In an undated letter sent by Tracey Vansickle, Counsellor of the Canadian Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya delivered to the Eritrean Ambassador Saleh Omar in Nairobi, Canada denied to issue a visa to Foreign Minister Osman because he was a member of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front between 1979 and 1991 and that "the EPLF was a group that engaged in the subversion(?) of a government by force. Canadian Federal Court jurisprudence confirms that membership in a group that attempts to subvert even a despotic government is sufficient to render inadmissibility. As such, you are inadmissible to Canada pursuant to section A34(1)(f) of the Act. I am therefore refusing, your application".

Eritrea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a press statement last 10 September 2008, said that such unheard-of act from a country that enjoys full diplomatic ties with Eritrea would, in itself, construe an embarrassing aberration in diplomatic conduct. What is more horrendous is however the reasons that the country's immigration authorities have given to explain their provocative act.

The Ministry questions whether Canada's decision is a sheer ignorance by a junior Government official or a deliberate desire by the Government of Canada to desecrate Eritrea's legitimate struggle against colonial occupation. It went on to question that if Canada's " Federal Court jurisprudence" questions the legitimacy of the current Eritrean government, why did it establish diplomatic ties with Eritrea after its independence in 1993 and receive the accreditation of Eritrea's resident Ambassadors in the past years. Eritrea's current Ambassador to Canada and the former Counsellor are invariably members of the EPLF.

The Government of Eritrea strongly condemns this hostile act and expressly requests the Canadian authorities to rectify this outrageous conduct.

Reports indicate that a Canadian foreign ministry spokesman said the visa decision was not theirs, but the immigration department’s.

Peter Worthington, a Sun Media columnist from Toronto, reported that an immigration spokesman acknowledged she knew of the Eritrean case, but “I can’t speak to specific cases” (privacy and all that). As far as she was concerned, the case stands. She said the only one who could give permission to speak about the case would be the prime minister.

Eritrea’s ambassador to Canada, Ahfrom Berhame, is puzzled and appalled at the Canadian decision. He said foreign minister Salah meets all the qualifications to be accepted, and to call the EPLF a “subversive organization” makes no sense, since it comprises the core of the Eritrean government today.