The Catholic press reported in the last week of August news of a new expropriation of an educational institution in Eritrea run by the Brothers of the Christian Schools of La Salle. The news was reportedly published by BBC (https://www.africarivista.it/eritrea-il-governo-prende-il-controllo-di-una-scuola-cattolica/206104/) citing local sources, and the institute affected by the expropriation process is said to be the Agro-Technical School in the Gash-Barka region, which for 23 years has been run by the De La Salle religious and dedicated to training in the use of agricultural machinery, livestock breeding, agricultural crops and soil conservation (https://www.nigrizia.it/notizia/eritrea-nuove-espropriazioni-di-istituti-scolastici-cattolici).
According to reports, the Don Bosco Technical School in Dekemhare will also suffer the same fate by next September, as it has been since 2019 for many secondary vocational training institutes and health care facilities run by Catholic religious organizations.
The motivation for the expropriation process, according to the Eritrean government, would be related to a 1995 regulation restricting the activities of religious institutions in the country, while, according to the press, the real motivation would be found in the local Catholic church’s repeated calls for reform and democracy (https://www.africa.com/eritrean-government-has-seized-control-of-a-catholic-owned-technical-school/).
