Eritrea Minister of Education Halima Mohammed, 56, speaks during an interview with Reuters at her office in Asmara, Eritrea, June 24, 2026. Halima presides over a schooling system in which all teenagers must undergo army training towards the end of high school before being assigned mandatory and often indefinitely long roles in the military or in national service, mainly low-paid civilian jobs like teaching and policing. "All school graduates are getting at least a job to work, and they are getting their salary. And at the same time, they are serving the country," Halima said. "If you are going to have more freedom, first you have to have a country, you have to have national security, because we paid a lot for Eritrea." REUTERS/Giulia Paravicini SEARCH "MWANGI ERITREA RED SEA" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.