Ethiopian diplomat summoned by the British government over Andargachew’s case

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ESAT News

August 06, 2014

Forty four days after an Ethiopian-British citizen, Andargachew Tsige, the Secretary General of the opposition, Ginbot 7, has been abducted from Sanna Airport and got deported to Ethiopia, where he is now detained inside the Debre Zeit Air Force base, the British government summoned an Ethiopian government diplomat in London.

Mark Simmonds, the Foreign Office Minister, expressed “deep concern that the Ethiopian authorities had not allowed consular access to Mr Andargachew Tsige”.

Ethiopian officials had previously promised to allow consular service to Andargachew but have not respected the promise yet, the presser from the Office stated.

Simmonds told the Ethiopian Diplomat, Demeke Atnafu, Minister Consular of Diaspora Affairs at the Ethiopian Embassy in the UK, to urge his government to deliver on “previous commitments to provide consular access without delay, and to provide assurances that they do not intend to carry out the death penalty imposed in absentia.”

ESAT spoke to Yemisrach Hailemaraim, Andargachew’s wife, regarding the Office’s action and statement, she said “In diplomatic language, the statement can be considered a very strong one”. Yemesrach also mentioned that the British government is putting more pressures.

Sources indicate that the British government had been summoning Ethiopian diplomats, who had promised that Andargachew would be allowed to get consular services. However, the officials, who have not kept their words had been “keeping quiet” as they appeared in front of the British government officials, always had said “we will pass on the message”.

Similarly, the inability of the diplomats to identify the organ of the government that gives the permit for visitation has become a ‘headache’ for them. PM Hailemaraim Dessalegn has also not been able to effect what he had promised British government officials, who were visiting Ethiopia last month. This has raised the concern that the groups which give the permit are perhaps “the secret officials who run the country behind the back door”.

Reports indicate that the difficulty of knowing who the person that runs the government from behind is confusing many diplomats.