Minister Saleh Kekiya was a veteran of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front and served in numerous cabinet posts.
Minister Saleh Kekiya was a veteran of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front and served in numerous cabinet posts, including Minister of Transport and Communication, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Head of the Office of the President. He was subsequently arrested for signing the G15 letter- an open letter from prominent Eritrean politicians, known as the G-15 or Group of 15, within the ruling party – to President Isaias Afwerki demanding government reforms. He is being held incommunicado and the status of his health and whereabouts are unknown, which amounts to an enforced disappearance.
The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights ruled in November 2003 that G-15 dissenters arrested in September 2001 in Eritrea, which includes Minister Saleh Kekiya, were being held in arbitrary and unlawful detention. It called upon the Eritrean government to release and compensate them. The Government of Eritrea has ignored the ruling and the G-15 members arrested in September 2001 remain in detention.