Eritrea: EU cautioned over aid

Led by President Isaias Afewerki since gaining independence from Ethiopia in the early 1990s, Eritrea has, by some indicators, one of the worst human rights records in the world. The organisation Reporters Without Borders (known by its French acronym RSF), for example, has documented how dozens of journalists have been detained incommunicado since 2001, with several of those believed to have died in custody. According to RSF's latest annual report, Eritrea "deserves to be at the bottom" of a league table for press freedom.