Waweru Mugo
9 July 2001
A combination of deceit, kitu kidogo (bribes), luck and prayers helped about 200 Ethiopian students flee their homeland to "safety" in Kenya.
But a few unlucky ones never made it past the numerous police checks between Addis Ababa and Moyale town, which straddles the border with Kenya. They set out from Addis in April.
It was easier to pass through police roadblocks on the Kenyan side after parting with a little money. Unlike in Ethiopia, trucks and other vehicles were not searched.
So as not to arouse any suspicion, the students carried no documents that could betray them, especially in their own country. The students, who fled either individually or in groups of two or three, had no luggage and pretended to be on short safaris.
They paid truck drivers ferrying livestock to take them to Nairobi.
However, their tribulations were minimised by the fact that their features and garb were indistinguishable from those of their Kenyan neighbours in Moyale.
Ms Tsehaynesh Mamo, a third-year civil engineering student at Addis Ababa University, did not have much difficulty reaching Moyale. However, crossing into Kenya was not straightforward. "I was alone and spent three days in Moyale on the Ethiopian side planning how to cross. Eventually, I met a broker who helped me to cross at a fee. Eventually, I came to Nairobi," she told The EastAfrican.
For Mamo, the truck journey to Nairobi was a nightmare. Whenever they encountered the police she hid in the driver's cabin and prayed that she would not be detected. Apart from the fear of the Kenya security personnel, she claims she paid the astonishing sum of Ksh10,000 ($127) for the 1,000 km journey, a truly extortionate fee. But, she says, she was among relatives. Nothing untoward happened to her.
Mr Girma Workie described his flight to Kenya as desperate. "Money was not the issue. What mattered was freedom, nothing else." he said.
Mr Tikikel Yimer, a third year civil engineering student at Jimma University, said of the riots, "The security forces were very brutal. They beat, maimed and killed students. It was devastating."
He said that those arrested were kept in deplorable conditions. "They went without food for three days. We have been told that those who are still in custody survive on a daily diet of slice of bread and water."
These are some of the experiences of the university students who fled home and are now seeking asylum in Kenya.
Last week, the Ethiopian government extended an olive branch to the students who are seeking asylum in Kenya, telling them they were free to return home and complete their studies.
But they remain suspicious that imprisonment and torture await them the moment they set foot in their motherland.
Once in Nairobi, the students have resisted efforts to move them to Kakuma or Dadaab refugee camps. They are afraid the Ethiopian authorities will be able to get at them in the camps. They allege that their government has set up a "hit squad" to hunt them down.
In an interview with the EastAfrican, the students who were on a hunger strike (they called it off last week), appealed to the Kenya authorities to allow them to complete their studies in Kenya or move them to a third country to continue their studies.
The Ethiopian ambassador to Kenya, Mr Teshome Togo, said last week that the students' concerns were being addressed at home. The group that is seeking asylum in Nairobi said that this was a trick meant to lure them back home.
The students said that their choice of Kenya was well thought out. Mr Dimetros Birku, a third year student at Addis Aabab University, said that they would not dream of seeking asylum in Sudan because Khartoum is friendly to Addis Ababa.
Mr Adane Wondie, on the other hand, said that though Eriteria had been at war with his government, making it a preferred destination, it would have been impossible to penetrate the "wall" of Ethiopian soldiers at the border.
However, the students insisted they were not opposed to the political direction of their government. All they wanted was intellectual freedom, they said.
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