Eritrea
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DEMOGRAPHY
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LIFE & LIBERTY |
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[edit] Geography
[edit] Location
- Eritrea is a country situated in northern East Africa. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south and Djibouti in the southeast. The east and northeast of the country have an extensive coastline on the Red Sea, directly across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands are part of Eritrea. The country is virtually bisected by one of the world's longest mountain ranges, the Great Rift Valley, with fertile lands to the west and the descent to desert in the East.
[edit] Region
[edit] Climate
[edit] Natural Resources
[edit] Demographics
[edit] Peoples
[edit] Provinces
[edit] Life
- It is estimated that as many as 500 Eritreans try to escape from the horrors of the Marxist government every week. According to Believers, they “are prepared to risk the dangers of minefields, crocodile-inhabited rivers and border guards who’ve been instructed to ‘shoot-to-kill’, just to find refuge in a neighboring country. ”A recent report issued by Human Rights Watch called Eritrea “one giant prison.”
[edit] Economy
[edit] Government
- Type of Government: One party state
- Peace and national recovery has been delayed by conflicts with Ethiopia and Yemen. The Ethiopian war caused the death of 70,000+ Eritreans and Ethiopians in fierce trench warfare. The two presidents are both Tigrinya and were once friends. Pray for humility, willingness to compromise on the part of the leaders, and a just peace to end hostilities that neither country can afford.
[edit] Severe persecution needs God’s intervention
- Eritrea is a highly repressive totalitarian state with an estimated 20,000 political prisoners. In September 2001 President Isaias Afewerki launched a campaign of severe repression. He banned foreign journalists, closed independent media and arrested and 'disappeared' hundreds of critics, including journalists and politicians. The repressive and violent political situation has generated a refugee crisis. Some 66,000 largely forgotten Eritreans are stuck in refugee camps in eastern Sudan and according to the UN High Commission for Refugees they continue to arrive at the rate of 1,800 a month.
- Eritrea is half Muslim (mostly Sunni) and half Christian (mostly Oriental Orthodox). In May 2002 the regime banned all religion except state-approved Islam, Eritrean (Oriental) Orthodox, Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism. The banned mission churches, independent fellowships and Protestants account for some 20,000 believers. In January 2006, the regime forcefully took over the administration of the Eritrean Orthodox Church (EOC) and arrested those who protested. There is a renewal movement inside the EOC known as 'Medhane Alem' and dozens of its leaders also have been arrested, accused of heresy. Because Eritrea has absolutely no freedom of expression and no independent media, information on the persecuted church can only be leaked out at great personal risk.
- Today some 3,000 Eritrean Christians are imprisoned for their faith. Some are in underground and solitary cells whilst some are in 'secret' prisons for the 'disappeared'. However, most are herded into unventilated shipping containers in the desert where dysentery and infectious diseases go untreated. Torture is routine.
[edit] Religion
- Islam 48%, Christianity 47.4%, Other 4.6%. Following a 2002 government decree that religious groups must register, the government closed all religious facilities not belonging to the country’s four principal religious groups: the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church of Eritrea, Islam and the Roman Catholic Church.
[edit] Islam
[edit] Buddhism
[edit] Christianity
[edit] History
[edit] Churches
[edit] Church and State Relations
- Despite its size (smaller in land area than Nepal or Tunisia, and smaller in population than Turkmenistan), the nation of Eritrea is inflicting great suffering on Christians. The constitution supposedly guarantees freedom of religion, yet since 2002, only certain mainline churches have been approved of by the state. The rest – especially evangelical and pentecostal churches – have been forced to close.
- The government only recognizes Islam and Eritrean Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran Christian denominations as “historical” legal religions. High-ranking clergy of these churches have been replaced by the government’s choice of men, and many believe the clampdown is an attempt of President Isaias Afwerki’s government to control church members.
- Government restrictions have stopped Christian organisations from bringing help and aid into Eritrea and made it hard for any Christians to go and live or work there. Pray that these restrictions would be lifted. Pray also for the thousands of Christians who are imprisoned that there might be a change of attitude by the regime.
[edit] Mission
[edit] Broadcasting
[edit] Councils and Networks
[edit] Persecution
- Freedom of religion is a major issue. Fear of Islamist extremism and Christian evangelicalism has virtually ended international NGO projects and aid and has also restricted the entry of expatriate Christian workers. Pray for these restrictions to be lifted and for harmony between the ethnic and religious communities to be maintained.
- The government severely restricts freedom of religion for unregistered groups (mainly evangelicals) and violates the rights of some registered groups. Churchs meeting of these groups closed. Even families, who prayed together were put in prison. Since 2006 things got worse and more than 2,000 Christians were imprisoned, some in shipping containers, without official charges or access to judicial process. Many have been beaten and physically abused by police. Two were tortured to death two days after their arrest for holding a religious service in a private home.
- Eritrea is ranked No. 13 among nations that are the worst persecutors of Christians. On August 19, 2007, 10 members of the Full Gospel Church were arrested as they worshipped in a house in Asmara. Some 2,000 Eritrean Protestants are presently (November 07) suffering for their faith under appalling conditions in prison. Recently, a group of 10 single Christian women who had been in prison for some 18 months were separated from other prisoners and taken to the Weaa Military Training Centre. The women were then ordered to recant their faith and were tortured when they refused. On September 5, 2007, Nigsti Haile, 33, was tortured to death. She is the fourth Christian to die in custody due to torture. The systematic persecution of Protestants began in mid-2002. Some Eritrean Catholic and Eritrean Orthodox churches also have since come under attack for resisting the government's attempts to control them. On August 16, 2007, the government ordered that all schools, clinics, orphanages and women's vocational training centers of Eritrea's Catholic Church be turned over to the government's Ministry of Social Welfare and labour. The government routinely dismissed U.S. government concerns, citing the absence of conflict between Christians and Muslims within the country and its concerns about disruptive practices of some religious groups that it feared would disrupt the country's “social harmony.” In November 2006, the U.S. Secretary of State again designated Eritrea as a "Country of Particular Concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act for particularly severe violations of religious freedom.
- Pray for wisdom, strength and courage for church leaders and their congregations in the face of intimidation.
- Ask God to change the hearts of those in power so they rule with justice for the good of all Eritreans.
- In a major answer to prayer, security police authorities in Eritrea released 35 evangelical Christians in the port city of Massawa February 16, 2008, after holding them in custody for six weeks at a local police station. All the jailed Protestants were members of the government-banned Faith of Christ Church. The 35 men and women had been worshiping in a private home on January 6, 2008 when security officials raided the house and arrested those present. The group was denied visitation rights while in police custody, although official charges were never filed against them.
- On February 13, 2008, 10 members of the Faith of Christ Church who had been incarcerated for five years in Assab’s notorious military prison were released on bail. The seven men and three women had been transferred from Assab to the Adi-Abyto prison six months ago.
- Since 2002, the oppressive regime has outlawed all independent Protestant churches, closing their buildings and banning gatherings in private homes. Worshippers caught disobeying the blanket restrictions are arrested and tortured for weeks, months or even years. They are never allowed legal counsel or brought to trial.
- According to Compass Direct News: An evangelist imprisoned since 2006 for his Christian activities is receiving especially harsh treatment because of his ministry to inmates. Sources said Teame Weldegebriel is on the brink of despair as he languishes at the Mai Sirwa Maximum Security Confinement prison. “It seems that hell has broken loose on me,” Weldegebriel said. “Please tell the brethren to continue praying for me. I am not sure I will see them again.” Weldegebriel’s family is worried about his health after trying repeatedly, without success, to get permission to visit him. In Eritrea more than 2,000 Christians are imprisoned for their faith, including a Christian from a Full Gospel Church who was arrested in 2001. His wife last saw him in June 2007. She and her children were rounded up from a prayer meeting in mid-July and placed in a metal shipping container until their release last month, his wife said. “I was arrested with my children while having a prayer meeting with 20 other Christians,” said the woman, who requested anonymity for security reasons. “I remember the horrible ordeal I went through with the children. After three weeks I was released with my two children, while the other Christian soldiers remained locked in the prison cells.”
- In November 2006, the U.S. Secretary of State again designated Eritrea as a "Country of Particular Concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act for particularly severe violations of religious freedom.
- Remember those many more in prison, they need strength of our LORD, and their families who wait anxiously for news of their release.
- A Believer imprisoned by the repressive government of Eritrea died in August 2009 because authorities refused to provide him with medical treatment. Yemane Kahasay Andom contracted malaria at the Mitire Confinement Center after “continuous physical torture” and solitary confinement. He would not sign a letter renouncing his faith and became the third Christian prisoner to die in Eritrea in 2009.
[edit] Future Trends
[edit] For More Reading
