Parliament deplores plight of Ethiopians in Eritrea

The Ethiopian parliament passed a resolution on Tuesday expressing grave concern over Ethiopians interned in Eritrea. It condemned “attacks against Ethiopian civilians and serious crimes and abuses committed by the Eritrean Military Police, the army, security personnel, as well as government incited mob actions against Ethiopian nationals residing in Eritrea”. The resolution accused Eritrea of killings, torture, rape and mass abductions of Ethiopian nationals and called for an immediate investigation into such abuses by the UN and other international bodies. It urged the international community to put pressure on the Eritrean authorities to allow immediate access to Ethiopian civilian detainees by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other humanitarian agencies and to ensure their immediate and unconditional release. Ethiopia itself was condemned by international human rights organisations when it summarily deported more than 60,000 Eritreans with Ethiopian citizenship in 1998-1999. Deportees were seized from offices, and from their residence at night, and held in camps before being trucked with a handful of possessions to the border. In Eritrea, presidential spokesperson Yemane Gebremeskel told journalists on Monday that ICRC had been given access to the camps, although he gave no details as to the number of such camps existing.