April 12, 2001
Mr. Kofi Annan
Secretary General, The United Nations
United Nations Plaza, Room S-3800
New York, NY 10017
E-mail: [email protected]
Fax: 212 963 2155
Dear Secretary General:
I am writing to appeal for your help to stop the vicious attack unleashed
on students at Addis Abeba University in Ethiopia by Meles Zenawi’s
heavily armed troops.
As reported in Reuters on April 11, several riot police stormed Addis
Abeba University and injured over 50 students who were holding a peaceful
demonstration. The students were demanding academic freedom and political rights.
According to medical officials, the students suffered head injuries,
broken arms and legs. Reuters reported that: “The floors of the student
dormitories were spattered with blood after the clashes, with gunshot
holes in the walls, and student leaders accused the police of brutality.”
Students and teachers are becoming the regime’s primary victims. Meles
Zenawi’s vicious attacks against students in Awasa College, high schools
and elementary schools in Wolaita and other parts of southern Ethiopia
have been going on for a while. The President of Ethiopian Teachers
Association, Dr Taye Woldesemayat, is still in jail and going through
physical and mental torture. Two executive committee members of the
Association who had been jailed with him have already died due to
terrible prison conditions. Another executive committee member of the
Association, Assefa Maru, was gunned down by Meles Zenawi’s gunmen as he walked to his office. Our appeals to the United Nations and the
international community, in general, to intervene and stop Meles
Zenawi’s atrocities have been ignored so far.
Dear Secretary General: I appeal for your kind intervention in helping
stop this latest violence against students in Addis Abeba University. I
also urge you to inquire the Meles regime’s worsening human rights
violations, and its gross anti-democratic practices.
Sincerely,
Elias Kifle
Washington DC
A news and opinion journal on Ethiopia
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