“Close the Eritrean consulate,” says Dutch-Eritrean journalist

He refuses to pay 2 percent income tax to the Eritrean government. Dutch-Eritrean journalist Habtom Yohannes, who has been living in the Netherlands since the 1980s, is a firm opponent of the Eritrean regime of President Isaias Afewerki.

Eritreans abroad are complaining about a ‘war tax’, a 2 percent income tax they have to pay to the Eritrean government. Are you forced to pay 2 percent?
“They don’t force you directly. But if you need consular services, they ask you to pay this 2 percent monthly tax, since 1992, when the measure was issued. Everyone should pay to defend the country.”

Other Eritreans claim they don’t pay the 2 percent tax and are free to travel to their homeland. So what’s the problem really?
“I don’t know who these guys are. Many of them defend the regime, but they don’t know where the money is going to. We don’t have a functioning parliament in Eritrea, there are no elections. Our president Isaias Afewerki was president of the transitional government. He’s still in power after 21 years.”

Do you know where the money is going to? Opponents call it a ‘war tax’, but it won’t be directly transferred to the al-Shabaab bank account, will it?
“It is difficult to say where it goes. But the UN monitoring group on Somalia and Eritrea issued just recently a report alleging that the war money is going to al-Shabaab in Somalia and rebel groups in southern Ethiopia. There is no peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Eritrean government wants to destabilize Ethiopia, Djibouti, the whole region!”

You are clearly not happy with this regime. Why do you speak out?
“I have been very critical towards the regime. I have been working with the Liberation Front, [where] the current ruling class [comes from], since I was 14. But after they refused to implement the constitution in 1997 and they went to war with Ethiopia, I started to criticize them openly, with my name and with my face. They know who I am.”

“Why? What they have been doing is very inhuman. Former freedom fighters who became critical journalists disappeared. Ministers, generals and ambassadors who criticized the president disappeared. Since more than eleven years, we don’t know where they are.”

You claim you’re being intimidated. What’s going on?
“I receive phone calls. I should not talk to the outside world about internal issues of the Eritrean regime. They say: We will kill you and those who talk to you. I’m not afraid.”

“It would be a good signal if the Dutch government would close the Eritrean consulate in The Hague until the Eritrean regime behaves. What they do in Eritrea is their business. But they shouldn’t implement their system in the Netherlands.”
In a reaction, the Eritrean conusulate said it "was too busy to give a statement".