Sawa, a slavery plantation camp, compelled all #Eritrean youth to undergo what is euphemistically termed “National Service”but is, in reality, a brutal form of military training and enslavement. After finishing a secondary school like every #Eritrean youth, I went to Sawa at age 17 in 2012 for the 26th round, now a decade ago. My year in Sawa was one of the most devastating experiences of my life. Sawa is effectively a concentration camp where severe human rights violations occur regularly. Upon arrival, we faced mentally unstable and sadistic military officers who drugged and divided us into isolated military brigades, units, and divisions. In Sawa not a day passed without beatings or torture. Every activity was dictated by the sound of a whistleblower. I witnessed girls from the female military unit brought in as slaves to serve officers, subjected to rape and torture. These gross violations were perpetrated from the highest-ranking General of Sawa to the lowest-ranking officer. We were coerced into praising and hailing the dictator under threat from military officers. Dictator Isaias' old comrades the key figures of #PFDJ regime like #Eritrea's Ambassador to Japan, Estifanos Afewerki, Minister of Information Yemane Gebremeskel, Ambassador Sofia Tesfamariam, and other regime cadres deceive the international community with misleading videos and pictures from Sawa. Fearing for our lives, we had no choice but to comply to survive. Many girls aged 16-19 suffered severe distress, with some becoming pregnant after being raped, and others experiencing mental breakdowns. Fortunately, I managed to escape from this nightmarish ordeal and the severe human rights violations perpetrated by the autocratic regime of #Eritrea. I am now in a position to expose the atrocities committed by these criminals both within and outside my country. Since the establishment of Sawa many #Eritrean youths sent to Sawa have lost their lives in the #Ethiopia-#Eritrea border clashes and the recent #Tigray war. Some were shot and killed while attempting to flee the tyranny; others lost their sanity. Some are languishing in prisons, and many perished in the Sahara Desert, the Mediterranean Sea, at the hands of human smugglers, or in the Tekezé River. Sadly, the propaganda and enslavement machine continues to operate, perpetuating gross human rights violations, torture, and abuse. In conclusion, my experience at Sawa stands as a stark testament to the brutality and oppression imposed by the totalitarian #Eritrean regime under the guise of national service. It is urgent that the world acknowledges and confronts these grave human rights violations. The regime must be held accountable for its oppression and violence against #Eritrean youth. My story is a call to action for justice and change. Together, we must stand against tyranny, empower our people, and advocate for a future where freedom and dignity prevail in #Eritrea. #Sawa36 #TransnationalRepression #BlueRevolution #NoMorePFDJPropaganda #NoMorePFDJTerror @hrw @UNHumanRights @freedomhouse @citizenlab @DefendDefenders @UN_SPExperts @martinplaut @mvreisen @KjetilTronvoll

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Moscow is ready to host dialogue between Ethiopia and Eritrea at the Russia Africa Summit. We in EBRF welcome every real effort for peace in the Horn of Africa. Yet Isaias Afwerki has ruled for over thirty years without an election, and the PFDJ has refused dialogue with its own people for just as long. A regime that silences Eritreans at home cannot be a reliable partner for its neighbours. Lasting peace needs an elected Eritrean government with accountable institutions. EBRF has a plan for a democratic transition through regime change, and we are organizing for it. @KjetilTronvoll @martinplaut @EGerasouli35992 @TiborPNagyJr #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #PFDJ

Dawit Teferi spoke about EBRF on Ethiopian television, and his message is the right one: it is time to focus on a new vision for Eritrea after the Isaias doctrine. Under Isaias Afwerki and the PFDJ, Eritrea has become an open air prison with no constitution, no elections in over 30 years and indefinite national service for our youth. We in EBRF have a plan for a democratic transition through regime change, and we are organizing Eritreans everywhere to build a country governed by law and by the consent of its people. @ifa_ethiopia @_hudsonc @DaeronaC @BeyeneGerezghe1 #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #PFDJ

As this post notes, about 80 percent of Eritreans are under the age of 40, and the voices demanding real change are overwhelmingly young. That is no accident. Isaias Afwerki and the PFDJ have given an entire generation indefinite national service, closed universities, no free press and no vote in more than thirty years, so hundreds of thousands have fled through the desert and across the sea. We in EBRF are that generation, and we are organizing with a plan for a democratic transition through regime change, a constitution, an elected government and an end to forced conscription. Eritrea's youth deserve a future at home. @BBCWorld @Mercy4ALL82 @WeldetnsaeG @mrubin1971 #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #PFDJ

Eritreans are reportedly investing 55 million dollars in the Massawa City Mall in Kampala, Uganda. Our people have the capital and the skills to build, yet they invest abroad because Isaias Afwerki and the PFDJ have made Eritrea a country where nobody can run a business freely, trust a court or plan a life beyond indefinite national service. We in EBRF have a plan for a democratic transition through regime change, with rule of law, property rights and an open economy, so that this money and this talent can finally come home. We are organizing for that Eritrea every day. @martinplaut @dw_politics @TiborPNagyJr @BereketKahsai1 #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea

Isaias Afwerki has arrived in Moscow for the Russia Africa Summit, where regime media promise talks on trade, energy, food security and security cooperation and a meeting with Vladimir Putin. We in EBRF see a dictator shopping abroad for protection. Eritreans have not voted in over thirty years, the 1997 constitution was never implemented, and our young people are held in indefinite national service. No meeting with Vladimir Putin will feed our people or free our prisoners. Security cooperation with Isaias only means more tools to keep one man in power. We in EBRF have a plan for a democratic transition through regime change, and we are organizing for a free Eritrea that works with the world through law and accountable institutions. @RepJoeWilson @washingtonpost @KjetilTronvoll @afric_insde #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #RedSea

Isaias Afwerki's embassy in London has called Eritreans in the UK to a seminar titled "Country Above All", and regime supporters now boast that more than £275,000 was raised in under two hours. We in EBRF ask which country is placed above all when Eritreans have not voted in over thirty years and our young people are held in indefinite national service. This money will not defend Eritrea's coast or its sovereignty. It will keep the PFDJ in power. Eritrea is best protected by a free government chosen by its people, and we in EBRF have a plan for a democratic transition through regime change. @BBCWorld @_hudsonc @DaeronaC @CmaDawit #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #PFDJ

The leader of our diplomatic missions team, Beyene Gerezgiher, has just met with EBRF representatives and supporters in the United States, and the message from those meetings is clear. Our political and diplomatic network keeps growing across America. We in EBRF are making the case to US policymakers that Isaias Afwerki and the PFDJ are not a partner for stability in the Horn of Africa but the main source of its instability. We have a plan for a democratic transition through regime change in Asmara, and we ask our friends in Washington to engage with the Eritrean people who are organizing to deliver it. @EGerasouli35992 @RepJoeWilson @TiborPNagyJr @mrubin1971 #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea

This weekend, from our public meeting in Seattle to chapter discussions in Israel, we in EBRF met openly, debated freely and decided together on the next steps of our struggle. Inside Eritrea, Isaias Afwerki and the PFDJ have made exactly this impossible for more than two decades, with no national election, no National Assembly since 2002 and a constitution locked in a drawer. Our town halls show the Eritrea we are building, and we have a clear plan for a peaceful, democratic transition through regime change. We ask our partners to protect Eritreans abroad who join these meetings from intimidation, threats against their families and the coerced 2% tax. @martinplaut @KjetilTronvoll @EGerasouli35992 @dw_politics #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #TransnationalRepression

A new analysis argues that Eritrea's Red Sea coastline and ports could make it Israel's next indispensable ally in the Horn of Africa. We in EBRF agree that Eritrea and Israel share real strategic interests, but no lasting partnership can be built with Isaias Afwerki. For over thirty years he and the PFDJ have traded Eritrea's coast to whichever foreign power helps keep them in power, while Eritreans live without elections, a parliament or the rule of law. EBRF has a strong movement in Israel and a plan for a democratic transition through regime change in Asmara. A free Eritrea with an elected, accountable government will be the stable Red Sea partner Israel and the West need. @mrubin1971 @EGerasouli35992 @BeyeneGerezghe1 @RepJoeWilson #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #RedSea

Yemane Gebremeskel, Isaias Afwerki's minister of disinformation, mocks Ethiopia with talk of an emperor who has no clothes. We in EBRF say the only emperor without clothes sits in Asmara. Isaias Afwerki has ruled for over thirty years without one national election, the National Assembly has not met since 2002, and the 1997 constitution was never implemented. The PFDJ accuses its neighbour of fuelling wars while it keeps Eritreans in indefinite national service on a permanent war footing. Only a democratic Eritrea can be a trusted partner for Red Sea security. EBRF has a plan for a democratic transition through regime change in Asmara. @_hudsonc @RepJoeWilson @washingtonpost @DaeronaC #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #RedSea

A captured fighter paraded by the RSF in Sudan says he was rounded up from his village in Tigray, sent to Eritrea and then pushed into Sudan's war without knowing why. We in EBRF take this account seriously, because it fits what Isaias Afwerki and the PFDJ have done for years. They hold Eritrea's own youth in indefinite national service, they meddle in Sudan's war, and they treat young lives from across the region as tools for their own survival. A democratic Eritrea will keep its army at home and out of foreign wars. EBRF has a plan for that transition through regime change, and we are organizing for it now. @_hudsonc @CmaDawit @washingtonpost @KjetilTronvoll #EBRF #BlueRevolution #RegimeChange #Eritrea #PFDJ