Leaders of the Ethiopians met with Belarus Embassy staff during which they handed a petition to Belarus Ambassador to the US, Michail Chvastou, and urged the diplomat to encourage his government to assist the UNHCR to handle the crisis in accordance with international refugee laws.
The Belarussian regime of President Alexander Lukashenko is regarded by the West as the “the last dictatorship in Europe.”
Earlier in July Djibouti came under fire from human rights organizations after deporting two of three Ethiopian helicopter pilots who had asked for political asylum following their defiance to government orders to fire on anti-government protesters in Addis Ababa.
Though Djibouti Interior Ministry official told a BBC reporter on July 19 that the pilots were repatriated voluntarily, family members dismissed the report, claiming it was a forced deportation.
Sources said the two pilots, Captain Behailu Gebre and Lt. Abiyot Mangudai were tortured severely and limping when they recently appeared before a Military Tribunal at Debre Zeit Air Force base, 32 km south of the Ethiopian capital. (Map source: CIA)
(Ethiomedia says “congratulations!” to the brave Ethiopians who mapped out the safe route for our pilots who were staring danger in the eye in Belarus).