Eritrea expels BBC correspondent

NAIROBI, Sept 11 (AFP) — Eritrea has expelled BBC reporter Jonah Fisher from the northeast African country with no explanation given, Fisher told AFP on Saturday.

Last week, the Eritrean government “cancelled my press accreditation and soon after they gave me three days to leave the country,” explained Fisher over the phone in Nairobi, where he is presently staying.

He said he left Asmara on Thursday.

The Briton, who was also a free-lance journalist for other media, was the only permanent foreign correspondent in Eritrea along with the one from Agence France-Presse (AFP), who is currently being replaced as part of an internal succession. AFP’s new correspondent is expected on Sunday in Asmara.

“I’ve been expelled from Eritrea with no reason given,” Fisher said. “But I can guess it’s because I upset them one too many times.”

He had notably written an article at the end of May for the British daily The Independent entitled “To some Eritreans, freedom means prison and torture”.

The article mentioned an Amnesty International report on human rights abuses in Eritrea.

In 2004, for the third year running, Eritrea, a small country in the Horn of Africa, was classified as one of the 10 worst countries in the world to work as a journalist, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide.

In September 2001, the Eritrean government decided to shut down all private media and arrested several Eritrean journalists.