Government critic denies conspiracy

Mesfin Hagos, the former Eritrean defence minister, one of just three outspoken government critics still at liberty following a major government crackdown in September, has responded for the first time to government accusations that he and other members of the so-called G-15 reform group had launched a conspiracy to destabilise the ruling People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ).

Speaking in an interview with the BBC, Mesfin, a former senior PFDJ member, said that he and his colleagues had issued the open letter in order to provoke debate and to urge President Isayas Afewerki to convene a meeting of the ruling party to discuss democratic reforms.

Mesfin also responded to claims published on the pro-government Shaebia web site to the effect that the G-15 group had held a meeting in America in August to outline opposition strategy and which the government claimed had concluded with a plan to open opposition cells in all spheres of Eritrean society including the army.

"I have never contacted people in the army. I know our country's sovereignty depends on the unity of the army. That unity must be sustained," Mesfin said during the interview.

Mesfin, along with two other colleagues, remains in exile following the arrest in September of other leading government critics and independent journalists, and the closure of all Eritrea's non-government media organisations.