OAU fact-finding, Deportees business licenses revoked, TPLF cultivating "opposition groups", Ministe
Eritrean News Agency ()
Wed, 29 Jul 1998 11:29:05 -0700 (MST)
Eritrean News Agency (ERINA)
Eritrean News Agency (ERINA)
ERINA Update
Wednesday, July 29, 1998
1. The OAU fact-finding mission to the Eritrean-Ethiopian conflict is
preparing to present its findings, Eritrean Foreign Minister Haile
Woldensae said in a meeting Monday with his South African counterpart,
Alfred Nzo, in Pretoria. Woldensae handed Minister Nzo a message from
President Isaias Afwerki to President Mandela. The Eritrean official
briefed Minister Nzo on the Eritrean-Ethiopian border dispute. A
statement issued Monday by the South African Department of Foreign
Affairs states that Minister Nzo "was encouraged by his Eritrean
counterpart's commitment that his country was ready to agree to an
immediate and unconditional ceasefire and thereafter to conduct direct
negotiations with its Ethiopian neighbour."
2. The Ethiopian government is canceling business licenses of the
Eritreans it had earlier deported, Voice of America reported. Many of
the Eritrean deportees, whose licenses are being revoked, have Ethiopian
nationality and lived in Ethiopia for decades until they were expelled,
leaving behind business establishments worth tens of millions of nakfa.
Following their leaders' abhorrent statement that the Ethiopian
government has "unlimited rights to expel foreigners if it did not like
the color of their eyes," Ethiopian officials are still detaining and
deporting Eritreans. The officials have also been unlawfully claiming
the properties of these Eritreans and are now settling in their homes.
To date, more than 11,000 Eritreans have been deported from Ethiopia.
3. The Ethiopian government is pressuring Eritrean detainees it has
recently transferred to Blattien, a remote camp 300 kms. southwest of
Addis Ababa, to join Eritrean "opposition groups" it has been trying to
form. Ethiopian officials have given access to these groups to air radio
and television broadcasts from Ethiopia. The TPLF has been cultivating
"opposition groups" as potential substitutes for EPLF since the 1980s.
After the liberation of Eritrea in 1991, Ethiopia continued to encourage
dissidence despite the friendly relationship that existed between the
two governments.
4. An Eritrean delegation led by Minister of Trade and Industry Ali
Seid Abdellah left for Libya today. The delegation, consisting of
ministers and heads of organizations, will follow up on President Isaias
Afwerki's recent visit to Libya that aimed at implementing trade and
cultural relations between the two countries. Based on the bilateral
agreement reached between the two governments to strengthen economic and
cultural ties, a Libyan delegation visited Eritrea last April on a
similar mission.
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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