"The following Petition was initiated by Concered Eritreans"

On the plight of Eritrean refugees being held hostages in Egypt

To H. E. Hosni Mubarak
President of Arab Republic of Egypt,
Abadan Palace
Cairo, Egypt
Via fax +20 22 390 1998

Your Excellency Mr. President
We Eritreans, residing all over the world across Africa, Europe, Middle east, Australia, and North America are really saddened by the plight of Eritrean refugees who are being held hostages in the Sinai Desert exposed to killing and mistreatment coupled with an imminent threat of forced repatriation in the hands of the Bedouin people the Egyptian border guards the police and immigration authority. Earnest calls by the UNHCR, Amnesty International and other Human Right organizations upon your government to stop this outrageous action, was met with a deaf ear.
Your Excellency Mr. President
Ever since Eritrea won its independence, the PFDJ’s dictatorial regime has arrested tortured and persecuted individuals and groups including war disabled veterans, journalists, youth, elderly, parents, religious leaders, reformers, university students who attempted to exercise their basic freedoms and civil liberties. Open ended national service and the forced labor and exploitative projects of the regime under the guise of National development campaign, have led to the massive exodus of the Eritrean youth to the neighboring countries of Sudan, Ethiopia and beyond to Egypt and Libya. Therefore, our youth and people who are fleeing from, the tentacles of the PFDJ repressive regime need your protection but not the other way round, further abuse, killing and ill treatment in the hands of your border guards and the police.
Your Excellency Mr. President
We will be always thankful to your government and to the peoples of Egypt for their vital support to our struggle for independence. However, the present acts of hostage, forced repatriation, ill treatment and killing our fellow citizens by the Bedouin, your border guards, police and immigration authority contradicts the former, and is deemed to be immoral coming from an angle that already stood in favor of the formers freedom. It is disgustful and deserves to be brought to halt immediately.
Your Excellency Mr. President
With this appeal, we are respectfully calling on your government to immediately stop, all hostage taking, forced repatriation, ill treatment and killings of our fellow citizens by your border guards, police, and give unlimited and we request immediate access be given to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Egypt to assess the real threat facing Eritrean asylum seekers. As you are well aware, as signatory of the 1951 UN Convention against torture your government is obligated to respect the rights of all refugees. We look forward to hearing back from you, as we look forward to the time when we Eritrean people can freely exercise the freedom and civil liberty to which we are entitled.

Sincerely Yours,

Addendum: to the demonstration on the plights of Eritrean Refugees.
Eritrean of all walks of life
All over the world
December 2010

Copy to:
Mr. Antonio Guterres United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Case
Postale 2500 CH-1211 Genève 2 Dépôt SUISSE
Email:[email protected]
H.E. Dr. Jean PING
CHAIRPERSON OF THE AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION
African Union Headquarters P.O. Box 3243 Roosevelt Street W21K19, Addis Ababa
Ethiopia Fax :( 251) 11 5513036 E-mail: [email protected]

amare