Eritrea: 'Troops deployed' in Asmara

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

i am a Xaaji waligay been ma sheegin xita markan is dhiibayey magacayga saxdan isku dhiibay

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Reports of unrest in small African nation Eritrea

 

Posted: Monday, January 21, 2013 10:34 am | Updated: 12:07 pm, Mon Jan 21, 2013.

Associated Press | 0 comments

More than 100 dissident soldiers stormed the Ministry of Information in the small East African nation of Eritrea on Monday and read a statement on state TV saying the country's 1997 constitution would be put into force, two Eritrea experts said.

The soldiers held all of the ministry workers _ including the daughter of the president _ in a single room, said Leonard Vincent, author of the book "The Eritreans" and co-founder of a Paris-based Eritrean radio station. The soldiers' broadcast on state TV said the country's 1997 constitution would be reinstated and all political prisoners freed, but the broadcast was cut off after only two sentences were read and the signal has been off air the rest of the day, Vincent said.

By late afternoon there were indications the soldiers' attempt would fail. A military tank sat in front of the Ministry of Information but the streets of the capital, Asmara, were quiet, and no shots had been fired, said a Western diplomat in Eritrea who wasn't authorized to be identified by name.

Vincent stopped short of calling it a coup d'etat and said it wasn't immediately clear if the action was a well-organized coup attempt or what he called a "kamikaze crash."

Later Monday government soldiers surrounded the ministry, an indication the action by the dissident soldiers had failed, said Martin Plaut, a fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies in Britain.

"It looks like it's an isolated attempt by some soldiers who are completely frustrated by what is going on. But it wasn't done in a coordinated manner," Plaut said. "They did seize the television station, they did manage to put this broadcast out, but the government is still functioning calmly. There is nothing on the streets."

Eritrea is an oppressive and politically isolated neighbor of Ethiopia and Sudan situated on the Red Sea that broke off from Ethiopia in the 1990s. The U.S. government's relations with Eritrea became strained in 2001 as a result of a government crackdown against political dissidents, the closing of the independent press and limits on civil liberties, conditions that the State Department says have "persisted to this day."

Isaias Afworki has ruled the country as president and head of the military since 1993.

If the power grab attempt by the dissident soldiers fails, they are likely in for severe punishments, Vincent and Plaut said.

"People call it the North Korea of Africa and that is accurate, so you either win or you're dead, and I think these people are dead," Plaut said. "One can't be absolutely sure but that's what it looks like."

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[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Still no official statement from Asmara how the situation is

[The Sage]

They're too busy torturing and jailing the dissidents to make an official statement....Afwerki takes his cues from Kim Jong Il

[oba hiloowlow]

afawerqis is a garac i hope his time ends unlikely tho but you can still hope

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Why are people hating on President isayas afewerki he is a good man and a patriot he loves his country it might be a prison but Eritrea is prospering. If he was a Muslim i would call him a Mujahid.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Eritrea: Asmara calm after 'information ministry raid'

 

Eritrea: Asmara calm after 'information ministry raid'

 

EriTV was broadcasting an episode of the US science fiction show The X-Files on Tuesday

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Eritrea facts and figures

Eritrea's capital is calm a day after mutinous soldiers reportedly stormed the information ministry, sources say, while state TV is back on air.

 

A European diplomat in Asmara told the AFP news agency that the mutineers had left the ministry building and there was no visible military presence.

 

Opposition website Awate says the raid was led by an army commander, who has been pushing for political change.

 

Eritrea has been a one-party state since independence in 1993.

 

Its government has been criticised by human rights activists, who say it is one of the world's most repressive and closed countries.

 

State television is back on air after broadcasts were interrupted for several hours on Monday.

 

 

The dissident soldiers reportedly had a statement calling for the implementation of the country's 1997 constitution and the release of political prisoners read out on air.

 

Eritrea expert Leonard Vincent, an author and co-founder of a Paris-based Eritrean radio station, told AP news agency the broadcast of the statement was cut off after only two sentences were read out.

 

There has been no official statement about Monday's incident.

 

Yemane Gebremeskel, a director in the president's office, told AFP that all was calm in Asmara, as it had been on Monday.

 

The Eritrean ambassador to South Africa, Salih Omar, told AP that there had been no sign of a coup "or any other signs of uprising".

 

Awate reported that the daughter of President Isaias Afewerki was caught up in the trouble at the ministry of information.

 

Mr Isaias, who has ruled since 1993, has little tolerance for criticism and the country does not allow opposition parties, independent journalism or civil society organisations.