Eritrean News Agency
October 27, 1999

Asmara - The following document was released by Eritrean News Agency ERINA Update: Deportees Recount Tales of Horror - Hundreds of deportees who were interviewed by ERINA in Assab following their dangerous border crossing spoke of long prison sentences in Addis Ababa and desperate conditions following the loss of any income and government housing.

Eritreans interviewed in Assab said they were detained in Ethiopian prisons for up to 14 months in some cases before TPLF officials put them on the bus. Eighty-six of the deportees were detained in Shegole and Ma'Kelawi prisons since last year.

One such Eritrean, Gezae Belai, was detained in Shegole prison for one year prior to the deportation. Gezae said his experience in Shegole prison was "horrific" and included, on some occasions, torture and inadequate food. Gezae said four young Eritreans "disappeared" from the camp following interrogation by TPLF officials. Osman Mohammed told ERINA that he, along with his wife and two young children, were detained in Shegole for three months after TPLF officials accused him of espionage. Osman said the three months in detention were terrifying because he could not be assured about the fate of his children, aged two and six, who had to face the harsh conditions with him.

All of the Eritreans interviewed said the Ethiopian government had worked to systematically deprive them of any means of livelihood and, in many cases, extorted large sums of money from the deportees leaving them destitute. They said they were forced to hawk all their property and eventually their clothes in order to survive. According to the deportees, the deportations were rushed and the declaration by TPLF officials that the Eritreans were required to pay 140 birr for transport in addition to their own expenses meant many had no money for food during the trip to the border.

Many who could not pay for the trip were left behind to an uncertain fate. One deportee told ERINA that just as he prepared to walk to the Eritrean side, the TPLF soldiers relieved him of his bag which contained several thousand nakfa and birr. He recalled that one young Eritrean, Kemal Negash, was taken off the bus and driven away in a patrol care before the crossing but did not return to make the four kilometer walk with the others. The Eritreans all expressed a sense of relief at having arrived home after the harsh journey and the terrifying border crossing at the frontline.

TPLF Delegation Reported to Have Attended NIF Congress

Diplomatic sources from Ethiopia suggest that an Ethiopian delegation which attended the National Islamic Front's Congress in Khartoum last week was headed by TPLF senior Politburo member Sebhat Nega. Ethiopia had been at loggerheads with Sudan over the attempted assassination of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in Addis Ababa for which Ethiopia had accused Sudan. Ethiopia had also been one of the states to condemn the subversive policies of the Khartoum regime. Eritrean Foreign Ministry official Hamed Himed said, "Apparently the TPLF regime is obsessed with its war agenda against Eritrea and seems intent on making short-lived alliances with its erstwhile enemies."

(Eritrean News Agency, Tel: +291-1-117627, Fax: 127385)