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31.10.2019  FEATURE

...In Eritrea, is another dictator called IsaiasAfwerki, who has been in power since 1993. The government shut down all independent media in 2001. Afwerki’s hate for journalists has made him the most vicious jailer of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa.

At least 16 journalists were put behind bars on December 1, 2018. Most of them were imprisoned after the repressions of 2001, and none of them was brought to trial. According to Article 19, the Freedom of Expression Organization, the 1996 Press Law requires media to promote national goals.

The state retains a legal monopoly to broadcast media, and state-owned media reporters adhere to the editorial position of the government for fear of retaliation.

According to the Deutsche Academy, alternative sources of information, such as the internet, satellite broadcast or banned radio stations, are limited due to specially created interference and poor quality of Internet speed controlled by the government.

Also, the United Nations International Telecommunication Union, reveals that the level of Internet distribution is extremely low, just over 1% of the population has access to the global network. Users are forced to visit Internet cafes, where they are easy to follow and control.

A report from the ICT Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and South Africa, published in March 2019, states that an authoritarian state is so violent or imperious that it makes it unnecessary to tune out Internet failures.

However, on May 15, 2019, the BBC announced the closure of access to social networks in Eritrea before the celebration of the country's Independence Day. According to The Economist, with the opening of the border with Ethiopia in mid-2018, some foreign journalists received special accreditation to visit Eritrea, but access was strictly controlled.

Based on the latest information, seven journalists under arrest died. The Committee to Protect Journalists - CPJ, was unable to confirm this information due to an atmosphere of fear and tight government control. The government rejected all requests for specific information about the fate of imprisoned journalists.

In June 2019, more than 100 leading African journalists, scholars and human rights activists wrote an open letter to President Afwerki, asking them to visit long-imprisoned journalists and activists but the request was strongly rejected, as it was deemed inappropriate by the Ministry of Information.

https://www.modernghana.com/news/964886 ... -afri.html