US renews travel warning for Eritrea
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
September 17, 2014 (ADDIS ABABA) – The US State Department has issued a new travel caution for Eritrea, strictly warning its citizens of the risks of travel to Eritrea.
This latest travel warning for Eritrea replaces a previous caution issued in November last year over security concerns.
According to a statement it released last week, the US State Department strongly recommended US citizens to refrain from travelling to the Red Sea nation, alleging authorities in Eritrea were depriving its citizens’ the requisite exit permit.
“The consular section is aware that there have been incidents of Eritrean officials refusing to issue exit permits to US passport holders even if they were born in the United States and entered Eritrea on visas issued by the Eritrea government,” it said.
It added Eritrean-US dual citizens may be at risk of arrest in Eritrea and that once arrested they may be held in custody for lengthy periods without charges pressed against them.
The statement said the Eritrean government continues to restrict the travel of all foreign nationals.
“These restrictions require all visitors and residents, including US diplomats (who must apply 10 days in advance) for permission to travel 25km outside Asmara’s city limits,” it said.
The secretive east African nation grants permission to tourist destinations areas such as Massawa and Keren however, requests by foreigners, including by diplomats, to areas near the borders and regions are typically turned down.
As a result, the state department said the US embassy cannot guarantee its ability to provide consular assistance outside the capital.
Despite the new travel warning should US citizens decide to travel to Eritrea it advised them to obtain an Eritrean visa before their arrival.
“The Embassy urges all U.S.-Eritrean dual citizens to obtain Eritrean visas in their US passports before travelling to Eritrea and to enter the country as US citizens”
The Embassy noted occurrence of numerous cases where US citizens entering Eritrea on passports of their other nationality have been detained and deprived permission to leave the country.
The State Department further alleged that the Eritrean government, since 2012 was arming its citizens with automatic rifles to form citizen militias who are tasked to patrol at night to check foreigners for documentation.
“The US embassy warns US citizens to use extreme caution when encountering armed citizens,” the statement said.
Eritrea has zero tolerance for dissent and doesn’t have independently functioning media outlets.
Most independent media outlets were banned following the 1998-2000 border war with Ethiopia.
The government-controlled Eritrean radio and television broadcast is the only one currently functioning.
The state-run Eritrean media regularly broadcasts anti-US rhetoric, and have done so repeatedly since December 2009, when the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) first imposed sanctions on Eritrea.
In 2009, the UNSC imposed an embargo on Eritrea over concerns the country was arming and financing Somalia’s radical Islamist group al-Shabab.
Eritrea has repeatedly denied the allegations and continues to call for the sanctions to be lifted.
(ST)