RSADO Warns of Severe Persecution of Afar People under Eritrea’s Regime

Addis Ababa, December 24, 2025—The Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization (RSADO) has urged the international community to take action to address what it describes as systematic and severe persecution of the Afar people under Eritrea’s repressive government.

The Organization further warned that continued global inaction is enabling grave human rights violations to persist with impunity.

RSADO leadership, including Chairman Ibrahim Haroun, Secretary Abdushek Mahmoud, and Spokesperson Nesredin Ahmed, held a press briefing in Addis Ababa to highlight ongoing human rights violations.

According to RSADO, indigenous Afar communities in Eritrea have endured systematic persecution, marginalization, and widespread human rights violations since 1991.

The Afar population in the Dankalia region has faced prolonged repression through forced displacement, property confiscation, livelihood restrictions, and fundamental rights violations.

Chairman Ibrahim Haroun explained that Eritrean government policies have systematically undermined traditional Afar ways of life by denying communities access to their ancestral lands and coastal resources.

This has severely damaged economic activities essential to Afar survival, including fishing, trade, and pastoralism, he said.

For decades, the Red Sea Afar community has endured state-engineered repression, including mass displacement, targeted persecution, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and the systematic dispossession of their ancestral lands along the Red Sea coastline, Ibrahim stated.

In response to these ongoing violations, last June RSADO has submitted a comprehensive 122-page report to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) Secretariat detailing the plight of the Afar people under Eritrean government oppression.

The ACHPR Secretariat has formally acknowledged receipt of RSADO's submissions and, acting under its mandate pursuant to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, has officially transmitted Communication No. 868/25 to the Government of Eritrea, he said.

According to Ibrahim, the Commission has ordered Eritrea to submit its response within sixty days, in accordance with Rule 116(2) of the ACHPR Rules of Procedure

RSADO leadership hailed this development as a historic and long-overdue breakthrough in the Red Sea Afar people's decades-long struggle for justice, recognition, and accountability, Abdushek Mahomoud said.

The organization emphasized that this action sends a clear message across the continent that no state stands above the African Charter, and no regime can indefinitely evade regional scrutiny and responsibility, he added.

The Commission's decision to compel a response from the Eritrean government is a powerful affirmation that these crimes can no longer be ignored, denied, or silenced, RSADO stated.

RSADO views this development as critical recognition of the gravity and urgency of the Afar people's suffering, representing an important step toward dismantling the culture of impunity that has protected perpetrators for too long.

According to the RSADO leadership, the organization expressed its highest appreciation to the Commission for its swift, principled, and victim-centered action, demonstrating unwavering commitment to protecting oppressed and marginalized peoples across Africa.

RSADO reaffirmed its full readiness to cooperate with the Commission throughout all stages of proceedings in pursuit of truth, justice, and reparation.

RSADO respectfully encourages African Union member states, regional institutions, international organizations, and relevant stakeholders to support the African Commission's mandate and continue engaging through appropriate diplomatic and legal channels to protect human and peoples' rights and prevent further harm to affected communities.