Ethiopian opposition leader condemns government, just hours after pardon and release
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) – Ethiopia’s opposition leader condemned the government Friday, just hours after he and 37 others were pardoned and released from jail, saying he signed a formal apology under duress.
Hailu Shawel, leader of the main opposition party, said that he had no apology to make for protesting 2005 election results because, «for us it is a normal political protest.
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s [dictatorship] on Friday freed 38 opposition members. “The pardon is total. They are being freed with their constitutional rights restored. They have committed themselves to adhere (to) and respect the rule of law as well as the constitution of the country,” Meles told a press conference today.
An Ethiopian court sentenced 35 opposition members to life in prison on Monday for trying to overthrow the government, inciting violence and treason. The charges related to violent protests over disputed 2005 polls..
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Eight other defendants were given sentences of between 18 months and 18 years after a trial that rights groups and some donor governments criticised as a move by Meles to weaken the opposition after they made strong gains in the 2005 election.
The United States, a major ally, had urged Ethiopia to consider exercising clemency over the sentences.
Amnesty International
PUBLIC AI Index: AFR 54/038/2007
20 July 2007
Urgent Action 190/07 Forcible return/Fear of torture/Arbitrary/detention
Hundreds of Ethiopian and Eritrean nationals have been arrested since the beginning of July, and are at risk of being forcibly returned to their countries of origin. Many of the Ethiopian and all the Eritrean nationals would be at risk of immediate arrest, torture and indefinite detention without charge or trial if forcibly returned.
In mid-July several hundred Ethiopian and Eritrean adults and children were arrested in the capital, Khartoum. At least 14 Ethiopian nationals, whose names are known to Amnesty International, had been arrested on 5 July in Khartoum and in the east of Sudan. Arrests are continuing.
Many of those detained are understood to be asylum-seekers or recognised refugees. Some are in Omdurman prison in Khartoum, but the whereabouts of most is not yet known, or has not been disclosed by the authorities. Some have been taken to court, charged with illegal entry and summarily sentenced to
imprisonment or immediate deportation as illegal migrants. It is understood that no-one has access to them in custody.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Sudan is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, all of which oblige the authorities not to forcibly return any person to a country where they risk torture or other serious human rights violations.
The government has generally abided by these treaties and worked closely with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to protect the rights of both long-term refugees and new refugees from Ethiopia and Eritrea. However, this policy appears to have changed recently because of the government’s changed political relations with both the Ethiopian and the Eritrean governments. For many years Sudan had hosted and supported political opponents of both governments, some of them belonging to armed groups. The recent detentions of Ethiopians came immediately after the Ethiopian foreign minister visited Sudan in June 2007, indicating new friendlier relations with Ethiopia. A similar change appears to have been made in the Sudan government’s political relations with Eritrea.
Many of the detainees have been living in Sudan as refugees since the late 1970s, having fled from the Dergue government that was in power in Ethiopia at the time. Some were unwilling to return when the Dergue government was overthrown in 1991, and the current government of Meles Zenawi seized power in Ethiopia and Eritrea gaining independence under the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF). Some of the detainees are said to be opponents of the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in Ethiopia or President Issayas Afewerki in Eritrea, who arrived in Sudan in the 1990s or more recently to seek asylum. Thousands of Eritreans fled to Sudan in recent years to escape political repression or military conscription.
Ethiopia needs to take seriously democracy and human rights
Editorial, The Wall Street Journal
Let’s play name-that-state. After the EU declared its 2005 elections flawed, this country’s troops killed 193 protestors and arrested 20,000 more. Last week, 42 of the accused were convicted of inciting violence to overthrow the state (down from an original charge of genocide and treason). Thirty-five were condemned to life in prison and forbidden to vote on Monday. Some of the accused were journalists, so their publishing houses were fined and closed.
Did you guess Ethiopia? Probably not, since this African state has often been held up as a pillar of good governance on a troubled continent. In just over a decade, Ethiopia went from military rule to a parliamentary system. But this democracy is on paper only.
The convictions are not an isolated incident, nor are the 42 defendants just any opposition figures. They include the elected mayor of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, a former Harvard scholar and a former U.N. envoy. They’ve been condemned to the same fate, life in prison, as ousted military strongman Mengistu Hailee Mariam, who is held responsible for the murder of 150,000 academics and university students in two decades in power.
Given the government’s recent record, it’s odd to say the least to see Prime Minister Meles Zenawi advise Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa in 2005 on the future of the continent. Or to hear that the Bush Administration considers Mr. Meles a “staunch ally” in the war on terror for searching out al Qaeda suspects during Ethiopia’s messy military intervention in neighboring Somalia and makes the country a priority recipient of U.S. assistance. (The world last year sent $1.6 billion.)
America needs to work with all kinds of regimes and military cooperation doesn’t always have to be tied to democratic progress. But if Ethiopia wants to become a real ally of the U.S., possibly playing host to the new African Command, it needs to take seriously democracy and human rights.
MOGADISHU, Somalia (Garowe Online) – Woyanne troops leading security operations in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, searched through a mosque in Yaaqshiid district Wednesday, witnesses said.
After searching for weapons at al-Sadiiq mosque, the Ethiopian [Woyanne] soldiers destroyed the women’s prayer section and the footbath where Muslim worshippers ritually cleanse their bodies before prayer, according to mosque officials and congregants.
An eyewitness said the heavily armed Woyannes kept everyone at bay as they ransacked through the mosque, searching for weapons and explosives used in attacks.
Al-Sadiiq is the fourth Mogadishu mosque to be targeted by authorities in less than two months, prompting locals to complain to the interim Somali government.
A decree issued today from the Ministry of Religious Affairs has ordered mosque imams and preachers to register with the ministry regarding sermons, curriculum and donors who pay for the mosques’ expenses.
The decree was signed by Sheikh Ali Dheere, Director-General of the ministry.
Bakara violence
Insurgent attacks continued at Mogadishu’s Bakara market, two full weeks after the security operation at the market began.
At least one police officer died when hand grenades were hurled at police near a busy intersection, witnesses said. Seven others, including another policeman, were wounded in the attack.
A second explosion inside Bakara market damaged property but hurt no one.
Meanwhile, Mogadishu police tore down more illegally built structures along roads leading into Bakara. Area business groups were seen loading their merchandise onto waiting trucks, preparing to leave the market.
“I’m leaving this [Bakara] market after six years of business,” said a gold trader, who went on to say that he was relocating to another of Mogadishu’s main markets due to security concerns.
The interim government, backed by its Woyanne military allies, has been largely unable to secure Bakara, despite flooding the market with police and soldiers for the past two weeks.
