Call for prayer for Eritrea

Call for prayer for Eritrea Tuesday, 24th February 2009. 4:02pm By: Judy West. The campaigning group Release International has launched a petition and is calling a day of prayer on behalf of persecuted Christians in Eritrea. The Day of Prayer is May 24 2009 – Eritrea’s National Day.

“Imagine living as a Christian in Eritrea,” says Release CEO Andy Dipper. “Your church has been closed and its assets confiscated. Every church programme has been halted. You and others are forced to meet in secret. Your pastor has been arrested, imprisoned and has disappeared. His family has fled the country.

“This is the reality for many Christians in Eritrea. Please join our campaign to support them in prayer – and bring pressure to bear so Eritrea’s National Day becomes a day for change.”

Since 2002 the Marxist-style regime in this African nation has detained more than 2,000 Christians without trial and forced dozens of churches and Christian ministries to close. Many believers have been tortured to try to force them to renounce their faith. Some of their stories are told in the latest edition of Release magazine, available from www.releaseinternational.org

The group says that secret police routinely spy on Christians, and many leading pastors and Christian workers have been arrested. In most cases they have disappeared without trace inside Eritrea’s prison system. Relatives are often kept in the dark as to whether their loved ones are dead or alive.

The authorities have incarcerated Christians in metal shipping containers in the desert, without light or sanitation. These become like ovens by day and freezers by night. Other forms or torture are common.

Christians undergoing military service are forbidden from meeting together, from worshipping or reading a Bible. Those who refuse to renounce their faith are detained indefinitely.

Three Christians held for their faith in military jails have died in the past six months – the latest on January 16. He was 42-year-old Mehari Gebreneguse Asgedom, who had been held in solitary confinement. He died from torture and diabetes. Mehari was a member of the Church of the Living God in Mendefera. v Since 2002 Eritrea has recognised only three churches: the Orthodox Church of Eritrea, the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran-affiliated Evangelical Church of Eritrea. The authorities have closed down all other churches.

article from:www.religiousintelligence.com

Voice of the Martyrs lists 4 Eritrean Prisoners

PrizonerAlert.com a ministry of Voice of the Martyrs invites you to become an advocate for those imprisoned for their beliefs. They list four Eritrean prisoners and ask that you to write letters to them.

"You involvement can result in better treatment for a prisoner. The authorities in many nations are very sensitive about their image abroad. When they realize that outsiders are monitoring a prisoner’s situation, conditions may be improved.

"For this we have a scriptural mandate. Read and pray through the following verses, which will help you understand the role you are undertaking. This is no doubt front line spiritual warfare and you will also need to pray through all your thinking and letter writing.

Hebrews 13:3, Matthew 25: 34-40, Matthew 5:10, 1 Peter 3: 13-17, 1 Peter 4:12-14.

"Never mention the name of the source of your information or the name of any organization such as Voice of the Martyrs or Prisoner Alert. It is not dangerous for a prisoner to receive letters from individuals, but if an organization is mentioned they may be accused of links with ‘foreign organizations’ and receive harsher sentences," they warn on their website.

To learn more about those under persecution in Eritrea and religious freedom, go to: http://www.prisoneralert.com/qry/vp_miniprofiles.taf?_function=country&cid=65&_nc=b8a9ecc293601ba3680f70a9b2a28a73

VOM does not mention Dr. Michael Mehari who was imprisoned before Christmas in Eritrea.

What are the Dangers for Christian Eritrean Orphans?

Eritrean Authorities Arrest the Country’s Most Senior Pediatrician on the Count of his Christian Faith

Submitted by editor on Fri, 2008-12-19 20:02. persecution news

(London 19-12-08) In what seems the culmination of arrests that were carried out right across the country Eritrean authorities arrested several prominent members of Evangelical Churches in Asmara. Among those arrested, over the last few weeks, is Dr Michael Mehari, of Kale Hiwet church in Asmara, a renowned paediatrician, who was known for his commitment to his work and dedication to his faith. Dr Michael is a father of atleast four young children who are now undergoing the uncertainty that has been the fate of all other children and families of prisoners as Eritrean authorities do not allow any visitation rights. Information received from contacts in Asmara includes the names of several others who were arrested along with Dr Michael from the following churches; Full Gospel, Debrebetiel, Hiyaw Yesus (Living God) and Philadelphia (a group associated with the Kidanemihret Orthodox Church), the total number of those arrested is not known.

In a similar move in the town of Dekemhare, a church mission school, that was run by Kalehiwot Church since 1952, until it was taken over by the government two years ago, was raided and several Christian teachers were arrested, many of them are elderly believed to be in their sixties and seventies, with many years of service to the school.

With the arrest of Dr Michael, Eritrean authorities have now arrested three prominent doctors on the count of their Christian faith; Rev Dr Fitsum Gebrenigus, the only Eritrean psychiatrist in the country and Rev Dr Tekelab Mengisteab, a diabetics specialist, have been under arrest since 2004. Both are Orthodox priests who were leaders of a youth reform movement in the Orthodox Church of Eritrea, issues concerning their arrest finally led to the illegal deposition of the Patriarch of the Church who has been under house arrest since September 2005.

At a time when there are reports of severe food shortages Release Eritrea is extremely concerned not just for prisoners, but for their families who are going to find it extremely difficult to provide even the very basic necessities, for themselves. With a prison population of an estimated 3,000 plus Christian victims of religious intolerance Release Eritrea appeals for those who have any influence on the government of Eritrea to advocate on behalf of prisoners and their families. In a statement Dr Berhane Asmelash, Director of Release-Eritrea said ‘’It seems that with every passing year I am loosing more and more of my friends and colleagues to the Eritrean prison system I know the school in Dekemhare and many of those who worked there for many years and Dr Michael was a colleague, at this time of year when many of us focus on our children and families I can’t help but think about all those who are imprisoned and their children, we should all continue to pray and advocate for them’’.

Release Eritrea in a human rights organisation based in the UK, focusing on religious persecution in Eritrea. It is estimated that since 2002 the Government of Eritrea has arrested over 3,000 Eritrean Christians belonging to churches that it decreed illegal and closed in May 2002.

U.S. diplomat killed in Ethiopian capital

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. diplomat was killed in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Saturday but the circumstances of his death are unclear, State Department officials said on Thursday.

The 25-year-old diplomat, Brian Adkins, was found dead in his home in Addis Ababa, officials said.

"The death is under investigation and we are coordinating closely with the government of Ethiopia," said a State Department official, who asked not to be named as the department had not officially released details of the death.

Another official said it was a suspected homicide and that U.S. diplomatic security were looking into the incident.

Adkins was a foreign service officer who worked in the consular section of the embassy. A graduate of George Washington University in Washington, Ethiopia was his first foreign assignment for the State Department.

(Reporting by Sue Pleming; Editing by Eric Beech)

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5144FN20090205

Ethiopia is currently in a border dispute with Eritrea.

I posted this news article so you could consider the dangers of being a US Embassy diplomat in the horn of Africa.

Why is it Dangerous to be a Christian Orphan in Eritrea?

To better understand the dangers of being a Christian orphan returned to Eritrea, I gathered information at Voice of the Martyrs website.

Although I've heard personal accounts, I wanted to hear the official US Government take on religious freedom in Eritrea. It is confusing for me, as a Westerner, to hear that some religions are legal in Eritrea while other people of faith are persecuted.

VOM website directed me to the US Department of State's International Religious Freedom Report 2008. It explains that in 2002 the Eritrean Government "closed all religious facilities not belonging to the country's four principal religious groups: the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church of Eritrea, Islam, and the Roman Catholic Church."

The report on Eritrea is 8 pages long. This portion was interesting to me:

"Forced Religious Conversion

There were reports that police forced some adherents of unregistered religious groups held in detention to sign statements to abandon their faith and join the Orthodox Christian Church as a precondition of their release. These individuals typically faced imprisonment and/or severe beating until they agreed to sign the document. Reports indicated that these individuals were also monitored after they signed to make sure that they did not practice or proselytize for their unregistered religion.

There were no reports of forced religious conversion of minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the United States, or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to the United States."

I recommend that you go to and read the report for yourself:
http://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/108367.htm

The report helps you understand the dangerous back story of this True-life story of Orphans Abandoned in Eritrea.

Voice of the Martyrs: www.persecution.com