EXCLUSIVE #Reporters - A visa for Eritrea, the 'African North Korea'

in eritrea there is no war there is no famine yet every month up to 5 000 people flee the small horn of africa country can we ask you a few questions no can we ask you a few questions for french television can we ask you some questions for french television i'm not interested in politics so sorry in eritrea people are reluctant to talk about the government this secretive nation is notorious for its poor human rights record there's no personality cult here but the countries had the same president isaiah since its independence in 1993 and there's only one political party people in the eritrean government live normal lives they don't need guards they don't need armed soldiers to protect them this is a government that is very close to the people so this is a government that came out of the population itself for this documentary we interviewed several opponents of the regime who all live in exile there was the outbreak of the eurozone revolution in september 1961 all the way to 1991. here all electricians supported eblf as a vehicle for realization the aspiration of independence there is a question that the europeans ask right now 25 years of independence of liberation what what did we gain country's leaders were members of a marxist guerrilla movement it fought for 30 years for eritrea to gain its independence from ethiopia in 1991. access to health and education is free there are hardly any private firms eritrea's five million inhabitants often have to queue especially in banks which all belong to the state we don't have that type of mission to withdraw money you know we have to depend on this thing today we have many people who are waiting to withdraw money so sometimes it may take half an hour and some other times it may take longer the government refuses to publish economic statistics arguing that they would be used against it by its enemies eritrea is one of the poorest countries in the world the state hopes that one day taurus will flock here to admire among other things asmara's art deco italian architecture but for that to happen it knows it must first change the country's image one of the tasks of the ministry of information is to improve eritrea's reputation not you need only you can make it right what you want you need it yes you make a sign and we can prepare for it only it's rare for western journalists to obtain visas we are allowed to stay for only a few days our program is busy we will visit asmara the small town of agardat and the port of masawa our guides work for the ministry of information we start by a swift tour of the country's only tv station currently we have only one television that's the government on every tv why is there only one we have independent information but we don't have independent tv in china we have only the government owned very tv and do you feel free as a journalist to say anything you want i'm always free i'm free to move i'm free to speak i'm free to write sixty thousand people lost their lives during the independence struggle in 1991 when eritrea became a nation ethiopia lost all access to the sea today ethiopia still occupies eritrean territory that it took during a bloody two-year border dispute that ended in may 2000. all these are the remainders of the war of the ethiopian army vehicles tankers and other things so they collected here for some for exhibit for museums during the struggle emanuel our guide from the ministry was on the front line he can remember all the past things because to gain this one we pay a lot of pay life of our friends brothers and sisters so and we get the independence and we have to be work very hard to build the country for the future like emmanuel thousands fought for the eplf the eritrean people's liberation front which later became the country's only political party for this we get freedom we get freedom from ethiopians they are happy we are proud by this by this yes they are proud emanuel leaves us with yishank who will be our interpreter today ishaq takes us around medibar market where everything is recycled self-sufficiency is the government's favorite slogan it's vital in a country where the average wage is around 30 euros a month i'll see you tonight this is his father's property so he is helping his father after school many young eritreans choose to flee the country several thousand leave every month according to the united nations in eritrea it's a taboo subject why are young people fleeing this country i don't know do people really run away i haven't seen any i stay here do you support those who are leaving that's their choice in recent years pictures like these of eritreans risking their lives to reach europe have sadly become all too common they are fleeing poverty a one-party regime and above all a badly paid indefinite national service obligatory for all men and women people are escaping because they are stifled you know they can't breathe anymore because you know without the freedom to to work the freedom to have a family the freedom to travel freedom to go to education what life do you have the young people see that they can't do any activity as long as that national service obligation exists it's endless there is no legal way of going out of the national service some people can go out earlier but there is no way of knowing if you can go out of the national service and start your life the information minister who's very close to president isaias strongly disagrees we thought we'll show you one film on migration because migration is a topical issue in the west press coverage is mostly sensational it does not try to explore the underlying causes maybe this will give you a different perspective eritrea's national service program has drawn much attention and criticism by the international media as the primary cause of emigration the more extreme journalists and ngos have even gone as far as calling the programme slavery the 20-minute film makes two main statements firstly it says that people leave eritrea only for economic reasons not because they are persecuted secondly it says the west is attracting eritreans because it grants them asylum too easily the european union admits that nowadays many migrants from other countries claim to be eritreans the ministry's film also says the goal of national service is to protect the country occupying badminton the water breaks out if they attack tomorrow what do you do so everybody in the national service has an obligation and you will be recalled but you do civilian john so everybody is doing civilian job so when we talk about national services we're talking about people who are in the army we're talking about some of them are in the army yes but the majority of them are doing civilian jobs but are you trying to limit it or what is the objective the question we ask is why do you ask us to make um not effort but but but to take solutions that will that threaten our existence when we also have levels and you are not using them the ethiopia continues to rattle the suburbs to to make threats of war against their right continues to occupy our land this is against international law against the the the alger's peace treaty which was guaranteed by the security council young eritreans who have not fled stay connected to the diaspora through the internet they use wi-fi outside and inside internet cafes but the network is desperately slow for once we can film without our minders these young girls tell us what they think about ethiopians we have so much similarities and stuff i like we as a young the youngest people in eritrea have nothing against ethiopians i so does the ita pencil we just all want peace and we just want peace not that's all national service can be carried out in the army but most of the time it means working as a secretary or in a shop we accept that we have to do something for our country and we're gonna get something back to some reward back to us defending ourselves and it's all for good so it's good for us but when we don't say we're filming eritreans like our taxi driver that evening deliver a damning verdict on the national service how many years do you stay as a military military how many years unknown time that's the problem that's why many eritreans go to another country for for italy somewhere i don't want national service because i'm 10 years old in national service not finished i'm hyped from police i'm working in the night time in taxi in the daytime in my own sleep so why don't you try and leave eritrea because the border is very by by the soldier is some problem because when i was go out from sudan or i need some money because of money problem five thousand dollars to enter to surah 6 000 to utopia that come up at night today our interpreter is mila she regularly writes articles for the state newspaper the only one in the country miller grew up in switzerland and is a staunch defender of the government in aggregate and in the rest of every trail you have several different ethnic groups living together muslims and christians living and working together people have friends from other ethnic groups that's how eritrea is eritrea doesn't want her vision her culture her way of seeing things to be imposed by the outside world each country has its own characteristics we have economic problems but the country is very very safe it's true the country does have a low crime rate the regime's detractors say this is also because eritreans fear the authorities we are stopped at a checkpoint foreigners in eritrea cannot leave the capital without a travel permit with the problems we've had along our border we don't want anyone going just anywhere that's also why this travel permit exists the government is saying that eritrea is in danger eritrea is under threat of a massive invasion by ethiopia what the ethiopians are saying that we are not interested in any military action against syria well i think both countries are benefiting of the situation which is existing now the written government is trying to invest this situation to stay in power the ethiopians would like to see eritrea suffer by the roadside outside asmara we chance upon a scene that has not been prepared by our reminders from the ministry no push with your hands come on push whilst they're asking what we're doing here hello how are you this is a document from the information ministry there are guests from france they're shooting a documentary to see what the government's policies are it's a voluntary service they're not paid the roads belong to the people it's their decision to be here but the rock breakers tell us another story who is paying you we haven't any more i explained to them we are doing our national service be brave don't worry say what you have to say i told them our supervisor is over there and they can talk to him just say that no more you've been brave they don't give us anything it's the military service just as we are about to leave the old worker has a request i want something i am a poor man i can write i can read please help me that one all right back in asmara we have an appointment with one of the country's most influential men yemani gabriab he's head of political affairs in the ruling party we ask him why the regime became authoritarian after 2001. that year several political leaders were imprisoned after they asked the president to make the country more democratic where are they are they still alive as eritreans we have decided to handle this issue of this 15 because of their role during the war and their previous role as a national issue and we have decided to go at it in a very different way as i said these are very people have committed very serious offenses and serious crimes but we wanted to deal with it in a way that will help us heal the wounds in this society and maintain our unity according to amnesty international there are currently around 10 000 political prisoners in the country when a prisoner arrives he's in chains he's blindfolded when his family knows where he is they will move him he can go from prison to prison most of them are underground there are some all over the country when he arrives the prisoner asks what crime he's committed you spend your life in prison those who interrogate prisoners come from the outside they are not prison workers during the interrogation and blood on their legs on their ankles all over their bodies and you know they've been interrogated we would come here this construction site is jointly managed by italian company piccini and the eritrean state more or less 15 15 people italian people and romania people and there is another 150 more or less people the local people eritrean people that work here the walls of houses are prepared in special molds italian group piccini says the aim here is the transfer of skills and technology this factory is the eritrean factor so in the future is necessary that work here always they help korean people the expatriate teach to the and people all work in the factory this is too much important most of the employees here are no ordinary workers the people that were here there is more or less 70 percent soldier and 30 percent the civil people we expressed our surprise at seeing soldiers working in a factory all of them today we leave asmara which lies 2400 meters above sea level and head for the port of masawa a two-hour drive down a windy road the views are stunning and will surely attract droves of tourists one day for three centuries misawa was part of the ottoman empire but during the independence struggle against ethiopia much of it was destroyed this was a bar the front was from this side the shelling was heated battery that's when this city massa was liberated the items they can't get to gain the victory so they lose so they are getting angry i don't know they can bomb into the civilians not the military it's a sleepy town residents tell us they only see one big cargo ship every 20 days because of the tensions ethiopia and its 87 million inhabitants only uses djibouti to trade goods much like the port nasa's hotels are usually empty primo giovanni is half italian half eritrean he owns the grand hotel dalak giovanni supports the government and gets irritated when we ask him what he thinks of the country's youth exodus speaking these people i don't like these people why are you going because everybody in the morning and evening they eat here why are you going here why why before people they going glad they see my about to buy sheep this way how are you going to live behind pedo for this crazy people come on see they may seem input very big sea people make it no one people two days holiday you know no no people little tourists look the sun primo giovanni may wait for tourists to arrive but many other eritreans prefer to flee a young nation where national service seems to have no end our report by romeo longwa and nicola germain on live in eritrea see it again on our website francemancat.com this is reporters plus thanks for watching stay with us

Channel: FRANCE 24 English

Views: 353,261

Keywords: Eritrea, Ethiopia, migrants, REPORTERS, france24, news, Reporters, Asmara, Africa, African, France 24 English, exclusive, Report, Freedom of press

Id: 7YW95Zn4wII

Length: 27min 11sec (1631 seconds)

Published: Fri May 13 2016