by Rigorous Intuition » Thu Sep 15, 2005 12:43 pm
<!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-09-15T095447Z_01_HO534264_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-ERITREA-USA-DC.XML&archived=False" target="top">Reuters</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Eritrea holds U.S. embassy staff for trafficking</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>Thu Sep 15, 2005 <br><br>NAIROBI (Reuters) - Eritrea has arrested two local employees of the U.S. embassy in Asmara on charges of human trafficking, the government said on Thursday, the latest in a series of diplomatic difficulties between the countries.<br><br>"These parties are accountable to the law for their illicit engagement in activities of human trafficking and, as such, like all other wrongdoers, they are being held under custody for their offence," Information Minister Ali Abdu Ahmed said.<br><br>The minister, speaking to Reuters in Nairobi by telephone, would not give more details of the incident.<br><br>Last month Eritrea asked the U.S. government's overseas development agency USAID to leave, without any public explanation.<br><br>U.S. diplomats in Asmara would not confirm or deny the arrests. Two other U.S. embassy employees arrested in 2001 were still being held in Asmara without charge, a spokesman for the mission said.<br><br>Information Minister Abdu said Eritrea had a sovereign obligation to act in its best national interests.<br><br>"Like in any other sovereign state, citizens, irrespective of where they work, are accountable to the laws of the land," he told Reuters.<br><br> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=rigorousintuition>Rigorous Intuition</A> at: 9/15/05 10:44 am<br></i>
