"We know' ex-Toronto resident Makhtal is held in Ethiopia, Foreign Affairs says"

April 05, 2007
Debra Black
Staff Reporter

The Canadian government has officially asked Ethiopia for consular access to a former Toronto resident being detained in the capital Addis Ababa.

While the Ethiopian government has yet to acknowledge that Bashir Makhtal is in its custody, Ottawa now believes he is there and through diplomatic channels has begun to lobby for access to him.

"We know Mr. Makhtal is in Ethiopia," said Réjean Beaulieu, a Foreign Affairs spokesperson. "We have made representations in Ethiopia and in Canada to get access to Mr. Makhtal."

Makhtal, a Canadian citizen, was arrested in late December as he tried to enter Kenya to escape the civil war in Somalia. He was detained for several weeks and then deported to Mogadishu, Somalia, and then on to Ethiopia in late January.

Amnesty International revealed yesterday Makhtal is being detained in Addis Ababa's Central Investigation Bureau – a prison known as Maikelawi.

Isabelle Coche, an Amnesty International official, said Makhtal is being held at Maikelawi along with a number of other deportees from Kenya, including three foreign nationals from Somalia and three from Eritrea.

"We strongly believe he's being held at Maikelawi," Coche said yesterday in a phone interview from London, England.

Ethiopian embassy consul Abdurahim M. Ali said in a telephone interview from Ottawa that he did not know whether Makhtal had been detained.

He said it has taken Ethiopia a long time to figure out the identities of those who were captured, died or wounded during fighting in Somalia, where Ethiopian troops helped drive out an Islamic fundamentalist government last December.

"To organize these details takes time," he said. "Until now, the government didn't disclose the foreigners who died or were wounded or were captured."

Once the information is gathered, the Ethiopian government will disclose it, said Ali.

It was reported yesterday that Makhtal was believed to be one of hundreds of suspects from 19 countries who have been interrogated by the CIA and FBI agents hunting for Al Qaeda militants at prisons in Ethiopia.

Toronto lawyer Lorne Waldman, who has been hired by Makhtal's family here, yesterday reiterated the need for Ottawa to firmly demand that the Ethiopian government acknowledge his detention.

Ottawa insists it will remain firm on trying to get help to Makhtal.

"We will continue to make representations until we can get access to Mr. Makhtal," said Foreign Affairs' Beaulieu.

Yesterday about 60 demonstrators from the Ogaden Somali community protested in front of the Ethiopian embassy in Ottawa, demanding Makhtal be freed from detention.

Source: Toronto Star
 

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