August 17/2006

TPLF/EPRDF Harrassing Ethiopian Asylum seeker prisoners in the Sudan!!

Urgent action needed!!
 
Weyane (TPLF/EPRDF)  is working in full gear to assure the deportation of the four Asylum seekers in the Sudan. On August 14 a Weyane/TPLF embassy employee by the name of Adane pretended to be a UNHCR protection officer in order to see and talk to the Prisoners. After a few words exchanged in English he reverted to Amharic and told them he came from the Ethiopian embassy to help them. The prisoners were very much upset and asked him to leave. After they knew they were cheated they told him Weyane/TPLF can only take their dead body  and not alive. The next day i.e. August 15, 2006 again a group of Weyane from the Embassy managed to cheat the prison guards at the aliens control office (temporarilly a prison to see the prisoners and took the prisoners' photographs. Ethiopians who follow this case fear that some officials in the  Sudanese government are trying to find every excuse to deport the prisoners.
 
Now, we have heard that Weyane/EPRDF is determined to get the prisoners deported no matter how much it costs it. Thanks to Weyanes' maneuver, the UNHCR protection officers and lawyers who were very sympatheic to the prisoners at the beginning are now becomign disintersted, reluctant. The case of the prisoners is now left to a junior protection officer called Diadin, a Sudanese national. The UNHCR officials, after wasting 16 solid days, they are now planning to appeal to block the court sentence.
 
The Sudanese government, in contravention of the international principle of non refoulment of any refugee or any asylum seeker, has been deporting Ethiopiansn since 1991. The fate of these Ethiopians is now on the balance. It all depends on the pressure put on the Sudanese government by UNHCR, Human right organizations and Ethiopians in the Diaspora.
The prisoners have moved from Omdurman prison to the Aliens control main office in the center Khartoum since August 12, 2006. It is here that the Weyanes' drama unfolding.  
 
Here is a brief description of the four Ethiopians
1. Habtamu Zewdu Meshesha (A Lieutenant in the former Ethiopian army)
  • A member of the Ethiopian Democratic Union (EDU) leadership committee.
  • In the 2005 May election, a candidate of UEDF in Eastern Gojame. When wayene started the crack down on the opposition he became one of the targets. He avoided arrest and had been trying to revitalize the struggle until March 2006 when he had no choice but to flee to the Sudan. He fell into the hands of  the Sudanese security forces in Gedarif and was kept for four month in Doka. He was transferred to Kober prison in Kharoum.  
2. Habtamu Wale:
  • One of those who hijacked a military plane from Bahrdar to Khartoum in the 2001 Students uprising. In breach of the negotiation to free the passengers and the plane the hijackers were denied refugee status in the Sudan.
  • Habtamu Wale Fled to Eritrea and joined the EPPF to contribute to the struggle what he could.
  • According to Habtamu Wale, for no apparent reason, he was abducted by Shabia/Eritrean regime/ and left at the border where he was picked up by the  Sudanese securities 19 months ago.
3. Tsege Mebratu: who claims to be a  member of the CUDP;
4. Mohamed Usman: member of the EPPF  
 
From these developments, one can conclude that unless a vigorous campaign is launched the above named Ethiopians will be deported. If so, at least the life of Habtamu Wale and Habtamu Zewdu will be in great danger. Ethiopians  need to be mobilized to block the impending deportation.
 
The UNHCR main office in Geneva and in the Sudan, theembassies and ministries of the Sudanese government should be flooded by faxes, e mails and most importantly by telephone calls.
 
UNHCR TEL; 471101
471013
            FAX    473101
            E MAILsudkh@unhcr.ch
Mr. Diadin UNHCR protection officer Mob  0912273975
Menal(a lady), UNHCR lawyer Mob phone  0912172771
 call the nearst Sudanese embassy or consulate near you and register your protest.
 
SOCEPP is mobilized to stop the deportation and has written a lettert o Sudanese President Omar Beshir to this effect.
 
August 17/2006