Ethiopia: NGO, Italian aid worker released

(ANSA) - CAIRO, NOV 14 - Alberto Livoni, the Emilian humanitarian worker detained since Saturday 6 November in a police station in Addis Ababa, awaiting confirmation on the lawfulness of his payment of money for refugees, has been released. This was confirmed by the NGO of which he is the coordinator for Ethiopia, the 'Vis' ('International volunteering for development').

    "We are finally pleased to announce the release of our colleague Alberto Livoni, who has been held in custody in Ethiopia for the past few days", wrote the Vis on its website.

   "The operation conducted by the Italian Embassy in Ethiopia, to which we thank for the tireless commitment, led today to release the Italian VIS operator in good condition", is added in the statement. "We remain in apprehension for the two local VIS operators still held in detention, we continue to follow their situation hoping for their immediate release", concludes the note. The arrest of the 65-year-old Livoni was carried out by security forces in his home in Addis Ababa after a raid and the other two operators of the local Vis staff were stopped together with him. According to media rumors, the Ethiopian authorities wanted to ascertain why the VIS coordinator would have given about 20,000 dollars to a person:even if no accusations were formalized, the Ethiopian investigators suspected that the funds were used to help the militiamen of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (Fplt) now launched to conquer the capital, and not just refugees. Vis in Ethiopia supports the Salesians in schooling and professional training projects for young people and is very active in northern Tigrè (ANSA).