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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon May 02 2011 - 16:01:21 EDT
Plea to free captured Britons dismissed by Eritrea's President
By Kunal Dutta
Monday, 2 May 2011
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/plea-to-free-captured-briton
s-dismissed-by-eritreas-president-2277679.html?action=Gallery> The Eritrean
President Isaias Afewerki
REUTERS
The Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki
Fears are growing for the safety of four British private contractors
captured during a gun battle in the Horn of Africa.
Isaias Afewerki, the President of Eritrea, made a belligerent address on
Saturday in which he condemned the group's possession of "countless numbers
of arms" and refused to be drawn on their release.
The comments escalated a diplomatic rift that has been widening since
Christmas Eve, when the four men were stopped near Eritrea as they travelled
across the Indian Ocean. The confrontation resulted in a round of gunfire
and saw the men arrested before being taken back to the mainland for
incarceration.
British diplomatic sources say that numerous requests for access to the
group have been turned down by authorities in Asmara, the capital. And this
weekend, Mr Afewerki compounded fears after an address on state television
in which he refused to say whether the group would be granted consular
access. "They should ask what they were doing in our territory," he said.
"They are citing the [Vienna] Convention when our laws were being violated."
He added: "They possessed countless amounts of arms, including sniper
rifles. If you come into my house with a gun, don't I have the right to
defend myself?"
The men, one of whom is Adrian Troy, 47, a British-born Western Australian,
are contractors working for a Hertfordshire-based security company,
Protection Vessels International (PVI).
Founded in 2008, PVI accounts for more than 40 per cent of all armed escort
vessels operating in the Gulf of Aden, East Africa, and the Indian Ocean.
Two of the men detained are former British military personnel.
Relatives of Mr Troy's are frustrated with the lack of progress from their
British counterparts, and have lobbied the Australian government to
accelerate discussions. Last week Mr Troy's regular employer, Steven Arrow
of Arrow Pearls, said that his family and friends were "consumed with
concern and worry".
Yesterday, a spokesman for PVI said: "In response to the recent comments by
the Eritrean President, Protection Vessels International remains acutely
concerned for the state of the four detained personnel ... still being held
in Eritrea. It is working closely with the FCO to secure their release
through diplomatic channels. Negotiations are ongoing and the issue
continues to be sensitive for all concerned; however, we fully support the
Eritrean government's ongoing investigation into this matter."
William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, has instructed the British embassy to
raise the urgency of the issue "as a matter of priority", while diplomatic
negotiations are being sought in New York, Brussels, Khartoum, Tripoli,
Nairobi and Beijing.
Last month, the Conservative foreign minister Henry Bellingham warned
Britain was ready to take "robust action" if Eritrea remained silent on the
issue. 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.
Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: "We have been urgently
seeking consular access since we became aware of their detention. We are
deeply concerned at the failure of the Eritrean authorities to allow us to
speak to or visit the men. The minister for Africa, our ambassador and other
officials continue to demand access."
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