Berhanu Bayeh, 82, and Addis Tedla, 73, have been holed up at the Italian compound in Addis Ababa since 1991As Ethiopia’s murderous Derg regime was toppled in May 1991, four of its highest-ranking officials slipped into the Italian embassy to seek refuge from the rebel fighters overrunning the capital. Fearing death or years in a squalid jail, the men claimed diplomatic immunity. Today, 28 years later, two of the four are still alive and holed up at the Italian compound in Addis Ababa, in a case that eclipses the charity of even the government of Ecuador, which has hosted Julian Assange at its London embassy since 2012. To the frustration of all parties, the predicament of Berhanu Bayeh, 82, and Addis Tedla, 73, seems as far from resolution as ever. As senior figures in Mengistu Haile Mariam’s Marxist junta, the pair were sentenced, alongside…

Source: The Times March 12, 2019 00:00 UTC