Eritrean News Agency (ERINA)

(Tel: ++291-1-117627, Fax: 127385)
ERINA Update

Thursday, September 24, 1998

1. One thousand five hundred Eritreans, expelled through the Burie front lines by the Ethiopian regime, arrived in Assab on September 22. The deportees, who came from Addis Ababa, Nazret, Diredawa, Gondar, Awash, Dessie, Sheshemane, Dubti, Debrezeit, Bahrdar and other places, consisted of women, children and aged victims. Guilty of nothing else but being Eritreans, the deportees had been detained and tortured from four days to three weeks. The deportees also explained that there are other Eritreans held in custody in various regions in Ethiopia. They further explained that they were forced to leave by the TPLF officials without the chance to leave someone to look after their property. Many children who were deported last Tuesday suffered severely from heat exposure. The TPLF government has perversely labeled these expulsions as "family reunions."

2. As the Ethiopian regime prepares to launch "a full-scale war," it is going to extreme lengths to misinform international public opinion. To this end, the government in Addis Ababa is providing selected journalists with:

Few can doubt the implicit disregard for transparency and journalistic integrity reflected by these actions. A group of journalists from Italy and the United Kingdom are now filing reports from Addis Ababa under these conditions.

Veronica Rentmeesters, Information Officer
Embassy of Eritrea to the US
1708 New Hampshire Ave NW, Washington DC 20009, USA
TEL: 202 588 7587 FAX: 202 319 1304
E-M: veronica@embassyeritrea.org

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