Posted on 2005-01-15

Just before Christmas and the release of the new ‘Band Aid’ album I was watching the making of it and in spite of my reservations regarding the whole situation of band-aiding such deep rooted wounds I must say I was deeply moved by the evident commitment of the artists involved in the venture… they were all clearly committed to ‘doing their bit’ for a fellow human being… they were (or so it seemed) moved by a sense of… fraternity even for an unlikely compatriot… that in a sense is the essence of humanness… a sensibility that says… ‘a human is a human different from animals and hence similar to me…’ or ‘this is me under a different condition…in a different circumstance… or at least it could be me…’

Several weeks across time I sit and read about fellow Christians in Eritrea and am moved by both that sense of fraternity but also a realisation that this really really could have been me… few hours of spatial manoeuvrings and indeed what happened to countless Eritrean young people would easily happen to me… if that doesn’t inculcate a certain sense of responsibility in me then I have lost a big chunk of the essence of humanity… managing to dissociate myself from a fellow human being so similar to me bar a few degrees of latitudes and longitudes…

I suppose my message is that ignoring the plight of fellow Christians in Eritrea says more… much more about us than it does about the Government of Eritrea…divorcing oneself from the very people that define us as human beings… the least we can say is ‘no’.

• No to the denial of freedom of Public worship
• No to the demonization of Eritrean Christians of minority groups
• No to the incarceration of countless law abiding citizens
• No to the denial of identity to thousands of people and their children

Lets make one decisive stand for the right thing… a stand for the rights of a fellow believer, a compatriot and a stand for truth… a stand befitting our faith… a Jesus-like stand… Release Eritrea! calls on all Eritreans and Friends of Eritrea to denounce the persecution of Eritrean Christians.

Here is a few things you can do to highlight the plight of Eritrean Christians:

Send your letters to:

Mr Issayas Aferwerki
President of Eritrea
PO Box 257
Asmara
Eritrea

To your nearest Eritrean embassy – the UK embassies details are as follows:

Eritrean Embassy
96 White Lion Street
London
N1 9PF
Fax: 0207 713 0161

The following organisations have shown an immense interest in the issues get in touch with them too.

• Open Doors UK
• Christian solidarity world wide
• Jubilee Campaign