Report in Arabic at farajat.com

A delegation of six persons representing almost all Eritrean civic and political organisations in Sweden met with Mr Andreas Ershammar desk officer at the Africa Department of The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sweden.

The purpose of this meeting was to deliver the petition letter and the sealed envelope with the names of the petitioners. Mr Andreas listened carefully to the issues raised by the delegation and cordially gave his response to each of them. The delegation found Mr Andreas to be well informed on most of the issues. On his recent visit to Eritrea he said that he could witness the Government of Eritrea rejecting appeals from governments and human rights organisations to release the huge amount of food aid locked and rotting in warehouses. He was there when UN special humanitarian envoy for the Horn of Africa Mr Kjell Magne Bondevik raised the subject with Mr Issayas Afewerki.

He went on to explain that the Swedish government was no longer giving any development aid to the regime in Eritrea as most of other European governments have done the last two years.  On the question of travel ban of PFDJ and government officials he said that he himself was not expert on the issue of sanctions but that he would forward the delegations request for consideration.

The delegation explained further that the Eritrean embassies are centres of espionage against Eritreans residing abroad and that money laundering and other illegal activities under the guise of diplomatic immunity have substituted most of the ordinary business. The delegation called on the Swedish government to take a closer look on this and take strong measures to stop the embassies and their supporters from harassing and intimidating those who oppose the dictatorship in Eritrea.

Mr Andreas assured to the delegation of conveying the message and documents of the delegation delivered to the foreign minister H.E. Mr Jan Eliasson. After almost an hour the delegation departed the official with the satisfaction of having accomplished mission of the delegation.

The following were the members of the delegation:

Mrs Semainesh Asfaha,

Mr Fessehazion Nair

Mr Solomon Ghebrai

Mr Mahari Abraham

Mr Fitsum Asfaha