Strategic Thinking on East Africa

  Eritrea’s human rights situation has long been a source of contention. Eritreans gathered in Geneva last year to protest the country’s human rights review, which they consider to have been falsified. (Keystone) Following a fact-finding mission to Eritrea, Swiss authorities have determined that the human rights situation has not improved for the thousands of […]

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OPINION By Hagos Abraha It is not unusual for the Eritrea regime to repeat its make believe claims regarding Ethiopia and the region in general. However, it not always we find respected institutions engaged in such intellectually bankrupt propaganda. Sadly, that was the case with the recent article published by the Nordic Africa Institute. We […]

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STR/AFP/Getty by THOMAS D. WILLIAMS, PH.D.18 Apr 2016310 More than 400 drowned when a vessel crammed with migrants capsized early Monday morning during an attempt to make the crossing from Egypt to southern Italy across the perilous Strait of Sicily. The migrants were mostly Somalis, along with some fleeing from Ethiopia and Eritrea, and all […]

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BY LAURA SECORUN PALETAPR 172016 ACUMEN Every day all over the world, people cross borders in search of a better life. But you know things are truly bad back home when you need to seek refuge in Sudan. That’s precisely what more than 125,530 people have done — and the United Nations High Commissioner […]

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The strathink editorial team could not resist posting this story about young people in Ethiopia taking up the sport of skateboarding. While children in Eritrea are risking their lives to flee Eritrea’s oppressive indefinite national service, young people in Ethiopia are enjoying their youth. From BBC Ethiopia’s young skateboarders, who find it hard to get […]

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Discredited Danish report on Eritrea human rights leaves refugees stranded on European route. James Rippingale | Refugees stand among the remains of the Kurdish and Eritrean areas of Calais’ ‘the Jungle’ after French authorities bulldozed this part of the camp [James Rippingale/Al Jazeera] Calais, France - Away from the forced conscriptions, enforced disappearances, torture and religious repression […]

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Eritea is considered to be one of the most secretive states in the world. But in a bid to rehabilitate its repressive image, the country has recently begun opening up to journalists. FRANCE 24 reports on the mass exodus of Eritreans every month. It’s a country so secretive it’s been dubbed the “North Korea of […]

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Samuel Gebre Unaccompanied children are fleeing Eritrea to avoid conscription, putting them at risk of abduction and abuse as they seek shelter in places including Europe, a United Nations rights envoy said. There’s been a “steady influx of Eritrean unaccompanied and separated children” into Egypt and neighboring Ethiopia and Sudan since 2008, Sheila B. Keetharuth, […]

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Ethiopia hosts the highest number of refugees in Africa, a large number of whom are fleeing neighbouring Eritrea. Stefania Prandi | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - After Syrians and Afghans, Eritreans comprise the third largest group to cross the Mediterranean Sea. They are aware that their lives are at great risk during the journey, but they would rather take […]

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ASMARA | BY EDMUND BLAIR Passangers wait for public transport at a bus-stop in Eritrea’s capital Asmara, February 20, 2016. REUTERS/THOMAS MUKOYA Eritrea is not prepared to stop forcing its youth into lengthy stretches of work as soldiers and civil servants, a conscription policy that is driving waves of refugees to make the perilous trip across the Sahara […]

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