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Embassy, November 29th, 2006
NEWS STORY
By Lee
Berthiaume
Eritrea Chooses Security Over Press Freedom
On the eve of an international day to recognize journalists
in jail on Nov. 23, the Eritrean government arrested nine members of
the state-owned press. At the same time Reporters Without Borders is
investigating whether three others incarcerated without charges for
more than five years have died while in custody.
In
September 2001, the Eritrean government under President Isaias
Afewerki closed down all of the country's private media and arrested
the country's most outspoken critics, including 13 journalists who
had been working at privately-owned weekly newspapers.
According to Reporters Without Borders, those who were
arrested included Isaac Dawit and Fessaye Yohannes, co-founders of
the country's first independent and most popular paper, Setit.
Mr. Dawit returned to Eritrea after the country's
independence from Ethiopia in 1993 where he met Mr. Yohannes, a
former guerilla fighter, and the two eventually founded Setit to
give the country an independent voice.
In May 2001, the
country's independent press published calls by 15 ruling party
leaders for democratization within the country as elections had been
scheduled then cancelled several times since 1993.
On Sept.
9, 2001, Setit ran an open letter saying: "The people can put up
with hunger and other problems for a long time, but they cannot
tolerate the lack of good management and justice."
Nine days
later, the Eritrean government banned all privately-owned media, and
on Sept. 23, arrested the 15 pro-democracy ruling party leaders and
13 independent journalists, including Mr. Dawit. Mr. Yohannes
managed to escape, but, according to Reporters Without Borders,
eventually turned himself in as a show of solidarity with his fellow
journalists.
The men have been held without charge and have
been incommunicado since then. Reporters Without Borders says
authorities have accused the men of a variety of crimes over the
years, including spying, failure to do military service and being
"threats to national security."
Strangely, Mr. Dawit was
released on Nov. 19, 2005 and was able to phone his wife and
Eritrean exiles in Sweden, telling them he had been held in one of
the country's worst prisons. He told his family he would join them
soon, but two days later he was re-arrested.
Third
Worst for Reporters' Rights
The arrest last week of nine
more journalists working for the country's state-owned media, as
well as reports that as many as three journalists originally
arrested with Mr. Dawit and Mr. Yohannes, is "really frightening,"
says Leonard Vincent of Reporters Without Borders.
"The
information coming out from Eritrea is very disturbing," Mr. Vincent
said. "It is one of the largest jailers of journalists in the
world."
According to the NGO, no other African country has
jailed more journalists than Eritrea, while only China with 32 and
Cuba with 23 have more in the world. In addition, Reporters Without
Borders ranks the African nation as the third worst in the world in
terms of reporters' rights, above only North Korea and Turkmenistan.
But Mr. Vincent said the difficulty in trying to raise
international concern is that Eritrea is so far off most countries'
radars that many don't even know it exists.
"Most people
don't know where Eritrea is, or that it's not a province of
Ethiopia," he said. "There is an indifference of the international
community."
Canada exported $1.6 million in goods to the
country last year while importing $37,054, and contributed less than
$1 million in development funds from 2003-2004, the last year
information is available.
In an interview yesterday,
Eritrean Consul Nura Omer said she had not heard of the most recent
arrests, but defended her government's jailing of Mr. Dawit, Mr.
Yohannes and their colleagues as a matter of national security.
Following years of colonization and war with Ethiopia, Ms.
Omer said the government has been working very hard to rebuild the
country, and originally included a free press as a way to help the
country flourish. But she accused independent news organizations of
threatening the country's stability with dissenting talk and
attempts to split the military.
"Whenever national security
is touched, it affects everybody," she said. "The media broadcast
things that were against the national unity. They will be held until
it is convenient to us."
When asked why the men are being
held incommunicado and haven't been charged, Ms. Omer said the
government is dealing with the national security threat as it sees
appropriate, and that while more developed countries have the luxury
of talking about overarching human rights, basic survival and
development are the most important things to Eritreans.
"Other rights come after people are fed and schooled," she
said. "Our survival, our national security, comes above that. It has
nothing to do with democracy, human rights, nothing.
"We
want a stable home and that is why these people are in jail."
lee@embassymag.ca
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