DATE=12/27/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ERITREA-DEPORTEES (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-257545
BYLINE=CAROL PINEAU
DATELINE=ASMARA, ERITREA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Ethiopia reportedly is continuing to deport
Eritrean nationals living in Ethiopia. An additional
15-hundred Eritreans are said to have been expelled
over the past few days (since Friday). Carol Pineau
reports from Asmara, where the Eritrean government is
calling for international action against what it calls
"ethnic cleansing" by Ethiopia.
TEXT: The most recent group of deportees was rounded
up in Addis Ababa on Friday, and sent out on buses
early Christmas morning [Saturday].
A spokesman for the Eritrean president's office says
there are unconfirmed reports that an additional one-
thousand people were deported from Addis Ababa on
Sunday.
// OPT // The first group is expected to arrive at
the Eritrean border on Tuesday or Wednesday, although
there is no word where the crossing will take place.
The buses carrying deportees usually discharge their
passengers at the border late at night, stopping short
of a mined no-man's-land between the two countries.
The refugees' walk into Eritrea typically takes
several hours. // END OPT //
Eritrea says Ethiopia is carrying out the deportations
without informing the International Committee for the
Red Cross -- the I-C-R-C -- which has offered to
arrange safe passage for refugees.
Eritrea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs contends the
ruling party in Addis Ababa is determined to expel all
Eritrean nationals from Ethiopian territory. A
statement issued in Asmara calls the deportations "a
hideous policy of ethnic cleansing."
But the Eritrean authorities also are blaming the
international community for the deportations. Foreign
Ministry officials say that while many governments and
international organizations have taken action against
ethnic cleansing in other parts of the world,
including the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, they have
not tried to stop Ethiopia's expulsions.
Ethiopia says it has the right, under the Geneva
Conventions, to deport Eritreans as foreigners -- even
those who resided in Ethiopia before Eritrea declared
itself independent of Ethiopia, in 1993.
Although Eritrea and Ethiopia formerly were friendly
neighbors (on the Horn of Africa), they went to war
over border disputes in May of 1998. Since then,
Ethiopia has deported more than half of all Eritreans
in the country -- over 70-thousand people. (Signed)
NEB/CP/GE/WTW
27-Dec-1999 17:20 PM EDT (27-Dec-1999 2220 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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