Eritrea’s repressive government blasts exiles who attack festivals abroad as ‘asylum scum’

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Cars on fire, violent clashes, dozens of people arrested. As one of the world’s most repressive countries marks 30 years of independence, festivals organized by the Eritrean diaspora in Europe and North America have been attacked by exiles whom the regime dismisses as “asylum scum.”

People who fled the Horn of Africa nation say violence against festivals in Germany, Sweden and Canada are protests against a repressive government that has been described as the “Korea of ​​North Africa.” Some allege that the proceeds from the festivals could support the government.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Eritrea over the years, many making their way to the deserts of Sudan and then North Africa in an attempt to reach Europe.

President Isaias Afwerki, 77, has ruled Eritrea since it gained independence from Ethiopia in a long-running guerrilla war. There have been no elections. There is no free press. Exit visas are required. Many young men are being forced into military service with no end date, say human rights groups and United Nations experts.

Violence at some Eritrean festivals shows the bitter divide in the diaspora between government supporters and their children, often protected by foreign passports, and exiles who fear for loved ones back home.

The Eritrean government speaks harshly of those fleeing and accuses the West of trying to weaken the country by depopulating it. On Friday, the Information Minister, Yemane Gebremeskel, assured that the attacks on festivals were part of that strategy.

“The complicity in attempts to disrupt decades-old Eritrean festivals using foreign thugs reflects an abject failure by the asylum scum,” he said in a message posted on social media. He later criticized the “distorted representation” of the “joyful events” of the community.

Beyene Gerezgiher, a member of the Eritrean community in Europe who runs an organization seeking regime change in Eritrea, told The Associated Press that a separate group called the Nhamedu Brigade was created last year to counter what it calls hate speech and government war. propaganda. The word “Nhamedu” means to be ready to fight and sacrifice.

“Our movement helped and participated in recent demonstrations against the so-called Eritrean festival,” he wrote in an email. In pursuit of regime change, the new group plans to act through “legal democracy,” sharing information with the international community and “disrupting the situation,” he said.

He called the comments by Eritrea’s information minister “common and ridiculous.”

Some Eritreans and state-backed media have partly blamed the attacks in Stockholm, Toronto and the German city of Giessen on ethnic Tigrays from northern Ethiopia. That is where Eritrean forces join the Ethiopian army in a two-year war against Tigray forces until a peace agreement was reached in November. Eritrean forces were accused of some of the worst atrocitiesincluding gang rapes.

Kassa Hailemariam, an advocate for many Tigrayans in the United States, told the AP that “it is ridiculous to blame Tigrayans for the global Eritrean movement against the former dictator of Asmara,” the capital of Eritrea. “We are not part of this movement!”

In Giessen last month, German police said at least 22 officers were injured when people throwing smoke bombs and bottles tried to force their way into a festival. Dozens of people were arrested.

In Stockholm this month, Swedish media reported that some 1,000 protesters stormed a festival, setting booths and cars on fire and using stones and sticks as weapons, injuring at least 52. Police said more than 100 people were detained.

“This is not a festival. They are teaching their children hate speech,” one protester, Michael Kobrab, told Swedish broadcaster TV4.

And last weekend, authorities in Toronto canceled a festival in Eritrea after clashes sent several people to hospital.

Other festivals have taken place without incident, and some Eritreans continue to share videos showing crowds dancing and waving the national flag, along with messages of defiance and peace.

The Eritrean government openly encourages members of the diaspora to contribute funds for their activities back home. On Monday, the Information Ministry published a story about Eritreans in Austria who were urged by diplomats to “take timely responsibility to participate in and contribute to the success of national development campaigns.”

But citizens living abroad must show the government evidence of paying a 2% tax on income earned abroad if they want services such as passport renewals, which has been criticized. People who flee Eritrea without exit visas and want to return must pay the tax and sign a “repentance form,” according to the US State Department’s human rights report on the country.

Eritrea, with an estimated population of less than 5 million, is one of the poorest countries in the world and one of the most secretive. The World Bank said poverty appears to be widespread, but up-to-date information is lacking. “The most recent available survey data from 1996/97 indicates a poverty rate of 70%,” he said.

Rights groups say Eritrean authorities are keeping the country’s citizens in a state of readiness for war, despite make peace with ethiopia in 2018.

An independent UN investigator on human rights In a report released Monday He said some families are left destitute as the Eritrean authorities use evictions and confiscations to force people into military service and punish conscription evaders.

Mohamed Babiker’s report says Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers alleged torture, sexual violence, forced labor and other abusive conditions during compulsory national service.

Eritrea’s information minister on Wednesday called the report “false.”