PANA
Cairo, Egypt - African and European diplomats, returning to Ethiopia aboard an Egypt Air flight after attending the 3rd EU-African Union (AU) Summit in Libya, Thursday protested as Egyptian authorities deported, aboard the same flight, 32 Ethiopian illegal immigrants arrested after entering the country from Mecca.
The protest lasted for over two hours as passengers, who included several African and European Ambassadors accredited to the AU and Ethiopia, questioned the condition under which the deportees were being sent back to Ethiopia and the rationale for flying them on a commercial flight with other passengers.
Egyptian police pushed and shoved the pilgrims into the boarding lounge, infuriating the diplomats.
PANA learnt that at least two European diplomats refused to board the flight.
'We protest this inhumane treatment of our African brothers. This cannot happen before our own eyes,” said one diplomat, infuriated by the treatment meted out to the Ethiopians.
A senior AU official, who tried to mediate between the infuriated passengers and the Egypt Air executives, said the Ethiopians were not criminals, but had entered Egypt from Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
'They were not criminals,” the official said, on the condition of anonymity. “The younger ones had gone in search of jobs while the older ones had gone for the Hajj prayers. They did not have permission to enter Egypt, that is why they were arrested.”
Apart from the inhuman treatment meted out to the deportees, passengers were concerned that the 32 illegal immigrants could overpower security on the aircraft, leading to a nasty incident.
The passengers also feared being infected with Tuberculosis, as most of the deportees were coughing throughout the flight.
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