Amnesty criticizes Egypt for deporting 200 Eritreans

CAIRO, Egypt (AP)

12/06/08

Amnesty International criticized Egypt on Thursday for deporting 200 Eritreans seeking asylum, saying the Africans would be at risk of torture and other ill-treatment at home.
The rights group said the government was preparing to deport an additional 1,400 Eritreans, despite guidelines issued by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees discouraging countries from returning asylum seekers to Eritrea on the grounds of serious human rights violations in the country.

A senior Egyptian security official tasked with detaining and deporting illegal immigrants confirmed 200 Eritreans were sent home Wednesday but said only 650 remain in custody. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers could not be immediately explained.
The remaining Eritreans will also be deported, but an exact date has not yet been set, said the security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
The Eritrean Embassy in Egypt did not have information on the deported citizens or those who remain in the country.

Thousands of Africans sneak into Egypt every year seeking employment or passage to Israel in search of a better life. Many are arrested, and some are even shot and killed, as they sneak across Egypt’s borders or reach the country by sea.
Amnesty said the UNHCR office in Egypt has not been granted access to any of the Eritreans to assess their asylum claims.

Six killed in Djibouti-Eritrea border clashes: report

DJIBOUTI (AFP)

12/06/08

 Clashes between Eritrean and Djibouti soldiers in a dispute border region this week left six soldiers dead and 62 others wounded, state RTD radio television reported Thursday.

Military officials and diplomats raised an earlier toll of two dead from Tuesday’s fighting at Ras Doumeira as the African Union urged the rivals to show restraint and start talks.

“The provisional toll of the fighting is six dead, eight seriously wounded and 54 slightly wounded who, after rehab, will be able to retake their position on the front,” RTD said, adding that “fighting has stopped.”

Tension between the Horn of Africa countries has been high since April 16 when Eritrean troops raided Ras Doumeira, which both sides claim.

The neighbours fought for control of the area in 1996 and 1999 and have never held talks to resolve the dispute. Tuesday’s clashes were the first since April.

The AU dispatched a mission to Djibouti where it held talks on June 5-9, but Eritrea is yet to accept the same team, the Ethiopia-based pan-African body said in a statement.

The AU Peace and Security Council “urges the two countries to show utmost restraint, resort to dialogue to resolve any bilateral dispute, and give their full cooperation to all efforts,” it added.

It also “strongly condemns the use of force and stresses the imperative need to respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and the independence of Member States, in conformity with the AU Constitutive Act.”

“The council calls for the immediate return to the situation prevailing at the common border between the two countries before the current tension, including the withdrawal from the border of all forces that have been positioned there since 4 February, 2008.”

Diplomats in Djibouti said skirmishes erupted on Tuesday in the disputed Ras Doumeira border area on Tuesday when Eritrean soldiers opened fire on deserters.

The Djibouti foreign ministry issued a statement on Wednesday accusing Eritrea of seeking to destabilise the Horn of Africa by attacking Djibouti and vowed to defend itself.

On Thursday Eritrea denied any hostile intentions towards Djibouti following the border clashes.

“As the Eritrean government has repeatedly asserted, although it is closely and patiently following up the developments and its sponsors, it hereby reiterates that it would under no circumstances get involved in an invitation of squabbles and acts of hostility designed to undermine good-neighbourliness,” the Eritrean foreign ministry said in a statement.

The United States has more than 1,200 troops stationed in Djibouti, which hosts an anti-terrorism task force in the Horn of Africa. France also has a base in its former colony.

Djibouti has accused Eritrean forces of digging trenches on both sides of the border on April 16, infringing several hundred metres (yards) into Djibouti territory. The Eritrean government has denied the accusation.

Eritrea Press Release: Statement on US Allegations

By Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Jun 12, 2008, 14:28

The US State Department has issued a statement today, maliciously accusing Eritrea of committing “military aggression against Djibouti.” This statement is neither new nor surprising.

As part and parcel of her routine vilification campaign against Eritrea, US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa claimed, on May 12 last month, that “Eritrea had made an incursion into Djibouti.”

It is unfortunate that the US Administration is currently embroiled in instigating, compounding and inflaming regional conflicts with the purpose of creating turmoil as an excuse for “managing the ensuing crisis.”

Indeed, the sad and well-known fact is that US policy and meddling in our region – starting from the border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia to the situations in the Sudan, Kenya and Somalia – is contributing to the proliferation and aggravation of crises. Consequently, the resolution of problems has become elusive and the stability of our region undermined.

In the event, the baseless and mendacious statement that the US State Department issued today cannot be seen outside the context of the unconstructive practices described above.

The Government of Eritrea rejects, as always, this stance in letter and spirit.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
12 June 2008
Asmara

Top Zimbabwe Opposition Official Arrested at Harare Airport

 

Associate press

12/06/08

HARARE, Zimbabwe  —  A top aide to Zimbabwe’s opposition presidential candidate was arrested as he returned to his homeland Thursday, his party said, robbing the group of one of its most impassioned spokesman just weeks before the election.

Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the Movement for Democratic Change, had predicted his arrest as he prepared earlier Thursday to return to Zimbabwe from South Africa.

“I just got a call now that he has been arrested,” party spokesman Nqobizitha Mlilo said from South Africa soon after Biti landed in Harare. Mlilo said he did not immediately have details.

Reporters awaiting Biti saw security officers waiting at the Harare airport but did not see Biti’s arrest or see him enter the arrivals lounge.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena did not respond to a phone call seeking comment. Zimbabwean officials have said they wanted to question Biti about the possibility he broke laws by announcing results from the first round of elections on March 29. Under law, only the state electoral commission can release results.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC’s candidate in the June 27 presidential runoff against longtime President Robert Mugabe, had himself only returned to Zimbabwe on May 24. He, Biti and other opposition leaders left Zimbabwe soon after the March 29 first round, amid concerns about their security, to lobby support among southern African regional leaders

Tsvangirai came in first among a field of four March 29. His campaign has been beset by violence blamed on Mugabe’s forces.

Since returning, Tsvangirai has been briefly detained by police twice while trying to campaign, and police have stopped several opposition attempts to hold rallies. The state-controlled media has all but ignored him in a country where few have access to the Internet or satellite television.

The opposition, foreign diplomats in Zimbabwe, and Zimbabwean and international human rights groups accuse Mugabe of unleashing violence against Tsvangirai’s supporters to ensure Mugabe wins the runoff.

Zimbabwean government and party spokesmen repeatedly have denied such allegations.

Returning under threat of arrest was “a stupid decision,” Biti had said in Johannesburg, adding that he believed he must return to continue the battle for change. He spoke firmly, but trembled and sounded uncharacteristically discouraged.

He said he had been informed that he would be arrested but that it was not clear on what charges.

“The only crime I have committed is fighting for democracy,” he said in Johannesburg, then hugged an aide and disappeared through the boarding gate.

His party released a statement later saying Biti had “received direct threats of arrest from the Mugabe regime.”

Biti said efforts to negotiate a unity government had collapsed.

“That’s actually sad,” he said, saying talks should be taking place instead of a runoff he predicted would only lead to more violence.

Biti said his party was insisting its leader be president of any coalition government, and that Mugabe had no place in it. Mugabe’s party has insisted the longtime leader remain president.

Biti said regional leaders had failed to find a solution for Zimbabwe, and he feared the United Nations, which was sending a high-ranking envoy to Zimbabwe, would do no better.

“I think Zimbabweans are on their own — and the sooner we realize it, the better.”

On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s office said Ban was sending Haile Menkerios, a Harvard-educated diplomat and former Eritrean ambassador, to Zimbabwe from June 16-20 “for discussions on the political situation and the upcoming elections.

At the U.N. food summit in Rome last week, Ban met with Mugabe and won permission to send Menkerios, the U.N. assistant secretary-general for political affairs who is responsible for African issues.

Ban spoke to Mugabe about concerns about violence in Zimbabwe and the need to deploy neutral international observers, Marie Okabe, a U.N. deputy spokeswoman for Ban, has told The Associated Press.

Failed London bomber’s wife awaits sentence

LONDON (AFP)

12/06/08

The wife of one of the failed 2005 London suicide bombers is to be sentenced on Thursday after being found guilty of failing to tell the police about the terrorist plot.

Yeshi Girma, 32, knew her husband Hussain Osman was planning to unleash carnage in the failed July 21, 2005 attacks and could have stopped the attempted bombings, England’s Old Bailey central criminal court heard Wednesday.

The plot was a bungled attempt to repeat the attacks of exactly two weeks earlier on July 7 when four Islamist extremist suicide bombers killed 52 innocent people on London’s transport network.

Girma, who has three children by Osman, was found guilty by a jury of having information about terrorism and “without reasonable excuse” failing to disclose it.

She was also convicted for assisting an offender and failing to disclose information about Osman’s involvement in the plot.

Girma helped Osman flee and destroyed evidence from the couple’s south London home, the police said.

Prosecutor Max Hill told the court: “She had some information about what the bombers intended to do on July 21, but failed to bring this to the attention of the police.

“Had the bombers successfully and completely detonated the bombs on busy Tube trains that day, there would have been carnage and mass murder.

“Yeshi Girma could have attempted to prevent the attacks, which, but for shortcomings in the production of the explosive devices, would have killed and injured many people.”

Girma claimed she was not married to Ethiopia-born Osman, did not live with him, and knew little of what he was doing.

She helped Osman flee to Brighton, on the south coast. He later took a train to Paris then travelled on to Rome, where he was arrested.

Girma’s brother Esayas, her sister Mulumebet and her sister’s boyfriend Mohamed Kabashi were all convicted of aiding Osman after the bungled attack.

They are all facing jail sentences.

The jury cleared Kabashi’s two Brighton flatmates, Shadi Abdelgadir and Omer Almagboul, but as illegal overstayers in Britain, they will be deported to Sudan.

Osman was convicted of conspiracy to murder last year alongside fellow failed bombers Yassin Omar, Ramzi Mohamed and Muktar Ibrahim. They were each jailed for at least 40 years.

The wave of attacks left Britain on high alert and the government has since ramped up its anti-terror operations, while relations with Britain’s Muslim community were brought sharply into focus.

Osman, Omar, Mohamed and Ibrahim tried to detonate rucksacks laden with home-made explosives on three Underground trains and a bus, but the bombs failed to go off.

At their trial, the four claimed the plot was an elaborate hoax designed to protest against Britain’s military involvement in Iraq.

Their trial judge said the plot was “Al-Qaeda-inspired” and a “viable, indeed a very nearly successful, attempt at mass murder… designed for maximum impact.”

Five other men were jailed in February this year for up to 17 years for helping the plotters to escape capture.

Group accuses Ethiopia of war crimes in Ogaden

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)

12/06/08

 Ethiopia’s government is committing war crimes in its military campaign against rebels in the Ogaden region, a rights group charged Thursday in a report that complained the U.S. and other Western governments willfully ignored abuses.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said Ethiopian troops are beating and strangling civilians, staging public executions and burning villages in Ogaden. It said the allegations were based on more than 100 eyewitness accounts.

An Ethiopian official denied the charges.

A State Department spokesman, Gonzalo Gallegos, said officials had not seen the report. He declined to comment generally about the insurgency in the Ogaden.

Washington looks to Ethiopia for help in the fight against Islamic extremists in East Africa, where al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 225 people. Ethiopia is helping the U.N.-backed government in neighboring Somalia against Muslim insurgents.

“The silence of the U.S. government is not a silence based on ignorance,” said Peter Bouckaert, the emergencies director at Human Rights Watch. “They are ignoring the information available to them.”

Ethnic Somalis have been fighting for more than a decade seeking greater autonomy in the desolate Ogaden, which is being explored for oil and gas. Ethiopian forces stepped up operations after rebels attacked a Chinese-run oil exploration field in April 2007, killing 74 people.

“The Ethiopian army’s answer to the rebels has been to viciously attack civilians in the Ogaden,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director for Human Rights Watch.

The group also said the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front has violated humanitarian law by conducting the oil attack and by setting land mines along roads. Ethiopia accuses the rebels of being financed by its archenemy, Eritrea.

Bereket Simon, special adviser to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, denied all allegations in the report.

“It’s not true,” he said. “It’s the same old fabrication.”

Asked whether an internal investigation was planned, he said: “How can we investigate lies and innuendoes? How can we try to disprove lies by investigating?”

Gagnon chided Ethiopia’s leading donors, including the United States, Britain and the European Union, accusing them of ignoring what is happening in Ogaden.

“These widespread and systematic atrocities amount to crimes against humanity,” she said. “Yet Ethiopia’s major donors, Washington, London and Brussels, seem to be maintaining a conspiracy of silence around the crimes.”

Gagnon said Western governments and institutions give at least $2 billion in aid to Ethiopia every year.

“Influential states use many excuses, such as lack of information and strategic priorities, to downplay the grave human rights concerns in Somali Region,” she said. “But crimes against humanity can’t be swept under the carpet.”

More Clashes in the Horn of Africa; U.S. Issues Travel Warning

The mideast news source

Written by The Media Line Staff

12/06/08

At least two Djiboutian soldiers were killed and more than 20 wounded in the last 48 hours, during gun battles between Djiboutian and Eritrean soldiers.

 The fighting, which began on Tuesday and continued the next day, took place at the disputed Ras Dumeira region, on the border between the two east-African nations.

 ”During the pursuit of an Eritrean deserter, who tried to rally the Djiboutian armed forces, the Eritrean military opened fire on our units,” read an announcement by the Djiboutian army.

 The announcement further revealed that Eritrean military officials issued an ultimatum for Djibouti to return all 30 Eritrean deserters on its soil or face armed action

It is not yet known how many casualties there were on the Eritrean side.

 Following the escalation of violence in northern Djibouti, the United States’ embassy on Wednesday issued a travel warning to its citizens in the country, warning them not to come close to the border area.

 The U.S. State Department condemned the “Eritrean aggression against Djibouti” and said it represented “an additional threat to peace and security in the already volatile Horn of Africa.”

 On April 16 this year Djibouti accused its neighbor to the north of digging trenches on both sides of the border, impinging several hundred feet into its territory. Eritrea denied the accusation but since then tensions have risen on both sides of the border. 

 The U.S. State Department called on the two countries to cease all military hostilities and withdraw their troops from the border area. It also called on Eritrea to accept offers of third-party mediation.  

 Approximately 2,000 American soldiers are stationed in Djibouti, which hosts an anti-terrorism task force.

 Last February United States President George W. Bush announced that the U.S. would create a military command for the continent of Africa by the end of September 2008.

 The new U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) will consolidate the American government’s efforts in the continent, which has become increasingly important strategically, diplomatically and economically, executive director of the U.S. Africa Command Implementation Planning Team, Navy Rear Adm. Robert Moeller, told reporters in February.  

 At this stage the location of the new command is not yet determined. Eight African nations, including Djibouti, are interested in hosting AFRICOM.

Nine dead in escalating Djibouti-Eritrea clash

By Omar Hassan and Jack Kimball

DJIBOUTI/ASMARA

 June 12 (Reuters)

 Border clashes between Eritrea and Djibouti have killed nine Djiboutian soldiers and wounded 60 others in three days of fighting between the Horn of Africa nations, a defence official said on Thursday.

In the first fighting since the mid-1990s between two of Africa’s smallest states, Eritrean and Djiboutian troops have exchanged fire along a part of their shared border overlooking strategic shipping lanes in the Red Sea.

fighting hosts French and U.S. military bases and is the main route to the sea for Eritrea’s arch-foe Ethiopia.

Africa’s youngest nation, Eritrea has fractious ties with the West, which accuses it of backing Somali insurgents and impeding U.N. peacekeepers on the Ethiopia border.

“The fighting is still ongoing. The dead and injured are more today, up to nine dead and 60 wounded,” said a Djiboutian military official, on condition of anonymity.

Djiboutian state media said the Red Sea state had captured 100 Eritrean prisoners.

There was, however, no independent verification of events from the remote border area that has long been a source of tension between the two countries.

Without confirming or denying the clashes, Eritrea has dismissed Djibouti’s versions as “concocted animosity.”

“The Eritrean government … will under no circumstance get involved in an invitation of squabbles and acts of hostility designed to undermine good neighbourliness,” it said.

The clashes erupted on Tuesday after a nearly two-month face off along their frontier. Djibouti accuses Asmara of entering its territory to build defences.

“The Republic of Djibouti will valiantly defend its territorial integrity by all means,” said Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh as he visited wounded soldiers on Thursday at a military hospital.

“FABRICATION”

Eritrea denies aggression.

“It’s a fabrication…We decline the invitation to go into another crisis in the region,” President Isaias Afwerki told Reuters when accusations of an incursion surfaced last month.

Djibouti’s smaller army of 11,000 troops has begun to call up demobilised soldiers and retired policemen.

Eritrea has 200,000 soldiers, but many are on its border with neighbour and foe Ethiopia.

Addis Ababa and Asmara fought a 1998-2000 over their frontier, and tensions between the two nations remain high.

The fighting along the Djibouti-Eritrea border broke out in the Mount Gabla area, also known as Ras Doumeira, which straddles the Bab al-Mandib straits.

Djibouti is home to a U.S. and a French military base.

And Paris signed a mutual defence treaty with Djibouti after that nation’s independence in 1977.

It is also an important route for landlocked Ethiopia, which has vowed to protect its access to Djibouti.

The United States and Ethiopia, Washington’s main ally in the region, blamed Eritrea for the clashes.

“These hostilities represent an additional threat to peace and security in the already volatile Horn of Africa,” State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said on Wednesday.

Djibouti says the fighting began after Eritrean soldiers fired on some deserters, prompting Djibouti to return fire.

Analysts say Eritrean-Ethiopian hostility is fuelling the spat.

“The Red Sea is a vital oil and petrochemicals route and Djibouti, Ethiopia’s main marine outlet, is fast becoming a regional trans-shipment hub,” UK-based newsletter Africa Confidential said in a recent analysis of the issue.

“Asmara wants to disrupt this and wean Djibouti of its Ethiopian links.”

(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/ )

(Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)