Eritrea: The Shoot-to-Kill Heinous Policy Brings the Death of Four Innocent Teenager Boys

(11.02.2009) It has been quite some time now since the dictatorial regime in Eritrea has imposed its “shoot-to-kill” heinous policy on Eritreans who try to escape the country. Many young people were shot to death along the borders by the henchmen of the regime and this crime is continuing unabated. One of the most heinous crimes perpetrated by the Eritrean regime’s soldiers is the one, which was committed on the night of December 31, 2008 on six Eritrean teenager boys in the Mid-Mereb basin, in the forest area of Enda Azmatch Ucubit, in the environs of a place called “DemBe Enda Seqal”. We detail the sequence of the brutal act that culminated in the killing of four defenseless teenager Eritreans as well as wounding another one:

1. The six teenager boys ran into the Eritrean soldiers while crossing the Eritrean border into Ethiopia. In the initial encounter, the regime’s soldiers fired at the boys but missed them; as a result, five of the boys ran backwards and hid themselves in a secured place. The sixth boy broke away from his group and ran towards Mereb River where he succeeded in crossing the Eritrean border into Ethiopia. He is now in the Ethiopian refugee camp.

2. The soldiers started intensive search using torchlights for the hide out of the five young boys. As the soldiers kept searching, one of the youngest boys became terrified, called out the soldiers, and told them where the boys were hiding. He believed that the soldiers would spare the boys if they let the soldiers know where they were hiding. The boys surrendered to the soldiers themselves.

3. The soldiers soon encircled the boys, drawn their guns at boys, and captured them. The soldiers asked the student to hand their student ID cards over as well as which villages they belong. They submit to the orders of the soldiers. Then, it happened in a moment. The soldiers shot and killed the four boys at arm’s length. The boys’ bodies fell to the ground one over the other. The soldiers waited for up to ten minutes to make sure that everyone of the boys was dead before they left.

4. One of the five boys, who happened to stand behind the others, was shot lightly on his leg and fell to the ground. Luckily, the other dead bodies were on top of him and he pretended he was dead until the soldiers left the crime scene. Later, the wounded boy got up and trekked his way through the Eritrean border into Ethiopia. His name is Tekeste Woldai. He is now in a refugee camp in Ethiopia. It was a sheer chance that Tekeste Woldai survived to tell the story of this heinous and unfathomable crime.

5. The soldiers did not bury the dead bodies, which gave Tekeste a chance to survive. They left them unburied to be eaten by hyenas and other carnivorous animals. The local people are telling that the place (DemBe Enda Seqal) where the killing took place is littered with pieces (like the hands) of human remains.

This calculated killing of the four innocent teenager boys took place in their own villages. They were killed in their own backyards. It is the same land where the villagers keep their animals and cultivate their crops. We list the names of the victims of this heinous crime below.

In addition, about two weeks before the above heinous crime was committed, Kale’ab Ande Gebrehiwet from Adi Abraham, in the district of Enda Azmatch Ucubit, was shot to death along with several other teenager boys whose identities are not determined yet.

Sources from the area further indicate that over the last few months many villagers in the environs of Adi Quala have been victims of the killing machine of the dictatorial regime in Eritrea. Many other young boys from the following villages were also reportedly shot to death: Adi Feyayu, Adi Bahro, Adi Zienu, Ga’ebien, Una Ga’ebien, Beti Gebriel, Adi Yehdug, Adi Quala, Adi Shinfi’o and the district of Aila Gundet.

The dictatorial regime in Eritrean has already made the Mid-Mereb basin (the lowlands of Enda Azmatch Ucubit) a killing field of young boys of Eritrea who try to escape and emancipate themselves from the tentacles of slavery and dark future under the Isayas regime. Young Eritreans from all over the country are fleeing the country in mass through all possible borders and means. But the shoot-to-kill policy of the dictator is highly visible and extensively exercised in the Mereb sector of the border in general and in the Mid-Mereb basin (the Adi Quala environs) in particular.

Eritrean People’s Party, Department of Information and Culture: The Shoot-to-Kill Heinous Policy Brings the Death of Four Innocent Teenager Boys. February 11, 2009

Keywords:    ⇒ Eritrea   ⇒ Human Rights   ⇒ Prosecution   ⇒ Refugees