Eritrea, Africa’s gulag state, is on the march
President Issaias Afwerki is fanning war and undermining democracy across the region
IT IS AN unlikely pairing. Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s prime minister, is young, charismatic and says he is committed to democracy in Africa’s second-most-populous country. Until war erupted in November in Tigray, a northern region, he was a darling of the world. In 2019 he won the Nobel peace prize for ending a war with Eritrea. Yet he is now knee-deep in blood alongside Eritrea’s president, Issaias Afwerki, an ageing dictator who locks up dissidents in shipping crates in the desert.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Brothers in blood”
From the May 22nd 2021 edition
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