Eritrean hijackers seek political asylum in Sudan
KHARTOUM, Sudan, Aug 28, 2004 (PANA) — A group of 84 Eritrean deportees who on Friday forced a Libyan plane to land in Khartoum instead of Asmara, their country’s capital, has requested for political asylum in Sudan.
Although the Eritreans deported from Libya claimed they had no political motivations against the government in their country of origin, they expressed fears of being tortured or detained without charges or trial on arrival in Asmara.
“We gave a guarantee to the plane to land in Khartoum to save
tens of Eritrean lives” the Sudanese deputy director general of police Major General General Sayed Ahemed Alhusain told reporters here late Friday, adding that a majority of the passengers aboard the Libyan military plane were women and children.
“Some appeared to be shocked, while others were immediately
transferred to the police hospital and the rest of the group
is now under Sudanese security custody,” the senior police
officer said
According to a dispatch by the Libyan news agency (JANA), 229
deportees, including 145 Nigerian and 84 Eritreans were aboard
the Libyan airforce transport plane.
The Russian-made Antonov transport plane had taken off from the
Libyan town of Al Khufrah and was heading for the Eritrean
capital, Asmara, when some of the deportees forced their way into
the cockpit and ordered the pilots to change course, said a
Sudanese official, who asked not to be identified.
Libyan authorities decided to repatriate the Africans in a move
to combat illegal migration through its territories to Europe.
The European Union has increased pressure on Tripoli to curb the
flow of such illegal immigrants through its territory.
After being denied refugee status in Libya, the Eritreans said
they wanted to seek asylum in neighbouring Sudan rather than
return home, the anonymous official explained, adding that the
United Nations was dealing with the affair.
Eritrean opposition sources in Khartoum said that government
regulations in Asmara forbid young people from leaving the
country, while youths are forced to perform compulsory military
service.
Human rights groups claimed that hundreds of other Eritrean
refugees and asylum seekers had in the past been tortured and
detained without charges or trial after being forcibly sent
home.
Sources close to the Eritrean opposition in Khartoum claimed the
group surrendered to Sudanese authorities after leaders of the
exiled central council of Eritrea Liberation Movement and
Eritrean Democratic Party “led negotiation with the group to
convince them to hand themselves over to Sudanese authorities “.
According to these sources, as the negotiation went on, the
hijackers demanded the presence of a UN representative before
accepting to surrender. The group includes 23 women and six
children.
Members of the group alleged that Libyan authorities had jailed
them for almost three months in Al Kufra prison close to the
Sudanese border.
The Khartoum-based Eritrean opposition claimed that they had
appealed to the Libyan authorities not to hand over the deportees
to the regime in Asmara, from where they had fled political
oppression and economic hardships.
The deportees had slipped into Libya through Sudan in the hope of
immigrating illegally into Europe, using rickety ships which
smuggle people across the Mediterranean, at a fee.
In its latest report on Eritrea, Amnesty International said Malta
had in 2002 sent home about 230 Eritreans, who were detained on
arrival
Eritrean authorities had released women, children and the elderly
deportees, while the younger ones had been tortured and held
without charge in secret military detention centres, it added.
Earlier this month, the US-based Human Rights Watch sent a letter
to Eritrean President Issaias Afewerki in which it expressed
concern about the fate of more than 100 Eritreans forcibly
repatriated from Libya in July this year.
According to UNHCR, 4,402 Eritreans sought asylum in Europe and
North America last year.