Top Tweets for #IsayasMustGo

🇪🇷Eritrea’s Harsh Reality🇪🇷 In 1993, Eritreans believed they were choosing freedom over slavery. Today, they find themselves literally shackled by an even bigger chain of slavery. If there were no guards at the Eritrean border and no shoot-to-kill order, the vast majority of working-age adults would likely leave Eritrea in short order. The country’s indefinite national service—officially limited to 18 months but in practice extending for years or decades—functions as a system of forced labor, with conscripts receiving minimal pay to nothing, facing arbitrary punishments, and having little personal freedom. This policy, combined with political repression, lack of basic rights, and a stagnant command economy, has created deep disillusionment among the population. Testimonies from refugees consistently describe a sense of entrapment, where staying means sacrificing one’s youth and future to a regime that prioritizes control over development. Without the lethal deterrent of armed border patrols and the risk of imprisonment or death for attempting exit, the primary physical and psychological barriers to emigration would vanish, unleashing a pent-up desire for opportunity abroad.25 The evidence for this scenario is already visible in the scale of Eritrea’s ongoing exodus despite the dangers. Even with shoot-to-kill orders still in effect as of 2026, thousands continue to flee annually, risking everything to reach Sudan, Ethiopia, or beyond. In recent years, over 100,000 Eritreans sought asylum in a single year, representing a significant percentage of the in-country population (estimated around 3.6 million). The diaspora now rivals or exceeds the remaining population in size, with remittances becoming a lifeline for those left behind. Young people, in particular, express in private conversations and refugee accounts that they would depart immediately if borders were unguarded, viewing migration as the only viable path to education, employment, and autonomy. The regime’s heavy militarization of borders and punishment of families of escapees exist precisely because officials understand that voluntary retention is low. That said, not literally every adult would leave. A minority those ideologically committed and brainwashed to the independence struggle’s legacy, individuals in privileged positions, older citizens with strong family or property ties, or those fearing the uncertainties of exile might choose to remain. Logistical realities, such as destination countries’ capacity to absorb newcomers and the costs of travel, would also temper an instantaneous mass departure. Eritrea’s population is retained far more by coercion and force than by consent. Removing the guards and the shoot-to-kill order would trigger a demographic shift of historic proportions, accelerating the brain drain and exposing the regime’s governance failures more starkly than ever. This reality underscores the tragedy of a nation that achieved hard-won independence only to see so many of its people vote with their feet. Isaias Afwerki MUST go‼️