- An army pilot who deserted Djibouti has been turned away by Ethiopia while seeking asylum
Djiboutian activists and exiled political figures have condemned Ethiopia’s forced return of an asylum seeker to Djibouti. The man, identified as Lieutenant Fouad Youssouf Ali, was forcibly removed from the Covid-19 quarantine center in Addis Ababa and flown back to Djibouti, according to Radio France Internationale (RFI).
The Lieutenant, who is an army pilot, fled to Ethiopia on March 27 after denouncing the injustices in his country’s army, according to RFI. The Djiboutian government had subsequently issued a warrant for his arrest and extradition. His entire family including his mother, brothers, sisters, and children have been arrested, it was reported. On April 8, while preparing to lodge an asylum request, the pilot was arrested by security forces in Addis Ababa. An online campaign demanding his freedom had started, but the Ethiopian government has not reacted. This past Wednesday, the lawyer designated by his family found him and was able to visit him on in Gabode prison, where he is imprisoned after being forcibly returned to Djibouti, RFI reported today.
Ethiopia’s forced return of the Lieutenant to Djibouti has elicited many angry reactions from the Djiboutian diaspora, many of them saying the man is at serious risk of persecution in his homeland. Houssein Ibrahim Houmed, a Paris-based philosophy professor, said he did not believe that the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, Nobel Peace Prize winner, for whom he had so much admiration and who embodied the hope of an entire continent could deliver the asylum seeker to his executioner. “This situation simply demonstrates that Ethiopia does not respect human rights,” he added. Another Djiboutian national, Abduljibbar Ismail tweeted, bemoaning what rights does political asylum seekers have. “Ethiopia sold to Djibouti a political asylum seeker pilot lieutenant who escaped from his homeland,” he added.
Ethiopia is a landlocked country and dependent on its neighbor, Djibouti for access to process its imports and exports.
Image: Presidential election posters Ismael Omar Guelleh on a street in Djibouti in March 2016, Simon Maina/AFP
Several years ago, the whole world was in shock when the Kenyan government handover the renown Kurdish freedom fighter, Abdella O’jalaan to the butcher Wild Turkey. Now the Ethiopian government behaved in a reprhensible manner like the pathetic Yemen who bundled up Andergachow Tsegai and dispatched him to a hyena den. The current regime is pretty much aware of the Afaars who suffered horribly as a Third-Class citizen in their own land, reminiscent of the Oromos under Weyane not too long ago. The least the PM could have done was to send this poor asylum seeker to third country like Eritrea, Ugand or France. I guess this is too much of an effort for Noble Prize winner to do this simple democratic overture. Imagine the reaction if the US deported the Olympic Marathon runner, Lelissa Merdessa to that spooky PM Haile Mariam Desalaghne. I mourn for Ethiopia.
My friend Paulo’s
I agree with you that this is irreprehensible act if indeed the ethiopian government of Abiy Ahmed forcibly handed the asylum seeker. A word of caution though until we hear the whole story. The Abiy government owes the world an explanation.