Ethiopian exiled family heading home

The family have been in no mans land on the border

By Nita Bhalla BBC, Addis Ababa

An Ethiopian family, deported during Ethiopia's border war with Eritrea, is being allowed to return home after more than three traumatic years.

UN peacekeepers helped the family

The Haileselassie Bekre family made up of three sisters - Aster, Hadas, Fanay and their brother, Zerihun, were amongst thousands packed into buses and shipped across the border into Eritrea in July 1999.

During that time tension between the two neighbours was high, fighting was heavy and suspicion and mistrust were everywhere.

Often friends and neighbours stood by and watched - too scared or too helpless to protest.

In total some 75,000 people, during the course of the two and a half year conflict, were forced across the border branded by the Ethiopian Government as "supporters of Eritrea" and "a threat to national security".

Exile

In Eritrea, the same thing was happening - people considered to be supporters of Ethiopia were persecuted and intimidated.

Hundreds of thousands left their homes during the war

Aster, Hadas, Fanay and Zerihun stayed in the Eritrean capital, Asmara for almost three years and after the war ended, they attempted to return to Ethiopia in May this year, under the auspices of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC).

But when they arrived at the transit camp at the Ethiopian border town of Adwa, they were told that they could not go to their home in Addis Ababa.

They spent over a month in the camp.

The family suffered a major loss at that time when deteriorating health of the eldest sister, Fanay, led to her death in Addis Ababa.

No man's land

In June, Aster, Hadas and Zerihun were taken from the camp by Ethiopian policemen and driven to the border with Eritrea and ordered to cross over into Eritrea into the Eritrean border town of Serha.

They were however deported back across the border after being interrogated by the Eritrean policemen, who tore up the Ethiopian passport of one of the family members.

Since then, for the past three months, they have been living in no man's land between the Eritrean town of Serha and the Ethiopian town of Zalembessa.

According to sources, they were given shelter by an elderly Ethiopian and food and water rations were provided by UN Indian peacekeepers, stationed in the area to monitor that a cease-fire is respected between the two countries.

After pleas to the Ethiopian Government, led by UN peacekeepers, the "Zalembessa Three" - as they have come to be known - are to leave no man's land and proceed to Addis Ababa in the coming days - to continue their claim to Ethiopian nationality.

For this family there is progress, but there are still many thousands of Ethiopian and Eritrean deportees - split from their families - who face an equally difficult time in their attempts to return home.