the country was heading towards more religious violence and a war with neighboring Ethiopia.
Compass Direct, a Christian news agency, said the number of Eritrean Christians in prison for their religious beliefs shot up to a total of 1,778, nearly double the documented count six months ago.
It was not immediately clear which statistics it used, but the news agency has close contacts in the area and human rights groups have spoken of massive arrests.
Among those jailed were apparently 200 evangelical Christians and members of minority churches who were detained in Eritrea in October, BosNewsLife established earlier. Religious advocacy group Release Eritrea said many of the Christians were "captured and detained from streets, workplaces and residences in Asmara," Eritrea’s capital.
"WORST OPERATION"
"In an operation that is said to have been the worst of its kind thus far, Eritrean security forces are reported to have detained hundreds whose whereabouts remains undisclosed," Release Eritrea reported at the time.
The raids came just days after Eritrea became the first country to have sanctions applied under the United States religious freedom law, the advocacy group noted. The State department reportedly notified Congress that the secretary of state banned commercial export of certain defense articles to Eritrea, Release Eritrea recalled.
At least 26 full-time Protestant pastors and Orthodox clergy are reportedly in jail with their personal bank accounts frozen by government order. In late September, three Protestant leaders imprisoned months ago by Eritrean authorities were handed jail sentences of two and three years by "sham courts," Compass Direct said.
CHURCHES CLOSED
Since 2002 Eritrea’s government ordered the closure of all churches not belonging to the Orthodox, Roman Catholic or Evangelical Lutheran denominations. So far, at least 36 churches have been closed and "many followers of these churches and their leaders have been imprisoned, harassed and tortured," Release Eritrea claimed.
It comes amid concern about the political situation in Eritrea where presidential elections planned for 1997 never materialized. Eritrea remains a one party state with the ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice the only party allowed to operate, analysts say.
The Eritrean authorities have denied the existence of persecution in the country saying that "no groups or persons are persecuted" in Eritrea for their beliefs or religion and that people were free to worship according to their wish. Accusing the United States of “orchestrating a game of ‘religious politics,’” the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs reportedly claimed in an October 5 statement that reports of religious persecution in Eritrea were based on false allegations, exaggeration and “baseless fabrication.”
PRIEST EXPELLED
Human rights watchers disagree and say that in addition to jailing Christians, the only Anglican priest in Eritrea was ordered to leave the country for his native India. Rev. Nelson Fernandez, pastor of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Asmara, told reporters he received a phone call from a government official on October 4 telling him that for reasons of "higher security" his visa had been reduced to only fifteen more days.
The priest told Compass Direct he believed the main reason for his expulsion was the rapid growth of the churches’ Sunday evening congregation. An average of 250 predominantly young Eritreans had been attending worship services this year, he said.
News of increased religious persecution comes at time of growing tensions with neighboring Ethiopia. On Thursday, November 3, The United Nations said both sites have moved troops and military hardware near the tense Ethiopian-Eritrean border.
INTERNAL OPPOSITION
The potential for war is heightened by the fact that both governments face rising internal opposition from dissidents calling for more political and religious freedom, analysts said. In Ethiopia clashes between police and government demonstrators reportedly have already killed more than 20 people over two days.
A conflict with a foreign country may help the both the Eritrean and Ethiopian governments to rally popular support, diplomats have told international media on condition of anonymity. The 1998-2000 border conflict between the two Horn of Africa countries killed an estimated 70,000 people from both sides. (With BosNewsLife Research and reports from Eritrea and Ethiopia).
