The Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization (RSADO) has issued a scathing indictment of the Eritrean government, documenting what it describes as a thirty-year campaign of “systematic ethnic persecution” and “economic strangulation” targeting the indigenous Afar population.
In a comprehensive press release issued on April 10, 2026, the organization detailed a harrowing landscape of human rights abuses, ranging from forced displacement and arbitrary arrests to the deliberate destruction of the Afar people’s traditional way of life.
The statement comes as the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights formally reviews a complaint against the administration of President Isaias Afwerki.
At the heart of the RSADO’s allegations is the systematic removal of Afar communities from their ancestral lands. The organization claims that for over three decades, the regime has carried out forced evictions along the strategic coastline extending from Massawa to Ras Dumer.
“Afar communities have faced repeated and systematic forced evictions from their lands, villages, and coastal areas,” the statement reads. This displacement covers a distance exceeding 700 kilometers—territories that the RSADO asserts have formed a “vital economic lifeline” for the Afar for generations. By denying access to these ports and islands, the government has effectively severed the community’s connection to the geography that defines their identity.
The RSADO highlights a particularly devastating tactic: the deprivation of maritime rights. For thousands of years, the Afar have relied on fishing and maritime trade as the backbone of their survival. The organization alleges that the Eritrean regime has implemented policies specifically designed to exclude the Afar from these activities.
This “economic strangulation” has not only plunged hundreds of thousands into poverty but has also triggered a humanitarian crisis. The RSADO notes that the inability to access marine resources, combined with “enforced conscription” and “the deliberate spread of fear,” has forced a massive exodus. Large numbers of Afar have been driven into exile, seeking refuge in neighboring Ethiopia—at camps such as Aseita and Barahile—as well as in Djibouti, Yemen, and southern Saudi Arabia.
The timing of the release coincides with the Geneva Conference (April 9–10, 2026), where the Eritrean Foreign Minister reportedly attributed the country’s deteriorating human rights conditions to unilateral international sanctions.
The RSADO dismissed this claim as a “politically selective interpretation of reality.” The organization argues that the regime is using “vague security claims” to mask a deliberate policy aimed at “eroding the cultural, economic, and even existential identity” of the Afar people.
The RSADO’s statement concludes by emphasizing that the “denial of basic services such as education, healthcare, and development” further entrenches the structural marginalization of the Afar. By bringing these grievances to the African Commission, the organization is seeking to pierce the veil of secrecy surrounding Eritrea’s internal policies.
