Eritrean Pentecostalism - Refugees in Cairo

I am currently researching Eritrean Pentecostalism.
The persecution of religious minorities in Eritrea is terrible. Here is one description from a (rather dated but still accurate) man who posted a comment on the BBC:

"I was doing my national service in Sawa Military training during the period 1999- 2001. During the two years period of my stay in Sawa, I witnessed an enormous amount of beating and torture to individuals who happened to be followers of Jehovah's Witness and Pentecostal (commonly known as "Pente") religions. I was, on many occasions, a prison guard to these people. The Jehovas are detained for refusing, according to their faith, to take the military training. But the "Pentes" are usually simply detained for reading bibles, praying in a group, singing gospels etc during the free time, even though they are good soldiers. Once they are detained their head is shaven, like the other criminals in the prison. 20-30 of them are detained in a 3x4 metal-house. They were allowed to go out only for 30 minutes in whole day. The perfect relaxation time for the detainees were when they were taken to load and unloads cement, food etc from trucks. They all prefer this work than to be locked in the container even though it is physically exhausting for them. But the worst time for all of them was during 'questioning' time. They were badly beaten to the extent that noses are broken, feet bleed. After the beating comes the notorious 'helicopter' torture in which your two legs are tied with your hands on your back. You are thrown in the sun and milk is poured on your body to attract the flies. It was the most inhuman treatment I have ever witnessed."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3663654.stm

(The image on the RHS is from a website that deals with Eritrean conscientious objectors in general - Pentecostalists do not necessarily resist military service (unlike, for example, Jehovah's Witnesses). http://www.wri-irg.org/news/2005/eritrea-en.htm)

An audience of dissatisfied African men

Last night, November 7, I went to a talk at AU on “Crossing the Border: Palestinians, Migrants and Bedouins in Sinai.” The speaker described the complex layers of cultures and ethnic groups that live and move through this section of Egypt. There were, she said, four principal groups: 1) Palestinians; 2) Bedouins; 3) Egyptian migrants; and 4) Illegal migrants.
The speaker described the thousands of Palestinians that have been trapped at the border at Rafah since Hamas took control of Gaza strip. A new word, she said, has emerged in the Palestinian dictionary to describe these people: “al-Alqyin”, or “the stranded.” She explained how the Bedouins, who had lived in this section of the world for generations, lacked basic legal rights such as property rights and citizenship. She outlined how the Egyptian government repopulated Sinai after 1982, drawing villagers from the Egyptian valley over to Sinai with promises of better salaries and housing.
But what struck me about the whole talk was not all this fascinating information about Palestinians, Bedouins and Egyptian migrants. It was the makeup of the audience who had come to listen to the talk. Over 75% of the people sitting in the room were African men. I have no idea where these men were from. I have no idea whether they are living in Egypt legally or illegally. But they did seem particularly fascinated by the topic of “illegal migrants.” Unfortunately, the speaker only brushed over this topic in the last minute of her 40-minute presentation. Knees jiggled nervously around me. When the speaker stopped, these men questioned her about the smugglers who traffic people across the border from Egypt to Israel: Was it just the Bedouins? Who was in overall control of this smuggling? Who controlled the border? The speaker’s answers were wholly inadequate (to be fair, this wasn’t her focus..)

I could only imagine what was passing through these men’s minds. Maybe I’m projecting stories onto them – maybe none of them have any intention of attempting to cross the border through the desert mountains. But it is likely that Israel is a potential destination for at least some of the men, despite the fact that Sudanese and Eritrean refugees have recently been shot by the Egyptian police as they were crossing the border, and despite the fact that Egypt has declared it is planning to return to Sudan some Sudanese refugees sent back from Israel (in violation of international refugee law). (see http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EMAE-78FM49?OpenDocument; http://fortresseurope.blogspot.com/2006/01/three-migrants-shot-dead-in-2007-at.html).
When the speaker described the harsh conditions, the dangerous mindsets of the security force policing the border, and the rise in the use of violence in that region of the world… I couldn’t help but wonder if this was making at least some of the men’s hearts jump. I felt deeply grateful that I didn’t have to face this type of arduous journey in the quest for peace and economic opportunity.