I got a witness on the death of my friend (Yirga Yosief) at Wia Detention Camp. We have travelled all the way together to Wia and I was with him until he last day of his life. I'm planning to write a very short brief on the incident and the situation we were in and the situation Yirga was specifically in.

Contributed by SelamYisfen December 2010

Student Program in Eritrea Turns Into Forced-Labor Camp 2 die of heatstroke in the desert while working under 24-hour military guard

By WACHIRA KIGOTHO
Asmara, Eritrea

The government-run summer work program for students at the University of Asmara,the only university in one of the world's youngest countries, could be portrayed as a noble exercise in nation-building: Students repair the roads, plant trees, and terrace mountainsides.

But if, in fact, that is ever what the program was, this past summer something appears to have gone terribly wrong. Many students say the program was more like a chain gang without the chains: Students were taken to two detention camps in the southern desert and forced, under 24-hour military guard, to gather stones to build roads. Two students died in heat that can reach 120 degrees.

source The Chronicle of Higher Education