Wed, 24 Mar 2010
Nairobi (Earth Times) - The Ethiopian government is waging a campaign of repression against political opponents ahead of parliamentary elections set for May, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Wednesday.
Around 200 protesters were shot following the last elections in 2005 and an unknown number of opposition figures, including Birtukan Mideksa, head of the Unity for Democracy and Justice party, remain imprisoned.
According to HRW, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has tightened its grip on society since the previous poll and brooks no opposition.
"If as expected ... the party wins a landslide victory it is unlikely to be a victory of democracy,"Georgette Gagnon, Africa Director for HRW, told journalists in Nairobi on Wednesday. "It will be a vindication of a strategy of oppression and control."
HRW researchers interviewed over 200 people in dozens of communities across Ethiopia and found that the EPRDF uses a variety of methods, including intimidation and harassment, to force people to join the party.
"The government rules with an iron fist ... to control communities in both urban and rural areas," Gagnon said.
Relief aid is also withheld from the needy in the poor Horn of Africa nation as a means of stopping people from opposing the government, HRW found in its report, One Hundred Ways of Putting Pressure.
"I am a member of the EPRDF, but I do support the opposition party," one party member told HRW. "The list of receipts - the proof that I am paying my dues to the party - are required to get relief assistance."
Gagnon said international donors - including the World Bank, United States and European Union - were "very timid" in their criticism of the regime, despite being well aware of the abuses.
Donors say that they have to work with the government to gain access to millions of needy Ethiopians, but Gagnon said they should channel aid in different ways and demand independent reviews of the way aid money is used.
The government has also suppressed the media, HRW and other activists say. Zenawi recently admitted that Voice of America's Amharic channel had been jammed.
Ethiopia, an ally of the US in fighting terrorism in the region, has consistently denied such accusations and accuses of HRW of trying to smear its name.
Nairobi (Earth Times) - The Ethiopian government is waging a campaign of repression against political opponents ahead of parliamentary elections set for May, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Wednesday.
Around 200 protesters were shot following the last elections in 2005 and an unknown number of opposition figures, including Birtukan Mideksa, head of the Unity for Democracy and Justice party, remain imprisoned.
According to HRW, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has tightened its grip on society since the previous poll and brooks no opposition.
"If as expected ... the party wins a landslide victory it is unlikely to be a victory of democracy,"Georgette Gagnon, Africa Director for HRW, told journalists in Nairobi on Wednesday. "It will be a vindication of a strategy of oppression and control."
HRW researchers interviewed over 200 people in dozens of communities across Ethiopia and found that the EPRDF uses a variety of methods, including intimidation and harassment, to force people to join the party.
"The government rules with an iron fist ... to control communities in both urban and rural areas," Gagnon said.
Relief aid is also withheld from the needy in the poor Horn of Africa nation as a means of stopping people from opposing the government, HRW found in its report, One Hundred Ways of Putting Pressure.
"I am a member of the EPRDF, but I do support the opposition party," one party member told HRW. "The list of receipts - the proof that I am paying my dues to the party - are required to get relief assistance."
Gagnon said international donors - including the World Bank, United States and European Union - were "very timid" in their criticism of the regime, despite being well aware of the abuses.
Donors say that they have to work with the government to gain access to millions of needy Ethiopians, but Gagnon said they should channel aid in different ways and demand independent reviews of the way aid money is used.
The government has also suppressed the media, HRW and other activists say. Zenawi recently admitted that Voice of America's Amharic channel had been jammed.
Ethiopia, an ally of the US in fighting terrorism in the region, has consistently denied such accusations and accuses of HRW of trying to smear its name.
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