Duddridge Told To Push Ethiopia On Jailed Tsege

MINISTERS must use the African Union summit in Ethiopia to press for the release of a British man renditioned to the country, human rights organisation Reprieve said yesterday.

Foreign Office Minister James Duddridge is attending the Union’s 10-day annual summit in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, which started yesterday.

Reprieve has written to Mr Duddridge, urging him to try and secure the release of Andargachew Tsege, a British father of three and political activist who is being detained with a death sentence hanging over him.

A prominent critic of Ethiopia’s ruling party, Mr Tsege was tried in absentia in 2009 for allegedly plotting a coup and then abducted at a Yemeni airport in 2014.

Reprieve director Maya Foa said: "The British government must use this summit to make a concerted push for Andy Tsege’s release.

"It is shocking that no progress has been made since last year’s event — when British diplomats were ‘too busy’ to raise the case.

"Now that the African Union has made 2016 the ‘year of human rights,’ the Foreign Office must tell Ethiopian officials to honour that pledge and urgently free Andy."

Source: Morning Star Online