mr president the ecr group condemns the appalling treatment being suffered by these innocent and mainly eritrean victims of what amounts to a modern-day form of slavery inflicted by people traffickers
we welcome too the efforts made by the egyptian government to investigate the allegations and secure the refugees release but we should also be focusing on why these unfortunate individuals flee in the first place
the answer is because the regime of eritrean president afewerki is one of the most repressive on the planet
anyone with a chance of fleeing his dictatorship does so and some are able to build a better life for themselves elsewhere
those unable to leave eritrea are either subject to open-ended conscription in the army or have to scratch out a living on the fringes of an economy bankrupted by years of futile war with neighbouring ethiopia widespread corruption and mismanagement of the economy
eritrea has never held a national election
recent disclosures from the wikileaks website show that us diplomats described afewerki as a cruel and defiant leader
i have no compunction about saying so publicly
we should do all we can to unseat this appalling african tyrant we should end all eu aid to his regime and we should suspend the cotonou agreement privileges that his country enjoys
