Eritrea: Africa’s Largest Prison, Not Only for Journalists

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to,the Sri Lanka Guardian)

(October 03, Amsterdam-The Netherlands, Sri Lanka Guardian) I just read 5,000+ NYC Hero's Welcome For Eritrean President by Mr. Thomas C. Mountain on Sri Lanka Guardian. The author claims to be “the only independent Western journalist in the Horn of Africa, based in the Eritrean capital Asmara since 2006.

In the Voltarian spirit I will defend till death the right of Mr. Mountain to express himself while I abhor the ideas of this writer. Give this piece as published on Sri Lanka Guardian to a first year college student and he/she will tell you that this piece is not a journalistic product but a propaganda material.

It is true that President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea was welcomed by thousands of his supporters in New York. Does this make someone less a dictator? Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic, Adolf Hitler, Robert Mugabe, Mengistoe Hailemariam, Ferdinand Marcos, Mohammer Gaddafi to name but few colleagues of Isaias Afwerki used to be welcomed by thousands of their supporters. Out of the almost 100,000 Eritreans who reside in the USA, around 5,000 Eritreans welcomed President Isaias Afeworki. When he visited the USA in 1999, some 10,000 Eritreans welcomed him. That is 5,000 less!

But all these supporters and hired “journalists” like Mountain could not save these leaders from ending up in the heap of history. I wouldn’t mind if Mountain’s article was a factual report, but it is not. It is a naked propaganda for Isaias dictatorship and against the basic principles of journalism and human rights.

Isaias Afwerki has turned Eritrea into the largest prison for journalists and world’s third jailer International Report on Isaias repression of the media. The nascent Eritrean independent media was closed in September 2001 and all the journalists are either exiled or detained incommunicado. I know some of these journalists personally. They are not allowed any visit from family members or international observers. There are reports that some of them have died in prison Several Eritrean Journalists have died in Eritrean Prison.

It is astounding to hear Mountain bragging as the only independent western journalist in Eritrea and adoring the dictator Isaias Afwerki as a hero. Actually Thomas C. Mountain is not a journalist but a diehard communist in support of dictators who are anti-Western and against the United States. I have never met an American like Moutnain who hates his nation and his people as he does. The following link shows some of his background,Thomas C. Mountain is not A Journalist. No wonder he calls himself the only independent Western journalist in Eritrea, because all truly independent foreign journalists are already kicked out of the country; like the last permanent foreign correspondent in Eritrea, the BBC-Journalist Jonah Fisscher. (BBC expelled from Eritrea)

It is unethical for an American who calls himself an independent journalist to adore a dictator, the jailor of innocent journalists, colleagues of Mr. Thomas C. Mountain. These Eritrean journalists alongside the thousands of prisoners of conscience in the country have never seen an independent court of justice. Some of them are languishing in the dungeons of Isaias for more than twenty years.

Mountain and his cohorts can’t deny the independent reports of Amnesty International (Amnesty International Eritrea Report 2011), Human Rights Watch (HRW World Report 2011 Eritrea) , International Federation of Journalists (http://africa.ifj.org/en/pages/terror-in-eritrea) and East African Journalists Association (Eritrean journalists-continue-languishing-in-jail-ten-years-on) I met once Thomas Mountain in Amsterdam and many Eritreans were speechless by the way he was defending the oppressor in Asmara. He has not changed ever since but he can’t fool the world.

His hero, Isaias Afwerki has turned Eritrea, once a promising nation, into a country without any basic democratic institutions. The country has no functioning parliament and nobody knows what Eritrea’s budget is. For twenty years the country has seen no parliamentary or presidential elections. The president has been refusing to implement the countries first constitution and to bring all prisoners of conscience to an independent court of law. Unprecedented in the history of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Isaias has arrested the head of the church, Partiarch Antonious and he has replaced him with his own stooge; despite international protests.

In Eritrea you are not allowed to practice your own religion. Johava Witnesses, Pentecostals, Baptists and other groups that don’t belong to the Government sanctioned religions (Roman Catholic, Eritrean Orthodox Church, Evangelical-Lutheran and Sunni Islam) are harassed and imprisoned on a daily bases: International Religious Report Eritrea 2010

The list is very long. Under the dictator Isaias Afwerki, the country has became a pariah state. Through his reckless policy Eritrea has been facing sanctions after sanctions. Even the regional Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has humiliated Eritrea by throwing out the representative of the totalitarian regime in Asmara. (Eritrea's Representative Thrown out of IGAD)

No wonder that the “hero of Thomas Mountain” was ignored by world leaders in New York. It is indeed the first time in more than a decade that President Isaias Afworki visited the UN, the United States. I hope for the people of Eritrea that this visit would be his last visit; like that of his best friend, the butcher of Libya, Colonel Mohammed Gaddafi. Those who adored Muammar Gaddafi for years were the first to shout “hung him, hung him!” after his fall. Didn’t the same happened with Saddam Hussein, with Mengistoe Haile Mariam and with Adolf Hitler? In democracies there is no room for oppression and personal cult. Putting the destiny of millions of Eritreans in the whims of one person is extremely dangerous as history has proven it.

Habtom Yohannes is Senior Editor with The Dutch Broadcasting Organization. He has been working in journalism with different Dutch public media for the last 20 years. Habtom Yohannes is originally from Eritrea and has been active in the struggle for Eritrean Independence. After Independence he has been active in different activities; training of journalists and as a secretary of the Dutch Committee for the Eritrean Constitution.

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