The 34-year-old Abraham Tesfai has spoken to ANSA about an odyssey that saw him flee Eritrea to reach Lampedusa after crossing Sudan, Libya and the Mediterranean. Today, he lives in Bologna, central Italy, where he has become an activist.
"In Eritrea, if you pay 5,000 dollars to corrupt government officials, they let you leave. The fee is lower -- 2,500-3,000 dollars -- if you rely on traffickers, and the journey is on foot," says Abraham Tesfai, 34, who reached Lampedusa 14 years ago and now lives in Bologna, in the northern Italian Emilia Romagna region.
"I didn't know anything, and I fled, aware of the risk that I could die due to the 'shoot and kill' law. If you are killed within the country's borders, nobody will hear about you anymore: there is no internet, there are no free media in Eritrea," he says.
The African odyssey prior to reaching Europe
Abraham's flight from Ethiopia was facilitated by the geographical factor.
"I was working on the construction of a dam at the border with Sudan and I fled from there with two friends," he recalls.
"The soldiers saw us and started to shoot and, after being pursued for an entire night, we crossed into Sudan. It was morning there and we stopped."
There were more or less fortunate encounters in Sudanese territory: some people were welcoming while a group of youths threatened them and hit them because they wanted money, he said.
A man invited them into his home, gave them clothes and then took them to a refugee camp, Abraham recalls.
"We were there for about three months, but we weren't safe, because the Eritrean regime sometimes would send soldiers looking for people who had fled, like us. So we escaped to the capital Khartoum. At the time, Sudan was led by dictator Omar al-Bashir who cooperated with ours, Isaias Afewerki," says Abraham, explaining there was now a new list of prices for migrants.
The trafficker had promised a truck but instead came to get us with two pick-ups for a total of 56 people. I held on with all my strength while we were crossing the desert -- falling out would have been my end.
"In Sudan too we had to pay traffickers: 5,000 dollars for South Africa, 30,000 dollars for the US, 20,000 dollars for Europe," he went on to say.
"The most desperate solution was Libya but we didn't have a choice, we left paying 1,200 dollars each. The trafficker had promised a truck but instead came to get us with two pick-ups for a total of 56 people. I held on with all my strength while we were crossing the desert -- falling out would have been my end."
The group reached Libya without any losses, "but a person died in a cell after a brawl for food and others died at sea. I was detained in Libya for a month and a half, then I paid 3,000 dollars for the crossing to Lampedusa after a first, failed attempt," he continued.
Hell in a Sicilian CPR and the studies in Bologna
The arrival on the island was no less unhappy. "They took our fingerprints and transferred us to Caltanissetta where for three months I lived in a container with 10 others without personal space, in a CPR (migrant pre-removal center) which I couldn't leave. I had escaped Eritrea and Libya to end up in another prison," he noted.
Abraham has always worked as a warehouse worker or driver to pay for his lawyers and obtain the necessary permits to stay in Italy, given that going to the Eritrean embassy would be like turning himself over to the very authorities from whom he has escaped.
"The Eritrean regime starves the population and its strategy is to create unrest in neighboring countries so the dictator can become an interlocutor and act following his best interests on different fronts: Eritrea is today the Horn of Africa's cancer," denounced Abraham, who after a period of time spent in Switzerland -- where he was detained and then pushed back -- settled in Bologna.
I had escaped Eritrea and Libya to end up in another prison
"Through (Catholic charity) Caritas, I met a priest who gave me a roof in the parish church. I didn't have a diploma so I took it as a mechanic by attending an evening school, then I obtained a university degree in agronomy and now I am studying for a master's degree in international relations and human rights. I am finishing this year," he said.
Also read: Asylum seekers from Eritrea and the long arm of the regime
The hope for change in the Eritrean diaspora
Abraham's objective is to "fight for all Eritrean refugees who are in detention. There is richness in our country, but it goes to very few while people are starving. There are well-prepared people in the Eritrean diaspora, and I can't wait to go back. It wasn't my choice to leave Eritrea, I fled and I feel in exile, but life in my country is impossible. The regime wants people to flee so that they pay. And so it prospers by taking bribes from migrants who work abroad and then send money back home, as well as from those who return to visit the elderly, or when they lose someone or to guarantee themselves a burial spot in their land."
However, Abraham is confident about the future: "The situation in Eritrea will change, the dictatorship will end like everything else. We members of the diaspora are worn out by the suffering, difficulties, and constant work to support ourselves and our family members who have remained there, but we will be able to overcome barriers to build a strong ruling class and we will be able to send this regime packing," he concluded.
Author: Valentina Maresca