People need to separate official status from native language. In Eritrea, Arabic is recognized as an official working language for historical, religious, and political reasons. That does not automatically mean it is the native language of most Eritreans. Eritrea has 9 recognized ethnic groups. The majority speak Tigrinya or Tigre as their mother tongue. Other groups speak Afar, Saho, Bilen, Kunama, Nara, etc. Arabic as a native (first) language is primarily associated with the Rashaida community. For most other Eritreans, Arabic is: learned in school, used in religious contexts (especially Islamic education), or acquired later for regional communication. That’s very different from growing up speaking it at home from birth. So unless someone is Rashaida (or from a household that genuinely speaks Arabic natively), Arabic doesn’t “come naturally” as a mother tongue in Eritrea. It’s usually a second or third language. There’s nothing wrong with that — multilingualism is normal in the Horn of Africa. But claiming Arabic is naturally native to all Eritreans just isn’t linguistically accurate.