June 29, 2001

 STUDENTS IN KENYA FACE MORE HARDSHIP

REPORTS reaching SOCEPP direct from the Dadab refugee camp at Ifo (Kenya) reveal that there are presently 99 Ethiopian University students, 7 other students from high schools and other institutions, 3 members of the opposition EDP and 5 military officers/soldiers who defected from the EPRDF army. They were all brought from Moyale to arid and difficult Ifo after being promised transport to safe quarters where they could pursue their education, etc...The road from Nairobi to Ifo is infested with bandits and many Ethiopian refugees have already lost their lives to bandit bullets and malaria in the past. The condition of the present refugees in Ifo is deplorable.

 In the meanwhile, most of the 16 students staging the hunger strike in Nairobi have collapsed from exhaustion and they have been taken to hospitals in taxis hired by concerned individuals while the UNHCR HAS DONER PRACTICALLY NOTHING TO HELP THE STUDENTS.

 SOCEPP vigorously denounces the UNHCR branch in Kenya and calls on all peace- loving peoples to express their indignation to the UNHCR's chief commissioner, H.E. Rudd Lubbers. The campaign to help the students should also continue without also losing sight of the fact that students in Ethiopia, who are in prison and hiding from persecution, need assistance too.

SOCEPP