Ethiopian officials planning for families to seek asylum in Ireland
By Senan Molony
April 11, 2006 (DUBLIN) — Four Ethiopian officials who applied for political asylum during a local government visit here are all married and want to bring their families over to join them, it has emerged.
South Dublin County Council had approved another, single, man to come here on the trip, but he did not get a visa. Officials were told there were concerns he might seek to stay here, as he had nothing to tie him to Ethiopia.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has denied he was refused due to a risk he would stay, blaming it on “processing delays”.
Ultimately this man’s place was taken by another married man, who thereby met criteria for local issuing of a visa by the Irish Embassy in Addis Ababa. This man is one of the four now present. The men, from the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, came to launch a partnership between their towns, Werabe and Butajira, and the council. It is thought they have about a dozen children between them.
‘The applications are a disservice to the Ethiopian residents and to the council in its voluntary works’
It was reported yesterday that one of the men had made contact with his family in Ethiopia to tell them he intended to arrange for them to join him in Ireland once his permanent residency here had been approved.
The four, Ahmed Kedir, Abdul Bereda, Danil Mulugeta, and another man known simply as Shemsu, are thought to be staying in an asylum seekers’ hostel in north Dublin.
They had been staying at the Clarion Hotel in Dublin during the visit, but had checked out when council officials came to accompany them to the airport.
Clondalkin councillor Robert Dowds, who has visited Ethiopian towns as potential recipients of council aid, said it was most regrettable that the four chose to seek political asylum. While Ethiopia’s political system was “not lily white”, neither was it “Zimbabwe under Mugabe”.
The men’s connections with the ruling party meant it could not be claimed they would become part of an oppressed minority if asylum was refused and they were returned to Ethiopia. He said their decision to seek asylum “does a disservice to their communities and to the council in its voluntary work there”.
Some council staff will visit Ethiopia this summer to carry out drainage and sewerage works.
Cllr Dowds said the town of Butajira was one-quarter flooded every rainy season, and remedial work by skilled Irish volunteers would bring about immediate benefit for inhabitants.
He criticised remarks against Irish aid to Ethiopia by GOAL director John O’Shea, who suggested it was helping to prop up the Meles dictatorship, as “unworthy of someone who has done so much to raise funds for third world aid”.
The Ethiopian Embassy here expressed its embarrassment at the situation and branded the men “very selfish”. Charge d’Affaires Mr Kahsay said: “Their application has nothing to do with the political situation in Ethiopia.
“Ireland is a country that has made great economic progress. They have come out of Ethiopia for the first time in their lives and seen it, and they are being very selfish in trying to get some economic benefit for themselves and not their communities.”
(Irish Independent)