Isaias Afwerki - The African Mirror

Mar

2021

Eritrea withdraw troops near Ethiopian border

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…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

U.S. thinks Eritrea has joined Ethiopian war, diplomats say

NEWS

PHIL STEWART and DAVID LEWIS THE United States believes Eritrean soldiers have crossed into Ethiopia, despite denials from both nations, a U.S. government source and five regional diplomats said, as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government battles a rebellious northern force. Abiy and Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki signed a peace pact ending two decades of hostilities in 2018 and now regard the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) as a mutual foe. The U.S. assessment creates a potential policy predicament as Washington views Ethiopia as a major ally in the volatile Horn of Africa but accuses Eritrea of severe rights abuses. Eritrean…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Eritrea frees 28 Jehovah’s Witnesses prisoners, some after 26 years in jail

NEWS

ERITREA has released 28 members of the Jehovah's Witnesses group after they served prison terms of up to 26 years, the Christian denomination has announced. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. Picture: Wikipedia In 1994 Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki signed a decree revoking citizenship for members of the group for reasons including their conscientious objection to military service. Eritrea has maintained conscription for more than 20 years. Since that decree, Jehovah's Witnesses members have been subjected to detentions, torture and harassment in Eritrea, in part to compel them to renounce their faith, according to the group and international human rights organisations. In…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Eritrea’s Isaias Afwerki: a tactical authoritarian who might be president for life

HUMAN RIGHTS

MARTIN PLAUT, Senior Research Fellow, Horn of Africa and Southern Africa, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study THERE are few leaders as enigmatic as Eritrea’s president, Isaias Afwerki. In my book, Understanding Eritrea: Inside Africa’s Most Repressive State, I profile the president who led the country as it fought for its freedom from Ethiopia for 30 years, only to then turn on his own people. Eritrea has been independent since 1993 but has no constitution and no parliament. No budget has ever been published. Elections have never been held and Isaias’s opponents languish in jail. The president is…