Eritrea: Summary of concerns and recommendations

Summary of concerns

The Eritrean regime remains one of the most repressive on the African continent. It continues to be one of the foremost global abusers of religious freedom, and is the world’s worst abuser of the media.

The country was recently identified as one of five countries with extremely alarming 2011 Global Hunger Index scores2, particularly worrying in view of persistent reports of manipulation of food distribution in favour of government supporters. Despite government denials there is increasing evidence that the nation has been adversely affected by the current drought in the Horn of Africa, and has contributed towards fomenting unrest in the Horn of Africa. A July 2011 UN report detailed an Eritrean-inspired bomb plot against the African Union (AU) summit. According to the report, the regime recruited, trained, planned and funded Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) fighters to bomb the event in Ethiopia.3 Eritrea is also accused of assisting the al Qaeda-linked Islamist militia al Shabaab in Somalia.

Eritrea attempted to end its self-inflicted diplomatic isolation by rejoining the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an organisation it had earlier left. However, on 24 August 2011 its delegation was asked to leave an IGAD meeting, and IGAD subsequently proposed further UN sanctions to combat the country’s negative role in the Horn of Africa.

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