Eritrean News Agency
ERINA Update
June 22, 1998
1. Another 111 Eritreans expelled from Ethiopia have arrived at the
border town of Om Hager yesterday evening, Sunday, June 21, 1998. Initial reports indicate that about fifty of them had been detained for weeks in small dungeons and air-tight containers causing them serious physical harm. Two hundred fifty others are on their way and will be arriving in Asmara this evening. This puts the total number of arrivals to date at 1081.
Meanwhile, the 720 Eritreans who were summarily expelled from Addis
Abeba and other towns in Ethiopia early last week arrived in Asmara on Saturday, June 20, amid a tumultuous welcome from the residents. All have harrowing stories to tell, most having been rounded up either at their working places or from their homes at the wee morning hours. Many were not allowed to say goodbye to their beloved ones left behind. A mother of three small children, who had left her youngsters in her locked home, was arrested downtown. She was distraught for the entire journey that took three days. Many of these people are ordinary businessmen, more than sixty years of age who have lived in Ethiopia for most of their life. ERINA Update shall publish their stories in its future issues.
2. Ethiopia's Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Tekeda Alemu, has revealed that this government's ambitions include the invasion of the Eritrean port of Assab. Addressing a grouping of former Dergue members in Washington on Sunday, June 14, the Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs boasted, "the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea will be raised at the UN Security Council on the basis of the four-point recommendations of the Facilitators. The US Government and the international community are on our side and we are certain that the UN Security Council Resolution will be supportive of Ethiopia. This will allow us to take any action we want on the Eritrean leader as he will have been portrayed as Saddam Hussein, and on Eritrea. The Port of Assab will fall into our hands in the next few days." These comments from a senior Ethiopian official demonstrate the sinister designs of the Ethiopian government to secure UN legitimacy for invading a sovereign state.