Mengistu escapes extradition

As human rights groups and diplomats stepped up the pressure on South Africa to try or extradite the former Ethiopian dictator, Mengistu Haile Mariam, it was announced on Wednesday that he had quietly slipped out of the country back to his home of exile in Zimbabwe. Mengistu had been in South Africa for medical treatment. "All I can tell you is that he left the country last Friday before we received the Ethiopian request later that day for his extradition," presidential spokesman Parks Mankahlana told IRIN. In an interview with the BBC from Zimbabwe, Mengistu denied he had been forced to flee South Africa. "The present government in South Africa are my comrades-in-arms. There was no question of sending me back to Ethiopia," said Mengistu who has lived in Zimbabwe since 1991. Human rights groups criticised South Africa for allowing Mengistu to leave the country.