Isaias Afwerki is Eritrea's dictator. He has ruled since 1991, soon to be 80 years old. His mother was of Tigrayan descent.
He led the guerrilla insurgency that won Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a three-decade armed struggle. He has almost single-handedly turned back the clock on Eritrea's development: the country was once one of Africa's most industrialised parts, but under his rule even basic goods like soap or bottled water have to be imported. His system of indefinite military conscription has been compared by the UN to mass enslavement. Perhaps a third of the population has fled abroad.
He retains a peculiar habit of denouncing the "misguided policies" of John Foster Dulles, a former American secretary of state, as if Dwight Eisenhower were still president.
A bloody border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia from 1998 to 2000 saw Ethiopian forces, then led by the TPLF, trounce Eritrea. Though Ethiopia refrained from advancing to Asmara, the humiliation left Isaias with an enduring hatred for the TPLF.
When Abiy Ahmed went to war against the TPLF between 2020 and 2022, Isaias sent troops into Tigray to fight on the Ethiopian government's side. His forces massacred civilians, raped women and looted widely. Since then, Isaias and the TPLF appear to have struck a tactical alliance against Abiy, who is now the bigger threat to Eritrea's sovereignty.
QOTD: Silence is the only virtue he has left.