Subject: World Jurists say Ethiopia suppressing
dissent
Date: Mon, 1 May 95 7:00:22 PDT
GENEVA (Reuter) – The International Commission of Jurists
(ICJ) has accused Ethiopian
leaders, who ousted a strong-arm Marxist regime in 1991, of
suppressing political dissent and
violating human rights.
In a report issued at the weekend, the ICJ and its U.S. affiliate
association AAICJ, said the
fairness of elections due May 7 in Ethiopia might be affected by a
drive against opposition parties
and other critics of the government.
The Geneva-based ICJ suggested countries providing aid to
Ethiopia, which include the
United States and many members of the European Union, were
turning a blind eye to human
rights violations under the country’s new rulers.
The report, written by New York lawyer Donald T. Fox after an
extensive visit to Ethiopia,
ssaid the administration of th former guerrilla Ethiopian People’s
Revolutionary Democratic Front
(EPRDF) was “restricting political dissent.”
An ICJ summary of the report said, “Those who dare to
question its policies risk arrest, in
some cases being beaten or even jailed.”
If suppression of dissent continued, ethnic rivalry and conflict
could result, it said.
Under the pro-Soviet, self-styled Marxist-Leninist regime of
former president Mengistu
Haile Mariam, Ethiopia was widely accused of murder and torture of
opponents, and his
overthrow was widely welcomed at home and abroad.
“We are convinced that if violations of the rule of law
continue with the approval of donor
countries, these countries will lose the respect of the opposition
parties and the people who believe
in democracy within Ethiopia,” the report said.
The ICJ links 33 distinguished jurists around the globe and
has 75 national sections and
affiliated organizations working to promote the world-wide rule of
law.
The report said all opposition political parties in Ethiopia had
refused to take part in this
week’s vote “and private newspapers and other organizations not
allied with the government
consider it to be undemocratic.”
The ICJ report said the authorities had been imprisoning
leaders and members of other
major political parties, refusing to allow them to hold meetings
outside the capital or give them
access to the media controlled by the government.
The government had also been penalizing journalists under a
vague press law and restricting
the Ethiopian Human Rights Council because of reports accusing
the EPRDF administration of
extra-judicial killings, torture and disappearances.