Addis Ababa, 28 February, 2020 / 3:38 am (ACI Africa).
The President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia, Berhaneyesus Cardinal Souraphel and the members of the delegation he was leading spent a night at Eritrea’s Asmara airport Saturday, February 22 and returned home after they were denied entry into Eritrea, the Bishops’ Secretariat has confirmed in a statement.
The statement from the Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat (ECS) dated February 27 and availed to ACI Africa explains that after undergoing all the necessary immigration checks, the Ethiopian Cardinal and his entourage were blocked on orders from a “higher authority.”
“While they were expecting the final check out from the Airport to meet the official welcome organized by the Eritrean Church leaders and the faithful, the Airport Security Officials approached them and told them that Higher Authority forbade them the entrance to Eritrea,” the ECS statement reads in part.
The Cardinal-led delegation was “forced to pass the night in the airport and return home the next day,” further reads the statement signed by the Deputy Secretary General of ECS, Abba Gabriel Woldehanna, a member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (OFM. Cap).
Cardinal Souraphiel was accompanied by the Bishop of Emdibir, Bishop Musie Ghebereghiorghis and the Secretary General of the Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia, Fr. Teshome Fikre.
