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"During June, July, and August of 1998 more than twenty thousand
individuals of Eritrean national origin have been deported from
Ethiopia by that country's government in a deliberate program
of mass expulsion. Most of these individuals are Ethiopian citizens
and the remainder are Eritrean citizens temporarily but legally
present in Ethiopia. Those expelled were never charged with any
crime. They were held for up to three months in prison, then put
on buses, driven to the border, and told to walk across. Farmers
in northern Ethiopia have been forced from their traditional lands
on a few hours notice and ordered to leave for Eritrea on foot.
Unknown numbers remain in Ethiopian detention camps, and those
who still temporarily retain their freedom in Ethiopia have been
required to register as "Eritrean " with the Ethiopian
government. Massive violations of human rights have taken place
in the course of this program of mass deportation. In addition
to the fact that the deportees were never afforded due process
before their expulsion, all of their property has been effectively
confiscated. While in prison, they have had to provide their own
food and water, and some have been held, manacled, in solitary
confinement or in overheated shipping containers. Families have
been torn apart, with those children who accompany parents into
exile suffering the same conditions of confinement and with those
remaining behind left to fend for themselves." MASS EXPULSION
FROM ETHIOPIA by Natalie S. Klein
Picture - An Eritrean Mother mourning her five
relatives that were killed by Ethiopian bombing at Lalai Dieda,
on Monday Feb. 8, 1999