The Swedish- Eritrean Partnership for Democracy and Development/ SESADU invites Dan Connel at the 54th Anniversary of the Eritrean Liberation Struggle that has started on First September 1961. Dan Connel will hold two seminars in Sweden one in the city of Uppsala and the second in the city of Stockholm. He will be the honorary guest of the historical event of the Eritrean people in Sweden from 10th September to 13th September 2015.

The Theme of the seminar is ,

"Eritrean Refugee Journeys: Why they flee & what they face"

Hundreds of thousands of Eritreans have fled a suffocating dictatorship over the past decade, making the once promising new nation one of the world’s largest per capita producers of refugees. To reach a safe haven they risk imprisonment in Eritrea’s medieval jails, kidnapping and torture by human traffickers, anonymous death on perilous desert and sea crossings, and more. Then comes the disheartening struggle to gain recognition as a refugee from countries looking for an excuse to lock them out. Yet still they come. This presentation draws on field research in North America, Europe, Israel, East and Southern Africa, South and Central America, and the Horn of Africa to put a human face on this crisis, map its main corridors, and explore options to deal with it.

Dan Connell is a visiting scholar at Boston University’s African Studies Center and a retired senior lecturer in journalism and African studies at Simmons College, who has researched and written about Eritrea for nearly 40 years. He is the author or editor of 10 books, includingAgainst All Odds: A Chronicle of the Eritrean Revolution(1997),Conversations with Eritrean Political Prisoners(2005), and a Historical Dictionary of Eritrea(2010). He is currently working on a book on the refugee crisis.

The schedule and place of the seminars will be announced later.

Swedish- Eritrean Community for Democratic Change/ SESADU