As Eritrea internationals use matches abroad to defect and seek asylum, we speak to one of the players hiding in Uganda

The moment Mewael Yosief had been waiting for all his life came a few hours after what should have been the pinnacle of his young football career. Two goals and a man-of-the-match display from the tall midfielder in Eritrea’s 5-0 victory over Zanzibar on 29 September 2019, which set up a Cecafa Under-20 Challenge Cup semi-final against the east African heavyweights Kenya, was hailed by a tweet from Yemane Gebremeskel, the country’s minister of information, praising his performance.

But as the government officials staying with the squad at their hotel in Uganda toasted their victory and the coach’s prediction that they could even go on to win the tournament for the first time, Yosief and his teammates Simon Asmelash, Hermon Yohannes and Hanibal Tekle seized their opportunity.

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“Everyone was celebrating our victory that meant we would be in the semi-finals so they didn’t think we were going to run away,” the 19-year-old remembers. “When we asked the guards if we could go for a walk, they said: ‘OK you can go.’ That’s when we defected.”

After three weeks on the run, they released a video via One Day Seyoum – a group focused on human rights for Eritreans that was set up by the London– and Stockholm–based campaigner Vanessa Tsehaye – in which they begged the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to grant them asylum in a new country.

“We wanted to ask for help,” Yosief says. “After that, the UNHCR contacted us and told us they would take us to a safe house and here we are. Now we are waiting for a decision but it has to be in favour for us. We cannot stay here in Uganda. There are so many Eritreans working for the government here and they are still hunting us.

“I’m not sure how they found out but one of the people that helped us escape suddenly went missing one day,” he adds. “After three weeks, he finally called us and he said the government had been trying to kidnap him. He is now hiding as well and we can’t contact him any more. You have to understand that this is serious. It is not a joke. The only thing that is keeping us safe is the fact that they don’t know where we are. If they find us it’s either death or kidnap. If they are successful, they will manage to bring us back to Eritrea and punish us for the rest of our lives. You would never hear again from any of us. If it’s not easy for them to kidnap us, then they will just kill us.”

Our bodies are feeling weak. We cannot contact our families. It’s very sad for us. But we are surviving through hope Mewael Yosief

The four players are awaiting the result of their asylum application after they were introduced by Tsehaye to the American attorney Kimberley Motley. Motley believes the decision could take some time despite the high-profile nature of their case.

“It all really depends on the Ugandan government and UNHCR,” she says. “Unfortunately there are a lot of people from Eritrea who are seeking asylum in Uganda. It’s very typical for them.”

Two of them have contracted malaria since their arrival at their current safe house at the end of October and Yosief admits their spirits are low after so many weeks trying to evade capture.

“It’s a really hard life,” he says. “We have been sick. This place … it’s far away from civilisation so it’s good for protection but there are no facilities and it’s hard to find enough food. Our bodies are feeling weak. We cannot contact our families. It’s very sad for us. But we are still surviving through hope.”

Eritreans using their status as international footballers to try to escape one of the most oppressive regimes on the planet has become an increasing phenomenon in recent years. Thirteen players successfully sought asylum in Kenya after a World Cup qualifier in 2009, while another 10 refused to return home from Botswana a year later. The entire senior squad used the 2012 Cecafa Cup as an escape route to freedom and were eventually resettled in the Netherlands. Another seven – Abel Okbay Kilo, Eyoba Girmay, Yosief Mebrahtu, Filmon Serere, Robel Kidane, Abraham and Ismail Jahar – went missing after helping Eritrea reach the final for the first time in December and are also in hiding.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Eritrea with their runners-up medals in Uganda in December. Seven players then went missing. Photograph: Darren McKinstry/Alamy

“We have just contacted them,” says Yosief. “They are OK for the time being. They are still in hiding because they know some officials are out there looking for them. The problem is that everyone is in military service. Being a footballer means nothing. At home, to walk around you have to have a permit in our own city. Even if the police know you are a football player and they recognise you, they don’t care; they just beat you down and arrest you. It has happened to me. The only hope that keeps you going is that one day you will be selected to play in an international competition like the one we were in so you can try to escape.”

Tsehaye, who spoke out against the oppressive Eritrean regime at the United Nations human rights council last year, says conditions in the country under the dictator Isaias Afwerki mean the trend is likely to continue despite new conditions which demand that players must pay a bond and surrender property documents before they are allowed to leave the country.

“Footballers are one of the few groups that have the chance to leave Eritrea,” she says. “Otherwise you have to risk your life just to get to the border.”

Never-ending military service, a ban on groups of more than two people congregating in public places and crackdowns on religious groups have contributed to the fact that as much of 9% of Eritrea’s population of 5.7m are refugees.

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“The funny thing about the Eritrean government is that they are propping [footballers] up as a propaganda machine to make Eritrea look great when in essence their laws frankly go against them being successful footballers,” says Motley. “There were times when they would actually get harassed at a time when they congregated for training. It’s just insane.”

Yosief, who recognises that his dream of playing professionally in Europe one day is on hold, believes he had no choice but to flee.

“I think we would have won that tournament if we had stayed but I can imagine what would have happened if we had just gone back – within two days we would have just been back in our old lives at our base,” he says. “Nothing special, no appreciation. Just the same old story.

“Even if you have success, the government takes all the credit. But the reality is that you can’t imagine what we have all been through to get the opportunity. We don’t know what is going to happen now but I hope things will go quickly and we can start a new life somewhere.”