Eritrean suffering

I HAVE just returned from Ethiopia. It wasn’t an easy trip. I came back physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted. As President of Release International, an organisation which cares for the persecuted Church, I went to meet a group of Christians who have fled from Eritrea.

If you, like me, are not very knowledgeable about the region, you may not know that a bloody African war in Ethiopia led to the establishment of the new country of Eritrea. A United Nations peacekeeping force still patrols the border to keep the two massive armies apart. There is talk of a new war.

The people we had come to meet have faced a kind of persecution that most of us only read about. The Eritrean government, despite embracing ‘religious freedom’ as a principle of its constitution – declared that only the Orthodox and the Lutherans were proper Christians.

The rapidly growing evangelical, Pentecostal and cell church movements were labelled ‘penties’, and became the focus of much activity by the secret police. All these churches were told to ‘close down temporarily’ whilst they applied for licenses. Many of them, anxious to ‘stay within the law’ began the arduous process of application – giving detailed information about their structure, leadership and organisation in the process. Many of them were doing excellent work, sometimes on behalf of well-known aid organisations like Tearfund.

Sadly, no licenses were ever issued – but the Eritrean government gained much useful information to use against the Church in the process. Many Christian leaders were imprisoned and the Church was forced to go underground.

I interviewed 15 Christians who ran for their lives from Eritrea and ended up in the refugee camp. I compiled detailed recorded statements of the systematic process of persecution, which they have endured. I am hoping to present these to the Foreign Office and to the United Nations in due course.

They were just a sample of scores of other Eritreans in a similar situation. Many of them had been asked by the Eritrean government to sign a declaration promising that they would never again ‘pray to Jesus, read the Bible, or attend ‘pentie’ services.’

When they refused, they were imprisoned and sometimes beaten. If they continued to practise the faith in prison, they were sent for ‘special detention’ where they were held in metal shipping containers in desert heat, or forced to dig wells in scorching temperatures with inadequate water. My questioning was thorough and detailed, and the statements cross-reference with great detail and accuracy. Many of my interviewees spoke excellent English and were highly intelligent. I am convinced of the truth of their story.

That evening, in the refugee camp, we joined more than 200 Eritreans for a time of worship, adoration and praise, which was breathtaking. It’s a long time since I’ve shared such liberated, vibrant, Spirit-filled worship. And that night, in a mud hut at the edge of the camp the leaders of the church carried a bowl of water and washed my feet. I was moved to tears.

If you want to know more about these people visit www.releaseinternational.org. A documentary about our visit will be released in the spring. Please pray for these brothers and sisters – they are in a perilous position and living in very basic conditions. They desperately need our help.

Rev Dr Rob Frost is director of Share Jesus international