Three senior programmers assigned to the Office of the President who were sent to Brussels, Belgium for training, have opted to seek political asylum.  Gedab News has learnt that Gobo, the Director of the Information Technology Center and Yemane Gebremeskel, the Spokesperson for the presidential office were so angered by the move that they have ordered the arrest of the families of the defectors.    

The IT Center in the Office of the President is in the middle of a major assignment: redefining Eritrean citizenship.  

In 1992, the then-Provisional Government of Eritrea (PGE) had issued Eritrean identification cards primarily to facilitate the referendum process.  The ID cards were used as documentation of citizenship and eligibility to vote.  Now, the IT Center is in the process of issuing new cards only to those Eritreans who �have fulfilled their national obligations.�  The obligations include tax payments (including 2% of income on the Diaspora population), buying war bonds, as well as various �national defense� contributions of 1998-2000 that were retroactively made mandatory.

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