EU pledges to neutrally monitor Ethiopian polls, dispatches observers

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

May 17, 2010 (ADDIS ABABA) – The European Union (EU) observers mission on Monday said that it is prepared to observe Ethiopia’s May 23 elections neutrally and independently.

The Union has today dispatched an additional 60 short-term observers (beyond the already deployed 90) to different regions of the horn of Africa’s country, where some 32 million Ethiopians are expected to cast their votes on Sunday.

When the EU observer mission led by Anna Gomez’s monitored Ethiopia’s last election in 2005, it ended with fierce accusations trading both sides.

When the opposition claimed victory in 2005, Gomez immediately backed and gave support for the opposition despite no voter polling being allowed before the vote.

Government officials then said that she inappropriately was in close personal relationships with opposition leaders and accused her of inciting violence which led to the protestors trying to overthrow Meles government by force.

The post-election violence then left about 200 protestors killed in street riots and led to imprisonment of dozens of opposition leaders.

EU observers’ mission headed by Chief Observer Thijs Berman, a Dutch member of the European Parliament has today arrived in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. He is heading a 170-member Election Observation Mission that first arrived in Ethiopia on 14 April.

Despite what happened five years ago the EU Chief Observer Thijs Berman Now says that his observers’ team is ready for an independent observation and it is not here to please any party.

”We are neutral, independent and impartial in our conduct and findings, and we do not interfere in the process. Our job is to observe all procedures, and based on our established methodology and experience, I am confident we will succeed in that,” the top election observer said.

”We hope that the presence of EU observers will contribute to the integrity and credibility of the election process,” he said.

The 60 observers dispatched to regions today are part of the 160 observers which the EU decided to deploy in Ethiopia to observe the May 23 national election.

The mission consists of 10 Core Team members (analysts), 90 Long Term Observers and more than 60 Short Term Observers from 22 EU Member States.

After carter center declined observation, the AU and EU are the only two foreign election observers the Ethiopian government accredited to observe the 4th Ethiopian elections.

According to a statement the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued on Thursday, some embassies and international organizations based in Addis Ababa have been repeatedly requesting to observe the elections. However, it said, the government has invited only the AU and the EU to do so. No embassy or international organization is invited or allowed to observe the election process, it added.

The ministry said it had been impracticable to sign separate memoranda of understanding on codes of conduct with every mission and international organization. Besides, it said, the government believes that deploying a number of observation teams will create a strain on the smooth election process.

The statement added that the ministry has notified embassies and international organizations based in Addis Ababa that it will give them letter enabling them to move their employees to any part of the country to carry out their regular duties before and after the election, that is from May 10 to June 30, 2010.

(ST)