Nairobi: Eritrea celebrated 25 years of independence Tuesday with street parties, giant fireworks displays and music, shrugging off international criticism the government has stifled basic freedoms.
Days of celebrations have included an "independence torch" carried across the country, camel races, military parades, cultural events and artistic displays, the state-run EriTV broadcaster showed.
Eritrea's media -- ranked below North Korea as worst in the world for press freedom by Reporters Without Borders -- said the celebrations are, "vivid demonstrations of the prevailing peace and stability in the country."
But on the eve of independence celebrations, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Eritrea, Sheila Keetharuth, warned of a "constitutional vacuum" since 1997 and called on Eritrea to "fully embrace democracy and the rule of law to achieve the vision established" at independence.
The hardline regime is accused of jailing thousands of political prisoners while refugees from the repressive Red Sea state have in recent years made up one of the largest contingents of people risking the dangerous journey to Europe.
"The national independence should match with individual independence and freedoms: freedom of conscience, thought, mind and expression; freedom to engage in employment and education of one's own choice," Keetharuth said.
Eritrean rebels battled far better equipped Ethiopian troops -- backed first by the United States, then the Soviet Union -- for three decades until victory in May 1991, which was followed by a referendum two years later.
A "quarter century of resilience and development" read a headline in the Eritrea Profile newspaper this week.
A subsequent border conflict with Ethiopia from 1998 to 2000 still simmers, which analysts say Asmara uses as an excuse for its continued iron-fisted rule.
Tales of war sacrifices are used to boost patriotism and flagging morale amidst the economic and social hardships blamed on that long running "no-war no-peace" border stalemate with Ethiopia.
AFP
