[AI] Asmarino Independent

Sudan arrests Somali Islamist leader while trying to escape to Eritrea

Sudanese security services arrested a Somali Islamist leader while he was attempting to cross border to Eritrea, a Somali outlet reported today from Mogadishu.

Muse Abdi Arale, the secretary for defence of Hizbul Islam group has been arrested in Sudan while trying to enter in Eritrea with money embezzled from the rebel group.

Sheikh Hassan Mahdi, a senior official from Hizbul Islam told Mareeg Online that the Sudanese police arrested Arale while he was trying to cross the eastern Sudan border and reach Eritrea.

2009 Human Rights Report: Eritrea

Human rights abuses included abridgement of citizens' right to change their government through a democratic process; unlawful killings by security forces; torture and beating of prisoners, sometimes resulting in death; abuse and torture of national service evaders, some of whom reportedly died from their injuries while in detention; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention, including of national service evaders and their family members; executive interference in the judiciary and the use of a special court system to limit due process; and infringement on privacy rights, including roundups of young men and women for national service, and the arrest and detention of the family members of service evaders. The government severely restricted freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association, and religion. The government also limited freedom of movement and travel for citizens in the national service, foreign residents, employees of diplomatic missions, the UN, and humanitarian and development agencies. Restrictions continued on the activities of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Female genital mutilation (FGM) was widespread, and societal abuse and discrimination against women, members of the Kunama ethnic group, homosexuals, and persons with HIV/AIDS were problems. There were limitations on worker rights, including forced labor.

The government acted as a principal source and conduit for arms to antigovernment, extremist, and insurgent groups in Somalia, according to a June report issued by the UN Munitions Monitoring Group.

UNHCR: Eritreans by far largest refugee group in Israel

90% of Eritrean asylum-seekers are men, many of whom fled indefinite compulsory military duty.

Eritreans constitute by far the largest population of asylum-seekers in Israel, according to the United Nations high commissioner for refugees.

Sharon Harel, assistant protection officer for the UNHCR in Tel Aviv, said Monday there were around 8,500 Eritrean refugees in the country, as opposed to some 5,000 to 6,000 from Sudan.

US indicts Eritrean on charges of aiding Somali insurgents

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed an indictment March 8 accusing a suspect brought to the US from Nigeria, Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed, of conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization al-Shabab, the main insurgent army in Somalia. Ahmed, 35 of Eritrea, is also charged with providing that support, conspiring to receive training from a foreign terrorist organization, and receiving the training.

'I fear every knock on my door'

She understands how they may have felt, because last year she jumped out of a flat window as the pressure of being an asylum seeker became too much for her. Ledia is 22 and from Eritrea - the country she fled because of fear of religious persecution. 

UNICEF wants $24.8 million for Eritrean fund

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates as many as two in every three Eritreans are malnourished, the second-highest percentage in the world after the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo.

Asmara denies there is any widespread hunger or food shortages in the country and places restrictions on the work of humanitarian organisations.

In a recent interview with Eritrean media, President Isaias Afwerki said hunger was "non-existent". Late last year he pledged "no hunger in 2010".
Asmara accuses humanitarian organisations of trying to tarnish Eritrea's image by inventing statistics.

Australia Implements UN Security Council sanctions against Eritrea

UN urges Egypt to stop shooting at migrants

"While migrants often lose their lives accidentally when travelling in over-crowded boats, or trying to cross remote land borders, I know of no other country where so many unarmed migrants and asylum seekers appear to have been deliberately killed in this way by government forces," Navi Pillay said.

"It is a deplorable state of affairs, and the sheer number of victims suggests that at least some Egyptian security officials have been operating a shoot-to-kill policy... Sixty killings can hardly be an accident."

Most of the migrants hail from sub-Saharan Africa's Eritrea, Sudan and Ethiopia, and have been heading for Israel.

The latest victim was killed at the weekend, bringing the number of fatal shootings to nine in the first two months of 2010 alone.

EU implements international restrictive measures against Eritrea

The Council of the European Union today adopted a decision¹1 (5534/10) imposing restrictive measures against Eritrea in line with the United Nations Security Council resolution (UNSCR) 1907 (2009).

The restrictive measures consist of an arms embargo, as well as travel restrictions and a freeze of assets against persons and entities designated by the UN sanctions committee²2 as:

Iranian Friends

February 26, 2010: Several years ago Eritrea began developing a strategic relationship with Iran. As both nations have become more isolated, that relationship has strengthened. Iran can already close the Strait of Hormuz (temporarily, with mines). Eritrea sits on the Bab al Mandab (Gate of Tears), the strait between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. This is a major route for international shipping traffic (to and from the Suez Canal). Yemen, which is at war with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and its own Shia rebel tribes (which receive help from Iran) lies on the other side of the Bab al Mandab. Recently, a brief border war erupted between Eritrea and Djibouti over control of a peninsula that was right on the Bab al Mandab. Eritrea was sending a strategic message. Closing the Strait of Hormuz is a tough project and so is closing the Bab al Mandab – but just threatening to close either sends a strategic message and certainly affects shipping costs and stock markets.