Ethiopia expelled two EU officials, commission says (Roundup)

Oct 20, 2006, 16:55 GMT

Brussels/Addis Ababa - Two European Union diplomats have been expelled from Ethiopia, the European Commission said Friday, bashing Ethiopia for violating diplomatic rules.

'I am extremely worried about the way the Ethiopian government has reacted,' EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel told reporters in Brussels, adding: 'The basic rules of diplomacy have not been respected.'

Swedish EU official Bjoern Jonsson and his Italian colleague Enrico Sborgi, members of the EU commission delegation in Addis Ababa, are on a plane expected later this afternoon in Brussels, a commission spokesman said.

The two men had been arrested by Ethiopian police Thursday for allegedly attempting to smuggle two Ethiopians wanted for serious crimes across the border to Kenya.

Sources in the capital Addis Ababa said the Italian was a civil society and human rights adviser working for the EU delegation and was expelled from Ethiopia following the arrest.

According to the EU commission, Jonsson worked in the EU delegation's financial department and Sborgi in the security division.

Commissioner Michel said he had summoned Ethiopia's ambassador to the EU for talks.

'Since yesterday I've been trying to get in contact with (Ethiopian) Prime Minister Meles Zenawi but up until now the lines was always busy when I called,' Michel said.

The commissioner critizised the fact that he had not been informed at all why the two men were expelled.

'It is unacceptable to expel people without any explanation, that is not diplomatic style,' Michel stressed.

'It's a delicate situation. We were not informed that there was a problem with our personnel from the Ethiopian authorities so we are very surprised to hear of their arrest,' Michel's spokesman told Deutsche-Presse-Agentur dpa earlier.

State-owned Ethiopian TV reported on Thursday that police had stopped a European Commission car in the southern town of Moyale along the Kenyan border.

The two Europeans were arrested for allegedly smuggling two Ethiopians wanted by authorities across the border to Kenya.

Their action move 'violates the sovereignty of the country while jeopardizing the security of the nation,' Ethiopian-TV quoted a statement by Ethiopia's immigration department cited by Ethiopian TV.

International human rights watchdog Amnesty International condemned the arrest on Thursday of Ethiopian lawyer Yalemzewd Bekele, who was stopped while she was attempting to cross the border into Kenya.

Amnesty said she was arrested 'in connection with the publication and distribution by the political opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy of a calendar of action for non-violent civil disobedience.'

The EU is Ethiopia's largest trading partner and one of its biggest donors, but has criticized the country for violating political rights after last year's elections saw scores of opposition party members arrested by the government.

The bloc halted budgetary aid to Ethiopia in the wake of the poll and the wave of violence that followed.