Posted on 07/24/2003 2:23:18 PM PDT by piasa
ERITREA
Voice of America correspondent arrested
Reporters Without Borders today condemned the arrest and conscription into the Eritrean army of the local correspondent of the radio station Voice of America (VOA) and called for the immediate release of him and 18 other jailed media workers in the country, which it said was "Africa's biggest prison for journalists."
The journalist, Akhilu Solomon, 32, was arrested at his home on 8 July and taken to an army camp to do his compulsory military service. However, VOA said he had already done part of it and been exempted from the rest on medical grounds.
"After persecuting the local media, the government is now going after those working for foreign media," said Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard. "The latest arrest means 19 journalists are now in prison, making Eritrea by far the most repressive country in Africa in this respect."
The government shut down all privately-owned newspapers in September 2001 and arrested several journalists, leaving only the official press operating. Three foreign media - the BBC, Agence France-Presse and Deutsche Welle - have stringers in the country. The US embassy in Asmara said it had contacted the government about Solomon's arrest.
All Eritreans over 18 have been obliged since 1994 to do 18 months military service, including six months training at a military camp in the western town of Sawa.
17 Jul 2003 13:31:44 GMT
reuters alertnet.org
ADDIS ABABA, July 17 (Reuters) - The remains of 164 Ethiopian soldiers killed in a two-year border war with Eritrea will be sent home next week, officials said on Thursday.
The 1998-2000 war between the Horn of Africa neighbours killed about 70,000 people. It ended with a peace agreement in 2000, but tensions remain high and demarcation of a new border has been delayed by wrangling over where it should be.
The commander of the U.N. peacekeeping mission to Eritrea and Ethiopia said the bodies would be repatriated on July 25 so they could be buried properly.
"Both the Ethiopian government and the Eritrean government are fully supportive of the repatriation because it is the decent and humanitarian thing to do," Major-General Robert Gordon told a news conference.
He said the International Committee of the Red Cross was involved in the repatriation process.
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