UPDATE: This report was found to be a hoax. We apologize to our esteemed audience.
In a statement by the Grand Mufti, highest official of religious law in the East African country, of which scanned copies appeared on social media sites, the Eritrean Government has called for men to take more than one wife or risk being jailed for life.
In the statement which was published in Arabic, the Eritrean government has encouraged men to marry at least two wives with the government promising to take care of the cost for marriage ceremonies and housing.
This order is as a result of the low population of men compared to women caused by casualties during the civil war with Ethiopia.
The document published 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 to life imprisonment.”