Sudan accused of helping Ethiopia to apprehend dissident

November 18, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – An exiled Ethiopian human rights group has accused the Sudanese government of handing over an Ethiopian dissident to government in home country despite knowledge that he would risk prosecution up on return.

The Berlin based, Solidarity Committee for Ethiopian Political Prisoners (SOCEPP) alleged that authorities in Khartoum jailed former opposition member, Andualem Alemayo, in the central Kober prison after he entered the country from neighboring Eritrea.

It is not clear why he left for Sudan. The group didn’t state the day he was arrested in Khartoum or day deported to Ethiopia.

“SOCEPP strongly condemns the Sudanese regime for deporting an Ethiopian dissident who faces probable torture and death in the hands of the Meles regime,” the group said in a statement released this wek.

The organization said it had been urging the government in Sudan against deporting the Ethiopian dissident “alas, the Sudanese authorities have now deported Andualem and handed him over to the regime he had been condemning”.

In protest to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi led government, the former opposition member fled to Eritrea from where he had been criticizing the ruling Ethiopian government via radio and television programs in Asmara.

SOCEPP further accused the Sudanese government of lately intensifying crack down against Ethiopian refugees and condemned the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) of doing nothing to defend the rights of refugees in the east African country.

“This is a repressive regime with horrendous crimes of its own in Darfur and Kordofan. Ethiopian and other refugees are just pawns in its hands it can sacrifice to get its own political ends.”

“The UNHCR has, as usual, uttered no protest or word of concern on the matter. Shame on them. Andulaem faces grave danger to his life in the hands of the EPRDF regime he had condemned publicly. The Beshir regime in the Sudan is busy these days deporting refugees back to the lands they fled from,” it further said.

The group alleged that, Sudanese army and police have beaten and jailed in mass Ethiopian residents and refugees in Damazien, where there is heavy fighting between government forces and rebels.

“In Damazien, Gedaref, Khartoum, Hasasaisa and Basonda the number of Ethiopian refugees cast into jails has increased,” it further said.

(ST)