Eritrean authorities intercepted the men on December 4 as they were driving toward the Eritrean-Sudanese border, where Samaritan’s Purse had projects assisting the nomadic Beja tribe.

A U.S.-based evangelical Christian organization, Samaritan’s Purse is the 11^th international aid group expelled from Eritrea this year. Officials in Asmara insist that these expulsions are simply protecting the country from the aid dependency rife across Africa.

The detained drivers, most of them known to be evangelical Christians, remain under arrest in Police Station No. 6 in Asmara.

Gospel Singer Released
Local evangelical Christians report that Gospel singer Helen Berhane, released in late October after more than two years in jail for refusing to recant her faith, is recuperating at her home in Asmara.

No reason was given for Berhane’s release, although she was transferred into emergency hospital care for several days earlier in October, shortly after undergoing a new round of beatings.

“She is extremely strong spiritually, and in high spirits,” one Christian who visited her last month declared. Still in a wheelchair, Berhane was severely injured in her right leg by beatings and bruisings inflicted by her captors.

A member of the Kidrane Mehrete Fellowship, Berhane was arrested on May 13, 2004, shortly after releasing a Christian music album that proved popular among Eritrean youth. Jailed at the Mai Serwa Military Camp, she was never charged or put on trial.

“She spent most of her detention in inhuman and degrading conditions inside a metal shipping container which was used as a prison cell,” Amnesty International wrote in a November 3 statement reporting her release. “The authorities reportedly tortured her many times to make her recant her faith.”