Dortmund / Koblenz. In Dortmund, Hamburg and Frankfurt, the police have arrested several suspected smugglers. They brought 700 Eritreans in Germany.
The police in Germany and Italy, together smashed an international smuggling network. Nine suspects were arrested in the Rhine-Main region and in the Dortmund and Hamburg, including a woman. A tenth suspect went to the police in Italy in the net. During the search of 25 apartments in Germany extensive evidence also ensured. This was announced by the public prosecutor Darmstadt, Frankfurt and Dortmund and the Federal Police inspection fight against crime Bexbach (Saarland) and the Frankfurt police on Tuesday in common.
The men, aged 19 to 38 years of allegedly organized against the payment of large sums of money sluicing Eritrean nationals from Italy to Germany and in other countries. Investigators from more than 700 trafficked people.
Police arrest seven suspects
Focus of the police action was the Tuesday morning. Around 400 personnel were present when the homes raided, and seven suspects were arrested. Two other suspicious men were arrested a week ago in Frankfurt because they wanted to settle in Canada and had come into possession of a firearm.
In parallel, the police in Italy were going against the smuggling gang. They took on the request of the public prosecutor Dortmund arrested a man who was wanted with a European arrest warrant. His extradition to Germany is requested. The arrests are due to common one-year investigation. (Dpa)
A baby boy was born on board an Italian Navy ship on Tuesday to an Eritrean mother, one of 430 boat migrants saved this morning off the coast of Sicily.
Aloniab Nahom was born at around 2.00am this morning on board the Etna vessel, shortly after his mother was picked up in the Strait of Sicily.
Born to a Catholic Eritrean woman, the baby boy has already been baptized by the on-board chaplain.
“Mother and baby are doing well and will today go ashore at Lampedusa, on board a helicopter,” the Italian Navy said in a statement.
The “happy event” was the conclusion of an operation to save 430 boat migrants off the coast of Italy, the rescuers said.
The Italian Navy continues to save boat migrants from the grips of ruthless traffickers despite ending its dedicated “Mare Nostrum” (“Our Sea”) operation in October. Around 160,000 migrants were saved in the 13-month mission, which has since been replaced by a significantly smaller EU operation.
More than 348,000 migrants and refugees have taken the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean so far this year. Of those, more than 34,500 have been Eritreans and over 60,000 Syrians, the UN refugee agency said last week.
Today’s birth is not the first to happen on board an Italian Navy ship. A baby girl was born in September to a Gambian woman, saved along with 600 others off Italy’s southern shore.
Executive Director of SADC-CNGOs of 15 countries, Mr. Abie Ditlhake, opening the solidarity workshop; Eritrean delegation was at hand to tell the sad story from inside Eritrea and in diaspora.
By Member of Joint Eritrean Delegation
It was a visit unique of its kind: this joint Eritrean delegation to Nelson Mandela’s South Africa just a year after the passing away of modern Africa’s topmost statesman. The delegation consisted not only of representatives of three political and civic organizations but also an independent activist Eritrean lady from the Arab Gulf states. When the 3 to 9 December 2014 mission of the delegation was wound up, its members were reassured that strenuous efforts will be underway very soon to put Eritrea on the African agenda.
Africa was not that good to Eritrea during its long struggle for national liberation. Now, the continent appears to be moving up from the bottom to see to it that Eritreans enjoy what they rightly deserved as of 1991: peace, democracy, human dignity and prosperity that eluded them for too long. This quick reportage will highlight
The main issues raised and decided at the 3-4 December workshop of the Southern African Development Community’s Council of Non-Governmental Organizations (SADC-CNGO);
The Eritrean delegation’s press conference and its live interview with the S. African Broadcasting Corporation; and
The individual, limited and larger group meetings with important personalities, friends of Eritrea and Eritrean community members in Johannesburg, Durban and Pretoria.
Workshop of SADC-CNGO Solidarity Task Team
The workshop of the regional Civil Society Solidarity Task Team held in Johannesburg between 3 and 4 December 2014 was attended by the SADC-CNGO Executive Director himself and support staff, as well as senior representatives of umbrella organizations of member movements like the Southern African Trade Union Coordination Council (SATUCC); South African Trade Unions (COSATU); Fellowships of Christian Councils in 12 Southern Africa states (FOCCISA) and the Botswana-based Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). Invited civil society and political activists from Eritrea and Swaziland were availed to give adequate updates on the political and human rights situations in their respective countries. Technical hiccups prevented the expected Palestinian delegation from taking part.
The workshop was an outcome of decisions taken by the 10th Civil Society Forum of SADC-CNGOs held last July in Harare, Zimbabwe. Eritrea was one of the four countries identified for support and solidarity by the SADC Council of NGOs from 15 African countries whose main objectives include support for democratization, conflict resolution and good governance. Regarding Eritrea, the July declaration partly stated as follows:
“We are deeply concerned with the political situation in Eritrea and the oppressive conditions facing the people as a result of absence of respect of human rights and democratic governance. We are alarmed by the widespread and systematic human rights violations perpetrated by the government of Eritrea against its own people. …. (10th SADC Civil Society Forum) is concerned especially about the continued implementation of unlimited military service under which the Eritrean youth are kept under slave-like conditions rendering them futureless; indeed, the policy is forcing tens of thousands of young Eritreans to leave their country in search of safety and better future risking inhuman treatment at the hands of unscrupulous human traffickers, death in the high seas and deserts, rape and illicit organ harvesting....”
It was based on this understanding that the Harare Forum mandated senior SADC-CNGO leaders to further explore the situation in Eritrea and other affected countries in a workshop and see what can be done in the near future.
The four Eritreans attending the workshop were given the opportunity to present in great detail the ever worsening situation in their country. They also listed what the Eritrean opposition forces would like SADC-CNGO do for Eritreans inside the country and those in diaspora.
The invited delegation members were, as noted earlier, Ms Salwa Nour, a woman activist from the UAE, Ambassador Andebrehan Weldegiorgis of the Eritrean Forum for National Dialogue (Medrek), Mr. Woldeyesus Ammar from the Eritrean People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), and Mr. Kulubrehan Abraham of the South Africa-based Eritrean Movement for Democracy and Human Rights (EMDHR). Dr. Adane Ghebremeskel, the SADC-CNGO programme advisor also at times joined his compatriots in telling the appalling situation in today’s Eritrea.
Eritrean delegation with senior representatives of SADC-CNGO, SATUCC, COSATU, FOCCISA, MISA and Swaziland NGOs
The Johannesburg workshop thus decided, among others things:
To establish a solidarity body dedicated to follow up the situation in Eritrea and the other three affected countries singled out for increased solidarity and support of SADC-CNGO and others beyond the region;
To take action towards putting Eritrea in the African agenda so that it could be reviewed at the upcoming summit conference of SADC member states in February 2015;
Make approaches to civil society movements in eastern, western and northern Africa and promote solidarity for Eritreans struggling for peace and democratic governance;
Cognizant of the fact that Eritreans being forced to leave their country are not economic refugees or migrants but genuine refugees, the workshop believed that they deserve to obtain appropriate documentation in South Africa and rest of the SADC region and beyond until Eritrea transits from dictatorship to democratic rule.
Press Conference and SABC Interview
On 5 December, the SADC-CNGO organized a press conference to give further opportunity to the Eritrean delegation further explain the ever worsening political and human rights situation in the country. The Executive Director of SADC Council of NGO formations in all the 15 southern African countries opened the press conference with comprehensive explanation of what was discussed and decided at the workshop regarding Eritrea, Swaziland, Palestine and Western Sahara.
On their part, members of the Eritrean delegation expressed satisfaction with the historic solidarity and further pledges for support by the civil society in southern African countries and explained in more detail the distress facing Eritrea and its people under an extremely dictatorial regime. The outcome of the workshop was also disclosed to the attending members of the press, diplomats and civil society movements who came to the meeting in spite of the 5 December celebrations in Johannesburg marking the first anniversary of the death of Nelson Mandela. Among the participants were diplomats from the Ethiopian embassy in South Africa.
Delegation members were also given the opportunity for a live radio interview with Channel Africa at the headquarters of South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) which enjoys big audience all over Africa. Questions asked to and responded by two delegation members included the political, economic and human rights situation inside Eritrea, the plight of its refugees, the border issue, decisions of the UN Human Rights Commission and the Eritrean regime’s isolation from the rest of the world.
Meetings in Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria
Ms Salwa Nour had to depart after the 5 December press conference, but the rest of the delegation members took the opportunity of meeting with Eritrean community members, mostly in smaller numbers, in three South African cities. Most of the estimated 5,000 Eritrean community members in South Africa have no valid residence permits and are held as literal hostages of the Eritrean embassy.
Many of them are self-employed (owning small shops) and are nowadays extremely busy to earn year’s income this Christmas/summer season. It was learned that many have distanced themselves from the regime but they cannot manifest this position by attending opposition meetings or, if they do attend, by letting their pictures taken in such occasions.
On 6 December, three members of the delegation held an extensive discussion with members of the Eritrean community in Durban. Problems explained by the delegation members and later raised for comprehensive discussion in the question and answer session included the situation inside the homeland, the changing attitude of external powers towards the regime in Asmara, the disquieting situation of Eritrean refugees in many parts of the world, the fragmentation of the forces opposed to the regime and new initiatives for dialogue and realigning of the struggling forces to create a viable alternative force or forces for change and democratization in the country.
On 7 December, a similar get-together was held with members of the Eritrean community in the Johannesburg region.
A memorial picture of the ‘willing’ in Johannesburg
Members of the delegation also took the opportunity of meeting old friends and acquaintances individually and/or in smaller groups for exchange of notes on how the mobilization of the silent majority can be tackled and the forces in the opposition coalesced in an effective manner.
In the evening of Saturday, 29 November 2014, a good number of well appreciated and well known Eritrean democracy and human rights activists were gathered in Geneva. Ms Elsa Chyrum was there; also Meron Estefanos. And Selam Kidane. Also present among the invited guests was the UN Human Rights Rapporteur for Eritrea, Ms Sheila Keetharuth. EPDP’s Woldeyesus Ammar was also there.
For change, no political issues were raised. It was not a human rights meeting nor was it a consultation meeting on how to promote the works of the newly established UN Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea.
It was a happy social event: the wedding of another democracy and human rights activist – Dr. Daniel Rezene.
Harnnet.org believes readers need no introduction to Dr. Daniel Rezene and his guests at his wedding. The EPDP and its official website wish Dr. Daniel and his bride Wegahta a very Happy Wedding.
Young people fleeing Eritrea as ‘open-ended’ national service, soaring food prices and poor job prospects bite, says UNHCR
An Eritrean asylum seeker working at a sawmill in Einsiedeln Abbey, Switzerland, where 30 Eritreans have been given refuge. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP
The number of Eritreans seeking asylum in Europe has nearly tripled over the past year as mainly young refugees stream out of one of the world’s most secretive countries, fleeing an “open-ended” national service programme, soaring food prices and dire job prospects.
After Syrians, Eritreans are the most common nationality to arrive on European shores so far this year, comprising 22% of all people entering Italy by boat, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Nearly 37,000 Eritreans applied for asylum in 38 European countries over the first 10 months of this year, compared to about 13,000 in the same period last year, UNHCR reported. Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands have fielded the most asylum applications from Eritrean refugees. “The recognition rate of [Eritreans] asking for asylum in Europe and industrial countries is actually quite high – it’s between 80 and 90%,” said a UNHCR spokesperson.
Rising food prices and a lack of basic services have made Eritreans desperate to leave, said Meron Estefanos, an Eritrean activist based in Sweden. “Life is getting too expensive, people are starving. It’s really hard to find clean water, there is almost no electricity in the city, it’s just getting harder and harder.
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“Before, people knew where they wanted to go – they would plan in Sudan or in Libya where their final destination would be – but they don’t care any more. In almost every European country there is an increase in Eritrean [asylum seekers].”
About 90% of the Eritrean refugees who arrived in Ethiopia during the month of October are aged between 18 and 24, according to UNHCR. People fleeing the country say that renewed efforts by Eritrea’s government to enlist young people in the army has forced many to leave in pursuit of education and work abroad, according to Gruijl. “[The refugees] are seeing a stronger drive to recruit people into the national services – some of these services include military service. Even though officially it’s four and a half years, quite often it’s open-ended for the people.”
UNHCR reported more than 1,200 Eritrean refugees had fled into Ethiopia in the first week of November alone.
The UNHCR spokesperson said: “The harsh economic situation is clearly another reason [people flee Eritrea], as well as the round-ups and the reintensification of people being forced into these national services. According to the people we spoke to, there is now even an extra effort to get people who were previously deemed unfit for military service: school dropouts, children who have gotten their education degree at the end of grade 11 – they are now being targeted for these national services.”
In a press statement issued on 20 November, Eritrea’s ministry of foreign affairs said: “What is conveniently glossed over here is the fact that the mandatory, 18-months … national military service is prolonged solely because of Ethiopia’s occupation of sovereign Eritrean territories and its continued belligerence in breach of international law.
“The UNHCR itself has become, for over 10 years now, an unwitting catalyst in bolstering the pull factors by invariably categorising all Eritrean migrants as ‘prima facie asylum seekers’. In the event, it is odd for the UNHCR to issue intermittent statements or shed crocodile tears ‘on the increasing number of Eritrean asylum seekers’.”
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Eritrea’s long-serving president Isaias Afewerki has dismissed claims that his country will implode as its young people flee in droves. “I don’t think there are things we are missing because [refugees] are leaving. Those with impressionable hearts cannot contribute anything in the country because their hearts are somewhere else,” he said in a February address on state television.
Sheila Keetharuth, the UN’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea and a member of the commission, said: “I have had the opportunity to speak to many Eritreans who have fled their country. I am not surprised that the number of Eritreans choosing this path keeps increasing – simply because I have not seen authorities committing to changing the root causes of this exodus. My work has highlighted the lack of rule of law, breaches of fundamental rights, with scores of reported cases of extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention and torture in detention – all of which give reasons to Eritreans to flee. The protracted national service, under conditions that often turn it into forced labour and create a fertile ground for other violations, is another compelling one.
“The commission of inquiry that is starting its work today, and of which I am a member, will have the resources and expertise to look into all these reported violations in greater depth and detail. I am convinced that this will allow it to come up with an objective, compelling report on the situation of human rights in Eritrea today.”
Meron said Eritreans are hopeful that change might come after decades of oppression at the hands of their government: “We see what’s happening throughout the world, we’ve seen Burkina Faso – that gives us hope. For now, this regime has to go.”
• This article was changed on 24 November to clarify that 90% of the Eritrean refugees who arrived in Ethiopia, not in Europe, were aged between 18 and 24.
In parallel, the police in Italy were going against the smuggling gang. They took on the request of the public prosecutor Dortmund arrested a man who was wanted with a European arrest warrant. His extradition to Germany is requested. The arrests are due to common one-year investigation. (Dpa)
The workshop was an outcome of decisions taken by the 10th Civil Society Forum of SADC-CNGOs held last July in Harare, Zimbabwe. Eritrea was one of the four countries identified for support and solidarity by the SADC Council of NGOs from 15 African countries whose main objectives include support for democratization, conflict resolution and good governance. Regarding Eritrea, the July declaration partly stated as follows: 
Eritrean delegation with senior representatives of SADC-CNGO, SATUCC, COSATU, FOCCISA, MISA and Swaziland NGOs
On their part, members of the Eritrean delegation expressed satisfaction with the historic solidarity and further pledges for support by the civil society in southern African countries and explained in more detail the distress facing Eritrea and its people under an extremely dictatorial regime. The outcome of the workshop was also disclosed to the attending members of the press, diplomats and civil society movements who came to the meeting in spite of the 5 December celebrations in Johannesburg marking the first anniversary of the death of Nelson Mandela. Among the participants were diplomats from the Ethiopian embassy in South Africa. 
Delegation members were also given the opportunity for a live radio interview with Channel Africa at the headquarters of South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) which enjoys big audience all over Africa. Questions asked to and responded by two delegation members included the political, economic and human rights situation inside Eritrea, the plight of its refugees, the border issue, decisions of the UN Human Rights Commission and the Eritrean regime’s isolation from the rest of the world.
Many of them are self-employed (owning small shops) and are nowadays extremely busy to earn year’s income this Christmas/summer season. It was learned that many have distanced themselves from the regime but they cannot manifest this position by attending opposition meetings or, if they do attend, by letting their pictures taken in such occasions. 
A memorial picture of the ‘willing’ in Johannesburg