From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Nov 03 2009 - 13:29:29 EST
Ethiopia opposition says nearly 450 members jailed
Tue Nov 3, 2009 5:06am GMT
* Parties say arrests are politically motivated
* One party says seven members murdered in a year
* Government says it will investigate names
By Barry Malone
ADDIS ABABA, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Ethiopian opposition parties say nearly 450
of their members have been jailed to stop them running as candidates in
national elections in May next year.
Documents given to Reuters by four opposition parties listed the prisoners'
names, the dates on which they were arrested and the jails in which they
were being held.
One party, the All Ethiopia Unity Organisation (AEUO), has recorded seven
murders of members over the last 12 months that it says were politically
motivated.
"These jailings are to stop our members running in elections," Gizachew
Shiferaw, deputy leader of the Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party,
told Reuters. "It has become a strategy for the ruling party. Ethiopia is a
one-party state."
Most analysts say the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic
Front (EPRDF) will easily win the 2010 elections -- but opposition parties
say that is because government harassment will stop their members
contesting.
The authorities strongly deny the claims and say only criminals have been
arrested.
"Nobody has been imprisoned or killed for political activity, to my
knowledge," Bereket Simon, the Ethiopian government's head of information,
told Reuters, adding that the authorities would further investigate the
documented names.
"Our preliminary investigation indicates that these people are engaged in
real crime," he said. "We can't release criminals because they are
opposition members."
NO CHANCE OF WINNING
Bereket said the opposition was trying to discredit the electoral process
because they realised they had no chance of winning in 2010. This week,
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and three opposition parties agreed a set of
rules for the elections.
Police and soldiers shot dead about 200 protesters after the opposition
accused the government of rigging elections in 2005.
Along with the AEUO and the UDJ, the other two parties who gave Reuters
lists of detainees were the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) and
the Oromo Peoples' Congress, who have been refused permission to form an
alliance.
Most of those listed are ethnic Oromos who, despite being Ethiopia's largest
group, have not held power in modern times.
Meles comes from the Tigryan ethnic group, who make up only 6 percent of the
population but dominate the political elite.
Another three parties told Reuters members were regularly arrested and held
briefly to scare them off registering for the polls. Those parties have not
yet begun documenting the cases.
Photographs seen by Reuters show vandalised buildings in small towns outside
the capital Addis Ababa that the opposition says are their regional offices.
Ethiopia has never had a peaceful transition of power. Meles took over in
1991 after a rebel group led by him and others overthrew a communist regime.
(Editing by Daniel Wallis)
C Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
FACTBOX-Who are the Ethiopian opposition?
Tue Nov 3, 2009 5:06am GMT
Nov 3 (Reuters) - Ethiopian opposition parties say nearly 450 members have
been jailed to stop them standing as candidates in national elections in May
next year. The government says they are trying to discredit a poll they have
no chance of winning.
Here are some key facts about the opposition in Ethiopia:
* Eight parties are trying to register as a coalition to fight the elections
under the name Medrek -- the Forum -- while retaining their own structures
and leadership.
Some Ethiopians worry Medrek is united only in its opposition to the
government and there are too many policy differences among its leaders to
govern effectively.
* Parties outside the Medrek coalition include the All Ethiopia Unity
Organisation and the Ethiopian Democratic Party. Although both are
represented in parliament, they have been less active in campaigning than
Medrek so far.
* Several ethnicity-based rebel groups operate in the vast country, notably
the Ogaden National Liberation Front and the Oromo Liberation Front.
Opposition parties say the rebels are used as an excuse to arrest
politicians.
* A group of parties called the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) led
the opposition during the last national elections in 2005. When the
government declared victory, they said the result was fixed and street
protests broke out in Addis Ababa.
* Security forces killed about 200 protesters who Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi said were trying to overthrow his government. CUD leaders were jailed
after being accused of inciting the violence.
* The opposition leaders were pardoned in 2007 but the CUD broke up soon
afterwards. One of its leaders, Birtukan Mideksa, formed the Unity for
Democracy and Justice party (now part of Medrek), but was sent back to
prison after the government said she had violated the terms of the pardon.
* Another CUD alumnus, Berhanu Nega, went to the United States and formed an
opposition group, May 15th, named after the date of the 2005 poll. He was
convicted in absentia in August this year of plotting a coup with former and
serving military officers.
* Three opposition parties have agreed a code of conduct with the ruling
Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), but Medrek
refused to participate in the talks, demanding bi-lateral negotiations on
issues it said were left out, including reform of Ethiopia's electoral
board.
* Meles has dismissed the opposition as "former Mengistu loyalists", a
reference to former communist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam whom a rebel
group led by Meles and others overthrew in 1991 after a 17-year civil war.
* Medrek has three prominent ruling party defectors in its ranks -- former
President Negaso Gidada, former Defence Minister Seye Abraha and former
regional President Gebru Asrat. Meles has called them "a sprinkling of new
spices" for the opposition. (Reporting by Barry Malone; Editing by Daniel
Wallis)
C Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
FACTBOX: Political deadlock threatens Sudan's 2010 elections
Tue Nov 3, 2009 1:21pm GMT
KHARTOUM, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Sudanese began registering this month for their
first multi-party elections in 24 years, but major obstacles to the vote
remain.
The northern National Congress Party (NCP) signed a 2005 peace deal with the
former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), ending more
than two decades of civil war fought over religion, ethnicity, oil and
ideology.
But Sudan analysts say the NCP lacks the political will and the SPLM lacks
the capacity to implement the agreement which enshrines democratic
transformation, elections and gives the south a vote on independence in
2011.
With elections five months away, relations between the former foes are at an
all-time low, especially after SPLM leader Salva Kiir told southerners that
a vote for unity would make them second-class citizens.
The main outstanding problems include:
DEMOCRATIC LAWS
The SPLM wants a package of democratic laws passed including reforming the
criminal code, the trade unions and Sudan's powerful intelligence forces,
which opponents blamed for widespread torture and unlawful killings during
the war.
The SPLM also want laws guiding the referendums for the south and the
oil-rich region of Abyei as well as popular consultations for two other
disputed areas on whether they will be part of the north or the south.
The SPLM is boycotting parliament until the laws are drafted by consensus
and tabled in this last parliamentary session ahead of elections.
CENSUS
The SPLM reject last year's census, which should be used to define electoral
constituencies for next year's vote.
They say the NCP bloated figures for the north, especially for Arab tribes
in war-torn Darfur, which then reduced the south's proportion of the
population.
This would affect the number of parliamentary seats the north and south
would be eligible for.
The NCP stands by the census results and U.S. envoy Scott Gration is trying
to negotiate a middle ground.
BORDER
The north-south border has yet to be demarcated. This is very sensitive as
many of Sudan's valuable oil fields traverse the frontier.
The semi-autonomous south gets 50 percent of oil revenues only from fields
south of the border. More than 95 percent of the south's budget come from
oil cash. Crude accounts for around half of the north's income.
SOUTHERN VIOLENCE
This year has seen a spike in tribal violence in south Sudan with U.N.
estimates of at least 1,200 killed. The southern government blames the north
for inciting and arming rival cattle herding tribes in the south, which
Khartoum denies.
But some southerners and U.N. sources say local rivalries are to blame as
well as a security vacuum with a weak police force that has no influence
outside urban centres.
Elections officials are worried the violence will prevent many in rural
areas participating in the vote.
DARFUR
Rebels in Sudan's west took up arms in early 2003 accusing central
government of neglect.
The ensuing counter-insurgency campaign, which Washington called genocide,
sparked one of the world's worst humanitarian crises and claimed 300,000
lives, the United Nations says.
With millions of people driven from their homes to makeshift camps,
registration and identification will be thorny. Ongoing clashes and violent
banditry in the lawless region will make voting and observing difficult as
will accessing rebel-held areas.
The SPLM and the African Union want a Darfur peace deal ahead of elections.
ELECTIONS
Opposition parties and the SPLM say they want state-run tv, radio and other
media to be opened up to all political parties ahead of the April 2010
elections.
They also want the right to hold rallies without permission and for
international monitors to have unfettered access all over the country.
A 30-day registration period for the vote made a slow start on Nov. 1 with a
widespread lack of information and monitors have complained of restrictions.
(Reporting by Opheera McDoom; editing by Myra MacDonald)
C Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
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