This is contained in a statement in Arabic by the Grand Mufti (the
highest official of religious law in the country) which scanned copy
surfaced on social media sites on Thursday last week.
In the statement, Eritrea called for all men in the country to marry
at least two wives and the government assured the men that it would pay
for the marriage ceremonies and houses.
According to the government, the order is because there is an acute
shortage of men occasioned by causalities during the civil war with
Ethiopia.
Afkinsider.com said the document, which could not be
independently verified, warned that any man or woman who opposes the
decision “will face a life sentence”.
The document in Arabic,
which is in Arabic, says, “Based on the law of God in polygamy, and
given the circumstances which the country is experiencing in terms of
men shortage, the Eritrean department of Religious Affairs has decided
on the following:
“First that every man shall marry at least two women and the man who
refuses to do so shall be subjected to life imprisonment with hard
labour.
“The woman who tries to prevent her husband from marrying another wife shall be punished to life imprisonment.”
More than 150,000 Eritrean soldiers were killed during the secession
war from Ethiopia between 1998 and 2000. At the time Eritrea had about
four million people.
Eritrea, is a country in theHorn of Africa. With its capital
at Asmara, it is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south,
and Djibouti in the southeast. The northeastern and eastern parts of
Eritrea have an extensive coastline along the Red Sea, across from Saudi
Arabia and Yemen.
The nation has a total area of approximately 117,600 km, and includes
the Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands. Its name Eritrea is based on the Greek name for the Red Sea, which was first adopted for Italian Eritrea in 1890.
The country ranks that worst (189 out of 189) on the World Bank’s ease-of-doing-business index.
