Eritreans held a memorial service for Lampadusa victims

Eritrean memorial service for Lampadusa victims

Eritreans held a memorial service for Lampadusa victims

As the Ethiopian-backed 'Eritrean oppositions' groups and even Italian policy makers politicize the Lampeduza tragedy and deny the survivors entry in their self-serving organized memorial service, Eritreans from different parts of Europe, and of different faiths, came together and held a memorial service for the victims in the Italian City of Agrigento.

As tragic as this incident was, we must remember that human trafficking is a growing phenomenon in developing countries and is not just exclusive to Eritrea. It's unfortunate this tragedy has been politicized by a number of groups, including the media. Such extreme demonetization of Eritrea and its government makes no sense when you consider every developing country in Africa faces the same issues.

The Government of Eritrea and families of the victims call on the Italian government stop playing politics and allow the victims be buried in their homeland so the process of healing can begin. The Eritrean government has already stated it will pay for all costs needed to bringing them home. The biggest obstacle to this seems to be the 'Eritrean opposition' groups who want to drag on this tragedy to capitalize on the grieving state of Eritreans for political consumption.

At first, the so-called 'opposition' were busy collecting signatures to force the Eritrean government to allow the burial of the victims in their country. Then, after the Eritrean government announced it will not only bring the victims home but will cover for the cost, they changed positions and demanded the Italian government not to send their bodies back home, claiming that GoE could charge the families a fine for their loved ones illegally leaving the country.

Such insensitive positions are to be expected of the Ethiopian-backed opposition groups. After all, this is a group that targets Eritreans in the West with violence and vandalizes their properties because the vast majority of Eritreans continue to reject them.

Quick facts about the Lampeduza tragedy:

• Nearly all the victims were lured away by either their relatives or friends living in Europe who paid smugglers between $1,000 (735 euros) and $2,000 to make the perilous journey.


•  Many of the Eritrean victims didn't come from Eritrea directly. Some were living in the Sudan for decades, while others left Ethiopia, after early promises of entering the West through Ethiopia didn't materialize.


•  Many African migrants, particularly, Ethiopians say they are Eritreans when entering the West to gain automatic asylum status.This policy of giving asylum status to Eritreans is politically motivated and is intended to induce Eritreans to leave their homeland.


• Although the Eritrean government didn't make this public, it dispatched a number of officials to investigate the incident and to determine how many of the migrants were actually Eritrean. In order to achieve this, DNA samples were taken as well as interviews with survivors were conducted.

All photos below are courtesy of Sirak Bahlbi.

                                                       [Click on images to enlarge]

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