“A high-level visit to one of the world’s most repressive regimes can only be justified if it delivers real results. Anything less than the release of Dawit Isaak risks legitimizing a dictatorship that has committed grave and long-standing human rights violations”, says Caroline Edelstam, President of the Edelstam Foundation.
According to a statement by Eritrea’s Ministry of Information, Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh met with Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Maria Malmer Stenergard, in Asmara on Wednesday. The Eritrean authorities state that the talks covered bilateral relations between Eritrea and Sweden, regional developments, and issues of peace and security in Africa and the Red Sea region.
The statement further says that Sweden’s Foreign Minister also met with Eritrea’s Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, Leul Gebreab, who reportedly briefed her on government programs and what were described as achievements related to “social justice.”
Maria Malmer Stenergard arrived in Asmara earlier in the day for a two-day working visit and was received at the airport by a senior official from Eritrea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to Blankspot, a Swedish independent investigative media outlet, the visit is highly unusual and marks the first official visit by a Swedish foreign minister to Eritrea since the country’s independence in 1993. The outlet reports that the visit has taken place amid signs of increased diplomatic activity by Eritrea, including the recent release of more than 100 political prisoners.
Blankspot notes that these releases have renewed international attention on the case of Swedish-Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak, who has been imprisoned in Eritrea without trial since 2001. The article adds that, at the time of publication, the Swedish government had not yet publicly commented on the visit.
Link to the post on X by Eritrea’s Ministry of Information
