The showdown between the Eritrean government and the Catholic Church shows no sign of abating.
Four Catholic schools have been seized by the government this month. It follows the seizure and shutting down in June of the country’s 22 Catholic-run health centres.
That decision was widely seen as retaliation for Eritrea’s bishops speaking out in April over national reconciliation to achieve social justice for all Eritreans. But Awet Weldemichael, an Eritrean academic based in Canada, isn’t so sure. “I do not think that the Eritrean government has uniquely targeted the Catholic Church,” he says. “The Catholic Church’s capacity to give social services may make its targeting especially hurtful to the people, but conceptually what has been done to is no different from what the other have faced or are facing.”
