Ethiopia indicts opponents of plotting to assassinate officials

June 4, 2009 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopian government today charged 46 opponents of plotting to assassinate government officials, a government minister said.

Ethiopian authorities arrested on Saturday April 23, more than 40 people, most of them are former military officers, accusing them or preparing to commit terrorist attacks in the country. The opposition Ginbot 7 led by Birhanu Nego rejected the accusation describing it as “baseless and total fabrication”

“The charges can be summed up as conspiring to kill different government officials and conspiring to demolish public utilities,” said Communications Minister Bereket Simon.

“The prosecution presented the charges to the court today,” he further said, more than a month after their arrest.

Authorities are holding 32 out of the 46 suspects with the rest believed to have fled to the United States, Europe, Eritrea and Sudan.

Ethiopian authorities in April said the ‘desperado’ group was intending to assassinate top government officials, people linked to government and to blow up government buildings and public facilities such us power plants and other strategic installations, the minister said.

Also the minister denied accusations that detaining the men for over a month without charge violated regulations, saying national anti-terrorism laws allowed police to hold suspects without charge for as long as in necessary.

“No constitutional right was abrogated,” he said.

Authorities accuse the CUD’s leader Berhanu Nega of masterminding the alleged plot. CUD won an unprecedented number of seats in the 2005 elections, which observers said fell short of international standards.

Berhanu, currently living in exile in the United States, was elected mayor of Addis Ababa in 2005 polls. He was subsequently jailed for two years and left the country after his release.

The government said it would seek his extradition from the US, but the two countries didn’t sign an extradition agreement.

(ST)