As I mentioned, I'd read many of these reports before going to Eritrea, and I expected to see more overt repression as you see in other one-party states. I didn't see that. As for the people whom I spoke to both formally and informally, I did not observe traits of people who were fearful.
However, I will acknowledge that I've only been there twice and I was very focused on the issues pertaining to the Bisha mine. For example, I wasn't doing investigations of prison conditions or places where some of the allegations that are quite serious are made, so I have to admit that my view of Eritrea is partial. They were a significant backdrop, all of these important reports that have been made by various organizations and the United Nations.
I left after the first time with a sense of perplexity. Had the wool been pulled over my eyes? Had I been asking the wrong questions? Had I been talking to the wrong people? It was important for me to go back a second time and approach these issues from different angles to deepen conversations with certain individuals or groups and to try to expand my understanding of the situation. I came away again with a sense that the level of openness of people to speak with me about issues.... They have a nuance on their understanding of the political situation there that maybe is not in some of the reports, and so I came away with something. There are two stories and there's a middle narrative. Once again, I do stress that my investigation was focused on the issues pertaining directly to Bisha, not on the broader human rights issues that are sometimes raised.