Hundreds of people have again died in front of the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa. They were men and women fleeing from misery and wars hitting their countries, people who had the hope of a better life in Europe. This time, though, it is remarkable that there were many Eritreans among the drowned ones: up till now, it was not that usual to find big groups of Eritrean people among the first positions on the lists of migrants.

Many years have passed since the Eritrean national liberation war against Ethiopia. The conflict led the Eritrean people to national emancipation and to the establishment of an independent state in 1993. Nevertheless, the hope for a general respect for human rights and for a better life for Eritreans plummeted as soon at it was obvious that one of the independence leaders and new President of Eritrea, Isaias Afewerki, decided to stay in power and not to meet the demands for an advanced democracy. 20 years later, he continues to be the Head of State, the country's dictator. One of his obsessions is to keep Eritrea as a hermetically closed state. This avoids many stories from the country to be little known in the outside world, even if the situation of the Eritrean people is dramatic.

According to a recent report by Amnesty International, one of the regime's features is the fact that no opposition parties are allowed, nor independent media or civil society organizations. Another feature is the imposition of and endless military service to youth and children, which includes forced labour. Political dissenters are crushed and they undergo torture.

This situation causes that thousands of Eritreans try to escape from the country. Even if the border surveillance is harsh, they try to flee. If they manage to leave Eritrea, those left behind risk to pay consequences: relatives of fleeing people can be fined or even imprisoned by the Afewerki regime.

This could be an explanation for the relatively small number of Eritreans who manage to get to the European shores. And this turns the Lampedusa disaster into an even more complex situation. As an irony of history, Italy was the country that colonized Eritrea from the end of the 19th century till the end of the Second World War.

Amnesty International and other organizations are now asking the Italian Government not to apply the Law on foreigners to those people who have been able to escape from the shipwreck -or, at least, to the Eritreans there. If those Eritreans are sent back to their country, organizations say, they could be tortured and imprisoned for several years.

(Image: a scene in Lampedusa's coast / picture by Arnold Sciberras.)