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Post by pieter on Feb 19, 2024 7:19:41 GMT -7
Yes it was and is. There are tensions over there.
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Post by pieter on Feb 19, 2024 10:37:53 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Feb 19, 2024 10:38:45 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Feb 19, 2024 11:37:36 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Feb 20, 2024 4:08:50 GMT -7
Eritrean ambassador about the riots in The HagueEight police officers were injured and thirteen people were arrested during riots between two groups of Eritreans in The Hague last weekend. The riots broke out during a party by pro-government Eritreans. Opponents of the dictatorial regime sought confrontation.
Refugee supporters and opponents of the regime in Eritrea regularly find themselves diametrically opposed to each other. What exactly is the background to their conflict? We spoke about it with the Eritrean ambassador to the Netherlands, who was responding to the riots for the first time.Yesterday, 10:16 PM'The long arm of Eritrea': how a dictatorship in Africa leads to violence hereHow can a conflict in Eritrea lead to spiraling violence here in the Netherlands? That question hangs over The Hague after the weekend, where riots broke out on Saturday between supporters and opponents of the Eritrean regime. Eritrea's long arm reaches far, say an Eritrean refugee and an expert. The Eritrean ambassador denies.
A nightmare and a disappointment, that is how the Dutch-Eritrean journalist Habtom Yohannes calls the current regime in his home country Eritrea. He fled to the Netherlands in the 1980s. "The entire Eritrean society had hoped that after Eritrea's independence in 1993, all Eritreans would return to rebuild the country. But the repression in Eritrea has since reached indescribable proportions. The country has no constitution, no parliament, no press. All the journalists I knew have disappeared without a trace."
And this repression does not only affect the Eritrean population there. The radio program Argos revealed in 2017 and 2020 that secret agents of the regime intimidated Eritreans in the Netherlands. Eritreans were also pressured to pay money. Yohannes also had to deal with this: "I regularly received letters, emails and things like that. Threats."The Dutch-Eritrean journalist Habtom YohannesBrigade NhameduDespite this - or perhaps precisely because of this repression - there is also support for the regime among Eritreans who have fled. And that in turn leads to anger among Eritreans who have fled that regime, regularly resulting in violence. Eight police officers were injured during Saturday's riots and tens of thousands of euros in damage was caused.
According to The Hague mayor Jan van Zanen, members of the Nhamedu Brigade sought confrontation with the partygoers yesterday. Yohannes: "It is a loose movement of mainly Eritrean young people who say: it is enough. We keep fleeing and have to watch that the regime comes after us to celebrate here. They find that very difficult to accept. That is why they try "first try to prevent the parties through legal means. If that doesn't work, they will unfortunately turn to violence."
The Hague mayor Jan van Zanen
Christopher Houtkamp, affiliated with the Clingendael Institute, conducts research into foreign influence. He says Eritrea is "quite high on the spectrum" when it comes to foreign influence that also involves violence. "We know that Iranians have been liquidated in the Netherlands and that the Iranian government had something to do with it. We know that Russia is killing opposition abroad. Eritrea is just on the spectrum below that. As far as I know, there have been no murders are known, but people do not shy away from intimidation."
According to Houtkamp, it is difficult to prove whether the Eritrean government played a role in last weekend's riots. “If at all, it is probably happening in an indirect way, in the sense that the government is trying to stoke division in the community and try to keep those who are loyal to the government loyal.”
The Eritrean government does this, among other things, by rewarding Eritreans who are already pro-government, says Houtkamp. For example, by organizing events for them or sponsoring schools.'No control'Nieuwsuur also spoke with the Eritrean ambassador, who works from Brussels for all EU countries. He condemned the violence committed by "hooligans" who disrupted a "peaceful gathering of law-abiding citizens".
He denies that the Eritrean regime influences and intimidates Eritreans who have fled. "This is a distortion of the facts, part of the campaign by anti-regime groups. We have no control over these rioters and I ask the Dutch authorities to punish these people." High on the agendaHoutkamp explains that foreign interference has been high on the Dutch government's agenda for a number of years and that Eritrea is also on the radar. "I believe that the Dutch government does have contacts with the Eritrean community. They have realized for a long time that that community is affected by the policy from Eritrea."
Houtkamp does not dare to say whether The Hague was insufficiently aware of the risks of last Saturday's event. "If they had known that it was a political event, they could also have known that supporters of the regime would come to it. I do not know what considerations were made in the municipality of The Hague."The Eritrean ambassador to the Netherlands, Negassi Kassa Tekle, does not take any responsibility for the riots in The Hague on Saturday evening.
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