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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Sat Apr 30 2011 - 11:23:48 EDT
http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE73T00M20110430?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
Detained
British nationals possessed arms: Eritrea
Sat Apr 30, 2011 11:19am GMT
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Four British nationals detained in Eritrea late last
year possessed large amounts of arms, Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki
said late on Friday.
British media reports said four ex-Royal Marines were arrested by an
Eritrean naval vessel after a gunbattle on December 24 as they guarded a
merchant ship from pirates in the Indian Ocean.
The London-based newspaper The Sun reported last month the four were seized
by Eritrea's navy. Another two had escaped by boat, the paper added.
"They possessed countless amounts of arms, including sniper rifles. If you
come to my house with a gun, don't I have the right to defend myself?"
Isaias said in an interview with the state-run Eri TV.
The Eritrean leader did not say whether the group would be charged or
whether their embassy would be granted consular access to them.
British authorities say Asmara has not given any information on the group's
whereabouts. Foreign Minister Henry Bellingham warned earlier this month
Britain was ready to take 'robust action' if Eritrea remained silent.
Bellingham said consular access to check on the men's welfare should have
been granted within 48 hours under the Vienna Convention on diplomatic
relations, signed by both Britain and Eritrea.
"They should ask what they were doing in our territory. They are citing the
... convention when our laws were violated," Isaias said.
Eritrea is one of the world's most secretive nations and has frosty
relations with a number of western countries as well as most of its
neighbours, having been involved in border disputes with Ethiopia and
Djibouti.
Britain has in the past called for "punishment" of Asmara for its alleged
support of Islamist insurgents in Somalia. The United Nations imposed
sanctions on Eritrea in late 2009.
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