Felemawi

Sawa, a slavery plantation camp, compelled all #Eritrean youth to undergo what is euphemistically termed “National Service”but is, in reality, a brutal form of military training and enslavement. After finishing a secondary school like every #Eritrean youth, I went to Sawa at age 17 in 2012 for the 26th round, now a decade ago. My year in Sawa was one of the most devastating experiences of my life. Sawa is effectively a concentration camp where severe human rights violations occur regularly. Upon arrival, we faced mentally unstable and sadistic military officers who drugged and divided us into isolated military brigades, units, and divisions. In Sawa not a day passed without beatings or torture. Every activity was dictated by the sound of a whistleblower. I witnessed girls from the female military unit brought in as slaves to serve officers, subjected to rape and torture. These gross violations were perpetrated from the highest-ranking General of Sawa to the lowest-ranking officer. We were coerced into praising and hailing the dictator under threat from military officers. Dictator Isaias' old comrades the key figures of #PFDJ regime like #Eritrea's Ambassador to Japan, Estifanos Afewerki, Minister of Information Yemane Gebremeskel, Ambassador Sofia Tesfamariam, and other regime cadres deceive the international community with misleading videos and pictures from Sawa. Fearing for our lives, we had no choice but to comply to survive. Many girls aged 16-19 suffered severe distress, with some becoming pregnant after being raped, and others experiencing mental breakdowns. Fortunately, I managed to escape from this nightmarish ordeal and the severe human rights violations perpetrated by the autocratic regime of #Eritrea. I am now in a position to expose the atrocities committed by these criminals both within and outside my country. Since the establishment of Sawa many #Eritrean youths sent to Sawa have lost their lives in the #Ethiopia-#Eritrea border clashes and the recent #Tigray war. Some were shot and killed while attempting to flee the tyranny; others lost their sanity. Some are languishing in prisons, and many perished in the Sahara Desert, the Mediterranean Sea, at the hands of human smugglers, or in the Tekezé River. Sadly, the propaganda and enslavement machine continues to operate, perpetuating gross human rights violations, torture, and abuse. In conclusion, my experience at Sawa stands as a stark testament to the brutality and oppression imposed by the totalitarian #Eritrean regime under the guise of national service. It is urgent that the world acknowledges and confronts these grave human rights violations. The regime must be held accountable for its oppression and violence against #Eritrean youth. My story is a call to action for justice and change. Together, we must stand against tyranny, empower our people, and advocate for a future where freedom and dignity prevail in #Eritrea. #Sawa36 #TransnationalRepression #BlueRevolution #NoMorePFDJPropaganda #NoMorePFDJTerror @hrw @UNHumanRights @freedomhouse @citizenlab @DefendDefenders @UN_SPExperts @martinplaut @mvreisen @KjetilTronvoll

Isaias Afwerki told Sputnik Africa in Moscow that sanctions are a modern form of slavery and demanded their removal. We in EBRF know what real slavery in Eritrea looks like. It is indefinite national service that holds young Eritreans for decades on almost no pay. It is forced labour, secret prisons, and critics held for over twenty years without charge. Targeted sanctions are aimed at the men who run that system, not at the people. Lifting them would help the dictator, not ordinary Eritreans. What Eritrea needs is not relief for the PFDJ but regime change. We in EBRF have a plan for a peaceful, time limited transition, and we are organizing for a democratic Eritrea every day. @martinplaut @TiborPNagyJr @dw_politics @DaeronaC #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #PFDJ

At the Kremlin, Isaias Afwerki presents himself as the guardian of Eritrea's sovereignty and seeks new strategic partnerships with Russia. Yet sovereignty belongs to the Eritrean people, and he has never asked them. In over thirty years he has held no national election, frozen the 1997 constitution, and kept the National Assembly closed since 2002. A man without a mandate cannot sign away our country's future in foreign capitals. We in EBRF are organizing a democratic transition through regime change in Asmara, so that an elected government chooses Eritrea's partners openly and in the interest of our people, not to keep Isaias and the PFDJ in power. @KjetilTronvoll @_hudsonc @washingtonpost @EGerasouli35992 #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #PFDJ

Today the regime of Isaias Afwerki chairs the UN Human Rights Council's 2026 Social Forum. This regime has held no national election since independence, has never implemented the 1997 constitution, and keeps journalists and critics in secret prisons without charge. Under the PFDJ, young Eritreans are trapped in indefinite national service that UN investigators have described as enslavement. We in EBRF call on member states to reject this whitewashing. We are organizing for regime change and a democratic transition with a constitution, free elections and the release of every political prisoner. @BBCWorld @mrubin1971 @RepJoeWilson @BereketKahsai1 #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #PFDJ

A Kenyan court has struck down the blanket ban on registering refugees from Ethiopia and Eritrea and upheld the principle that no refugee may be returned to danger. We in EBRF welcome this ruling for the rule of law. Eritreans do not leave home by choice. They flee because Isaias Afwerki and the PFDJ hold them in indefinite national service, jail critics without trial and allow no free press, no elections and no constitution. Protecting refugees saves lives, but it does not end the cause of the exodus. We in EBRF have a plan for a democratic transition through regime change in Asmara, and we are organizing so that Eritreans can one day return to a free country. @afric_insde @dw_politics @Mercy4ALL82 @washingtonpost #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Moscow is ready to host dialogue between Ethiopia and Eritrea at the Russia Africa Summit. We in EBRF welcome every real effort for peace in the Horn of Africa. Yet Isaias Afwerki has ruled for over thirty years without an election, and the PFDJ has refused dialogue with its own people for just as long. A regime that silences Eritreans at home cannot be a reliable partner for its neighbours. Lasting peace needs an elected Eritrean government with accountable institutions. EBRF has a plan for a democratic transition through regime change, and we are organizing for it. @KjetilTronvoll @martinplaut @EGerasouli35992 @TiborPNagyJr #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #PFDJ

Dawit Teferi spoke about EBRF on Ethiopian television, and his message is the right one: it is time to focus on a new vision for Eritrea after the Isaias doctrine. Under Isaias Afwerki and the PFDJ, Eritrea has become an open air prison with no constitution, no elections in over 30 years and indefinite national service for our youth. We in EBRF have a plan for a democratic transition through regime change, and we are organizing Eritreans everywhere to build a country governed by law and by the consent of its people. @ifa_ethiopia @_hudsonc @DaeronaC @BeyeneGerezghe1 #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #PFDJ

As this post notes, about 80 percent of Eritreans are under the age of 40, and the voices demanding real change are overwhelmingly young. That is no accident. Isaias Afwerki and the PFDJ have given an entire generation indefinite national service, closed universities, no free press and no vote in more than thirty years, so hundreds of thousands have fled through the desert and across the sea. We in EBRF are that generation, and we are organizing with a plan for a democratic transition through regime change, a constitution, an elected government and an end to forced conscription. Eritrea's youth deserve a future at home. @BBCWorld @Mercy4ALL82 @WeldetnsaeG @mrubin1971 #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #PFDJ

Eritreans are reportedly investing 55 million dollars in the Massawa City Mall in Kampala, Uganda. Our people have the capital and the skills to build, yet they invest abroad because Isaias Afwerki and the PFDJ have made Eritrea a country where nobody can run a business freely, trust a court or plan a life beyond indefinite national service. We in EBRF have a plan for a democratic transition through regime change, with rule of law, property rights and an open economy, so that this money and this talent can finally come home. We are organizing for that Eritrea every day. @martinplaut @dw_politics @TiborPNagyJr @BereketKahsai1 #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea

Isaias Afwerki has arrived in Moscow for the Russia Africa Summit, where regime media promise talks on trade, energy, food security and security cooperation and a meeting with Vladimir Putin. We in EBRF see a dictator shopping abroad for protection. Eritreans have not voted in over thirty years, the 1997 constitution was never implemented, and our young people are held in indefinite national service. No meeting with Vladimir Putin will feed our people or free our prisoners. Security cooperation with Isaias only means more tools to keep one man in power. We in EBRF have a plan for a democratic transition through regime change, and we are organizing for a free Eritrea that works with the world through law and accountable institutions. @RepJoeWilson @washingtonpost @KjetilTronvoll @afric_insde #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #RedSea

Isaias Afwerki's embassy in London has called Eritreans in the UK to a seminar titled "Country Above All", and regime supporters now boast that more than £275,000 was raised in under two hours. We in EBRF ask which country is placed above all when Eritreans have not voted in over thirty years and our young people are held in indefinite national service. This money will not defend Eritrea's coast or its sovereignty. It will keep the PFDJ in power. Eritrea is best protected by a free government chosen by its people, and we in EBRF have a plan for a democratic transition through regime change. @BBCWorld @_hudsonc @DaeronaC @CmaDawit #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #PFDJ

The leader of our diplomatic missions team, Beyene Gerezgiher, has just met with EBRF representatives and supporters in the United States, and the message from those meetings is clear. Our political and diplomatic network keeps growing across America. We in EBRF are making the case to US policymakers that Isaias Afwerki and the PFDJ are not a partner for stability in the Horn of Africa but the main source of its instability. We have a plan for a democratic transition through regime change in Asmara, and we ask our friends in Washington to engage with the Eritrean people who are organizing to deliver it. @EGerasouli35992 @RepJoeWilson @TiborPNagyJr @mrubin1971 #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea

This weekend, from our public meeting in Seattle to chapter discussions in Israel, we in EBRF met openly, debated freely and decided together on the next steps of our struggle. Inside Eritrea, Isaias Afwerki and the PFDJ have made exactly this impossible for more than two decades, with no national election, no National Assembly since 2002 and a constitution locked in a drawer. Our town halls show the Eritrea we are building, and we have a clear plan for a peaceful, democratic transition through regime change. We ask our partners to protect Eritreans abroad who join these meetings from intimidation, threats against their families and the coerced 2% tax. @martinplaut @KjetilTronvoll @EGerasouli35992 @dw_politics #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #TransnationalRepression