European Union foreign policy Chief Federica Mogherini, has called for greater respect for human rights in Eritrea.
Eritrea is a major outlet for refugees who risk their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
According to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, 5,000 people flee the impoverished Red Sea state each month.
Some Eritreans, who make it to Europe, claimed
they fled the country to escape from indefinite military conscription and other human rights abuses.
However government officials in Asmara denied the charges, saying human traffickers, not rights abuses, were to blame for the large exodus of people from the country.
“There is need for important reforms in Eritrea to improve human rights record and other living conditions of the population,” Mogherini told newsmen during a visit to Addis Ababa, capital of neighbouring Ethiopia.
Faced with the biggest inflow of migrants since World War II, the 28-nation EU had been deliberating on how to reduce the numbers of immigrants arriving from Africa, the Middle East and Asia through the Mediterranean Sea.
EU officials announced in September that the bloc plans to approve 200 million euros (226.72 million dollars) in development aid for Eritrea by the end of the year to stem the exodus of people.
Eritrea received EU funds until 2011 when Asmara decided to stop the foreign aid programme.
Eritrea, which won independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after three decades of war, had often accused the West and Ethiopia of conspiring against the government of Isaias Aferwerki, a former rebel who had been president since the secession. (Reuters/NAN)
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