Ethiopians held in security camps

Eritrean officials acknowledged some 7,500 Ethiopians were being held in four camps, in Massawa, Dekemhare, Mendefera and Keren, citing "security breaches" and "protective custody" as reasons for their internment. The Shiteki camp was opened on 29 May after Ethiopia bombed the international airport on the first day of peace talks in Algeria. Ethiopians are now being officially invited to sign up to return to Ethiopia, which may be preparations for repatriation, according to diplomats.

An international journalist who visited Shiteki camp, 23 km south of Asmara, said the mostly male population of the camp was being held "under light guard in good conditions". Journalists said Ethiopians in the camp felt they had "some degree of choice" as to whether they remained in the camps. Most of the internees interviewed were from the still volatile central front, around Adi Quala, where they had been separated out once
mass displacement began. Eritrean officials have expressed concern about "breaches of security" among the mixed border populations on all fronts, as most Ethiopians living in the border towns are indistinguishable from Eritreans other than by identity card. There have been reports from civilians, police and the military around the Adi Keyh area that Ethiopians with portable radio communication had infiltrated the border towns and were able to move freely.

When IRIN interviewed Eritrean civilians evacuating Adi Keyh during the last week of May, there were complaints of "Ethiopian spies" and incidents related of Ethiopians being beaten for "celebrating Ethiopian victories". A journalist in Asmara told IRIN that there was also resentment over Ethiopians moving into a work place that had been vacated by Eritreans
leaving for the front. According to the journalist "there is a widening schism between the old generation of fighters and the new, and the new are more resentful of the Ethiopians that have been allowed to remain". Ethiopia carried out mass deportations of ethnic Eritreans with Ethiopan citizenship during the outbreak of hostilities in 1998-99, but Eritrea decided Ethiopians residing in Eritrea could remain.

Yemane Gebremeskal told IRIN that it had become "more difficult to manage" civilian hostilities towards Ethiopian nationals, although there was no officially stated policy imposing special security restrictions on Ethiopian nationals.