June  2008

JUNE 1991--JUNE 2008

17 YEARS OF DISAPPEARANCE

TSEGAYE GEBRE MEDHIN (DEBTERAW), Yishak Debre Tsion, Amha Bellete, Sitotaw Hussein, Teklai Gebre Sellasie, Hagos Bezabih  and Desalegn Amsalu fell into the hands of the Tigrean front (EPRDF) soldiers in Quara and Gazge districts/Gondar/ and were all taken to Bahr Dar town /Gojjam/ and kept in prison for more than a month and then taken to Tigrai region/Makalle/.

 They have all disappeared since. In Bahr Dar, they were kept with many other prisoners who have testified to the fact that the above were inmates with them. The regime of Meles Zenawi denies ever having captured or imprisoned them.

 Azanaw Demile (Tulu), an EPRP member and a recognized refugee who lived in Basonda/ Sudan/, was deported by the Sudan and handed over to the Meles regime in June 1991 and has disappeared since. Mot Baynor, Ms Aberash Berta, Tesfaye kebede, Lemma Mekonen, Tamrat Gizachew,Berhanu Ijigu, Getnet Asnake, Wondu Sirak Desta, Yosef Ayele, Ashenafi Mengistu, Eyob Tekabe, Abebe Ainekulu, Demissie Tesfaye- all EPRP members- were all jailed and disappeared in the period from 1991 to 1994. They were jailed in Addis Ababa, Bahr Dar, Arba Minch, Gondar, etc.

 The regime in power has refused outright to account on the fate of the above and continues to deny that it holds any one of them prisoner. In some cases, it has unofficially spread the rumour that all or most have been executed. Despite continuous reporting by SOCEPP on the disappeared mentioned above local and international human rights organizations have, for their own unexplained reason, opted to remain silent. SOCEPP continues to call upon them all to take up the case of the disappeared and to campaign for their release or for the authorities to account on their whereabouts.

SOCEPP