Ambassador to EU defects

Eritrea's ambassador to the European Union has resigned from his post and fled to the United States, the Eritrean government said in a press statement on Monday. The statement said that Dr Tesfai Girmatsion, who had served as ambassador to the EU since January 2001, had left his post "without prior notification to the government or giving any reason as regards his action". He "simply wrote a short note on 29 August informing the government of Eritrea about his resignation", before flying to the US. The government accused the ambassador of attending meetings of dissident groups in New York, and conducting "damaging campaigns against the government he was supposed to represent", said the statement. Political dissent has been growing in Eritrea since May when 15 prominent members of the ruling People's Front for Democracy and Justice signed an open letter critical of President Isayas Afewerki's allegedly autocratic style of government.