NAIROBI – All 12 members of the Eritrean national football team who failed to return to Eritrea last week have asked for a political asylum in Nairobi, a Kenyan official said on Tuesday. The Eritrean government has in the meantime said no player has gone missing.
An official of the Refugee Consortium of Kenya, a non-profit organization that gives free legal aid and representation to asylum seekers and refugees, said his organization will present the Eritreans’ case to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, which will determine whether they can be granted asylum. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
The Eritreans were knocked out of the Cecafa competition for East and Central African nations last week.
But when the team plane landed back home, it was reportedly only carrying the coach and an official.
The government, which is frequently accused of repression, denies any players are missing.
But the country’s football federation confirmed to Cecafa head Nicholas Musonye that the players had not returned.
Mr Musonye told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme it was the third time the Eritrean team had failed to return home after a tournament.
“The Eritrean federation have done their best to bring a team to the competition – unfortunately these boys had other ideas,” he said.
“Definitely they are in Nairobi – we have so many Eritreans here – they must be somewhere.”
AFP said in May 2006, four players of the Eritrean football club, Red Sea, who were in the country to play the Kenyan champions, Tusker in an African Champions League match, defected in Nairobi after evading their government escorts.
To curb the trend, the Eritrean government introduced in 2007 a policy requiring all travelling athletes to deposit a sum of 100,000 Nakfa (6,700 dollars) before leaving the country and to remain in the company of the official entourage while overseas, AFP reported.
The UN says hundreds of Eritreans flee the country every month.
Critics say the country’s repressive government, poverty and a harsh national service regime forces many to leave.
But the government denies that Eritreans are fleeing and accuses the UN of lying about the figures.
