Inside Eritrea, Africa’s gulag state
Shops are bare, youngsters hide to avoid conscription
In the corner of a quiet bar in Asmara, Eritrea’s capital, Mulugeta (not his real name) hatches a plan to escape. He has made contact with the people-smugglers who say they will arrange the crossing to Sudan. His older siblings in America have paid the fee. From Sudan, he will travel to Libya—and then to Europe. But his voice is hushed: in Eritrea a young man needs permission from the army to move freely. Mulugeta fears being conscripted and sent to fight in Ethiopia. He does not want to die in another country’s civil war.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Issaias’s army”
From the May 28th 2022 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Middle East & Africa
Three big lawsuits against Meta in Kenya may have global implications
One was prompted by the murder of an Ethiopian professor
Trump should try to end, not manage, the Middle East’s oldest conflicts
And he should see the region as more than a source of instability and arms deals
Government by social media in Somalia
Cheap data, social media and creativity are filling in for an absent state
The Gaza ceasefire is stoking violence in the West Bank
Hamas and the Israeli far right both want to destabilise the West Bank
How Turkey plans to expand its influence in the new Syria
Its influence could cause tensions with the Arab world—and Israel
The start of a fragile truce in Gaza offers relief and joy
But the ceasefire is not yet the end of the war