Eritrea: the African North Korea which thousands will risk anything to escape

Telegraph ^ | 6:30PM BST 03 Oct 2013 | David Blair

[Pan_Yan]

There is no civil war in Eritrea: its people flee because their isolated homeland could pass as an African version of North Korea. Like the Kim regime in Pyongyang, President Isaias Afewerki keeps Eritrea on a permanent war-footing.

Most adults are conscripted into the army or forced to perform compulsory labour of some kind. Today, one Eritrean in every 20 serves in a bloated army with 320,000 soldiers.

Mr Isaias justifies this eternal mass mobilisation by claiming that neighbouring Ethiopia is scheming to re-conquer Eritrea. Just as the fictional state of “Oceania” was always at war in George Orwell’s “1984”, so Mr Isaias presents his repression as essential to guarantee the survival of the nation against outside enemies.

That message has some resonance because of Eritrea’s traumatic history. The country broke away from Ethiopia in 1993 after waging a brutal 30-year struggle for independence. The two neighbours have remained bitter rivals ever since, fighting a border war between 1998 and 2000 that claimed perhaps 70,000 lives.

[BeadCounter]

Ethiopia has some really extraordinary desert terrain, these are small pix but still telling. I think the first, a crater is grand canyon size. The 2nd and 3rd looks like another planet.

[Pan_Yan]

You may well be right. Even the CIA world fact book doesn’t give a religious breakdown. The President is supposedly Eastern Orthodox. I guess I made a false assumption based on their support for Al Shabaab. Thanks for the correction.

[GeronL]

I didn't say Somalia, I said Somaliland.

Somaliland declared independence and has been governing itself for years while Somalia is still a basketcase.

[GeronL]

crazy!

I claim the dirt mound as the Free Republic of Dirtistan

[GeronL]

Is that yellow stuff sulfur?

[Pan_Yan]

crazy! I claim the dirt mound as the Free Republic of Dirtistan

You can't have it. Western Sahara has been a jobs program for several hundred UN Peacekeepers since 1988. Don't put the Bangladeshis in the blue helmets out of work.

[GeronL]

interesting!

Kind of like spying then? but on radio signals and stuff?

[GeronL]

poor Banglies

I almost sent them back to making sackcloth

[BeadCounter]

Maybe! I’d really have to research it but sometimes, maybe it was bing wallpaper, there really is some extraordinary land over there. I guess, some people would say that is some of the cradle of civilization, I don’t know. Ethiopia is in the Bible.

Which by the way, Ethiopians and Eritreans speak Asmara as their language, I think they are basically the same people, Ethiopia itself is a very Christian (Orthodox) Nation I believe and then, Eritrea is probably more split religiously.

[doc1019]

Sorry, my bad ... again. As usual, too quick to jump.

Education is a great thing and the constant education I get on FR is a G_d send. Thanks.

[Pan_Yan]

I've always wanted to visit Ethiopia but the world seems to be making that less and less likely.

The Church of Saint George is carved out of a single stone.

[GeronL]

I think that is all true, thanks

[BeadCounter]

Very nice and if I am correct, in history for others here, Ethiopia was "Abyssinia" which is a word a lot of us have probably heard. Thanks for the picture. And if anywhere has the Ark of the Covenant from the Bible or at least claim this, a few places may claim it but Ethiopia has historically guarded the Ark of the Covenant again for those here who don't know that. A topic I am vaguely aware of. Ark of the Covenant and it is under guard and very ritual there in how it is taken care of, who sees it, very rarely if ever, etc.

[GeronL]

I usually jump and post before reading past the headline, makes it more interesting.

[BeadCounter]

So here, Eritrea may have once been a friend of Israel but now?? Found this blog, looks pro-Muslim but still tells some things.

“On December 23, 2009 – the UN Security Council imposed sanctions (Resolution 1907/2009) against Eritrean government based on allegation of supporting Islamic Resistance in Somalia.”

(link with-held if that is alright)

Also states that Eritrea is 60% Muslim.

[BeadCounter]

” strategic relationship between the new government of Eritrea and Israel when Eritrea’s President Isaias Afewerki travelled to Israel for medical treatment in 1993.[1] Afewerki was transferred to Israel by an American airplane. The US representative in the Eritrean capital Asmara suggested the idea after the Eritrean leader fell ill. These happenings along with American efforts led to the opening of an Israeli Embassy in Asmara on March 15, 1993, prior to the official announcement on April 27, 1993[citation needed]. Official sources[who?] later stated that Israel is creating the biggest naval base outside Israel on the Dahlak Archipelago[citation needed]. This followed an agreement between Eritrea and Israel signed in 1995. Eritrea used Israeli warships and huge logistical support from that naval base during its occupation of the Yemeni Hanish Islands in 1996[citation needed]. The sources[who?] disclosed that Israel has presence on two Eritrean islands: Dahlak and Fatma[citation needed]. Israel also has monitoring centers on the Red Sea to oversee the Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Sudan, in addition to oil movements[citation needed]. Mossad is said[by whom?] to have a very active intelligence gathering station not far from Eritrea’s borders with Sudan[citation needed]. However, Eritrea condemned Israeli military action during the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict.[2]”

-http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eritrea%E2%80%93Israel_Relations

I am posting this, I remember once, Eritrea was considered friendly to Israel, it appears that has changed yet, unclear all the same.

[donmeaker]

A few years ago a friend (Reserve SEAL) asked me about it. he wasn’t satisfied with the intell he was getting from the Navy.

I stopped off at our local library and got him water depth charts, Warehouse descriptions, fork lift types and numbers, and pictures of the boats he would be operating with the Eritrean navy. They had an old WWII Higgins boat that they still operated to visit some of the small islands.

A few hours with the ‘CIA Handbook on Ethiopia’ and the import-export shelf was sufficient. We discussed local diseases, and recommended cooking methods and water purification.

Off he went, and the first day they gave as gifts to their counterparts boxes of “O” rings. They spent most of the day going over their counterpart’s scuba gear replacing the seals that had gone bad (dry rot).

There wasn’t an actual war, but he caught a round in his shoulder. The border was very testy. Eritrea had won their independence by rebellion from Ethiopia, and dictated the terms of peace in Addis Abbaba.

And the women there are exotic and beautiful. Don’t look too long, the locals take it personally.

[JerseyanExile]

Believe it or not, but Eritrea actually scores worse in terms of press-freedom than North Korea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index

[Pan_Yan]

Believe it or not, but Eritrea actually scores worse in terms of press-freedom than North Korea.

They both nosed out Turkmenistan by a hair. Quite a collection of "places not to visit" at the bottom of that list.

[Cronos]

But Eritreas president is Christian as is nearly half the population, the other half being Moslems