Leaks from Eritrea, Africa's North Korea

well Pat emoticon shadow shows an amicus they are not opposing with a universal data byung-soo the stories the Independence Party I think I'm using the freedom I have on the availability of the digital processes you know all my people people do everything behind closed doors you have to be careful about intention of the next Ando day informal ala personas la serda nuncius divert a mechanic theresa mark and oh oh man one day Timo [Music] I've gotten too cool on what AHA Montana hey you don't make in LA I got a cottonmouth not talking about the desert on that inundated by Tonga and Holly were the best negated knowledge you [Music] that's Ana's Aloha Gurkha septa said he would search he was so I would Sonny I know are they nuts of Natalia and Tohono murder of say Guerra decades the video girl I'm mental enough zero from the colors I deal in it goodness observes Lazar lo at you was it is a little over IVF that I'm time that's another one an estimated 5,000 people leave Eritrea every month and almost as many men women and children left that country last year as fled Syria it is a human exodus that is all the more staggering when you consider that this is a country of just six million people and one that is not presently at war Eritrea is officially the world's most censored country president Esaias F workman has ruled the country since its independence from neighboring Ethiopia more than 20 years ago access to information is limited just 1% of the population have access to the Internet and only 6% have a mobile phone the law does not allow independent media to operate and the government controls all media outlets foreign access to the country is heavily restricted with independent footage being extremely rare in June 2015 the UN published a commission of inquiry on human rights in Eritrea the Commission found that systematic widespread and gross human rights violations have been and are being committed with impunity in Eritrea all eretrians are conscripted into the army for national service that can last their lifetime a policy which international organizations and politicians have equated to slavery I recently renewed sanctions on some of the worst abusers including North Korea and Eritrea effectivity affirmed a confession maximun Mizuki see pass it takes them on our external partner citta IPTV to support leadership [Music] the Eritrean rebel group Rosado from the afar region claim to fight for democracy in Eritrea the organization conducts missions inside Eritrea retreating back to safety in neighboring Ethiopia we met with the group after just having returned from a mission a contest Anita la alarma our higher gravity a mystery shantamma for kuru selected from tama I come up with anything in her top the whole scenery Amata have a tonic DD what a hothead to Lou give al a un ty a llama selenium alibi Albert anathan in myself that I do need an attorney Mikado Matata oddly data like summer home Salah my religion in democracy in pedophilia ok data like how are you gonna take a key had vanilla cinnamon Salama Rita pulled the Barossa lightning letter had the Liberata chaotically along in their inclusion couldn't happen is if a look yeah you know the antibody in the body mata Hamilton he so your thank you a little machine I mean till now filmmaking la Habana in tomorrow it'll be for you tonight how do we fight here now [Music] 2015 figures from the UNHCR report that there are just under 400,000 Eritrean refugees in East Africa a figure which equates to around 6 percent of the country's total population we traveled to an Eritrean refugees ear to investigate why such huge numbers are leaving the country illegally [Music] I will manage their money a billion aficionado sample hana no'eau knowledge absolute nature hasha minal gone into not a lot of models hydranoid so I held in my yoga so it will never does it Owen and Hobart and had the autumn but aunt Emma's a mediator and that will subject as data added an tonality TV took our TV aunt aunt madam LTS a twig my ID I know what you guys will do later on but it is a conga mean dateable to Uncas however does not like a new knowledge that's my face one way to do it in addition I said oh no in the Maya oh yeah yeah oh yeah yes buddy diversions Andy career saw cut my talk down again still hot it's a lot of Latino to a salon you have myself to attain outside America idly Ojeda ha Marley no but I'm sure got it what's the label huh so right down yonder Ferhat nothing let's go home I get think I let seunghye me you can go to with karleusa hon I gotta be addressed in the nice fun [Music] critic of the government are considered traitors in Eritrea with imprisonment and disappearances common because of this threat oppositional movements and independent journalism are coordinated outside of the country there's no freedom of expression that's as brief as it gets there are no independent newspapers where we're saying that the people inside the country are voiceless we are their own Salaam Kodama is a co-founder of the freedom Friday movement a group that remotely coordinates underground activists living inside Eritrea [Applause] the Eritrean diaspora community are using satellite technology and phones to get information back into their homeland I've had death threats I've had threats of physical violence against me we're not a political organization that have got a specific political end per se we are just we want the people to recognize that they need they ought to have a voice they're entitled to their voice they're entitled to express it so what we are faced with is a very limited way of working so we're whereby you can text message for instance a lot of people you cannot do that in Eritrea or you cannot use the internet because it's monitored we use telephones as our primary form of contact the robo calls as we call them that's a one minute message but that goes out to sometimes five thousand three thousand or 10,000 people every [Music] information could like a freedom fighter the movement into trouble this video shows activists writing campaign messages on banknotes to encourage people to stop fleeing the country and stay and fight for freedom here activists write graffiti and post stickers in phone booths spreading word of the freedom Friday movement in their four years of trying freedom Friday have managed to smuggle just 15 minutes of footage outside of the country any footage from inside the country that is smuggled out is is newsworthy it's it's it's a very rare thing we've got to smuggle everything into the country and then getting those pictures and that footage out of the country another very very big and very risky operation there is only the government-owned TV station so they've they've been brought up in this propaganda filled atmosphere where they have never been people got a very paranoid worldview so they did they're not sure of themselves they don't know who to trust and who not to trust we put quite a lot of people at risk they could get tortured masses and masses of people have been taken to prison and questioned specifically on working for freedom Friday so these are people who are risking their lives literally with no independent press in Eritrea and all journalists working for the Ministry of Information in manually Yasu aims to provide the country with an independent source of information via satellite the Dubs Arsenale comes a cenar sodium Advan toccata trial trad cup scientist of sanction anthem bastard how much - entered emizner vanish 10 kilohertz we have asserted shot Amitabh and nab earth - it's a radio tell anyone kübra Tata LT kübra Tata that didn't - sanaka me - Lu ab9 o Muhammad Salazar had in madaba station assertiveness cinema Gina that's in magma have to be Mohini at my buddy's run hamster a maternity run from Odelle Donna the dub Arab I know his BA is run Houston Amitabh not not doable nut semi-metallic welcome broken before I was the journalists become in Eritrea the minister of information I used to interview the president himself Allah you have freedom here to do whatever you want to do I mean but in Eritrea that is censorship you have there is a government line that you have to follow you know I mean somehow recently it became very popular people are buying satellite this is in order to access information and this shows you probably the hunger they have for information the geography limits you I mean if you are going to bring about real change in your own country but fortunately we are lucky to have this internet and we can communicate we can connect with the people back home I think I'm using my my the freedom I have on the availability of the digital processes you know to my people [Music] this undercover footage was acquired by another opposition radio station in November 2015 after being smuggled across the border although they are unable to access the country Amnesty International have used satellite imagery to map the location of prisons in Eritrea a dr beta is located just outside the capital Asmara the prison is where national service deserters are those that have been caught trying to cross the border ascent without trial on his radio show emmanuel an interview with the prison interrogator who worked there and it's easier for a refugee like me to get lost in the new environment because you can work and earn money you can do whatever you want but it's the love of the people that is encouraging me to do what I'm doing you know I don't do the things that I would like to do as a normal person I don't give time to my family you know they are missing out a lot because I'm doing this work if I went back to Eritrea I would be killed because I'm an enemy of the state they've called a lot of names like traitor CIA agents or Ethiopian agents things like that but you don't care that much about it you know because we know what we are doing and when it is a big picture I am doing it for out of the love of my people and country you know [Music] you

Channel: VICE News

Views: 3,809,596

Keywords: Leaks from eritrea, blackout vice episode 4, blackout vice eritrea, eritrea africa's north korea, Eritrea, vice blackout series, jigsaw vice blackout, VICE News, news, VICE, documentary, world news, happening now, politics, war, conflict, national, international, environment, economics, VICE Money, government, military power, Arica, North Korea, BLACKOUT, vice series, vice video, vice news, Africa, east africa, eritrea refugee, eritrean music 2019

Id: XBacsi5eX0A

Length: 17min 16sec (1036 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 10 2017