British ethnic Tigrayans are detained in Ethiopian purge

BRITISH citizens have been swept up in Ethiopia’s mass detentions of ethnic Tigrayans under a new state of emergency in the country’s escalating war, the Associated Press has found.

Thousands of Tigrayans in the capital Addis Ababa, and across Africa’s second most populous country, have already been detained and fears of more such detentions soared yesterday as authorities ordered landlords to register tenants’ identities with police. Meanwhile, men armed with sticks were seen on some streets as volunteer groups sought out Tigrayans to report them.

Ethiopia’s government says it is detaining people suspected of supporting the forces from the Tigray region who are approaching Addis Ababa following a year-long war with Ethiopian forces that was triggered by a political falling-out. But human rights groups, lawyers, relatives and the governmentcreated Ethiopian Human Rights Commission say detentions – including of children and the elderly – appear to be on the basis of ethnicity.

Meron Kiros, daughter of British national Kiros Gebreab, 55, said her father had lived in the UK for more than 25 years and was visiting Ethiopia to work on his PHD when he was detained at his home in the capital on Nov 1.

“My father has no political involvement in what has been happening,” she said and attributed his arrest to “purely for being a Tigrayan.” She said the family had not been allowed any communication with him.

The British government told AP it has raised his case with Ethiopian authorities. Britain believes a very small number of UK nationals have been detained. At least two US citizens are among the Tigrayans detained.

A hotelier and his son were detained at their home on Nov 2, the evening the state of emergency was imposed.