A fake story about Eritrean men being ordered to marry at least two wives, which went viral across Africa, has been ridiculed by upset Eritrean officials.
“Even a madman in [the Eritrean capital] Asmara would know that this story was not true,” an Eritrean official told the BBC.
The hoax was first published online on a Kenyan news site called Crazy Monday. It was then reported in many countries from Nigeria to South Africa, with some suggesting that it was true.
Over the past few days the story has been trending on Twitter in Nigeria and other countries with people sharing links to the Eritrea’s visa application documents.
Legions of men have commented on social media that they were ready to travel to Eritrea to find a new wife. And media organisations have been publishing lots of images of pretty Eritrean women.
The story said that to make up for the shortage of men in the country, following the civil war with Ethiopia from 1998-2000, every man must marry at least two women or face imprisonment.
A purported government document in Arabic said: “Based on the law of God in polygamy, and given the circumstances which the country is experiencing in terms of men shortage, the Eritrean department of Religious Affairs has decided on the following:
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“First that every man shall marry at least two women and the man who refuses to do so shall be subjected to life imprisonment with hard labour.
“The woman who tries to prevent her husband from marrying another wife shall be punished to life imprisonment.”
However, Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel tweeted that “the media frenzy to parrot this ludicrous, fabricated and trite story… is appalling”.
In another tweet Mr Yemane said “the story illustrates [the] vileness of the dark forces of disinformation and proclivity of others to readily embrace the negative narrative on Eritrea”.
Eritrea is a multi-ethnic country in the Horn of Africa with a population of around six million. Its religious affiliation is almost evenly split between Christians and Muslims.
