Following the Algiers comprehensive agreement,
Ethiopia has started to release and repatriate civilian Eritreans and
Ethiopians of Eritrean origin whom it had arbitrarily imprisoned solely
on the basis of their ethnic or national origin. Most have been held
throughout the entire conflict in camps like Dedessa, Blatte and several
places in Tigray since 1998.
Among the released were ninety (90)
underage boys and girls. There were also a large number of elderly men
and women and a priest. They were held without official charges or trial
although they had been accused of spying and other grave
charges.
Throughout their period of internment, the Government of
Eritrea steadfastly maintained that these were innocent men, women and
children who had lived in Ethiopia peacefully and contributed to its
development for the major part of their lives. It also consistently
alerted the international community about the conditions in these
concentration camps and had urged for the unconditional release of these
Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin.
Accounts from the
released prisoners have not only confirmed the position of the
Government of Eritrea but also the worst fears of the people of Eritrea
regarding the conditions of imprisonment:
- The summary execution by firing squad, by stoning to death, or by
administration of lethal injections of more than thirty (30) young men
and women;
- The existence of secret prisons particularly in the province of
Tigray to which more than two hundred and fifty (250) have been sent
and have not been heard from since. Neither the ICRC nor any other
third parties had been informed about their existence;
- Torture (which has resulted in death or in disability),
malnutrition and denial of medical care;
- The attempted indoctrination of the youth with a view to making
them join or create opposition movements against the Government of
Eritrea;
- Sexual abuse of female prisoners;
- Solitary confinement in small, totally dark cells for up to four
(4) months; and
- Confiscation of articles of personal and sentimental value.
The Government of Ethiopia has persistently
committed--and will continue to commit--these gross violations of human
rights and humanitarian law. Once again, the Government of Eritrea
requests the international community to call on Ethiopia to release all
political prisoners unconditionally, to refrain from committing
atrocities against those who are still remaining, and to account for the
more than fifteen hundred (1,500) Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean
origin who have been made to disappear since 1998. It is well to
remember that peace--durable peace--takes root only in the soil of
justice.
