In violation of their human rights and international law, more than 2,500 Ethiopians were left stranded at the Ethio-Eritrean border by the Eritrean government earlier this week.

The deportees, who were left near the border town of Humera without any notification to the International Committee of the Red Cross, were abandoned without access to food, water, or shelter.

Because the ICRC was not informed of the newest wave of deportations from Eritrea, preparations were not made to receive the thousands of civilians, who were forced to endure prolonged suffering before they were finally located and welcomed to Ethiopia yesterday. The ICRC also recently issued a statement deploring the misuse by Eritrea of ICRC information for propaganda purposes. The organization noted that, "Although Eritrea has not adhered to the Fourth Geneva Convention and their Additional Protocols, it is bound to comply with the rules of customary law."

To date, 40,521 Ethiopians have been expelled from Eritrea, while those continuing to reside there report increased practices of arbitrary arrest, detention, torture, forced unemployment, and abuse. Mistreatment has only intensified in recent weeks following military defeats of the Eritrean forces occupying Badme, Eritrea, and hundreds of Ethiopians in Eritrea have fled to the Sudan for refuge, citing harsh treatment and abuse.

Reports of the newly arrived confirmed that some Ethiopians in Eritrea had been beaten to death at the hands of officials and some angry Eritrean civilians. The new deportations only add to a disastrous humanitarian crisis, as over 350,000 Ethiopians have been displaced by the ongoing Eritrean assault on and occupation of Ethiopian territory. To this effect, the World Food Program recently announced that it has approved a $24.3 million emergency operation to feed up to 272,000 of the displaced.

"The vast majority are small subsistence farmers from very poor backgrounds who have been forced to leave their land," said WFP Ethiopia Representative and Country Director Judith Lewis in a recent press release. She estimates that women and children make up to 80 percent of those who will require emergency assistance.

Contact: Press Office: 202-234-2281; Ethiopia@tidalwave.net 2134 Kalorama Rd. NW, Washington, DC 20008