From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Mar 30 2010 - 15:55:59 EST
European Union to Send Monitors to Ethiopia Vote, Lawmaker Says
By Jason McLure
March 30, 2010 (Bloomberg) -- The European Union will send a team of
observers to monitor
<http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/africa/ethiopia_pol99.jpg> Ethiopia's May 23
national elections, amid complaints by opposition parties that the vote
won't be free and fair, a European lawmaker said.
<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Ana+Maria+Gomes&site=wnews&client=wnew
s&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfiel
ds=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1> Ana Maria Gomes, a Portuguese member of the
European Parliament who led the EU's monitoring mission to Ethiopia during
elections in 2005, said
<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Andris+Piebalgs&site=wnews&client=wnew
s&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfiel
ds=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1> Andris Piebalgs, the European Commissioner for
Development, announced the decision to African and European parliamentarians
meeting in Tenerife yesterday.
Gomes warned that the EU mission risked becoming a "farce" when
<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Birtukan+Mideksa&site=wnews&client=wne
ws&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfie
lds=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1> Birtukan Mideksa, one of the country's main
opposition leaders, is in jail under a life sentence.
"There are no conditions for genuine democratic elections," in Ethiopia,
Gomes said in a phone interview from Tenerife. "I have many fears that this
can be instrumentalized to legitimize the ruling party staying in power."
Security forces loyal to Prime Minister
<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Meles+Zenawi&site=wnews&client=wnews&p
roxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=
wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1> Meles Zenawi killed 193 people in the aftermath of
the disputed 2005 election, while thousands more were jailed, including
Birtukan and other opposition leaders. Birtukan was released under a 2007
pardon agreement, before being jailed again in 2008 after saying she signed
the pardon as part of a political deal.
Rene Milas, a spokesman for the European Union's embassy in Ethiopia, said
by telephone he was unaware that the decision to send a mission had been
publicly announced.
<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Shimeles+Kemal&site=wnews&client=wnews
&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfield
s=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1> Shimeles Kemal, a spokesman for Ethiopia's
communications office, and Wahde Belay a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry,
didn't answer their mobile phones when Bloomberg called them seeking
comment.
Poor Health
Last week, opposition leaders and Birtukan's 74-year-old mother, Almaz
Gebregzhiabere, warned that her daughter's health had deteriorated in
prison. Birtukan was kept in solitary confinement for five months of her
sentence and prison officials have allowed only her mother and her
5-year-old daughter, Halley, to visit her, said Gizachew Shiferaw, acting
chairman of Birtukan's Unity for Democracy and Justice party.
Meles told reporters on March 18 that Birtukan was in good health and that
she may have "gained weight" while in prison due to a lack of exercise. He
said that foreign journalists and diplomats would be banned from visiting
her because she should not be accorded special treatment.
Earlier this year, the Atlanta-based
<http://www.cartercenter.org/homepage.html> Carter Center said it wouldn't
send an electoral mission to Ethiopia because it had not been allowed to
observe voter and candidate registration process, according to the Addis
Ababa-based <http://www.ethiopianreporter.com/> Reporter newspaper.
Last week, Hailu Shawel, leader of the All Ethiopian Unity Party, said a
code of conduct agreed with Meles's ruling party brokered by British and
other Western diplomats had failed to improve the country's electoral
climate.
The EU's 2005 electoral report concluded that the poll fell short of
"international principles for genuine democratic elections," a finding
formally rejected by the Ethiopian government.
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