Ethiopia Releases Eritrean DetaineesEthiopia Wednesday released 914 Eritrean detainees under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), according to a press release from the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.The released Eritrean detainees, who were with military background and considered as security threat to Ethiopia during a two-year border war between the two countries, are on their way home in convoys of buses accompanied by ICRC personnel. They are expected to cross the border in the coming two to three days, the release said, adding the repatriation constitutes the second phase of the prisoner exchange operation which the two countries undertook to implement as part of the comprehensive peace agreement they signed on December 12, 2000 in Algiers, Algeria. Ethiopia and Eritrea began exchanging prisoners of war on December 23, 2000. |
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