Isaias Afewerki



Isaias Afewerki (February 4, 1946) is currently the first and only president of Eritrea. From 1969 to 1991 he led the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, which was able to gain complete control over the area in 1991 and become recognized as an official country in 1993.

Afewerki's constant postponing of elections has allowed him to rule Eritrea for nearly 30 years. He has enforced restrictions of press freedom, mass persecution of Christian citizens, mandatory and indefinite military service for those between 18-40 years of age and widespread torture of unfairly arrested Eritreans, particularly those who have defied the oppression listed above or attempted to flee the country. A UN panel stated in 2015 that Isaias "has imposed a reign of fear through systematic and extreme abuses of the population that may amount to crimes against humanity", and many organizations have frequently described Eritrea's human rights situation to be very poor.