Eritrea holds U.S. embassy staff for human trafficking

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L15726224.htm

NAIROBI, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Eritrea has arrested two local employees of the U.S. embassy in Asmara on charges of human trafficking, the government said on Thursday -- the latest in a series of diplomatic difficulties between the two countries.

"These parties are accountable to the law for their illicit engagement in activities of human trafficking and, as such, like all other wrongdoers, they are being held under custody for their offence," Information Minister Ali Abdu Ahmed said.

The minister, speaking to Reuters in Nairobi by telephone, would not give more details of the incident.

Several weeks ago Eritrea's rebel movement-turned-government asked the U.S. government's overseas development agency, USAID, to leave without any public explanation.