I think the Eritrean government has this siege mentality and blame the British, the Italians, and the Ethiopians for all our predicaments in the past. What I also gathered when I used to go to the EU Parliament to lobby was that the U.K. was lobbying for Zimbabwe because of the colonial tie they have. We didn't have anybody except us screaming and shouting. Sometimes they would tell me, “Look, we have to continue negotiating with those people. We know they are bad. They are dangerous. If we are not there, the Iranians will go, the Qatari...and all the other people with negative influence will go to Eritrea. Eritrea is a strategically very important place, so we have to keep negotiating.”
To be honest, the international media have not covered it. Media have a great role, but we haven't had anybody really. We didn't have much support. We've had no allies, nobody to present Eritrea's case. It's only this year that it has really started to pick up because of the UN sanctions and because the IGAD countries have also been pushing the UN Security Council to take action. It's the only country in Africa honestly...another African country or a group of African countries.... This isn't only about human rights of Eritreans in Eritrea. It's appalling, honestly.
This testimony does not even address what is really going on in Eritrea.
[Evidence given in camera]
Honestly, my people need help. It's horrible really when people do not have food. I was campaigning for food aid, and the president would come on the television and say, “We don't need food aid. We don't want to be spoon-fed. Give it to Ethiopia. Give it to whatever.” But people are dying of starvation.
There's no university in Eritrea. The only university in Eritrea is closed. Can you imagine a country with no university? What future will our people have? The youths, the future of Eritrea, are fleeing in droves every day, two hundred in each direction, to Sudan and Ethiopia. I don't know what kind of country we will have, but it's quite worrying really.
I agree with you that for some reason it has not been on the radar.