[AI] Asmarino Independent

Eritrea hires Sophia Tesfamariam “Officially”

Unconfirmed sources say that Sophia Tesfamariam now has her own office at the embassy located on New Hampshire Avenue, plus a smaller one at ECCC (Eritrean Community Center) on 601 L Street, NW, Washington, DC. This is the same place that the FBI raided a few years ago.

Eritrea has been under a UN imposed Sanction since December 23, 2009. This Sanction has a travel ban on high ranking officials, arms embargo and condition to freeze assets belonging to individuals or firms related thereof.

Observers in the Diaspora see this “hiring” as preemption to the diplomatic void that could be created if Presidential advisors who speak English such as Yemane Ghebreab and Yemane Gebremeskel are prohibited from traveling abroad. While Sophia is at the forefront of the media blitz by the regime, it is claimed the main enforcers of the regime’s campaign of intimidation and blackmail remain behind.

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Stories from Underground Prison in Eritrea: Torture, Madness, Slave Labour, Death and a Father Searching for his Son (Life under PFDJ)

Noting his conditions, the health personnel collaborated and extended their support to him  by providing him accommodation to sleep with them (as the temperature is relatively better outside than in the underground cell and there is fresh air outside)  and supplied him food from their own rations which were relatively better than the food provided to the prisoners. Later in that night, the prison officer (now I forgot his name) who was next in rank to “Wedi Granite” in authority learned that the health personnel had collaborated with the patient and he was very much angry that Kibrom had been staying outside the underground cell. He threatened the health personnel with punishment for their actions and ordered Kibrom to be returned to the underground cell. When they told him that he was under extremely critical condition and he was very likely to die if he would not be admitted immediately to the clinic and that retuning him to the underground cell would put his life in danger, the officer’s reply was “Let him die; return him to the underground cell”.  They returned him to the underground cell immediately. The next day, in afternoon, when he was virtually dead, they admitted him to the clinic. He died immediately after he arrived at the clinic. Read more...

Torture, Suffering and Imprisonment (Life under PFDJ)

On March 2009, we received a hefty report (about 34 pages long) on the prison condition in Eritrea as experienced by one man. The report was too detailed that we felt that it would endanger the writer, even though he wanted us to post it as was. We have been posting excellent reports by this writer, especially on the state of famine in Eritrea. But when it comes to prison life, we have been posting only those parts that we felt were safe. One such report was a detailed account on the Wi’a concentration camp. Now that writer has made it safely to the free world, we will start publishing what was left out of that prison report in three instalments.

The editor would like to remind readers that what happened to Mussie Hadgu is a normal occurrence among the youth of Eritrea. Almost every escaped Warsai has a personal story to tell of how he or she went in and out of prison, concentration camp or training camp. Usually, it is after a number of false attempts that the escapees make it to the refugee camps in Ethiopia or Sudan. In between, there are tales of capture, torture and escape, to be repeated again in recapture, torture and escape and so on until one manages to escape for good. And this is the story of the fortunate ones. Others are either shot dead while crossing the border or languishing in some underground prisons. Fortunately, Mussie Hadgu has finally made it to safety. But in between is the story of the horrors that the youth of Eritrea face.
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Eritrea: Frozen and Reshuffled, Again

Sources from Asmara (Eritrea) indicate that the Afwerki administration has been on a panic mood since the day the UN has passed the resolution to impose sanctions on Eritrea. President Isaias Afwerki has fallen into old proven tactics that served him well in times of crisis. Information leaked out from Colonel Tesfaldet Habteselasie office (President’s Office) indicate that as a number of people that have been sidelined for a long time (in the Orwellian language of the PFDJ ruling party, “frozen”) are being “reactivated” to resume important posts, various reshufflings are also being made.

Some of the important names floating around are Tewelde Kelati, the Administrator of Zoba Maekel, is appointed to be Minister of Fishery. Kahsai Ghebrehiwet, the Administrator of Gash-Barka, is reshuffled to be the Administrator of Zoba Maekel.

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Phone Line to Massawa, Eritrea Disconnected

There is an unexplained telephone (telephone prefix 552) communication clamp down in Massawa. This is affecting the areas of Tewalet and the inner Massawa.

Neither the residents nor the public has been informed.

The official rumors state that the communication lines will re-open late April 2010.

Speculations are running high among officials and the public. One is that since the regime is leaking like a barrel full of holes, the paranoia has set in to the point where a complete silence on verbal communication where the inner circle is circumscribed into a limited area and persons.

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