Stop deporting Eritreans, Opposition urges Sudan and Egypt
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
January 20, 2012 (ADDIS ABABA) – An exiled Eritrean opposition alliance has called on the governments of Egypt and Sudan to provide legal protection to the tens and thousands of Eritrean refugees who have fled in protest to political oppression by the regime in Asmara.
The Addis Ababa-based Eritrean National Council for Democratic Change (ENCDC) called on Cairo and Khartoum to refrain from forcibly returning the refugees as they could be subjected to prosecution or possible death up on return.
The group called on the new Egyptian government to release some 600 Eritrean refuges who are currently languishing at detention facilities inside the North African country.
In a statement the ENCDC said it denounced alleged “brutalization and killings of Eritrean refugees in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula by murderous Bedouin organ traffickers.” The group urged the United Nations to intervene in the rescue of the refugees in Egypt.
According to Eritrean opposition groups, Sudanese traffickers collaborate with the Eritrean security services in deporting Eritreans. Eritrean refugees are handed over to Eritrean government agents if their relatives oversee fail to bribe these traffickers big money.
The opposition group reaffirmed to jointly work with Egyptian government and the UN refugee agency in resettling the refugees to a third country.
Earlier this month in New Year remarks, Eritrean president pledged not to harm the thousands of young Eritreans who fled country’s mandatory military service, if they returned home.
However an Eritrean opposition group based here in Addis Ababa told Sudan Tribune that president’s pledges are not genuine.
“This is only psychological games targeted the youth in fear of the North African and Arab style uprising in Eritrea” Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization official Nessredin Ahmed Ali said.
The opposition official further said Eritreans at home and in Diaspora have started movements to stage an uprising against Issayas Afewerki led dictatorial regime.
In 2000, the Eritrean government made similar calls upon Eritreans in Sudan but most of them were prosecuted up on return; the whereabouts of many remain unknown then after, according to Nessredin.
The Eritrean national council for democratic change (ENCDC) is an umbrella organization of 34 Eritrean resistance groups struggling to bring a democratic change in the Red Sea nation.
(ST)