Eritrean Christians from around the globe will gather in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi this weekend to participate in the first National Day of Prayer for the small nation of almost five million people located in the Horn of Africa.
The event has been organised by the Eritrean Evangelical Fellowship in Africa and the Middle East (EEF-AME), a Nairobi-based organisation which was formed late last year to empower the church in the region and advocate for those suffering persecution inside and outside Eritrea.
The organisation expects hundreds of people to attend the day which its general secretary hopes will help the country’s government to begin to see Christians “not as the enemy, but as friends who are loyal to the nation”.
Quoted in a statement distributed by London-based human rights organisation Christian Solidarity Worldwide, the general secretary, who remained anonymous, adds: “We also hope things will change; that prisoners will be set free, that the increasing flow of refugees fleeing the country stops and that the direction is reversed, with people returning home to work together for a blessed and prosperous Eritrea.”
It’s expected that many who will attend the prayer gathering will be among those who have fled Eritrea to escape persecution. This, according to CSW, has continued “unabated since 2002” when the government decreed the closure of all churches not belonging to the Orthodox, Catholic or Lutheran denominations and began to harass and indefinitely detain increasing numbers of Christians, particularly evangelical and Pentecostal-charismatic believers.
About 2,000 Christians are currently imprisoned without trial or charge in Eritrea. Among them is the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, Abune Antonios, who was unlawfully removed from office in January last year and who remains under house arrest. A government approved replacement is expected to be illegally installed later this month.
Stuart Windsor, CSW’s national director in the UK, says Eritrea now ranks only second to Somalia in Africa with regard to the persecution of Christians. He says prisoners are frequently held in unsanitary conditions without adequate access to food, water and medical facilities.
“As a punishment, some are held in poorly ventilated metal shipping containers or underground cells either alone or in overcrowded conditions,” he says. “Many have experienced torture or harsh physical punishment. Some have died following torture. “
Windsor says that Christians of banned denominations are unable to meet together even in social situations without risking detention.
“Entire families have been detained following devotional times in their own homes, including the detention of children,” he says. He cites, as an example, the arrest eight months ago of 150 women and children in the town of Mendefera. They are still imprisoned today.
It’s believed the persecution has its roots in policy documents drawn up in the mid-1970s in which members of the present Marxist government vowed to oppose all “imperialist-created new counter-revolutionary faiths”, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and Pentecostals, and, according to Windsor, punish anyone attempting to use religion to sow discord and undermine the progress of the Eritrean people during or after the conclusion of the armed struggle against Ethiopian rule.
“Consequently, it appears the government is currently enacting policies drafted in the 1970s,” he says.
While 2002 marked the beginning of “open persecution” of Christians, Windsor says that the current campaign of repression was launched in 1994 when the government shut down several Christian publications including the newspapers of the Catholic, evangelical Lutheran and Orthodox churches.
In 1999, Christians from specific Protestant denominations serving in the military were banned from practising their faith. In 2000, gangs attacked churches, smashing the buildings and burning literature in the streets.
The Etritrean Fellowship has published a list of prayer points which include praying for repentance and for God to forgive the sins of the people of Eritrea and the church; for the fellowship’s leaders and the persecuted church; for an end to the ongoing border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia; for the health and economy of the people and for the increasing numbers of Eritreans who are refugees.
Windsor asks that people also pray for the well-being of Patriarch Antonios, who suffers from diabetes, and for those Eritrean Christians living outside of the country who are being harassed and threatened by government supporters.
He says CSW is calling for an end to the mistreatment of all prisoners of conscience in Eritrea and for detainees either to be brought before a recognised court of law and face trial in the presence of international observers or to be set free.
“We also continue to call for the international community to facilitate as a matter of urgency the demarcation of Eritrea’s border with Ethiopia in line with the international ruling, in order to ensure that this issue no longer serves as a justification for continued repression,” he says.
“Thankfully, it appears that the new UN Secretary-General (Ban Ki-moon) is moving this issue to the forefront of the international agenda.”
