From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Mon Nov 23 2009 - 15:52:11 EST
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/a-campaign-of-intimidation/article1367326/
After the last election, 30,000 people were arrested in a crackdown on
dissent. This time, the governing party is taking no chances
A campaign of intimidation
Geoffrey york
Addis Ababa — From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
Published on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009 8:51PM EST
Last updated on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009 10:40PM EST
Six months before a crucial election, one of Ethiopia's small band of
opposition MPs has a simple question: How can he campaign for votes when he
cannot even hold a public meeting or meet voters freely?
Negaso Gidada, a former president of Ethiopia and now an independent MP,
tried to visit his constituents in southern Ethiopia recently. It was an
arduous journey.
He was not permitted to hold any meetings in public places. He was kept
under surveillance, and his hosts were interrogated. Those who met him were
questioned by police. He was given no coverage in the media.
“People are so intimidated that they are afraid even to speak to me on the
phone,” he says. “Campaigning is totally impossible. How can it be a fair
election?”
Four years ago, foreign election observers concluded that the last Ethiopian
election had been rigged. Opposition supporters took to the streets, and an
estimated 30,000 people were arrested in a crackdown on dissent. Nearly 200
people were killed when Ethiopia's police opened fire on the protesters.
Dozens of opposition leaders and activists were jailed.
This time, with an election scheduled for May, the ruling party is taking no
chances. Ethiopia is sliding deeper into authoritarian controls. Police
agents and informers are keeping a close eye on the population, with harsh
restrictions imposed on opposition leaders and civil society groups.
The election matters because Ethiopia is strategically important. It is the
second most populous country in sub-Saharan African, and a key U.S. ally in
the Horn of Africa, where Ethiopian troops have repeatedly intervened in
Somalia. And it is one of the biggest recipients of Canadian foreign aid,
with $90-million donated by Canada in 2007 alone.
Mr. Negaso, who was president of Ethiopia from 1995 to 2001 but later split
from the ruling party of autocratic Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, has managed
to hold only a few public meetings as he travelled around the country in the
past year.
One meeting in August was broken up by dozens of thugs, including some whom
he recognized from the ranks of the ruling party. They shouted, whistled,
grabbed the microphone and prevented people from speaking. “We were chased
out,” Mr. Negaso said.
In another district, he said, the police told opposition leaders that they
needed a special permit if they wanted to use a megaphone.
Even his e-mail messages and phone calls are monitored, he said. But he
refuses to be intimidated. “If you are afraid,” he says, “you can't do
anything.”
Another opposition leader, Seeye Abraha, is a former close ally of Mr. Meles
from the early 1970s when they were both young revolutionaries fighting the
military junta known as the Derg, which they finally overthrew in 1991. He
became the defence minister but was jailed for six years on corruption
allegations after a falling out with Mr. Meles. Now he says he is under
constant surveillance, his phones and e-mails monitored, his movements
constantly followed by security agents.
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