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BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Red Sea state of Eritrea , with a population of 3.9 million, attained formal and internationally-recognized independence from Ethiopia in May 1993 after a UN-supervised referendum. It joined the UN and Organization of African Unity. It had been de facto independent since May 1991 under the Provisional Government headed by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) leader Issayas Afewerki (also the current President), when the EPLF defeated the Ethiopian army after a 30-year liberation war. Meles Zenawi's new Ethiopian government accepted Eritrea gaining independence. Years of war and damaging Ethiopian government policies left Eritrea one of the poorest countries in Africa , with an estimated 85% of the population dependent on international relief in 1991. The new government introduced liberal market reforms and a rehabilitation program, financed by foreign loans, to improve Eritrea 's transport and communications infrastructure and boost agricultural and industrial production. During the mid 1990s the economy grew steadily, although payments by the large Eritrean Diaspora remained the largest source of revenue at around 40 per cent of gross domestic product. This brief spell of economic stability was ended, however, by the damaging border war with Ethiopia which broke out in 1998 and has dominated Eritrean affairs ever since. Eritrea 's de facto border in 1991 was that of the Italian colony established in 1890. Although both Eritrea and Ethiopia accepted that there were inconsistencies in the border, at the time full demarcation was not considered a priority. Growing tension between the two countries in the late 1990s erupted into an armed confrontation over disputed territory in Badme in May 1998. Fighting quickly spread to other areas along the border and continued, with brief intermissions, until a cease-fire in June 2000 and peace treaty in December 2000. Over 100,000 are estimated to have died on the two sides, hundreds of thousands displaced and the Eritrean economy devastated by the cost of the war and lost trade with Ethiopia . |
Under the peace treaty signed in Algiers under the auspices of the UN and Organization of African Unity, the UN military mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) was mandated by the UN Security Council to establish a buffer zone on the Eritrean side of the border which would revert to civilian Eritrean administration, pending international delimitation and demarcation of the disputed border. In April 2002 the International Boundary Commission at The Hague delivered its judgement on the border issue, which both sides had agreed in advance to accept. Tensions still remain between the two countries over the border issue.
Political Background to the arrests |
In 1987 the EPLF Third Congress had set an objective of a multi-party democratic system when they gained independence. At independence, the Provisional Government announced a four year transition period for the drafting and ratification of a new constitution to be followed by elections. A new constitution providing for democratic government and some protection of human rights was promulgated in 1997, but has not been implemented. Elections were fully postponed during the war and no date has yet been set for them to be held.
The government has not allowed the development of an independent civil society outside the PFDJ. No independent NGOs have been allowed - the Eritrean Peace and Human Rights Centre had attempted with Canadian NGO funding to promote human rights standards but was shut down. A law preventing faith groups from engaging in any political activities has been passed, and foreign NGOs such as Oxfam have been expelled (though Oxfam has since returned) and made to channel all their activities and funds through the government. A Press Law (1996) permitted independent newspapers though under tight restrictions, including a ban on foreign funding.
In October 2000 a meeting in Berlin of professionals and academics in the Diaspora composed a letter to President Issayas on the A political and economic challenges that confront us as a new nation @ . It said the government had A lagged behind in the development of democratic institutions, including mechanisms for ensuring accountability and transparency @ , complained of the alienation of civil society, and that collective leadership values of the ELF had been A abandoned and replaced by one-man leadership @ . It cited the A absence of freedom of expression which has prevented the citizens from exercising their rightful duties of restraining the undue accumulation of power in the presidency @ . It criticised the Special Court A which is undermining the rule of law and creating disaffection... People have been languishing in jail for many years without being formally charged with any crime @ . It ended with a call for open debate.
The publication of the A Berlin Manifesto” in the independent press was immediately followed by the arrests of the journalists publishing it, the sackings of officials supporting it, and an explosion of debate and repression in which the Diaspora was also involved.
The Press Law and the independent press in Eritrea |
The independent press was allowed in Eritrea under a new Press Law in June 1996. This permitted private and independent newspapers (but not radio or television) alongside the government = s radio, television and print media.
The Press Law guarantees freedom of the press and forbids censorship except under special circumstances such as threats to public order or national security. On the positive side, the law defined the objectives of the press as disseminating information, defending human rights and liberties, working for unity, peace and stability and the development of democracy, providing constructive criticism of the government, affording the opportunity of diversity of opinion, and contributing to the clarification of ideas helpful to the government.
Newspapers must be officially registered, and no foreign ownership is allowed. People barred from political activity or opposed to national unity or convicted of crimes of morality or corruption are barred from owning newspapers. Publication is banned of material vilifying religious beliefs, divulging national secrets, creating religious or sub-national [i.e. ethnic or regional] differences, inciting violence and terrorism, undermining national independence and territorial integrity, contravening morality, defamation, disclosing the contents of secret government meetings, or publishing false information intended to create confusion and disturb the peace. These offences against the Press Law are punishable in the High Court as offences against the Penal Code which carry lengthy prison sentences. No-one has yet been tried under the Press Law or the associated articles of the Penal Code, and the independence of the judiciary has yet to be tested on such a complex matter of balancing rights against restrictions.
By 2000 there were eight (Tigrinya-language) independent weekly newspapers, publishing on separate days, and developing a substantial readership. The journalists who started up or worked for these new newspapers were mainly untrained, although the professional style and standards of the newspapers developed steadily. They published editorials, articles and letters criticising the government, articles by dissidents and interviews with them. From the articles written by the journalists featured in this Action File and seen by AI, none appeared to have advocated violence. Nevertheless, their editors, who were also in many cases their founder-owners, and their reporters became subject to arrests, conscription to national service in the army, threats and harassment. Those who intended to publish the A Berlin Manifesto @ and those who published the G15 Open Letter (see below) were arrested.
The events of September 2001 |
In May 2001 a group of 15 senior PFDJ officials published an open letter to party members describing and making proposals for solving what it calls the “crisis of Eritrea ”. The letter states it is “a call for correction, a call for peaceful and democratic dialogue, a call for strengthening and consolidation, a call for unity, a call for the rule of law and for justice, through peaceful and legal ways and means.” Amongst other things, the letter was a reminder to PFDJ members of the constitutional obligations the authors claim the President of Eritrea (and the PFDJ) is under to call internal meetings of the party, follow correct parliamentary and government procedures and follow up on a number of promises the party had made, particularly judicial reform.
In August 2001 the Secretary General of PFDJ accused the 15 of attempting to destabilize the country. The 15 replied in a letter published on 14 August 2001 in the privately owned newspaper, Setit , where they called on the Eritrean people to help solve the country's problems. They described the economic conditions in the country, and said that in order to solve this the government must allow a free exchange of ideas and full participation of the people in discussing these issues.
On the night of 18-19 September 2001, 11 of the G15 were arrested. They have been held as prisoners of conscience in secret incommunicado detention ever since. Three were abroad at the time of the arrests and now lead a new exile opposition group, the EPLF- Democratic Party. The last signatory has retracted his support for the group.
On 18 September the government also suspended the entire independent press. Ten days later 10 leading journalists who had written to the Minister of Information protesting about the suspension were arrested. They were initially taken to an Asmara police station where they received food from their families, although no visits or correspondence were allowed. On 31 March 2002 they began a hunger strike, demanding that they either be given a fair trial before an independent court, or be released. Three days later, as the hunger strike began to attract international attention, nine of the 10 were moved to an undisclosed place of detention and one, Dawit Isaac, was taken to hospital. Nothing has been heard of them since.
They were detained because they published articles critical of the government and we consider them to be prisoners of conscience, imprisoned solely because of their legitimate professional work as journalists. Since September more journalists have been arrested, including three who worked for the government owned press. There are now 15 journalists in detention as prisoners of conscience – one of the highest numbers in the world.
There was considerable international criticism of the September arrests, including from AI, Human Rights Watch, international media bodies such as Reporteurs Sans Frontiers and the Committee to Protect Journalists, and donor embassies. The EU Dean and Italian Ambassador were expelled on account of an EU demarche on behalf of the detainees and all the other EU diplomats withdrew in protest. When the US embassy protested, the government detained two of its Eritrean staff, who are still held incommunicado without charge.
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