Ethiopian opposition criticizes Shaykh Al-Amoudi’s campaign

By Ethiopian newspaper The Reporter

ADDIS ABABA, Apr 27, 2005 — Reacting to Shaykh Mohamed al-Amoudi’s campaign speech during a ceremony to lay a foundation stone for St George’s stadium, Dr Beyene Petros, the deputy chairman of the Ethiopian United Democratic Forces (EUDF), has said “he needs Shaykh Mohamed’s investment. However, there must be somebody misleading him. It would have been better for him if he had played a neutral role.”

Lidetu Ayalew, head of public relations of the Coalition for unity and Democracy (CUD), on his part said “Shaykh Al-Amoudi has opened employment opportunities to many Ethiopians. The respect we have for him is great. However, I could not believe my eyes when I saw him on TV campaigning for the ruling coalition at a sport function. I want to hear from him if he really did that believing on what he was campaigning for. Even on legal grounds it was not proper for him to campaign in a sport function and where people with different political views are present.”

Regarding the V sign, Lidetu said “even though they look alike, their sign is for sport while ours is a political sign, so they do not have any connection at all. St George’s sign is the letter V, while ours is a two finger sign”.

Material provided by the BBC Monitoring Service, original in Amharic