Salih Idris Kekya

Salih Idris Kekya (alt. Kekia) (incarcerated incommunicado since September 2001; reportedly died in prison). He joined EPLF in 1976 and, since independence, has held the following positions: member of the Central Council of PFDJ, member of the National Assembly, Director of the Office of the President, Ambassador to The Sudan, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Transport and Communication, and Mayor of the town of Asseb in 2000. The are reports that the minister refused the transfer to Assab; an action perceived by the minister as a tactic of Isaias Afwerki to side-line his critics.
LEST WE FORGET THEM, our prisoners of concience, our brothers, sisters, our fathers, our mothers, our daughters, our sons, our religious leaders. Lest we forget them! This season is the season of new year and celebrations; but not for the countless prisoners of conscience in Eritrea. Not for their family members. Day and night, now for 10, 13, 15 or more years, they have been surviving like half-dead. They can't sleep normally, they can't eat normally, they can't live normally. Where is my daughter? Where is my son? Where is my father? Where is my mother? Where is my sister? Where is my brother? In what conditions are they in? Are they still alive?
The regime has deleted the prisoners of conscience from historical audio-visual archives. The regime tells us: "we don't know them!" "They have never existed", "How can the Eritrean regime of PFDJ tell you where they are, if the regime doesn't know who these people are". These have been the reactions of the regime. What is ours? If we don't dare to ask about these Eritreans, if we don't act and stand up for them, then we are worse than the dead. No excuses... Imagine if you were one of them, if your father was one of them, if your mother was one of them, if your brother was one of them, if your sister was one of them, if your sone was one of them, if your daughter was one of them; would you keep quite and forget them?