Journalist “doing national service”

Eritrea’s ambassador to the United States, Girma Asmerom, has written to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) denying that journalist Mateos Habteab is missing, or has been kidnapped. The letter from Girma described the CPJ press release expressing concern over his circumstances as “based on hearsay”, and said the journalist was doing his national service. “The National Service is not applied selectively... It applies to all citizens, including journalists, soccer players, artists, singers and musicians among others,” a statement by the Embassy of Eritrea, Washington DC, said on Wednesday. It said that even though CPJ had declared it had not adopted a position on military conscription, it was “by distributing baseless accusations... trying to guide the policy of the Eritrean government”. Meanwhile, the pro-Eritrean government Asmarino web site republished an article by newspaper ‘Hadas Eritrea’ in which the administration of Asmara University said a compulsory summer work programme would start today, Thursday. The programme had previously been delayed because of the arrest of the president of the university students association, Semere Kesete, which has been criticised by opposition publications and international human rights organisations. The Asmarino report said that Semere’s case “is in court and is being legally handled”. It said every student “should understand that he is responsible for any consequences that may arise as a result of not taking part in this national task”. The programme includes agricultural services and other national duties.