Inside Eritrea
The State of Eritrea, with its population of some 5.2 million has been described as one of the most secretive states in Africa following its harrowing thirty year struggle for freedom from Ethiopia and its disastrous border war between 1998-2000, again with Ethiopia. In fact Eritrea is the only African country to have no privately-owned news media having shut down all private media in September 1991.
Today, Eritrea is a one party state ruled by the only party the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) with Isaias Afewerki as its president. It has been branded the North Korea of Africa (with the Press Freedom Index of 2009 classifying Eritrea with the lowest possible rating, one below North Korea) where family members inform on each other, children are rounded up for national service and their parents imprisoned if they attempt to escape.
There are reports of thousands fleeing the country and, following allegations that Eritrea was supporting Islamic rebels in Somalia, Eritrea became the target of UN sanctions. The country responded by suspending its membership of the African Union in protest, causing further isolation. Others, however, claim that the outside world's image of Eritrea is unfair and plays down the progress the country has made, particularly over the past ten years.
As with many other countries inside the Horn of Africa, access to safe water in a major issue in Eritrea, particularly in rural communities. The country has only one river that flows all year, the Setit River, so most are reliant on boreholes. Of the 5,365 known boreholes about 3,374 offer unprotected water and a further 1,233 are known to be contaminated leading to a prevalence of waterborne diseases including bacterial diarrhoea, Hepatitis A and typhoid fever This video documentary goes inside Eritrea and shows the first independent review of life in Eritrea for many years.
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