Sudan refuses to extradite Eritrean hijackers

By MOHAMED OSMAN,
Associated Press Writer

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Sep 6, 2004 (AP) — Sudan refused Monday to hand over Eritrean deportees who hijacked a plane sending them home from Libya and forced it at knifepoint to land in the Sudanese capital, saying the two countries have no extradition agreement.

The Sudanese government also announced Monday it has granted the 60-plus Eritreans aboard the Aug. 27 flight who were not involved in the hijacking temporary political asylum. They had been undergoing screening by U.N. refugee officials in a transit area inside the Khartoum airport.

Beyond the lack of an extradition agreement, Sudan’s presidential adviser for political affairs, Gotbi Mahdi, was quoted by the government’s Sudan Media Center as indicating Sudan would be more willing to cooperate with Eritrean authorities if Eritrea stopped sheltering Sudanese rebels.

“If Eritrea agrees to hand over Sudanese rebels in camps inside Eritrea , then we will be active in handing over Eritrean criminals,” Mahdi was quoted as saying.

Mahdi noted that said the Eritrean nationals who hijacked the C1-30 military plane en route from Libya to Asmara, the Eritrean capital, already had been tried by a Sudanese criminal court.

On Wednesday, a Khartoum criminal court sentenced 15 Eritreans to five years in jail each, followed by deportation, for the hijacking. The court did not say to where they would be deported.

The hijackers had told the crew they didn’t want to return to Eritrea for “political reasons.”

Sudan and Eritrea long have accused each other of supporting each other’s rebel groups.