Category: Featured

Sweden “legally bound” to Seek Dawit Isaak Release

Lawyers and activists argued on Monday that Sweden and the EU are legally bound to work harder to secure the release of Dawit Isaak, an Eritrean-Swedish journalist who has been held in Asmara for nearly a decade without trial. “In our opinion, Sweden and the EU…

ONCE again Africa’s worthiest and perhaps happiest countries, according to Mo Ibrahim’s latest measure of all-round governance, scrutinising data gathered for last year, are offshore. Mauritius is the runaway winner, followed by the Seychelles in second place and Cape Verde fourth (see table). On the African…

They shoot migrants, don’t they?

Egypt, a state that over the past four years has allegedly shot and killed more than 80 African migrants trying to cross into Israel over the Sinai Desert border, became chair on Friday of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees executive committee, sparking criticism by human…

Escaping Eritrea

In September 2001, Aaron Berhane made the heart-wrenching decision to escape Eritrea. He left behind his wife and young children, as well as his prestigious job as editor-in-chief of the country’s largest circulation newspaper, Setit. It was his work that left Aaron with no option but…

Refugee hopes to raise awareness of Eritrean plight

Bereket Yohannes often lies awake at night in his East Kildonan home and wonders where his relatives are or if they’re even alive. His sister, Esther Yohannes, her husband, Petros Soloman, and their three children are among Eritrea’s many missing and unaccounted for citizens. “My brother-in-law…

Eritrean Refugees in Libya Held in Inhumane Conditions in a Single Cell

Hundreds of Eritrean refugees who were transported in trucks “like cattle” from Misrata prison in Libya to Sabha detention centre, situated on the edge of the Sahara desert, are being held together in a single, dark and overcrowded cell. They have been given nothing to eat…