Eritrea terminates activity of six Italian aid groups

February 17, 2006ASMARA -- Eritrea has ordered six Italian aid groups to stop working in the impoverished Horn of Africa nation for failing to meet new registration requirements. Letters received by the agencies this week thanked them for their work in Eritrea but said that they had not met conditions required by May 2005 legislation dealing with NGOs and so must halt operations by January 31. "We kindly officially inform you to terminate your activities as of 31/01/2006," said the letters from the Eritrean ministry of labor and human welfare, which were dated February 9. The letters did not explain why they were dated after the cut-off date for the groups to stop working nor did they say exactly what requirements of the new legislation they had not met. Those requirements include annual licensing, and stipulate that local groups must have operating capital of $1 million and international groups twice as much. The Eritrean official in charge of registration was abroad on Thursday and not available to comment. Officials at the Italian embassy in Asmara declined to comment although other diplomats said that they understood that the six groups were the only ones thus far rejected for registration. "So far 17 NGOs have been registered, six have been refused, and about 10 are still waiting for an answer," said one. In recent months Asmara has been stressing the dangers of dependency on foreign aid and instituted policies intended to cultivate self-reliance. In September it stopped most free distribution of food aid, and called for "food for work" programs to be instituted. Several diplomats said on Thursday, however, that free distribution had resumed in two of Eritrea's six regions recently. The United Nations said that two-thirds of Eritrea's 3.5 million population needed food aid in 2005 and while there are no figures yet for 2006, most of Eritrea's neighbors are suffering from a scorching drought that threatens millions with starvation.