Missing Eritrean diplomat presumed kidnapped
By Gedab News - Dec 15, 2005
Mr. Menghis Mekonnen, the Third Secretary at the Eritrean embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, is missing. He was last seen two nights ago at the residence of Mr. Andeberhan Berhe (?Wedi Berhe?), the First Secretary and Chief of Intelligence at the Eritrean embassy to Sudan. Sources believe that he was kidnapped by the PFDJ, the ruling party in Eritrea.
A few months ago, Menghis traveled to Asmara and got married but returned alone when the government would not grant his wife an exit visa. Undeterred, his wife crossed the Sudanese border and joined her husband in Sudan, where they had been living as a family for the last two months.
Shortly after his wife joined him, the diplomatic passport of Menghis Mekonnen was revoked.
Asked by the wife on the whereabouts of her husband, Wedi Berhe responded that Menghis had left his (Wedi Berhe?s) residence in the Riyadh district of Khartoum, in a taxi, at about 8:00 PM local time. The same day, Eritrean officials from the embassy visited Menghis?s home to retrieve his documents and other belongings but the request was refused by his wife.
Background
Menghis Mekonnen had been assigned to the Eritrean embassy in Khartoum since 2000. A veteran EPLF fighter, he had been a radio operator for the front.
Acts of kidnapping, which the EPLF, now PFDJ, described as ?the long arm of the front?, are not uncommon in Eritrea?s history. Some of the better known cases include Woldemariam Bahlibi and Teklebrahan Ghebresadiq ?Wedi Bashay?, two executives of the opposition party ELF-RC who were kidnapped from Sudan on April 26, 1992.