ERITREA: Mass round-up of "draft dodgers" denied

The Eritrean government has denied reports that it mounted a weekend round-up of hundreds of people in Asmara for allegedly trying to escape national service. A spokesman at the Nairobi embassy told IRIN on Thursday that the number of people picked up for questioning had been inflated and the operation, which was "perfectly legal", had been "sensationalised by the media". "Once people's papers were examined, those who had performed their service were let go", he added. The BBC earlier this week quoted eyewitnesses as saying police conducted extensive evening raids in Asmara over the weekend. The Eritrean spokesman told IRIN the country's law obliges every citizen between the ages of 18 and 40 to take part in national service and the authorities in Asmara were simply ensuring implementation of the rule. He denied media reports that youths under 18 were being forced into national service. Meanwhile, Ethiopia has denied allegations by Ethiopian captives in Eritrean prisoner of war camps that they had been forcibly recruited and sent to the front. A spokesman at the Ethiopian embassy in Nairobi told IRIN it would not make sense for Ethiopia to do so when it was "inundated with volunteers willing to serve their country". "It's simply nonsense to talk about soldiers forcibly serving at the war front", he said, adding that while the former Ethiopian regime had used conscription, the government had public support in the current conflict and had no need for enforced recruitment. "Defence policy does not allow it, and I can assure you there is no such thing now", he said.