The Eritrean government has shut down health centres run by the Catholic Church after they refused to hand them over.
Eritrean government officials asked health centre administrators to sign a document approving the handover.
However, most of the administrators refused to sign and told the officials to talk to the church leaders.
Security officers then removed the staff from the health centres and closed them down. It is not yet known why the Eritrean government took this action.
It's part of a wider disagreement between Christians and the Eritrean government.
In April, Eritrean Catholic bishops called for a national reconciliation process that ensures justice for everyone. In the wake of the peace deal signed with Ethiopia, Eritrean bishops wrote a 30 page letter saying that the nation should come together and heal.
They called on the government to make reforms that would stop people wanting to leave the country.
The closure of the health centres also follows the arrest of 30 underground Christians in Eritrea at the beginning of June who were members of a Pentecostal church, an unregistered and therefore illegal denomination.
According to reports, police arrested the Christians while they were gathered at three different places in the capital Asmara.
Eritrean Christians who are not members of state approved churches are considered agents of the West and a threat to the state and the government only recognises three Christian denominations, including the Eritrean Orthodox Church.
Hundreds of Christians who are members of unregistered churches are in prison, some have been held captive for over a decade.
Many are forced to work long hours in commercial flower fields, and some are held in shipping containers in scorching temperatures, according to the charity Open Doors.
ሎሚ 23 ሰነ 2019 ዓ.ም ረፍዲ ኣባላት ጸጥታ መንግስቲ ኤርትራ ኣብ ከረን ቤተ ክርስትያን እምነተ ክርስቶስ ቤ.ክ ብምእታው ኣዴታት፡ ነፍሰ ጾራት ዝርከብዎም ብዙሓት ምእመንን ኣሲሩ፡ ብተወሳኺ ድማ ብዘሎ ንብረትን ገንዘብን እቲ ቤተክርስትያን ሃጊሩ ወሲድዎ ኣሎ፡ ኩሉትና ተኻፈልቲ መከርኦም ብሙኻን ብጸሎት ንዘክሮም። Today June 23 2019 the Eritrean government security forces raided Faith mission church of Keren, and arrested many believers including mothers, pregnant women and children
ኢንፉዥን ተተኺልዎም ዝነበሩ ሕሙማት ካብቲ ማእከላት ጥዕና ከምዝፋነዉ ተጌሩ።”
“እዚ ኣብ ካቶሊክ ቤተ ክርስያን ዝፍጸም ዘሎ ግህሰት ንመላእ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ዝዓለመ ዓፈና እዩ።”
ኣብ ዝሓለፈ ሳምንታት ኣብ ትሕቲ ካቶሊካዊት ቤተ ክርስትያን ኤርትራ ዝመሓደሩ ትካላት ጥዕና ብመንግስቲ ከምተወርሱን ኣብተን ትካላት ጥዕና ዝእለዩ ዝነበሩ ሕሙማት ነናብ ገዛኦም ከምዝተፋነዉ ብዝተፈላለዩ ወገናት ሓበሬታ ክወሃብ ጸኒሑ ኣሎ። እታ ቤተ ክርስትያን ነዚ ተግባር ብጽሑፍን ብቓልን ግብረ መልሲ ሂባ፡ ካብ 25 ሰነ ክስብ 12 ሓምለ ድማ ናይ ጾምን ምህለላን ኣዊጃ ኣላ። ነዚ ኣብታ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ዝፍጸም ዘሎ ግህሰትን ድሕሪኡ ዝሰዓበ ጉዳይን ኣመልኪትና ካብታ ቤተ ክርስትያን ዝኾኑ ኣባ ስምኦን መብርሂ ሂቦሙና ኣለዉ። ኣብዚ ብምጥዋቕ ድምጺ ክትሰምዑ ትኽ እሉ ኢኹም።
FEARS of a crackdown on Christianity in Eritrea are rising, after churches have been raided, Roman Catholic activities halted, and Christians arrested.
Last month, a gathering of the Faith Missions Church in Keren, the country’s second largest city, was raided by police. Among those arrested was an entire family and a pregnant woman, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reported.
Also last month, all the health centres in the country run by the Roman Catholic Church were shut down, prompting fears of systemic persecution.
In a letter, the country’s four RC bishops said that staff were removed from the more than 20 RC health centres, patients were ordered to go home, and soldiers were deployed to guard the centres.
The bishops said that the confiscation of the Church’s properties were a potential violation of the Church’s religious rights.
The letter read: “The government can say it doesn’t want the services of the Church, but asking for the property is not right.”
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Daniela Kravetz, said: “These actions show that, despite the improved regional climate for peace and security, the human-rights situation in Eritrea remains unchanged.”
Last month, five Orthodox priests from the Debre Bizen Monastery were arrested, CSW said. Abba Kebreab Tekie, Abba Markos Ghebrekidan, Abba Ghebretensae Teweldemedhin, Abba Kidanemaryam Tekeste, and Abba Ghebretensai Zemichael were arrested, reportedly for supporting the deposed Eritrean Orthodox Patriarch, Abune Antonios, and for protesting against government interference in the Church.
Since 2002, all religious practices not affiliated with the Roman Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran, or Orthodox Christian denominations, and Sunni Islam, have been effectively outlawed, owing to a registration policy.
According to reports, there were two separate incidents in May: in the first, about 30 Christians were arrested; and, in the second, 141.
The chief executive of CSW, Mervyn Thomas, said last week: “CSW is deeply concerned by this latest development in a crackdown on people of faith in Eritrea, that has been ongoing since 2002.
“We call for the immediate and unconditional release of all members of Faith Missions Church, as well as all other prisoners of conscience in the country. It is essential that UN member states seize the opportunity presented during next week’s interactive dialogue at the HRC [Human Rights Council] to raise these concerns.
“We also urge member states to support and facilitate the renewal of the Special Rapporteur’s mandate in order to ensure continued monitoring of the dire human-rights situation in Eritrea.”
The Eritrean government has seized and shut down all the country’s Catholic-run health centres in apparent retaliation for Eritrea’s bishops releasing a pastoral letter in April requesting “a national reconciliation process to guarantee social justice” for all Eritreans.
In early June, the authoritarian government, dominated by President Isaias Afewerki since 1993, ordered the 22 health centres to hand over ownership to the state. A previously unenforced 1995 law decreeing that all social institutions – including schools and clinics – be operated by the state provided the pretext for the closures. Administrators at the centres refused to comply, leading to the deployment of soldiers to enforce the ruling, with patients ordered to go home.
Although only about five per cent of the country’s 4.5 million population are Catholic, the Church wields significant influence and has a history of speaking out over injustices in the country. In 2014, four Eritrean Catholic bishops published a letter that described the country as “desolate” because so many people had either fled or were in prison or in the army through conscription.
“Catholics are few but have always had a good connection to Europe through Church networks,” says Milena Belloni, an anthropologist who has been studying Eritrean refugees for the past decade. “They are also among the most educated groups in the country and diaspora. In the past 20 years they have been quite vocal in their criticism of human rights abuses. They are the only group within Eritrea that still dares to criticise the government.”
It’s estimated that the closure of the centres, primarily located in remote rural areas, could leave thousands of the country’s poorest – including mothers with young children and the Afar people (who live along Eritrea’s southern border with Ethiopia) – without healthcare.
The Catholic Church is one of only four religious groups – the others being Eritrean Orthodox, Evangelical Lutheran and Sunni Muslims – permitted to operate in Eritrea by the ever-distrustful government, which regards other religious groups as malign instruments of foreign governments.
“It’s all part of a steady pattern of encroaching government control,” says Michela Wrong, author of I Didn’t Do it For You, about Eritrea’s long fight for independence from Ethiopia. “We’ve seen the ruling party’s increasing antagonism towards any area of activity or institution where independent thought might find expression, from media to education to civil society to all forms of religion, even to music. It demands total control – anything that represents a potential challenge must be stifled and crushed.”
She also notes that the ruling party’s antecedent was a Marxist organisation and “Marxist ideologues rarely have any sympathy for religion”, hence “the government’s attitude to worshippers of any faith – even those it officially recognises – has been one of mounting suspicion and hostility.”
Eritrea is ranked the seventh worst country in the world for Christian persecution in the 2019 World Watch List compiled by Open Doors. At the same time, Belloni, who visited the country at the end of last year, says that the media’s popular description of Eritrea as the North Korea of Africa is unfair, and misses the nuances of how different television channels from Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Iran are available in the country, as is the internet.
She also says reports that the government-run health centres are worse than the Catholic ones are similarly problematic, and miss the reality of how government hospitals are much larger and tend to be located in urban areas, while the smaller religious-run clinics are too few and too small to fill the gaps.
“Cooperation is needed rather than competition,” Belloni say
Eritrean Regime Seizes all Catholic-Run Health Services
Thousands of sick people across Eritrea are being deprived of vital medical care after the government seized three hospitals, two health centers, and 16 clinics. Government soldiers forced patients from their beds and out of the clinics and seized religious houses as they confiscated the 21 health institutes run by the Catholic Church, serving at least 170,000 people every year. Sources close to the Catholic Church told Aid to the Church in Need that – unless the services were quickly resumed – people could die, with some walking up to 16 miles (25km) to access some of the clinics. With the last of the week-long confiscations taking place on Tuesday (18th June), Eritrea’s four bishops condemned the action in a letter to Eritrea minister of health Amna Nurhusein. The letter vows to refuse to cooperate with the confiscation program – which in a stroke has closed down all the Catholic Church’s health service premises, some of them dating back more than 70 years. Calling the move “deeply unjust”, the letter states: “To deprive the church of these… institutions is to undermine its very existence, and to expose its workers, men, and women religious and lay people to persecution… The letter, a copy of which was sent to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, goes on: “We declare that we will not hand over our institutions of our own free will and nothing in terms of their equipment.”
A source said: “The staff at some of the clinics refused to hand over the keys so the soldiers broke into them.” The ACN contact added: “Our message to the government is simple – leave us alone. “It is the duty of the Church to take care of the sick, the poor and the dying – nobody, not even the government, can tell the Church not to do its job. “Our medical facilities were faithfully following the directives of the ministry of health and most of the time the ministry supervisors appreciated them very much.” The Catholic source said that the government wanted to be the sole provider of medical care but that most people preferred Catholic-run institutes as state ones generally have poor equipment and a shortage of staff, with many seeking asylum abroad. The contact said: “In providing these services, the Church is not competing with the government but is simply complementing what the government is doing.” It is not clear if the regime intends to re-open the institutes later – the ACN contact said the Catholic health institutes the regime seized two years ago remained closed. Warning that the move could lead to revolution, the source said: “The country is in danger of collapse. People in the diaspora and within the country are calling for revolt. “If the government does not choose the way of reconciliation and heeds no advice, it may end in violence and we do not know which path this violence will follow.” He appealed to the international community, including the UK government, to call on President Elias Afewerki’s government to follow the path of reconciliation.
International rights group, Human Rights Watch, HRW; says the United Nations must maintain considerable pressure on Eritrea to work on its ongoing human rights infractions.
They aver that despite a July 2018 peace deal with Ethiopia and improved relations with neighbours across the Horn of Africa region, Eritrea continues with policies that enforce rights abuses.
HRW’s statement of June 24 titled Eritrea’s human rights crisis requires ongoing scrutiny, urged the Human Rights Council, HRC, of which Eritrea is a member to maintain its Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Eritrea.
It, however, bemoans the perennial lack of cooperation with past Rapporteurs. The statement stated thus: “There is no independent scrutiny in Eritrea.
“Despite sitting on the Human Rights Council, which should entail cooperation with UN rights mechanisms, Eritrea continues to deny access to the Special Rapporteur and other special procedures.
“It still forbids independent press and non-governmental organizations to operate,” it added.
The incommunicado detention of dissenting citizens, the poor conditions of detention, failure to review a national service scheme deemed to be conducted in conditions resembling enslavement are some of the known issues HRW reiterated.
A new report from the current Special Rapporteur notes that the government hasn’t yet taken any concrete steps to reform the country’s notorious open-ended and indefinite national service requirement, which all Eritreans are forced to conduct and in which abuses are rife.
HRW said Eritrea seems to have misrepresented its election to the HRC in 2018 as an endorsement by the international community for ongoings back home. At the time of their election, the country said it recognized that there was work to be done on the human rights front back home.
Eritrea weeks ago raised human rights eyebrows when reports emerged that soldiers had closed down medical facilities run by the Catholic Church, sent away sick patients, harassed staff and taken positions at the facilities.
The government has come under severe backlash for the move whiles the Church has also lashed out at what it said was a denial of proper health care to ordinary citizens who needed it most.