Eritrea - The African Mirror

Jul

2023

Morocco gets kind draw in Africa qualifiers for 2026 World Cup

WORLD Cup semi-finalists Morocco have been handed a gentle path to the 2026 tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada after the draw was made for the African qualifiers in Abidjan. The top team in each of the nine groups, which each contains six countries, qualifies automatically for the World Cup. The four best runners-up will enter an African playoff stage, where the winners will feature in the inter-confederation playoffs to be held in March 2026. It means Africa is guaranteed nine places at the expanded 48-team finals, with a 10th side possibly added via the playoffs. Morocco has…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Eritrea rejoins regional East African bloc after 16-year absence

BUSINESS

ERITREA has rejoined a regional East African bloc it left 16 years ago, its information minister said, in the country's latest move to rebuild ties with its neighbours. The Asmara government quit the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Eastern Africa (IGAD) in 2007 to protest Ethiopian troops' entry into Somalia to force out its Islamist rulers. "Eritrea resumed its activity in IGAD and took its seat at the 14th Ordinary Summit in Djibouti," Information Minister Yemane Meskel wrote on Twitter late on Monday after the summit. He did not say what had prompted the decision but said Eritrea wanted to…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia: how a lucky village in Tigray survived the devastating war

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

JAN Nyssen, Ghent University; Biadgilgn Demissie, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB); Emnet Negash, Ghent University; Hailemariam Meaza, Mekelle University; Sofie Annys, Ghent University; Tesfaalem Gebreyohannes, Mekelle University, and Zbelo Tesfamariam, Mekelle University The war waged by the Ethiopian Federal Government and Eritrea against the Tigray regional government, which lasted from November 2020 to November 2022, caused massive devastation. Multiple war crimes were reported and there were claims of genocidal intent. A starvation campaign led to the death of at least 300,000 civilian victims. One of the places that managed to escape the destruction was the Dabba Selama village. Located in…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

Sudan’s conflict will have a ripple effect in an unstable region – and across the world

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SUDAN, Africa’s third largest country by land mass, shares borders with seven countries in an unstable region. This means that Sudan’s current conflict will have economic, social and political ripple effects across a number of countries, including the Central African Republic, Egypt, Libya, Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Author JOHN MUKUM MBAKU, Professor, Weber State University The conflict might also affect countries further afield, including the US, Russia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, which have close economic ties with Sudan. It could destabilise the Sahel region and the Horn of Africa and jeopardise US interests in…

Eritrea Independence Day

Independence Day: May 24th, 1993 Eritrea officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the south, Sudan in the west, and Djibouti in the southeast. The northeastern and eastern parts of Eritrea have an extensive coastline along the Red Sea. The nation has a total area of approximately 117,600 km2 (45,406 sq mi), and includes the Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands. Human remains found in Eritrea have been dated to 1 million years old and anthropological research indicates that the area may contain significant records related to the evolution of humans. Contemporary Eritrea is a…

Dec

2022

By The African Mirror

Journalist imprisonments reach 30-year high

WORLD

THE number of journalists imprisoned worldwide is the highest ever recorded in the 30 years that the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has produced its prison census, the organization said Wednesday. A record 363 journalists were behind bars as of December 1, 2022, a 20% increase over 2021, CPJ’s annual prison census showed. Iran has soared to become the world’s worst jailer of journalists, with 62 imprisoned on December 1, rising from tenth place in 2021, a reflection of authorities’ ruthless crackdown on the women-led uprisings that erupted in September. The regime has imprisoned a record number of female journalists—22 out of…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Eritrea admits presence in Tigray

NEWS

MICHELLE NICHOLS ERITREA has told the United Nations Security Council that it has agreed to start withdrawing its troops from Ethiopia's Tigray region, acknowledging publicly for the first time the country's involvement in the conflict. The admission in a letter to the 15-member council - and posted online by Eritrea's Ministry of Information - comes a day after U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock said the world body had not seen any proof that Eritrean soldiers have withdrawn. "As the looming grave threat has been largely thwarted, Eritrea and Ethiopia have agreed - at the highest levels - to embark on…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Eritrea withdraw troops near Ethiopian border

NEWS

ERITREA has agreed to withdraw troops from Ethiopian territory along their common border, Ethiopia's prime minister said on Friday, days after acknowledging that Eritrean forces had entered Ethiopia's Tigray region during an almost five-month war. "Eritrea has agreed to withdraw its forces out of the Ethiopian border," Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a statement on Twitter the day after arriving in Eritrea's capital, Asmara, to meet President Isaias Afwerki. The Ethiopian National Defence Force will take over guarding the border area effective immediately, Abiy said. Eritrea's information minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, did not return calls and text messages seeking…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

EU slaps sanctions on Eritrea

NEWS

THE European Union has imposed sanctions on Eritrea over human rights violations and blacklisted the country's National Security Office which is tasked with intelligence gathering, arrests and interrogations. At the beginning of March, the United Nations said Eritrean troops were operating throughout Ethiopia's northern Tigray region and reports suggested they were responsible for atrocities. "The National Security Office is responsible for serious human rights violations in Eritrea, in particular arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances of persons and torture," the EU said after foreign ministers of the 27-nation bloc agreed the measures. The sanctions mean an asset freeze in the…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Eritrea reports first COVID-19 death – information ministry

COVID-19

ERITREA has reported its first death from COVID-19, its information ministry said. The ministry said in a statement on its website late on Wednesday its total confirmed cases of the coronavirus stood at 877, while recoveries were 599. It gave no more details on the death. Eritrea reported its first coronavirus case on March 21.