Nicholas Musonye, the secretary general of the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations, said the players failed to board a plane with the rest of the 25-man squad on Saturday to return home from the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup.
“They defected, they did not go home,” Musonye said.
An official of the Refugee Consortium of Kenya, a non-profit organization that gives free legal aid and representation to asylum seekers and refugees, said the 12 players had sought their assistance.
The official said his organization will present the Eritreans’ case to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, which will determine whether they can be granted asylum. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
Musonye said this is third time Eritrean players have gone missing in events organized by the council, with up to a dozen disappearing during a tournament being held in Tanzania in 2006-07.
The incidents underscore the harshness of life under the regime of President Isaias Afwerki, a former rebel leader who led Eritrea to independence from Ethiopia in 1993 but has since turned dictator. Strict government controls on the economy, media and religion in the nation of more than 5 million people have forced thousands to flee.
Musonye said the latest defection could be detrimental to football in Eritrea, because the government may not agree to let the team participate in future tournaments outside the country.
He added that despite experiencing difficult economic times, the Eritrean government has worked hard to improve football levels.
Musonye said he plans to speak with Kenya’s police commissioner Tuesday to request that tracking down the players be made a top priority.
Eritrea was knocked out in the quarterfinals of the two-week Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup, which was won by Uganda on Sunday.