Monday August 20, 6:38 PM

Second Eritrean student dies in desert detention camp: Woldeab

ASMARA, Aug 20 (AFP) -

A second student from the University of Asmara has died while in desert detention for defying government work orders, the university's president Woldeab Issak told parents here on Sunday.

Woldeab said that the student, Yemane Tekee, who was undergoing treatment for heat stroke in the intensive care unit at Halibet Hospital, died in the early hours of Sunday.

"We had hoped he would recover, but unfortunately he has died," Woldeab told some 300 parents who had gathered outside university gates for the second day to await news of students who were sent to a desert detention a week ago for refusing to sign up for an obligatory summer work program.

Woldeab informed the parents that medical services were being provided to the students, who have been detained since last Saturday.

On Sunday distraught parents had called on Woldeab to move the students out of Wia, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the port city of Massawa, where temperatures are known to soar as high as 49 degrees centigrade (120 degrees Fahrenheit) at this time of year.

"Please I beg you to transfer them out of that place," said one man, as Woldeab tried to assure the parents he too was concerned about the students' well-being.

"If you are so concerned about them then why did you send them to the hottest place on earth?" shouted one man.

According to reports from students who were released on Tuesday night for upcoming exams, about 2,000 students are being detained in Wia with little food and inadequate shelter.

Last Friday, hundreds of students were arrested in their dormitories and at the High Court, where they had gathered for what they believed would be a court hearing for their union president, which still has not taken place.

The students had refused to report to a summer work program until their student union president Semere Kesete, arrested on July 31, was released or brought before a court of law.

Kesete was arrested three days after he had given a speech at a graduation ceremony criticizing the obligatory nature of the university summer work program, the inadequate academic facilities at the university and the interference of government in university affairs.