"BURUNDI YES WE CAN"

His Excellence Meles Zenawi

Prime Minister of Ethiopia

PO Box 1031, Addis Ababa -

Cc:

UNHCR OFFICE in Addis

Amnisty International

Human Rights Watch

Ref: Open Letter to the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi

                                                                           Your Excellency,

I write as the President of the International African Child Relief andPeace Foundation of Canada, an international human rights organization.Together with the undersigned partners, we are deeply concerned by thetorture of about 60 Banyamulenge refugees currently victims of crueltreatment by the Ethiopian police as result of being injustly handedover by UNHCR local agent called Negate, and illegally detained with noreasons. Our sources indicate that whereas these 60 individuals,victims of torture, are the only true Banyamulenge refugees inEthiopia, they found themselves surrounded by a mob of non Banyamulengerefugees who had falsely claimed to be Banyamulenge refugees andreported to the UNHCR as Banyamulenge in order to qualify for UNHCRprotection and benefit its services including resettlement in westerncountries as refugees. Those who deceivingly reported themselves asBanyamulenge refugees, are accused of corrupting some policemen andsome UNHCR officials such as Mr. Negate so that they may deny the trueBanyamulenge refugees their rights and treat them as criminals.

Wehave received reports naming one the corrupted UNHCR officials ofEthiopian origin named above (Mr. Negate) who has been allegedly bribedby the Rwandese Hutus and some Congolese falsely registered by UNHCR asBanyamulenge refugees to make sure all of the true Banyamulengerefugees do not get asylum in Ethiopia.

According to local sourcesanother such corrupt Ehiopian official who has been bribed to torturedBanyamulenge refugees is an ARRA agent by the name of Mr. Masmara knownfor his determination to keep true Banyamulenge refugee from benefitingtheir rights in Ethiopia and badly mistreat them.

Local sourcesconfirm that some of the persecuted Banyamulenge refugees are severelyinjured. Indeed one of them called David is reported to be in a coma,due to cruel beating, and a woman among them has had an abortion as aresult of beatings.

Mr. Prime Minister, the Republic of Ehiopiahas ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumanand Degrading Treatment, the 1951 Convention relating to the Status ofRefugees, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.As your government has committed to uphold international law overnational, we appeal to you to implement obligations under internationallaw and not allow the corrupt officials tarnish the image of yourcountry as refugees and asylum seekers in Ethiopia are at great risk oftorture or other inhuman treatment.

We write also to urge the officeof UNHCR in Ethiopia to address the issue of wrongful identificationand treatment of refugees, particularly the case of Banyamulengerefugees in Ethiopia, and the need for an immediate securityassessments of the 60 individuals named herein, in order to addresstheir cause. Please be aware that any negligence of this matter couldresult in danger of about 60 innocent refugees being subjected totorture or arbitrary deprivation of their lives in the hands of UNHCRofficials in collaboration with a handful Ethiopian corrupt officials.

Akim M. Hakiza

International AfricanChild Relief and Peace Foundation of Canada