ADDIS ABABA (ENA) – The Ethiopian government says the head of the EU Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM) has contributed its share to the 8 June violence due to two cardinal mistakes it committed before and after the 15 May elections.

In a weekly statement it issued on Friday [26 August], the Ministry of Information says the mission is duty bound to submit and declare the official report to the concerned legal bodies. However, the ministry said the mission, against the regulations of its tasks as an observer, illegally and secretly leaked unfounded information to the opposition which gave them confidence wrongly so as to lead them to violence in the streets. The ministry also said the EU-EOM, against and beyond the scope of its mandate and task, has included in its 25 August report, the issues of human rights, the 8 June incident, the endorsement of bills by the federal parliament and other laws which it has labelled as measures taken to weaken the functions of municipalities in the country.

The ministry said all these issues should not have been part of the report as they have no connections to [the mission’s] task, adding [that] the report also included other publicly known lies that humiliated even members of the opposition parties.

The report has gone further to echo the white lies of the opposition that a witness was assassinated five days after testifying. The ministry added [that] it has to be noted that it is not without reason that the mission has been trying to hide the truth by making wrong judgments and evaluations.

Source: ENA website, Addis Ababa, in English 26 Aug 0