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Three Eritrean officers defect to Saudi Arabia
[Al Ahram] Three Eritrea...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age... n military officers have asked for political asylum in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... after Saudi air force jets forced their aircraft to land in the southern part of the kingdom, the local news website Sabq reported on Tuesday. Sabq quoted Yassin bin Ahmed al-Qassem, a front man for the Jazan Emirate, as saying that F-15 planes were deployed when the Eritrean aircraft entered Saudi airspace without permission. "The aircraft forced to land in the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz airport was carrying three Eritrean officers seeking political asylum," Sabq quoted Yassin as saying. The Eritrean aircraft were military but used to carry equipment and not fighters, Yassin added. Eritrea, which split from Æthiopia in 1991, is one of Africa's most secretive states and dissent is dealt with harshly. Located on the opposite side of the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia, it has long been at odds with the United States and is accused of human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights,mind you... abuses by international monitors. In January, dissident soldiers backed by tanks briefly took over the Information Ministry in Asmara, demanding all political prisoners be freed. Calm soon returned to the capital but Eritrean opposition activists in neighbouring Æthiopia cite growing dissent within the army over economic hardships. With a population of about 5.5 million, mass defections have become more common in recent years. In February, 18 Eritreans who disappeared from their hotel during a football tournament in Kampala were granted political asylum by Uganda. In April, Saudi media said an Eritrean military pilot sent by Asmara to reclaim a jet stolen by two fellow officers when sought asylum in the kingdom had herself defected. The U.N. refugee agency says more than 250,000 Eritrean refugees and nearly 15,000 asylum seekers live across the Horn of Africa. Posted by: Fred 2013-11-13 |
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