Eritrea: Army Mutiny or Strange Behavior?

On 21 January 2013, between 100 and 200 Eritrean soldiers occupied Eritrea's Ministry of Information and began broadcasting demands for implementation of the constitution and the release of thousands of political prisoners.  No shots were fired.  The protesting soldiers ended the occupation peacefully, although the details of the incident are still not clear.

Writing for the International Crisis Group on 24 January, Cedric Barnes concluded in a piece titled Eritrea: When Is A Mutiny Not a Mutiny? that while the event was not a mutiny, it was "highly unusual" behavior by Eritrea's armed forces.  Writing for Bloomberg on 25 January, William Davison and Bealfan T. Hayle in an article titled Eritrea Mutiny Shows Growing Military Discontent with Isaias concluded that the incident did constitute a mutiny.