President Guelleh: Turn over the Ethiopian pilots to the UNHCR!

Ethiopians in the Diaspora should stand on the side of the heroic Air force Pilots who fled to Djibouti!



July 18, 2005



Several Ethiopians held a demonstration at the Djibouti Embassy in Washington DC today to demand that Djibouti government respect the rights of the Air force pilots who defected to Djibouti. As it was reported, Captain Behailu Gebre and Copilot Abyot Manguaday fled to Djibouti with their gun ship helicopter right after the brutal massacre of unarmed protesters in Addis Ababa by the Regime of Meles Zenawi last June.



The protestors in Washington DC asked the Djibouti government to hand over the Air force pilots to the UNHCR. The Demonstrates carried placards and chanted the following slogans:

Djibouti: Respect International Law!

Respect the Ethiopian Pilot's right to seek asylum!

President Guelleh: Turn over the Ethiopian pilots to the UNHCR!

Do not deport the Air Force pilots to the Meles Regime!

President Guelleh: Respect International Law!

President Guelleh: Don't be lawless, free our pilots!

During the demonstration, a representative of the protestors delivered a letter to Mr. Issa Daher Bouraleh, Second secretary of Djibouti Embassy in Washington DC.

Last week, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has made a public statement, claiming that the Air force pilots may have already been turned over to the regime of Meles Zenawi. Mr. Ron Redmond, the Spokesman of the UNHCR was quoted by reporters. "We still have not seen them and we are growing increasingly concerned that the pilots might have been returned to Ethiopia against their will."

Djibouti has signed the 1951 U.N. Convention on refugees which prohibits expulsion or return of a refugee to a country where his or her life or freedom may be threatened. However, the Djibouti government treatment of the Air force pilots appears to be the most blatant violation of these longstanding international law and conventions that protect the rights of refuges for which the Air Force Pilots who fled to Djibouti are entitled.

Ethiopians in Diaspora should organize similar protest demonstrations elsewhere. We should act immediately and decisively to save lives of the Air force Pilots who fled to Djibouti instead of being used as an instrument of the brutality and repression unleashed by the Meles Regime against the Ethiopian people, especially after the May 15, 2005 national election.

It is a moral imperative for all Ethiopians in Diaspora to show our outrage towards this blatant violation of the rights of Ethiopians seeking asylum as per international law and conventions by the government of Djibouti. For these courageous Ethiopians depended on us –those of us in the Diaspora—to come to their aid and rescue.

We all should make phone calls to Djibouti Embassies in each and every country of our residence. We should organize protest demonstrations and write letters of appeal the Djibouti authorities, especially President Gulleh in whose hands the fate of these heroic pilots appears to have fallen. We should demand that the Government of President Gulleh respect international conventions by returning Air force pilots --who until recent days were under the direct custody his Presidential security—to the UNHCR as requested again and again, by the High Commissioner for Refugees.

Fellow Ethiopians, please find the letter submitted to the Ambassador of Djibouti by Ethiopians in Washington DC.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

His Excellency Mr. Roble Olhaye

Ambassador Extraordinary Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Djibouti

to the United States of America.

Embassy of Djibouti
(202) 331-0270
1156 15th St NW
Washington, DC 20005





Dear Mr. Ambassador,



We, members of the Ethiopian community in the United States are increasingly concerned about the safety and welfare of the Ethiopian airmen Captain Behailu Gebre and Copilot Abyot Manguaday in Djibouti. These gun ship helicopter pilots are persons who chose to leave Ethiopia rather than comply with orders to participate in the violent suppression of a political protest by unarmed civilians in Addis Ababa.



Concerned with the fate of Captain Behailu Gebre and Copilot Abyot Mangwaday over the last five weeks, we have contacted the Embassy of Djibouti here in Washington D.C. through various means, and have made our concern known to Your Excellency and to some of your diplomatic staff.



Through its Representative in Djibouti and directly from its Head Quarters in Geneva, the UNHCR has made several attempts to learn of the fate of the airmen. Despite reassurances of their safety and promises of access to them UNHCR has failed to receive permission for such access or any clarification of their fate. There have already been assurances of the availability of a safe haven by the UNHCR to the Government of Djibouti.



The UNHCR has now made public its unsuccessful efforts to gain access to the two Ethiopian asylum seekers. Contradictory statements by officials in Djibouti have increased UNHCR’s concern as well as our own. Some reports claim that the airmen have been returned to Ethiopia while others say that they are still in Djibouti.



We consider Djibouti to be a friend of the Ethiopian people, and sincerely hope that, as a member of the international community and signatory of the 1951 United Nations Convention and other instruments of International Law, it will abide by its obligations.



We urge you, Mr. Ambassador, to encourage your government to extend its full cooperation to the UNHCR to resolve this matter in conformity with international refugee law. There is a risk that these airmen may be returned to Ethiopia against their will. As you know, Mr. Ambassador, the Convention prohibits the expulsion or return of a refugee to a country where his or her life or freedom may be threatened for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or holding a particular political opinion.



We hope that the neighborly respect we have long felt for Djibouti and its people as well as our shared respect for international commitments and obligations will lead to a resolution that offers these airmen the safety and protection to which they are entitled.



Respectfully,



July 18, 2005

Moderator,its conspiracy between woyane rule and Djibouti govt.buying time till we(Ethiopians) cool off as for me my blood boils every day,the pilots are i'm sure some where in Djibouti.Why i'm optimistic on thier faith?the UNHCR has not seen them where bout they are.

Email: DillingerJ1@aol.com

City: DC

The opposition leaders has the mandates to inquiry where bout the pilots.

Email: DillingerJ1@aol.com

City: DC