Source: Bild. Because: The event, advertised by the organizers as a peaceful family celebration, is actually considered a propaganda event for the military dictatorship of the long-term ruler Isayas Afewerki 77 , who has ruled the country with an iron fist for 30 years.
After the riots on Saturday, the police are still on duty today. In Hesse, the Eritrea dictatorship can celebrate. BILD clarifies the most important questions.
Afewerki bases his power on the only legal party, the Popular Front for Democracy and Justice, and the military he controls, into which both men and women are forcibly conscripted for many years. Since , more than , people have been killed in the conflict and almost a million have been displaced. Eritrean soldiers alone in the city of Aksum, near the border, murdered several hundred people.
Even after the ceasefire agreement between the Ethiopian central government and the rebels in Tigray in November , Eritrean troops remained in the region. Activists from Tigray reported to BILD later this year about ongoing raids on villages near the border.
In order to ensure the continued existence of the dictatorship, however, Afewerki is dependent on soldiers: his military was involved in armed conflicts with neighboring countries Ethiopia and Djibouti for years.
