Eritrea Govt Orders Men To Marry Atleast 2 Wives Or Go To Jail

In a bid to find solution to many ladies not having men to marry them, the Eritrean government has ordered men to marry more than one wife or risk being jailed for life.

This is contained in a statement in Arabic by the Grand Mufti (the highest official of religious law in the country) which scanned copy surfaced on social media sites recently.

In the statement, Eritrea called for all men in the country to marry at least two wives and the government assured the men that it would pay for the marriage ceremonies and houses.

According to the government, the order became necessary due to an acute shortage of men occasioned by casualties during the civil war with Ethiopia.

Afkinsider.com said the document, which could not be independently verified, warned that any man or woman who opposes the decision “will face a life sentence”.

The document in Arabic says, “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:

“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 with life imprisonment.”

It would be recalled that more than 150,000 Eritrean soldiers were killed during the secession war from Ethiopia between 1998 and 2000. As at that time Eritrea’s population stood at about four million people. Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. With its capital at Asmara.