Due to an acute shortage of men, the government of Eritrea is forcing all men to embrace polygamy or face life imprisonment.
Eritrean activists translated the message from Arabic yesterday and its contents are still sending ripples of shock throughout the country.
In a document allegedly written by the Department of Religious Affairs of the East African country, polygamy for Eritreans is no longer a matter of choice. By law, the men are now required to marry at least two wives, or face life imprisonment with hard labour. Similarly, women who attempt to prevent their husbands from exercising the law would spend the rest of their lives in jail.
The government assured its citizens that it will pay for the marriage ceremonies and houses.
According to AFK, the decision was made after the government realised that they have lost a lot of men to the war and their was an acute shortage of men.
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 one of Africa’s most authoritarian societies and has on several occasions been accused of “systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations,” by the United Nations, The Washington Post reported.
In 2014, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta also legalised polygamy, with no limit on the number of wives that a man can marry.
Due to this event, Kenyans are reportedly lauding the decision of the Eritrean government on the matter.
“He is so so considerate of women! That's good of him,” A Kenyan said to The standard newspaper.
Other African countries where polygamy remains legal include Ghana, Ethiopia, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Angola, Tunisia, Rwanda, and Burundi.
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