http://rinf.com/alt-news/uk-news/uk-security-aid-may-funded-brits-ethiopian-kidnappers/
UK security aid may have funded Brit’s Ethiopian kidnappers
2014/10/03
British taxpayers’ money is being used to provide Masters-level training
for Ethiopian security sector officials, despite that country’s recent
kidnapping of a British citizen, it has emerged.
Andargachew ‘Andy’ Tsege, a father of three from London, was travelling to
Eritrea in June this year when he was seized during a stopover in Yemen. He
was later rendered to Ethiopia, where he has now spent over 100 days in
incommunicado detention at an undisclosed location. Mr Tsege, who is a
member of an opposition party, is under sentence of death, imposed *in
absentia *in 2009 on politically-motivated charges. The Ethiopian
government has refused to allow the British government proper consular
access, and the country’s Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, has
declined to say whether the death sentence will be carried out or not.
Legal charity Reprieve, which is assisting Mr Tsege’s family, has unearthed
details of a UK aid programme worth over £2m that provides a free Master’s
degree in ‘Security Sector Management’ to approximately 70 top-ranking
Ethiopian officials working in the policing and security sector;
individuals who are very likely to be those responsible for Andy’s
abduction and detention. The British-funded programme has no conditions
attached to it, despite widespread concerns about human rights abuses
<
http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country-chapters/ethiopia> in
Ethiopia. The Department for International Development (Dfid) describes the
Ethiopian police and defence forces as being “amongst the best in the
region in terms of effectiveness and with regards to human rights.”
Torture is common in Ethiopian prisons, with political detainees such as Mr
Tsege routinely <
http://www.hrw.org/node/119814/section/1>subjected to
serious abuses in order to extract ‘confessions’. Mr Tsege has twice been
presented on Ethiopian state television as having ‘confessed’. In the
highly edited footage, he appears gaunt and exhausted.
Reprieve has written to Justine Greening, Secretary of State for
International Development, asking her to clarify the Government’s position
on security sector aid to Ethiopia, and to ensure that UK support for the
security forces does not continue while Mr Tsege remains in detention. In a
reply received last week, the minister said that “all DFID’s work is
carefully designed and robustly monitored […] I can assure you that the UK
Government is and will continue to monitor closely the use of aid in
Ethiopia.”
*Maya Foa, director of Reprieve’s death penalty team,* said: “British
taxpayers will be shocked to learn that they have been funding training for
the very same Ethiopian security officials who are likely to be responsible
for the unlawful kidnap and incommunicado detention of an innocent British
citizen. Andy Tsege has now spent over three months in secret detention,
likely subjected to torture, and without access to a lawyer, his family or
proper consular assistance. On top of that, he is under sentence of death.
His family in London is desperately worried. Instead of subsidising this
shameful state of affairs, the UK government should be doing all it can to
ensure Andy is returned home without delay.”
Received on Fri Oct 03 2014 - 20:51:18 EDT