Giulio Napolitano

January 2001.
The Eritrea was just out of the war with Ethiopia (May 1998 – June 2000)
On 18 June 2000, the parties agreed to a comprehensive peace agreement and binding arbitration of their disputes under the Algiers Agreement. A 25-kilometer-wide Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) was established within Eritrea, patrolled by United Nations peacekeeping forces from over 60 countries (the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). On 12 December 2000 a peace agreement was signed by the two governments.

With the closure of the independent press in 2001, no domestic institution exists to investigate or report on abuses of human rights. Eritrean government tries to veil human rights abuses from scrutiny. No foreign journalists are currently accredited. Human rights organizations have been denied entry since 2001. Foreigners are not allowed to travel outside Asmara without prior permission, which is often denied.
The photos were taken in the short period between the end of the war and the intensification of repression by the regime of Isaias Afewerki against his own people.
Eritrean people to whom I salute them for their hospitality, pride and warmth that allowed the creation of the photoreportage.