The government has closed down 14 small, family-owned hotels in Asmara.

Owners and/or leaseholders of the hotels, locally known as pensione�s, were told that the government needed the premises and that they had to wrap up their businesses.

A seal, reading �ta�ashigu� in Tigrinya (meaning �Closed�), has been put on the doors of the closed pensiones. �Berhane� hotel in Marcato area, and �Desta Alema�, near Edaga Laka, are among those affected by the decision. 

The officially undisclosed reason for this action is believed to be that the government is planning to distribute the vacated buildings to senior army officers. Following the closure, army colonels were seen surveying some of the buildings.

This move by the government is the latest in a series of draconian measures against businesses that the government has undertaken since January 2005, when President Isaias Afwerki outlined his assessment that there is no such thing as a private sector in Eritrea.