Three top officials of the Eritrean government--Dr. Welday Futur, the Minister of Development; Mr. Osman Saleh, Minister of Education and Dr. Weldeab Isaac, President of University of Asmara, are currently in South Africa in an unscheduled visit.  The purpose for their trip is twofold: to persuade Eritrean enrolees at South African �technicon� colleges to return to Eritrea and to negotiate new terms with the South African educational institutions. 

Their visit is timed with the December graduation of students enrolled in undergraduate studies.    

Citing the deteriorating human rights conditions in Eritrea, nearly all graduate and post-graduate students who have completed their studies in South Africa have refused to go back to Eritrea.  In a meeting convened at the Johannesburg technicon, PFDJ officials informed the students that their November and December stipends would be withheld and paid only after they return to Eritrea.

Withholding stipends is a tool used frequently by the government, according to students in South Africa.   

Meanwhile, after concerted efforts by Eritrean students, the University of Pretoria disclosed on Friday that it no longer feels bound by the contractual agreement it had entered with the Eritrean government.  

The appeal by the senior government officials contrasts sharply with that of President Isaias Afwerki.  In a meeting he held in Durban South Africa on July 8, 2002, Isaias Afwerki had informed the same students that, thanks to globalization, he is not concerned whether they return to Eritrea or not.