Eritrea rejects claims of mass arrests

By Ed Harris

ASMARA, July 23 (Reuters) – An Eritrean government official strongly denied on Saturday opposition reports that security forces have arrested hundreds of people whose children and relatives have fled the Horn of Africa country.

Two Web sites, published by Eritreans living abroad, said up to 800 people had been rounded up in the southern Debub region in a campaign that started on July 15.

However, a senior government official dismissed the claims as “baseless”.

“This is totally baseless. Nothing of the sort has taken place,” said the official, who did not wish to be named.

“Instead of making wild allegations against the country, people should come forward with hard facts and figures,” he told Reuters. “For us to answer wild allegations and smears, what can we say? These people are liars.”

Most Eritreans say cycles of drought, lingering poverty and prolonged military tensions with Ethiopia have made life tough in a country where almost one in 10 people are conscripted for national service or serving in the army.

One Web site, awate.com, gave witness accounts of the arrests, saying the round-ups targeted the parents of those who had left Eritrea without an exit visa in the last few years.

“The arrests primarily target the father, and where the father is unavailable, the mother or the eldest available brother or the closest adult relative is detained,” it said.

The allegations of mass round-ups were backed by a diplomatic source in the capital Asmara. “We know it is going on. We just don’t know what the scale is,” the source said.

A foreign teacher, who like many in Eritrea did not want to be named, said the authorities had warned Eritreans several weeks ago that their families would be held responsible if they left the country illegally.

“It’s cultural. Decisions are made as a family, not as an individual,” the teacher, based in the south, said.

ESCAPING MILITARY SERVICE

Hundreds of young Eritreans apply for asylum in neighbouring Ethiopia and Sudan every month after fleeing the country, many to escape military service, diplomatic sources say.

National service officially lasts for 18 months but in many cases is extended for several years.

Human rights groups say hundreds of Eritrean asylum seekers have been forcibly sent home, where many have faced torture and detention without trial — charges denied by the government.

Eritrean government regulations make it difficult for young people to leave the country, which remains mobilised for the possibility of renewed war against Ethiopia over a disputed border ruling.

The United Nations Security Council last week urged Ethiopia to accept the 2002 ruling that defines the 1,000 km (620 mile) frontier between the two countries.

Ethiopia has accepted the ruling in principle but has insisted on dialogue with Asmara first. Eritrea refused, reiterating its longstanding position that Ethiopia was legally bound to accept the ruling.

Senior U.N. and Eritrean government officials have repeatedly said failure to demarcate the frontier between Ethiopia and Eritrea could spark conflict between the neighbours who went to war over the border in 1998.