Eritrean minister denied Canadian visa TheStar.com - Canada - Eritrean minister denied Canadian visa

Entire government shares same rebel past, community leader says

September 13, 2008

Lesley Ciarula Taylor
Immigration Reporter

The entire Eritrean government belongs to the former rebel army that Canada used as a reason to refuse entry to its foreign minister, the director of Toronto's Eritrean Cultural Centre said yesterday.

"This is a foolish act on the part of the Canadian government. It is embarrassing," said Estifanos Mehari, who described himself as a proud member of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front and "a proud Canadian, too."

Foreign minister Osman Saleh Mohammed learned he was being denied a visitor's visa in an undated letter from immigration counsellor Tracey Vansickle at the Canadian High Commission in Kenya, who cited his membership in the EPLF between 1979 and 1991.

"The EPLF was a group that engaged in the subversion of a government by force," Vansickle wrote. "Canadian Federal Court jurisprudence confirms that membership in a group that attempts to subvert even a despotic government is sufficient to render inadmissibility."

Saleh Mohammed was to have visited the city for an annual festival marking the East African nation's hard-fought independence from Ethiopia in the early 1990s.

About 2,000 attended the Aug. 2-4 event at Earlscourt Park.

The front was one of the rebel groups that liberated Eritrea, with which Canada set up full diplomatic ties in 1993. Saleh Mohammed was its first education minister.

"This guy is a hero," said Mehari. Canada has never before refused entry to an Eritrean official, he said, even though "100 per cent of the government of Eritrea are proud members of the EPLF" who are "creating a nation from scratch."

"Is it sheer ignorance by a junior government official or a deliberate desire by the Government of Canada to desecrate Eritrea's legitimate struggle against colonial occupation?" the foreign minister said in a release. It said Eritrea "strongly condemns this hostile act and expressly requests the Canadian authorities to rectify this outrageous conduct."

Canadian foreign affairs spokesperson Rodney Moore insisted it was an immigration matter rather than a diplomatic one and declined to comment further.

Comments on this story are moderated

Rebuffing Eritrean Dictatorship

This Canadian Immigration Law is no doubt very controversial. But the Ottawa authorities were right in denying entry visa to Eritrean officials including Dictator Isayas Afewerki unless they embrace such values as human rights, justice and rule of law. I am certain the Canadian Government would have allowed the Eritrean Foreign Minister to visit Canada despite his past participation in the struggle to ‘subvert’ the former authoritarian Ethiopian regime under Col Mengistu. Unfortunately, the Eritrean former rebel leaders, now ruling Eritrea, have not learned any lesson from history and have, in some respects, turned out to be much worse than Mengistu’s idiotic authoritarianism. The purpose of the Minister’s visit was aimed to boost Eritrean government fundraising activities in Canada, and to intimidate democratic Eritrean Canadians and other Eritrean legal residents. Democratic Eritreans are uplifted by the Canadian action not to let this happen.

Posted by Woldu Ab at 7:13 PM Saturday, September 13 2008

A wrong decision That Needs reconsideration.

The Immigration Counselor has clearly made a futile mistake in denying an entry Visa to Eritrea's Foreign Minister. EPLF was a highly appraised liberation movement during the struggle. It fought against Ethiopian colonialism and oppression in a most organised and principled manner. Western media such as CBC and BBC who covered the movement in the eighty's would attest to such fact. Thus, it makes no sense for Canada to deny an entry visa to a man whose only crime is for spending his youth life fighting against injustices inflicted by an occupying force. I wish that Mr. Rodney Moore, a Spokesman for Canada's foreign affairs would clarify his statement on such issue than just to dismiss it as been an Immigration matter. If you're in agreement with the decision of the Counselor to deny visa to Eritrea's foreign minister, would it make sense, then, for Canada to engage diplomatically with officialls it perceives a threat based on their involment with a ligitimate movement?

Posted by Amanuel Tseggai at 4:26 PM Saturday, September 13 2008

Very nice job, Canada

It's wonderful to see representatives of abusive governments rejected and humiliated by those civilized countries who uphold the rule of law. Canada has led the way for those countries who want to stand up for human rights and justice for the people of Eritrea.

Posted by liberty at 3:40 PM Saturday, September 13 2008

This is very good news!

Of course this is a legal excuse of the Canadian government not to allow high-level officials from Eritrea into their country. The real reason seems to be the unspeakably bad human rights record and repression of the Eritrean government, which is broadly documented in many places on the internet. So, to say "this guy is a hero" of the former Minister of Education, who for example did nothing to prevent the closure of the only university in his country by order of Eritrea's dictator Issayas Afewerki, is nothing but a typical example of the blindness of a diaspora supporter of the PFDJ, Eritrean's only political party derived from the EPLF. See http://www.delina.org/blog/cs?hdmo=2&id=1126&view=article for an eyewitness record of what is currently happening in the country... I therefore applaud the courageous stance of the Canadian government and wish more governments would follow their example! (somebody who knows the country very well from first-hand experience)

Posted by onein100 at 12:56 PM Saturday, September 13 2008