June 1, 2001
URGENT COMMUNIQUE STUDENTS FLEE,MANY INTERCEPTED,LIVES IN DANGER
Several University students involved in the student protests that was sparked off on of on April 17-18 have fled the country and entered Kenya. Many more have been intercepted by the EPRDF police and imprisoned in the vicinity of Moyale. Of those who have made it to the Kenyan side quite a few have also been detained at the border town of Moyale and risk forced return to Ethiopia.
SOCEPP calls on the Kenyan government to respect the right of asylum and to release the students detained at Moyale and to accord asylum status to them and to those who have made it to Nairobi. The names we have been able to get are as follows:
Those who have managed to reach Nairobi
1. Tekle Michael Abebe: Secretary General of the Addis Abeba University Students Council (hereafter AAUSC),4th year Law Student;
2. Mesfin Gebre Sellasie: Secretary General of AAUSC,4th year Business College Student;
3. Sintayehu Kebede: a student from Addis Abeba who active in coordinating the student protest activities;
4. Fanuel Hailu: 2nd year student of Foreign Languages (AAU);
5. Samuel Kassahun: 3rd year student, Foreign Languages (AAU);
6. Girma Worke : 3rd year student Business College, (AAU);
7. Tikkle Yimer: 3rd year Engineering student at the Jimma University;
8. Dagnatchew Gebre Mariam: 2nd year student from Kotebe College;
9. Ato Wondosen Teklu: not a student but a concerned citizen who publicized the student struggle through newspapers.
* Of those detained by the Kenyan police at Moyale we have the names of Hassana Mohamed, Melaku Assefa and Selamawit.
* Of those intercepted by the EPRDF at the border and jailed, we have the names of Sisay Firdawek and Bajiha Mohamed(f) from Jimma University as well as Surafel Ambaye (AAU) and Mohamed Yimer (Nazreth Technical College).
The students have been forced to flee as a result of the repression they had been subjected to by the EPRDF government. Hundreds of students are still languishing in labor camps while many have been forced into hiding. The student who tried to flee and have been intercepted by the EPRDF at the Ethio-Kenyan border also face grave dangers to their lives. As past events have shown (the EPRDF has gunned don dissident exiles like Jattene Ali and Afework Alemseged in Nairobi and Thikka) the students who have made it to Nairobi are also at risk. They need protection as well as urgent material and financial help.
SOCEPP calls on Ethiopians abroad to help the students who fled financially (through SOCEPP or by other means) and to publicize their plight by addressing messages (fax and e mail) to this effect to the UNHCR, Amnesty International and other bodies. Their situation is critical and needs urgent action. Letters of Protest should also be sent to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi calling for the immediate release of the students held at Moyale (Ethiopians side) and in other dungeons all over the country.
Addresses: -
UNHCR Kenyan office: fax no. 254-2 443037
E mail: kenna@UNHCR.ch
Amnesty International : uateam@amnesty.org
- International Federation of the red Cross and Red Crescent Societies fax number in Kenya 254-2 715087 -
Human Rights Watch: Hrw@hrw.org -
The Kenyan Human Rights Commission :fax no 254-2 574997 Please email copies of messages to
SOCEPP