April 8, 2002)            
           
Awate.com has confirmed that Mr. Ali Mohamed Saleh Shum who disappeared last Thursday has been arrested by the PFDJ special security forces from his office and was taken to undisclosed location. The 63 year old Ali is a veteran of the Eritrean independence struggle which he joined in the fifties. Ali was a member of the ELF-UO when the leadership of the organization decided  to disband the organization and join the EPLF government in 1991. Since then, Ali was assigned to the Eritrean diplomatic corps and  has worked in Eritrean Embassies in The United Arab Emirates (1994-1998) and Yemen (2000-2001. Until his disappearance last week, Ali was a political advisor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ali Mohammed Saleh Shum is the father of Ms. Amal Ali, the Eritrean TV Broadcaster who fled Eritrea few months ago and currently resides in  England.