Swiss authorities, who were on a fact-finding mission to Eritrea, have said that the human rights situation in the country has not improved.A statement released in Addis Ababa on Monday quoted the Swiss authorities as saying that although there had been promises by Asmara that Eritrea would lower its required military service to a term of 18 months, “those hopes did not turn out to be true”.

Mario Gattiker, the head of Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Migration reportedly said: “Eritrea officially went back on its promise of shortening the required national military service,â€�.

Gattiker said proof of Eritrea’s improved human rights conditions is still missing.

He expressed hope that Eritrea would send an ambassador to Geneva to improve dialogue with the Eritrean authorities.

He said any decision of whether to send a Swiss ambassador to Eritrea lay with the Foreign Ministry in Asmara.

Mr. Gattiker explained that the three Swiss officials who visited Eritrea in March this year had not been allowed to visit prisons or military facilities.

About 28,500 Eritreans live in Switzerland, a quarter of them arriving there as asylum seekers in 2014.

Some 10,000 Eritreans applied for asylum in Switzerland in 2015.