Belgium police (left) Francois Vandesande, Paul; Gryson and Kris Wuyts at Ambassador Hotel in Hargeysa before returning back to their country on last Wednesday

Hargeysa, Somaliland, August 19, 2006 (SL Times) – Three Belgian police officers who were arrested at Hargeysa airport on Tuesday while accompanying a rejected asylum seeker from Somalia, have been released.

Francois Vandesande, Paul Gryson and Kris Wuyts left Hargeysa on Wednesday afternoon by an Ethiopian airlines flight.

The three officers were accused of human trafficking and entering the country illegally.

The deported man, Ali Hassan Abdi was placed on the same Tuesday flight that brought the Belgians to Hargeysa. Ali Hassan was deported from Belgium for entering the country with a faked passport earlier this year.

The Mogadishu born Hassan applied for asylum but his request had been rejected.

The 3 Belgian officers escorted him from Belgium to Hargeysa through Addis Ababa. They were supposed to return him to Belgium by Thursday.

It wasn’t known why the Belgian government was so certain that the deportee could be dumped at Hargeysa airport nor was it clear why the Ethiopian airlines allowed itself to be involved in human trafficking for the second time in less than 2 months.

According to one story, the Belgium government was misled by its ambassador in Nairobi and Somalia’s envoy to Brussels, Yusuf Barbari.

Barbari was said to have claimed that Hargeysa was under the control of his Baidoa-based government.

The case of the Belgians was resolved following a letter from the Belgium ambassador in Addis Ababa to the Somaliland government.

The Belgium diplomat blamed the whole incident on misunderstanding.

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