Eight Ethiopian pilots seek asylum in Belarus

MINSK, June 22 (AFP) — Eight Ethiopian pilots, on a training programme in Belarus, have asked for political asylum in the former Soviet republic, the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said here Wednesday.

The processing of an asylum application by the interior ministry could take up to six months. The UNHCR is unable to get involved because of local asylum legislation, a UNHCR official said.

Independent military analyst Alexander Alessin said the asylum applications posed a particular problem for Belarus which has extensive military trade and serices links with Ethiopia.

US President George W.Bush in May described the Belarussian regime of President Alexander Lukashenko as the “the last dictatorship in Europe”.

Amnesty International said in its annual report, released on May 25, that opposition figures and human rights workers in Belarus face intimidation and obstruction, while the government executes people and has made no progress in the cases of several politically charged disappearances.