July 8, 2008 Hundreds of
Eritrean refugees marched in Addis Ababa on Monday demanding the
African Union (AU) stop Egypt and Libya deporting Eritreans who
they said faced possible execution if sent home.
Egypt deported up to 1,000 Eritrean asylum
seekers last month in its biggest forced return of probable
refugees for decades, despite activists’ concern they might face
torture.
Waving Eritrean flags, a group of about 500
Eritrean refugees marched through pouring rain to the Egyptian,
Libyan and U.S. embassies in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa,
headquarters of the African Union.
Organisers said they would deliver a petition to
the AU Commission chairman Jean Ping.
A copy of the petition seen by Reuters said the
demonstrators had been told by human rights groups that "within
a few days" Libya would also begin the forced deportation of
some 500 Eritrean refugees it had detained.
"If these Eritreans are returned they will be
tortured, sent to prison and some may even be executed," it
said.
Opposition Alliance Urges Egypt To Stop
Deporting Eritreans
Eritrean Democratic Alliance(EDA),a coalition of
13 Eritrean opposition organizations on Sunday jointly call on
Egyptian authorities to immediately stop any further forced
deportation against the hundreds of Eritreans being stranded in
Egypt.
“We have confirmed that a number of Eritreans
upon deported arrival from Egypt are being directly thrown to
secret detention centers, torchered to death and some are
reported to be shot dead in front of their colleagues to
terrorize others from further attempts of escape”A joint
statement send to Sudan Tribune said.
Despite wide condemnation and pressures from
various international human right bodies Egypt has deported over
800 Eritreans over the past few weeks alone.
“We collectively call on Egyptian authorities to
respect and be obliged by international agreements signed and
stop forced deportation in no time.” It said
“We urge on Egypt to exert a maximum pressure
against Eritrea to make sure the safety of the already deported
Eritreans is protected and it has also to follow up their safety
then after”
“We also call on Egyptian embassy in Ethiopia to
immediately respond to the memorandum earlier submitted by EDA”
it added.
In an efforts to bring an end to the crises,EDA
officials have been speaking to Ethiopian officials too .EDA
official said.
“Eritrean Democratic Alliance is in a final
talks with Ethiopian government so away is created for the
eritreans to be sheltered back in Ethiopia and government of
Ethiopia has given us a green light to our request” Executive
chairman of EDA,Tewelde Gebreslase told Sudan Tribune over the
phone.
Eritrean Continue To
Demonstrate
Eritreans in Ethiopia have continued to take to
the streets of Addis Ababa to raise their voice in protest to
the deportation hundreds of Eritreans are facing against their
will.
“EDA member groups, Eritreans in Ethiopia and
other concerned groups will be demonstrating in Addis on
Wednesday" Tewelde said adding “we will raise our voices in the
doors of Egypt embassy, American embassy, OAU and UNHCR offices
in Addis.
In a similar move neighboring Libya is also
prepared to deport hundreds of Eritreans.He said
“We have also submitted a separate memorandum to
Libyan embassy in Addis to halt the planned mass deportation.”
According to Administration of refugees and
returnees Affairs (ARRA) with the 3 new refugee camps which
currently went operational in Tigray and Afar regions the total
4 refugee camps in Ethiopia now shelter 31,500 eritreans with
many more arriving every day.
Egypt has harboured tens of thousands of African
migrants in its territory, but its attitude changed in recent
months after it came under pressure to halt rising numbers of
Africans crossing its sensitive border with Israel.
At an AU summit in Egypt last week, the head of
the U.N. refugee agency said his organisation was having talks
with Egyptian authorities about the deportations.
Egypt has denied the UNHCR access to detained
Eritreans since February, although the agency saw 140 of them
following international pressure. UNHCR has asked Egypt for
information on the location and fate of 1,400 Eritreans. |
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