Eritrea – UN peacekeepers arrested trying to smuggle people
Aug 30, 2006 (NAIROBI) — Eritrean police have arrested several United Nations peacekeepers who allegedly were trying to smuggle people out of Eritrea, the information ministry said.
An unspecified number of staff from the U.N.’s Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea were seized as they tried to cross into archrival Ethiopia, said Tuesday’s statement on the Eritrean information ministry Web site.
Diplomatic sources in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, told The Associated Press Wednesday that an Eritrean-born U.N. member had been detained in a prison in the capital.
The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisals, said that no one from the U.N. had been allowed access to him.
The official said that three women were found by Eritrean police in the back of a U.N. van, although it was unclear how they got there.
“Such action on the part of members of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in violation of their mandate constitutes a grave crime,” said the Eritrean statement, adding that those held would face justice. It alleged that the women had paid to be smuggled out of the country.
U.N. officials were not immediately available for comment.
In the past, Eritreans have hidden aboard U.N. vehicles hoping to escape across the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) border that U.N. peacekeepers patrol to separate the armed forces of both countries.
Eritrean authorities in August 2005 arrested two U.S. embassy employees — Fitwi Ghezae of the public affairs section and Biniam Ghirmai of the management section — on allegations of unspecified trafficking.
Police did not charge Fitwi and Biniam then and it is unclear whether they have been charged since or what has happened to their case.
In August 2003, there was a spate of incidents where Eritreans slipped across the border hidden among peacekeeping personnel, sparking a U.N. overhaul of its security measures.
On Aug. 8, 2006, an Ethiopian army general defected from Ethiopia to Eritrea with around 150 soldiers to join up with a rebel group waging a small-scale insurgency against Ethiopia.
(AP/ST)