webmaster
© Copyright DEHAI-Eritrea OnLine, 1993-2010
All rights reserved
From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Mar 09 2010 - 08:26:05 EST
TPLF Says British Criticism Is 'Neo-Colonial'
March 9th, 2010
By Jason McLure
March 8 (Bloomberg) - Ethiopia criticized a British official's call for the
release of an Ethiopian opposition leader, saying it displayed "warped
symptoms of a neo-colonial
disposition."
http://www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/jpg/3147466/5155168/kinnock-160709In a
statement published on March 6 in the Addis Ababa- based Reporter newspaper,
British Minister of State for Africa Baroness Glenys Kinnock said Ethiopia's
imprisonment of opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa "undermines" trust in the
Horn of Africa country. A copy of the statement was e-mailed to Bloomberg
today by the British embassy in Addis Ababa.
Kinnock also urged Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government to probe
"serious allegations" that the distribution of foreign aid in Ethiopia was
being used to win votes for the ruling party in elections scheduled for May
23.
Ethiopia's government was surprised at "the temerity with which she took on
the role of a mission-school mistress whose task it is to supervise the
natives lest they slide back to their 'primitive' ways," Ethiopia's
government's said in a statement in the state-owned Ethiopian Herald
yesterday.
Ethiopia's opposition has claimed that it faces continued harassment and
intimidation in the run-up to this year's vote. On March 2, an opposition
candidate for parliament was stabbed to death in a restaurant he owned in
northern Ethiopia. Earlier that week, a second opposition candidate was
hospitalized after being beaten.
Opposition leaders have said Meles' ruling party was behind both attacks.
The government has denied the claims, saying both men were attacked by
people who were not ruling party members.
Protesters Killed
Security forces loyal to Meles killed 193 protesters in unrest following a
disputed 2005 vote and jailed many leading opposition leaders, including
Birtukan. European Union observers concluded that the election fell short of
international standards and was marred by irregularities in vote-counting.
Ethiopia also accused Kinnock of being "an ardent champion" of Eritrea,
which fought a 1998-2000 border war with Ethiopia. In addition, it said
Kinnock had colluded with the 2005 EU electoral observer mission in an
effort to foment a "revolution" to overthrow Meles' government.
The dispute with Kinnock comes as Ethiopia's Supreme Court today ordered
four newspaper publishers that were closed after the 2005 ballot to pay
fines imposed as a result of the treason trials that followed that year's
election.
The U.K. granted Ethiopia 220 million pounds ($333.2 million) in aid in the
current fiscal year, according to the British embassy in Addis Ababa.
