An underground newspaper was circulated on the streets of Asmara yesterday, 12 years after the Eritrean government banned all privately owned media and arrested journalists and proprietors, Freedom Friday Movement (Arbi Harnet) has announced.

MeqaleH Forto, which means Echoes of Forto, is said to have been inspired by the attempted coup on 21 January this year. The paper is produced by a small team both inside Eritrea and in the diaspora, and is distributed using informal links and networks.

Freedom Friday activists say that while their pilot circulations have been limited, there is plenty of room for expansion.

In its inaugural edition, MeqaleH Forto included Tigrigna and Arabic articles about Freedom Friday and the other diaspora based resistance movements, in line with the objectives of the movement to link the resistance inside the country to those in the diaspora.

The paper is financed by supporters of the movement, who have are mainly been mobilised via Facebook and other social media platforms.

"The date is significant for us as the very last editions of Eritrea's fledgling private newspapers ran last 12 years ago today," the team said. "While we are aware that one underground newsletter with extremely limited circulation isn't the answer to freedom of press in a secretive country such as Eritrea, it is our contribution to keeping that hope alive for us and others to build on."

Initial reactions to the inaugural issue were said to be generally positive and Freedom Friday is now looking for media professionals and those with links and networks inside the country to support in the production and distribution of subsequent issues.