The story that Eritrean men have been ordered to marry at least two wives was a huge prank initiated by Kenyans.
In an interview with BBC, an Eritrean official said: “Even a madman in [the Eritrean capital] Asmara would know that this story was not true”
First published online on a Kenyan news site called Crazy Monday, the story went viral on social media after other news website picked on it.
Crazy Monday, which is published by the Standard newspaper, is well known for its focus on scandalous stories and gossip as part of an attempt to attract a younger readership, Mathias Muindi told the BBC’s media monitoring service.
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”.
However, people were quick to believe the story because Eritrea is one of Africa’s most authoritarian societies and has on several occasions been accused of “systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations,” by the United Nations.
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