the latter of destabilizing the East Africa region, while also blasting Egypt for the latter’s “malicious” media campaign against Ethiopia’s multibillion-dollar hydroelectric dam project.

“Eritrea’s involvement in regional conflicts has been the case for long now,” Ambassador Dina Mufti told foreign journalists at a weekly press briefing on Thursday.

According to Mufti, Eritrea has played a role in the ongoing conflict in South Sudan.

“We have circumstantial evidence of Eritrea’s involvement [in the South Sudan crisis],” the spokesman said.

Tensions between Addis Ababa and Asmara have persisted since a bloody two-year border war – in which tens of thousands were killed – ended in 2000.

As for the row with Egypt over the Nile dam, Mufti said Cairo had launched a media campaign aimed at turning international opinion against the dam project.

“The project is a regional project,” he said. “The project will not hurt the interest of Egypt. Rather, it benefits Egypt and other countries of the region.”

Egypt’s alleged media campaign, according to Mufti, “won’t be in the interest of Egypt and [in the interest of] the people of Egypt.”

Egypt, he added, had walked out of a tripartite committee with Ethiopia and Sudan that had been formed to assess the dam’s potential impact.

Subsequent efforts to bring Egypt back to the tripartite negotiations, said Mufti, had failed to bear fruit.

The mega-dam project has caused tensions with Egypt, which fears a possible reduction of its traditional share of Nile water.

Addis Ababa, however, insists the project will benefit downstream states Sudan and Egypt, both of which will be invited to purchase electricity generated by the dam.

Copyright © 2014 Anadolu Agency

ببالغ الحزن والأسى، و بقضاء الله وقدره انتقل إلى جوار ربه الزعيم الوطني الكبير المناضل أحمد محمد ناصر  صبيحة هذا اليوم الموافق 26 مارس 2014.  

Prominent Eritrean opposition leader Ahmed Nasser passed away on Wednesday after suffering a stroke in Stockholm, Sweden, relatives said.He was 68 years old.

Ahmed Nasser had led the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), which fought a 30-year-long war of independence against successive Ethiopian governments.

Ahmed Nasser, who graduated from a Syrian military academy in the 1960s, served as ELF leader until 1983.

Following Eritrean independence, he joined the Eritrean opposition against the government of President Isaias Afeworki, who has ruled the country since its independence in 1993. Nasser also led a coalition consisting of two major opposition groups.

BERN, Switzerland, March 20, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ – Some 30 members of parliament from six countries in East Africa have been invited to Geneva by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) from 20 to 21 March. They are taking part in a seminar to discuss the federal systems of Switzerland, Ethiopia and other African countries. The project is in line with the Swiss strategy for the political stabilisation of the Horn of Africa.

The representatives have had the opportunity to discuss the themes of federalism and decentralised statebuilding with experts. The debate concentrated on the separation of powers, sharing resources and fiscal federalism. Most of the around 30 participants travelled to Geneva for an Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting, which took place prior to the seminar. They were from Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda.

The seminar was of particular interest for the Somali, Sudanese and South Sudanese MPs. These countries’ reform projects seek to enshrine elements of federalism in their political systems. Participants from these countries will now be able to contribute comparisons of various federal models to the debate on the upcoming constitutional reform processes. Swiss federalism was not the only point of reference for the discussions in Geneva. Ethiopia and other African countries also have federal state systems.

The Geneva seminar on federalism reflects the priorities of the Swiss Confederation’s 2013 – 2016 cooperation strategy for the Horn of Africa. The strategy sets out Switzerland’s engagement in the region, working with the countries and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) for a culture of accountable governance and to strengthen peace dialogue. An agreement is in preparation to regulate cooperation with IGAD in various fields.

Stabilisation in the Horn of Africa is in Switzerland’s interest. It requires tensions and conflicts between states to be settled through dialogue and without the use of force. The governance of the individual states, the IGAD platform and the international community all have a major role to play in meeting these challenges. IGAD is comprised of the following member countries: Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea (membership currently suspended), Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda

 APO-Source.

GENEVA (13 March 2014) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth, will undertake an official visit to Germany and Switzerland from 17 to 28 March 2014 to collect first-hand information from Eritrean refugees and migrants on the human rights situation in Eritrea.

Since her appointment in November 2012, the Special Rapporteur has made several requests to visit Eritrea, which have so far not been granted. She has repeatedly urged the Eritrean authorities to collaborate with her mandate with a view to addressing its human rights challenges.

“Due to lack of access to Eritrea, I have been engaging with Eritrean refugees and migrants outside of their home country, and all others concerned by human rights in Eritrea, including those who consider themselves to be victims of alleged human rights violations, human rights defenders and other civil society actors,” Ms. Keetharuth said.

During her mission, the Special Rapporteur will interview Eritrean refugees and migrants about the situation of human rights in Eritrea to corroborate allegations of widespread and systematic violations of human rights in Eritrea contained in reports she has received from a variety of interlocutors.

The Special Rapporteur expressed her appreciation that Germany and Switzerland have agreed to provide her with access to interview the Eritrean refugees and migrants residing in those two countries.

The result of her findings, which will be strictly limited to the situation inside Eritrea, will be reflected in her second report to the Human Rights Council in June 2014.

Sheila B. Keetharuth was appointed as the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea during the 21st Session of the UN Human Rights Council in September 2012.  She took her functions on 1 November 2012.  As Special Rapporteur, she is independent from any government or organization and serves in her individual capacity.  A lawyer from Mauritius, she has extensive experience in monitoring and documenting human rights violations, advocacy, training and litigation in human rights in Africa.

 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/AfricaRegion/Pages/ERIndex.aspx

WHEN Isaias Afewerki, Eritrea’s president, introduced compulsory military service in 1995, he said it would be good for the emerging nation. Conscription was supposed to create a disciplined, hard-working generation, strengthen the army and instill national pride. Nearly 20 years on, new research reveals that thousands of Eritreans flee their country each year primarily to avoid the draft, which they liken to slavery.

National service requirements are harsh. Everyone under the age of 50 is enlisted for an indefinite period. Around one in 20 Eritreans currently live in vast barracks in the desert. They work on reconstruction projects, such as road building, and earn no more than $30 a month. They cannot go to university or get a formal job unless they have been officially released from military service. Since conscription became open-ended in 1998, release can depend on the arbitrary whim of a commander, and usually takes years.

In the first study into the impact of national service in Eritrea, Professor Gaim Kibreab, of London South Bank University, interviewed 215 former conscripts. They served an average of six and a half years, although some were in uniform for more than twice as long, before escaping abroad. “The government has held the youth hostage,” said one. “You cannot reconstruct a country on forced labour.” Others described “cruel and corrupt” camp commanders who “demand sexual favours” and threaten to kill conscripts who do not follow orders.

Conscription also undermines the fragile economy. Around 80% of the population are subsistence farmers but so many are absent that harvests routinely fail to meet the nation’s food needs. Some interviewees had seven siblings in the army. “My parents have suffered from poverty and depression as all of us were in national service,” said one. Labour shortages have increased the price of manufactured goods, making them among the most expensive in Africa. Resources are routinely diverted to the military.

Unwanted pregnancies among single women, once a taboo, have increased as mothers are usually excused from the draft. Eritreans cannot leave the country without government permission. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says around 2,000 escape illegally every month via Sudan or Ethiopia.

Dissent is outlawed and elections are on hold. Last month, the United Nations Human Rights Council reported that basic freedoms were being repressed in the country and condemned the use of torture, disappearances and arbitrary detention. Mr Afewerki argues his harsh regime is necessary while Eritrea faces a security threat from neighbouring Ethiopia. A border dispute between the two countries is unresolved.

Eritrea’s army is now one of the largest in Africa but it may be the least motivated. “The hearts and minds of the conscripts are elsewhere, not in Eritrea,” said one former soldier. “A large majority spend their time planning to escape, and daydreaming. A defence force cannot be built by daydreamers.”

National service in Eritrea: Miserable and useless | The Economist.

تواجد الجنود الأوغنديين داخل جنوب السودان يعقد الموقف الدبلوماسي، ودعم ارتريا والسودان للمتمردين قد يشعل حرب بالوكالة مع اثيوبيا.

جوبا – يبعد الاقتتال المستمر أي احتمال لوقف إطلاق النار بين القوات الحكومية والمتمردين في جنوب السودان، حيث يتخوف المحللون من أن يشعل هذا النزاع المنطقة ليعيد الأعداء القدامى تاريخ حروبهم.

وتشهد المنطقة توترات بين عدوة جنوب السودان التاريخية وجارتها الشمالية السودان من جهة، وحليفتها الجديدة أوغندا من جهة ثانية. ويأتي ذلك في وقت تتخوف أثيوبيا، الوسيطة الأولى في نزاع جنوب السودان، من ادعاءات بأن أريتريا توصل السلاح من حليفتها الخرطوم إلى متمردي جنوب السودان.

وقال دبلوماسي غربي من دون الكشف عن اسمه، إن أسوأ سيناريو يناقش اليوم هو أن “تقاتل أوغندا السودان في دولة جنوب السودان الجديدة، وأن تقاتل أثيوبيا أريتريا، وذلك في غياب كامل للقانون والنظام”.

بدوره، اعتبر المحلل كاسي كوبلاند من منظمة مجموعة الأزمات الدولية في بروكسل، أنه في حال اتساع النزاع، يبقى السؤال “متى وليس إذا كان سيتحول إلى نزاع إقليمي”.

وما بدأ كنزاع بين رئيس جنوب السودان سيلفا كير ونائبه السابق رياك مشار، في كانون الأول/ ديسمبر قسم وبشكل سريع الجيش النظامي، كما أسهم في صعود المشاعر الاثنية في دولة ولدت منذ أقل من ثلاث سنوات، وبعد حرب طويلة مع الخرطوم لأكثر من خمسة عقود.

أما التوتر بين الرئيس الأوغندي يوري موسيفيني ونظيره السوداني عمر البشير، فيعود إلى دعم أوغندا لميليشيا جنوبية كانت تقاتل القوات السودانية في آخر مراحل الحرب الأهلية التي انتهت في 2005 باتفاق سلام، ولحقه بعد ست سنوات استقلال جنوب السودان.

ولطالما اتهمت أوغندا السودان بتمويل المجموعات المتمردة على أراضيها.

وفي وقت تدعم القوات الأوغندية وبشكل علني نظام كير، ويعيد المتمردون سيطرتهم على أراض قرب حقول النفط التي يصدر انتاجها عبر أنابيب تمر في السودان، فإن الخرطوم قد تتخذ قرارا بشن هجوم.

وأوضح الدبلوماسي الغربي “نحن قلقون من توسع النزاع إقليميا، فإن الأوغنديين والسودانيين يكرهون بعضهم”.

وبحسب تقارير، فإن المتمردين السودانيين في دارفور، والذين يحاربون الخرطوم منذ عقود، يشاركون في القتال إلى جانب النظام الجنوب سوداني في إقليم الوحدة النفطي. وليس هم فقط، وإنما أيضاً بعض الميليشيات الإثنية من مناطق متفرقة من جنوب دولة السودان يشاركون في القتال، الأمر الذي يسهم أكثر في توتير العلاقات بين الدولتين.

وجراء ذلك كله، هناك تخوف حقيقي من أن السودان قد يلجأ إلى تكتيكاته القديمة في تمويل مجموعات لتحارب عنه بالوكالة أو إلى تسليح المعارضة، فيما لا تعير أوغندا أي انتباه لدعوات الانسحاب من القتال. أما انتاج النفط فيبقى مهددا.

وقد شهد العام 2012 توترا جراء الخلاف على رسوم مرور نفط جنوب السودان في الأنابيب الشمالية، الأمر الذي أسفر عن توقف الإنتاج حوالي 18 شهرا.

وبعد توتر ساهم في تراجع اقتصاد الدولتين، وقع كير والبشير اتفاقا حول النفط والأمن، تخلله وعودا بأن يتوقف كل طرف عن تمويل أعداء الطرف الآخر.

وبالنتيجة، فإن النزاع الحالي يهدد الاتفاق المذكور فضلا عن عائدات جنوب السودان النفطية، خصوصا أن البعض يحاجج بأن تدخل أوغندا لصالح نظام كير ليس سوى ورقة مساومة نفطية.

واعترف وزير دفاع جنوب السودان مؤخرا بأن جنود القوات الأوغندية في بلاده يقبضون رواتبهم، في تناقض مع تصريحات زملائه الذين يصرون على عدم وجود أي قوات أجنبية في البلاد.

ولم تهدأ التكهنات حول ما قدم جنوب السودان لأوغندا من اجل الحصول على مساعدتها. وفي هذا الصدد، قال الدبلوماسي “سمعت أنهم قدموا واحدا من مواقعهم النفطية، أو نسبة كبيرة من النفط يوميا”.

وقد أسهم قرار جنوب السودان في بناء خط أنابيب آخر عبر كينيا أو جيبوتي في استفزاز الخرطوم من جهة، وفي زيادة أمل أوغندا بإيصالها بأنبوب نفط في شرقي أفريقيا من جهة ثانية، فضلا عن قدرتها على بناء منشأة للتكرير خاصة بها.

ولكن في الوقت الحالي تواجه دولة جنوب السودان، الغنية نفطيا، حربا أسهمت في نزوح حوالي مليون شخص، في حين يتساءل الكثيرون إن كانت الدولة الوليدة ستحافظ على وجودها أصلا.

وقال محلل، رفض الكشف عن اسمه، إن “خبراء المالية في العالم يتوقعون أن تفلس الحكومة خلال شهرين أو ثلاثة”.

وقد لعبت الصين، أحد المستثمرين الكبار في قطاع جنوب السودان النفطي، دورا في دعم حكومة كير ماليا عبر مشاريع تطويرية وقروض، وهي تزيد اليوم من تدخلها في الشؤون السياسية الداخلية.

وبالرغم من ذلك، يبدو من الصعب أن تؤثر الصين على التوترات الإقليمية، حيث تزيد التخوفات من تكرار التاريخ لنفسه في ما يتعلق بتوترات التسليح والنفط والحدود.

وفي هذا الصدد، قال جون بيرنديغاست في تقرير لمشروع “كفى” لوقف المجازر، إن “السيناريو الكابوسي يتكشف في المنطقة”.

ودعا إلى إجراء تحقيق في ما إذا كانت أريتريا توصل السلاح من السودان إلى متمردي الدولة الجنوبية، وإلى فرض عقوبات إضافية على أسمرة تضاف إلى تلك المفروضة عليها لدعمها المجموعات المسلحة في الصومال.

ويشك بيرنديغاست في أن تدخل محادثات السلام في أديس ابابا مرحلة جدية إذا لم ينتهي “التواجد العلني” للقوات الأوغندية في جنوب السودان.

ولكن، وحتى لو غابت جميع العوامل الخارجية، من الممكن أن تستمر حرب جنوب السودان لسنوات عدة، وذلك بسبب انتشار الفساد من جهة وعزم قياديي الميليشيات السابقين على القتال من جهة ثانية.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Ahmed, 20 years old, weakly sits down in a chair under the hot sun, dazed, as young men and women jostle in the yard around him. He has just been deported from Saudi Arabia after a month-long imprisonment, like the others at this crowded migrant transit center in Ethiopia’s capital.

But Ahmed’s ordeal is unique. He bears fresh scars across his knees, down his upper arms, and across his stomach. With a medical investigation by an Ethiopian doctor still ongoing, preliminary results show so far that Ahmed is missing his left kidney. 

His short-term memory fails him. Ahmed, who comes from Ethiopia’s central Amhara region, does remember paying a couple hundred dollars to human smugglers for the dangerous, illegal passage to Djibouti, across the sea to Yemen, and north to Saudi Arabia. 

He worked for a year and a half as a carpenter in Riyadh, living with other Ethiopian migrants and sending home meagre wages to his impoverished family. 

Three months ago Ahmed recalls waking up in a Riyadh hospital room with jagged wounds crisscrossing his body, but with no recollection about how he got them, or how he got there. Promptly transferred to an overcrowded Riyadh prison because of his illegal immigration status, Ahmed was finally deported home by plane a few weeks ago. He is waiting to hear the doctor’s final prognosis before he returns to his village, a sickly version of his former self. 

‘Coming back empty-handed’

“It’s not just the return, it’s also the effect of what happens after,” explained Sara Hamo, a protection officer with the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) in Addis Ababa, about the thousands of deportees. “They are coming back empty-handed. They used to supply money and now they are a burden on the families they used to provide for. So the return is just the beginning.”

While accounts like Ahmed’s missing kidney are rare, many Ethiopians at the migrant transit centre talked about torture in ad-hoc detention centres run by traffickers, most often for ransom, as well as beatings, sex abuse, gruelling work hours and wages withheld by Saudi employers.

Bereket Feleke, a health ministry official, said respiratory tract infections were the most common ailment returnees suffer, which they get from being held for weeks in overcrowded and filthy detention centres before deportation. 

Ethiopian women and girls, often recruited by employment agencies as domestic workers, fly to Saudi Arabia and are legally bound to their employers, who withhold their passports. If the workers break their contract – willingly or forced – their status becomes illegal. A similar system of employee “sponsorship”, known askafala, exists across many of the Gulf states. But many more Ethiopian migrants in Saudi Arabia are smuggled in, further increasing their vulnerability for exploitation. 

Travel ban

Because of widespread abuse, the Ethiopian government has issued a temporary travel ban on domestic workers while it works on a protection law. Critics say this could encourage more illegal migration. 

Last November, the kingdom’s authorities enforced strict labour laws governing foreign workers after a seven-month reprieve, spurred partly by the potential security threat of thousands of unemployed Saudi youth. And Saudi Arabian vigilante groups in Riyadh, armed with clubs and machetes, brutally attacked Ethiopian migrants in November, prompting tens of thousands of the workers to turn themselves in to the kingdom’s authorities out of fear.

The police arrested Abigail. Without her passport and valid working papers, she was imprisoned and deported. “There is an anger within the Ethiopian population,“ said Temesgen Deressa, a guest scholar with the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institute. “They have been targeted – killed, or tortured and dehumanised.”

“In terms of the whole economy, the remittances might not be significant, but the returnees’ families are going to be hard-hit,” he said. “There is a high level of poverty in Ethiopia, and I don’t think the Ethiopian government has the capacity for rehabilitation. Basically, the returnees will have a very hard time.”

Source : Aljazeera

The Nile Basin countries will this week meet in the Ugandan capital Kampala to deliberate on how they can harness the benefits of the Nile through trans-boundary power generation.

Betty Bigombe, Uganda’s minister of state for water, told reporters here on Wednesday that the 10 countries under the Nile Basin Initiative will meet on Feb. 21. The member states include Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

Bigombe said the meeting is part of the commemoration of the Nile Day whose theme this year is “Water and Energy: National Challenges, Trans-boundary Solutions”.

“If each Nile Riparian State was to pursue and implement its national hydro power infrastructure development plans on the River Nile without consideration of the larger river basin context, there is a risk that some of the national hydropower investment could be sub optimal and foreclose future development opportunities,” she said.

“Trans-boundary cooperation in power infrastructure development would provide significant reduction in project financing, promote regional power trade and markets and improve power reliability and affordability,” she added.

She said there are ongoing power interconnection projects which will facilitate power trade among the Nile Basin member states.

She cited the Regional Transmission Interconnection Project which will facilitate power trade among Burundi, the DRC, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. The project under implementation will construct an estimated 1,500 km of transmission lines and associated sub- stations at a total cost of 403 million U.S. dollars.

Besides the power interconnection projects there are other power investment projects which include the soon to be implemented 470 million dollars Regional Rusumo Falls Hydro-electric project, which will generate 80 MW that will benefit Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Source: KAMPALA, Feb 19, 2014 (Xinhua via COMTEX) —