Ethiopia passes lengthy jail terms over AU summit bomb plotters

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

June 9, 2011(ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopian Supreme Court on Wednesday passed prison terms against 14 individuals accused of explosion attempt during the 16th Ordinary Session of African Heads of State and Government held in Addis Ababa from January 30-31, 2011, state ministry of Justice disclosed.

In a statement released today, the Ministry said the 14 plotters have taken two rounds of training in Eritrea on bomb detonation, and have brought-in large amount of explosives to Ethiopia via Djibouti and Afar Region mainly to obstruct the AU summit under the orders from the Eritrean government.

They had also missions to carryout bombings at public and government institutions in different areas of the capital, Addis Ababa, as part of the Eritrea-sponsored destabilizing mission, the ministry said.

The 14 people were found guilty and accordingly, four suspects were sentenced to life in prison, six to 25 years behind bars, and one to 14 and three to nine years in jail.

According to the ministry, the bombers are members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a rebel group blamed for a number of Eritrea-backed bombings in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a 1998-2000 border war that killed over 70,000.Their elations which remains tense then after is raising fears of a return to war with both routinely trading accusations of supporting one other’s rebel group.

Recently, Addis Ababa has threatened it might be forced to take military action against the Red Sea nation accusing it of continuous “terrorist acts” and attempts to destabilize Ethiopia.

It has also said it will step-up support to Eritrean resistance groups including Eritrean Democratic Alliance (EDA), a coalition of some nine political organizations based in Ethiopia.

(ST)