It is been said that the cyclists had bitter dispute with the Eritrean sports Authorities on a number of issues including on their repeated demands for the purchase of new bicycles and other necessary equipment in order for them to be competent.
The latest defection comes only few
days after ten football players from the Eritrean national team sought
political asylum in Botswana after they lost 3-1 to the host nation in a
qualifier match for the 2018 World Cup.
According to Sources, the group of
Eritrean cyclists managed flee to Ethiopia risking their life to cross the
heavily patrolled borders of the country.
Up on arrival, the Eritrean team was
welcomed by the local officials at Tigray region, bordering Eritrea, and are
currently sheltered at Enda Abba Guna, a temporary refugee processing center,
in the northern Ethiopia region.
The cyclists had bitter dispute with
the Eritrean sports Authorities on a number of issues including on their
repeated demands for the purchase of new bicycles and other necessary equipment
in order for them to be competent.
However none of their demands were
met which led for their decision to pullout from the national team which had
competition in few days.
Angered by their decision Eritrean
authorities threatened the cyclists to send them to a military training as a
punishment which led for the team to defect.
There have been frequent mass
defections by Eritrean sports persons in recent years mostly among football
players of the national team.
Eritrean athletes often refuse to
return home after international matches mainly to escape mandatory military
service which is compulsory to every Eritrean aged 18 to 45.
The latest defections are said to be
a big blow for one of the world’s most repressive country which is often
referred by right groups as the North Korea of Africa.
The Red Sea nation has been accused
by the UN of forcing its citizens to indefinite national military service and
of killing won citizens trying to escape abroad under an imposed shot-to-kill
policy.
Eritrea which has been led by
President Isaias Afwerki since it gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 has
never had elections and the ruling People’s Front for democracy and Justice
(PFDJ) has never implemented constitution.
Source ( Sudan Tribune )
Eritrea should never have been allowed to become an independent country - it is too insignificant an entity to constitute a country. The actions of the despotic criminals who rule it have proved the positions taken by former Ethiopian leaders in absorbing Eritrea into Ethiopia. Eritrea's colossal failure as an independent nation calls for its immediate re-absorption by Ethiopia in the interest of fellow Africans in that dungeon. Ethiopia should reclaim Eritrea right away.
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