Also traveling to Assab were the following:

Two Government officials (Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Information)
Two from the ICRC and Eritrean National Red Cross
Five from the media including the Voice of America and the Voice of Germany

The Mission departed Asmara at 8:30 a.m. and arrived in Assab at 10:15 a.m. on 17 July 1998.

The UN team was informed that there were about 400 deportees who had arrived in Assab. The UN team met and interviewed deportees at two hotels where they were temporarily accommodated awaiting completion of arrangements to relocate them in some places of their choice in the highlands.

Their stories are the same: they were picked; taken to the police station; not allowed to advise their families about their fate; children were refused to accompany mothers or fathers; some were forced to say in buses for two days awaiting the arrival of other deportees; water and food were inadequate; etc. there were no reports on excessive violations of human rights.

The deplorable and dehumanizing conditions caused the death of one man whose daughter was snatched away by Ethiopian authorities when the deportees were dropped off between the border posts of the two countries. He cried to no avail and went into a serious depression and never recovered. His colleagues put him to rest in Assab.

The UN Team also met with Ethiopians who reside in Assab. Teachers want to go home (Ethiopia) since the Ethiopian Community School is now closed. These are Ethiopian teachers employed by the Ethiopian Government to each at an Ethiopian School in Assab. The other Ethiopians complained of lack of employment opportunities since their livelihoods depended on arrival of ships. "When ships arrive, Assab is our new York city" recalled one sad casual worker with a wishful smile. As to the Ethiopians with permanent employment, they confirmed that they have been receiving their salaries as usual. The people we met did not cite violations of human rights. However, the UN Tea did not know how these people were identified and brought to the meeting place.

The UN team noted the needs of these deportees which are, by and large, similar to those of other deportees and displaced persons. Some of their needs include:

Please see Annex A for a detailed account of the situation of deportees in Assab titled "UN Field Visit to Assab 16-17 July 1998" by Ms. Pamela Delargy.

3. Update on Eritrean Deportees: Mareb Gate

On my return from Assab on 17 July 1998, the Commissioner for ERREC asked me to accompany her team to Mendefera and Adi Quala on Saturday 17 July 1998. During the period 12-18 July 1998, 2340 deportees arrived through Mareb.

The number of both displaced and deported Eritreans has increased to 166,091 displaced and 10,195 deported. A detailed report by Mr. Ghebremikael Tesfaselasse, UNDP Programme Coordinator is attached as Annex B.

The shear number of displaced and deported Eritreans and the magnitude of the diversified needs, require concerted efforts of the international community. The needs go beyond what the Government of Eritrea and its civil society can meet. The world is faced with a situation characterized by:

In response to this situation, the Government has opted to provide cash to families as follows:

1. 1,500 Nakfa as a one-time payment to each family
2. 65 Nakfa paid to each member of the family for six months July to December 1998.

(Please note that the UN exchange rate is US$ 1= 7.35 Nakfa).

This option was selected by Government because of the difficulties of providing the needs outlined above. The deportees can be divided into two categories as follows:

- those who live in urban or semi-urban areas; and

- those who live in the rural areas.

The Government’s international appeal for assistance has addressed these issues.

Upon invitation of Government, five UN staff traveled to Assab on July 16 in order to observe and document the status of 382 deportees from Ethiopia who had arrived at the Eritrean-Ethiopian border on July. The group was accompanied by one person from the Foreign Ministry and one from the Ministry of Information. Also on the trip were a member of the ICRC and the Director of the Eritrean Red Cross.

Upon arrival (by plane) in Assab, the group visited groups of deportees who had been housed in two hotels- the Zerai Deres Hotel and the Kamal International Hotel. The UN staff spoke with the deportees both in a group and individually. The delegation also met with a group of Ethiopian permanent residents of Assab and representatives of the 50 Ethiopian teachers from the Ethiopian Community School who were waiting for means of transport back to Ethiopia. This report summarizes the information gathered from these three groups:

The delegation spoke to two groups of deportees (total about 250) and also to many individual deportees. All had arrived in the early morning of 15 July. Deportees included men, women and children, but it was reported that the majority (perhaps two-thirds) were men. They were from many areas of Ethiopia, the largest number being from Arba Minch. Others were from Nazreth, Debre Zeit, Dire Dawa, Asebe Teferi, Sheshamene, and Awassa and towns in Sidamo and Bale.

Of the men, many were over 60 and retired either from private business or from the Ethiopian civil service. Among the younger men, there were teachers, mechanics, shop owners, and managers. There were also lecturers from Alemayu University and Arba Minch College. There was one young (34 yrs) physician from a rural in Bale. There were also two Catholic priests from Dire Dawa. Most of the men reported having left their wives and children behind. Many had pleaded to bring their children but had been refused. One man was able to bring his 6 year old son because the boy’s mother was dead, but he had other children left behind. Over half of those interviewed reported that their wives were not of Eritrean ethnicity and thus, they did not know whether they would be allowed to leave Ethiopia to reunify the family. Many of the men, especially the younger ones, had been born in Ethiopia and had never been to Eritrea. They did not speak Tigrinya and had to be interviewed in Amharic. Many had voted in the Eritrean referendum in 1993; some had not. All reported having voted in the last Ethiopian elections. All reported being Ethiopian citizens.

Of the women, there were a number of elderly, who reported living in Ethiopia their whole lives. For example, one woman aged 64 was a cleaner in a school in Asebe Teferi and had been born and lived her life in Ethiopia. She had no husband or children and reported no connections of family in Eritrea; her father had been ethnically Eritrean but had died long ago. She does not speak Tigrinya. There were a few mothers with young children who had been allowed to bring the children- mainly those who were single parents. Some reported having left young children behind, either with their (non-Eritrean) husbands or with maids or neighbors. At least five reported having been arrested on the street and not being able to inform their children, who were left at home alone (no relatives or other parent with them). Most of the women were housewives; a few had owned small shops or been cleaners. There were no pregnant or lactating women.

There were very few children in the group- perhaps only about 11. They seemed to be all school aged. The deportees reported that the Ethiopian Authorities did not want to have children on the buses and those few who came were from single parent families where the parent had convinced the authorities to let them accompany. It seemed that the decision about whether to let children accompany was arbitrary and depended on the attitudes of local officials, some of whom were more lenient than others. Although many mothers reported that the trip and the walk had been difficult for the children, there were no reports of serious illness among the children now in Assab.

The delegation found no intact families among the deportees. Almost all adults who were married or had children had been separated from their spouses and children. Assuming at least 200 were married and had families, this means that there are the same number of spouses remaining in Ethiopia, with from 200 to 1200 or so children having lost a parent to the deportation. As mentioned above, at least five women reported having left their children (numbering from two to five) alone or with only a maid. These are women the group specifically talked to; there may have been more.

Conditions of deportation: The deportees had been placed on buses in the towns from which they came and the buses had come together in Banda, a small town near the border. Some of the deportees reported having been taken from their homes during the night; some reported being picked up at work. Some were held in detention for a few days; others reported having been in detention for up to 36 days before the deportation. Very few were able to bring with them anything at all- neither clothes or money or personal documents. In some cases, where they had been able to get their documents (passports, diplomas, certificates, ID’s) these were taken from them. A few people reported having their personal jewelry (wedding rings or crosses) taken from them. There were no reports of purposeful bodily harm inflicted by authorities. Most deportees stated that their neighbors and other in their communities were very upset at their treatment and were very sympathetic. Sometimes even local police were sympathetic but told them that they were following orders.

The group traveled in nine buses. The deportees report that at one point, the buses were stopped and held in a quarry-like place where the authorities did not allow the bus windows to be opened, causing the heat to build up inside the buses to a point where people were having difficulty breathing. During this period no water or food was provided. (Note: the temperatures in the region are currently reaching 42 degrees). During the overall trip, the group reported, they received a once a day ration of bread and water and either slept on the buses o in crude shelters at night. Many of the deportees reported that the people in the Oromo, Amhara and Afar communities they passed through offered tea, food and water but that many times the guards refused to let them receive this assistance.

The group in the first bus reported another difficulty upon reaching Banda. The firs bus, with 56 persons mostly from Arba Minch, arrived two and a half days prior to the other buses. The local authorities had not been given any instructions concerning their disposition and had the deportees remain on the bus at all times, except for toilet visits. As the outside temperature was up to 41 degrees and the bus was overcrowded, this was both extremely uncomfortable and potentially dangerous for the group. Upon arrival of the eight additional buses, all of the buses traveled onward to the border area and the deportees were then told to walk the remaining 4.5 km distance to the Eritrean checkpoint. Since it was approximately 3 a.m. and dark, the deportees were afraid of walking through this heavily militarized area for fear of being attacked. They were sighted by an Eritrean scout who told them to wait until daylight and then began to walk to the checkpoint. As the weather was very hot and the area very desolate (rock desert), many older people had to be assisted by the healthier. It is reported that three members of the group suffered exhaustion/heatstroke and collapsed during the walk. Upon arrival at the checkpoint and transport to Assab Hospital, one 56 old former teacher (male) died. He was buried on 16 July.

The local authorities, upon hearing from the military that there were deportees at the checkpoint, sent transport and brought the group the 50 km to Assab town, where they were housed in local hotels and registered. There are discussions underway concerning their transport to other places in Eritrea since Assab has little resources to maintain them and the heat is a problem for the highland dwellers.

Most of the deportees the group met with were in fairly good condition; they had good housing (with ventilators and air coolers) and access to food. A number of adults reported having health conditions which were problematic- mostly diabetes, high blood pressure, or forms of arthritis. The time spent in the high temperatures at the border and the walk to the checkpoint had been difficult for many elderly and for the children. There were reports that some elderly were bedridden upon arrival and had needed medical attention. As mentioned above, two were hospitalized and one had died. By and large, most of the people met seemed very bewildered; they were perplexed as to why they had been singled out, especially since so many had been born and grew up in Ethiopia and had little or no Eritrean connection.

Ethiopian permanent residents:

The group met with approximately 25 Ethiopians who were permanent residents in Assab, some having lived there over 50 years. Many were port workers or day labourers. Those who were permanent port staff reported having been put on paid annual leave in late May. The daily labourers were having little income due to the lack of work in Assab since the border closed and expressed serious concern for themselves and their families. Many said that they had no money with which to buy food. When asked if they would like to go to Ethiopia, the people in the group declined, saying that Assab was their home and that they had no place in Ethiopia to return to. None of the group reported having been mistreated by others and they told the delegation that they had other problem than of getting work to feed their families. They reported that the local authorities had begun registration for food provision the day before but had suspended because there were so many people to register that the scene became chaotic; they were told that registration would begin again during the week.

It should be noted that the Ethiopians were brought to one place to meet with the delegation and were not just randomly chosen from the streets to interview so they may not represent the views of other Ethiopians in Assab. Some members of the groups spoke to a few Ethiopians who were working in a restaurant- these did not report any harassment and hope to remain in Assab as they had lived there for many years.

The delegation also met with five teachers from the Ethiopian Community School who were waiting transport to Ethiopian through Djibouti. They reported that there were 50 teachers stranded in Assab since the border closed. They are Ethiopian government employees and had not been paid in four months. They expressed concern about their subsistence and that of their families (a few had families locally). They had received exit visas from the Eritrean government (at a cost of 150 Nakfa) and were now waiting for a boat to arrive from Djibouti. They reported that the cost of transport for the boat was 290 nakfa and that many of them did not have any funds to purchase the tickets. They asked whether the UN could help them with this problem. The teachers did not report any problems of harassment by either the authorities or the local people. They said that the local people (other Ethiopians, perhaps) were feeding them. They were very anxious to return to their homes in Ethiopia, however. They did not know how they would proceed upon arrival in Djibouti but expected that the Ethiopian embassy there could assist. The teachers in the group were from various parts of Ethiopia, including Wollo, Tigray and Sidamo.

Assab, normally a bustling port city with up to 700 trucks a day arriving/departing to transport goods from the port, is dramatically changed due to the closing of the Ethiopian border. The port is virtually deserted, with very few ships arriving with any goods. The refinery was recently closed, as well. As these two were the main employers, there is a serious problem of unemployment. The service establishments which catered to the thousands of drivers and sailors are also suffering. Contract workers and daily labourers have been out of work for almost two months and have depleted any savings they had. Many in the local population have no more means to buy food or other provisions. What food there is relatively expensive (except for fish). Vegetables and fruits are unavailable; these previously came from Ethiopia- now they must be shipped from Massawa. there are no telephone connections to the rest of Eritrea since the lines previously went though Ethiopia and these connections have been cut. Thus, communication is only by radio or by satellite telephone (available at the Port Authority Office).

Although there is excellent shelter for deportees in Assab since they are able to use the local hotels (which have no business now), they must be moved to other parts of Eritrea quickly. Due to the very difficult economic conditions, as well as its relative isolation and proximity to a heavily militarized area, Assab is just not an appropriate place to maintain deportees for any significant period of time. In addition, the high temperatures can pose health risks for those not used to such a climate.

(It should be pointed out that air transport to Assab has improved considerably. There are up to five flights a week (this varies) from Asmara and some from Djibouti on Daallo Airlines.)

• Transport of deportees out of Assab and placement with any relatives in Eritrea

• Continued shelter, food and health care for deportees

• Investigation of the conditions of children left unaccompanied in Ethiopia

• Investigation of family unification possibilities

• Transport of Ethiopian teachers to Djibouti (finances)

• Monitoring of conditions of Ethiopian population in Assab

Eritreans are being deported from Ethiopia by the Ethiopian Government en masse. On Friday 17 July 1998 thirty-five buses carrying 1,987 Eritreans arrived about 4 km inside Tigray via the Mereb gate. The deportees had to walk the 4 km on foot to cross to the Eritrean side; 511 of the deportees were children under the age of eighteen. From the random interviews we had with these people, we noted that they come from al walks of life: business people, garage owners, traders, civil servants, retirees, farmers, priests etc. These deportees were rounded up from various cities, towns and villages of Ethiopia such as Addis Ababa, Debreberhan, Nazareth, Gima, Kobo, Karaquorie, Komisie, Bati, Harbo, Kombelcia, Dessie, Waldia, Goder, Rama, Axum, Debrezeit, Leketmti etc, etc. They were picked form their residences, and/or workplaces in the evenings, nights or during the day, and were not allowed to pick anything with them nor were they allowed to meet their families who were left behind in Ethiopia. Some of them were detained in Ethiopian prisons ranging from two days to two or more months before their expulsion.

The deportees were made to travel through the hostile terrain of Tigray. They reported to us that in Mekele, the capital of Tigray and in Adwa, another Tigris town, they were forced to stay one night and one day without food and water. In both these towns they were harassed, abused and threatened by the Woyane cadres. The Tigray Administration even took some of the deportees under the pretext of further interrogation and their whereabouts is not known; these are people like Mr. Daud Messud with his two children picked in Addis Ababa and taken from his co-deportees in Adwa; so was Mr. Said Abdu, Secondary School teacher from Dessie also forced to stay in Adwa.

Each one of the deportees had horrifying stories to tell:

Mrs. Alganesh said that she was forced to leave Ethiopia leaving behind a paralyzed husband, Mr. Yemene Kahsai, in Addis Ababa with no one to look after him.

Mr. Alazar Asfaha is another victim. He lived in Ethiopia for 38 years. his property was nationalized first by the Derg Regime and now he fears his property will be taken by the current Ethiopian Government. He said he was locked in prison while in Addis and was beaten. He does not know what the fate of his family is.

Keshi Hadgu Kidane is a priest of the Orthodox church who was residing in the vicinity of Axum as a farmer. He was picked by night leaving his wife and seven children behind. He also left 25 cattle, 40 goats, 10 sheep, a house and all his farm materials and farm products.

Keshi Tesfamariam Goitanazghi, another priest of the Orthodox church. He was a businessman in Addis Ababa. he also left his wife and seven children behind. He owns a house worth birr 400,000.00 in the vicinity of Bole International Airport road and furniture worth about birr 50,000.00.

Mr. Mesfun Berhe is a limousine owner and driver. He is 72 years old and he lived in Ethiopia for 52 years. he said he was picked at 4:00 a.m. He left his wife and his four children behind. All the deportees have different and sad story to tell about their ordeal.

As mentioned in my previous reports, the causes of their deportation are:

1. Eritrean citizenship
2. Voting during the referendum for Eritrean independence in April 1993
3. Member of the Eritrean Communities in Ethiopia
4. Membership of PFDJ (Popular Front for Democracy and Justice), the Eritrean political organization
5. Monetary contribution for Eritrean Development Progammes

The number of deportees as of 18 July 1998 is:

As previously reported, there are also about 166,091 (this figure does not include any war displaced Eritreans along the Assab area) displaced Eritreans due tot he border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Thus, as of to-day 18 July 1998 the total number of Eritreans who needed assistance is: