ICC Note: Eritrea and Somalia are two of the nations most hostile to Christianity.  The recent sinking of a migrant ship in Italian waters loaded with Eritrean and Somali refugees, many of whom were Christians, highlights their desperation. Just as the pursuit of religious freedom drove European settlers to what is now the United States, East African refugees regularly ply this harrowing route to escape religious persecution. The regular stream of refugees fleeing to the shores of Europe, and the mounting numbers of those whose journeys are cut short by murder, enslavement, or shipwreck, make for a tragedy that deserves more attention from the international community. Please pray for those making this perilous journey.
10/5/2013 Italy (Deutsche Welle) The sinking of a migrant boat off the Italian coast on Thursday (03.10.2013) left at least 111 people confirmed dead, but the death toll could rise to 300, officials said. Most of the refugees, who departed by boat from Libya, come from the East African countries of Eritrea and Somalia.
Distress and helplessness prevail on the small island of Lampedusa. The number of people who have been killed by this latest shipwreck is dismayingly high, among them pregnant women and children. But particularly shocking is the fact that the disaster could have been predicted.
Ferrucio Pastore, the director of the International and European Forum for Migration Research, based in Turin, Italy, is not surprised that thousands of Africans attempt such a journey every year. Pastore told DW: “Unfortunately it is the same old story. The numbers drop during times when the cooperation between the refugees’ countries of origin and destination is more effective, then climb again – for obvious reasons: because of the instability and conflicts in these countries.”
Again and again, boats laden with refugees attempt the journey from North Africa. According to UNCHR, around 8,400 people reached Italy and Malta in this way in the first half of 2013 alone. Those who died on the way to Europe have yet to be counted.
Many of the refugees who were on the boat which sank near Lampedusa on Thursday had come from Eritrea and Somalia. Abba Musse, a Catholic priest and director of the NGO Agency Abesha in Rome, explained that “since 1994, Somalia has been completely out of control, constantly at war.”
And the dictatorship in Eritrea, explains Mussa, is seen by many as the North Korea of Africa. “There is no freedom there in any form – no press freedom, no religious freedom and no right to assemble. These people are looking for a new life, for freedom, for a second chance,” he says.
Organizations, like Amnesty International, accuse the Eritrean government of arbitrary arrests of political opponents and other systematic human rights violations.
While, in Eritrea, a brutal dictatorship forces his countrymen to attempt dangerous escapes, says Mussa, in Somalia, it is the high degree of insecurity. After years of civil war, Somalia elected a president in 2012, but the islamist al-Shabab militia spreads terror across large parts of the country. “The result of this long war is social and economic problems,” he says. “Many people have no work and no basis for survival.”
Before these refugees begin their journey across the Mediterranean, many of them end up in Libya. Some of these people are persecuted and discriminated against due to their skin color or Christian faith, notes Mussa. For that reason, he continues, they don’t want to stay there.
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[FULL STORY]