/ 29 November 1999

ETHIOPIA CALLS FOR MENGISTU

ETHIOPIA on Friday urged South Africa to extradite former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam to stand trial for human rights atrocities he allegedly ordered during his brutal period of rule. Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe in 1991 just before rebel forces seized the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. He travelled to South Africa earlier this month to receive treatment for a heart complaint. Ethiopia has no extradition treaty with South Africa “but to let go such a person…would not be fair,” government spokesman Haile Kiros said.