Eritrea has called up thousands of reservists to fight in Tigray

he counted himself lucky. Tekle (whose name we have changed for his safety) had gone through his training in the Eritrean army and learned how to handle a gun. Then he was released, unlike most of his classmates who had been conscripted for indefinite national service in the army or in virtual slavery for the state. Many others fled the country. Tekle stayed put, one of the few people allowed to run a private business in Eritrea’s capital, Asmara. He kept his head down.But Tekle’s luck ran out in September when Eritrea’s dictator, Issaias Afwerki, called up reservists aged 40-65 to fight against Tigray, a rebel region of next-door Ethiopia. Probably tens of thousands have already been sent into battle there. “Nobody wants to fight,” he says in resignation. “But life is not fair sometimes.”