Ethiopians rally in support of govt after opposition slams abuses
ADDIS ABABA, May 7 (AFP) — Hundreds of thousands of ruling party supporters rallied here Saturday after Ethiopia’s opposition accused the government of rampant human rights abuses and of failing to uphold the rule of law ahead of upcoming elections.
The Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), an umbrella group of opposition parties, late Friday denounced a string of abuses by the governing Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) against its supporters.
The charge came a day after Prime Minister Meles Zenawi accused the opposition of fomenting ethnic hatred ahead of the May 15 general elections.
“The ruling party is illegally arresting, capturing and killing people whom it suspects of supporting the opposition,” said CUD spokesman Ledtu Ayalew in a live televised address late on Friday.
“It is violating the people’s rights, which it claims to be advocating,” he added.
“In the days of the EPRDF’s rule (since 1991), 25 ethnic clashes have taken place. These are more than what happened during the regimes of emperor (Haile Selassie) and the military junta (Mengistu Haile Mariam),” Ledtu said.
Late Thursday, the prime minister accused the CUD of fomenting ethnic hatred and likened it to the Rwandan Interahamwe militia widely blamed for that country’s 1994 genocide that killed about 800,000 people.
“It is a shame to call us or to liken us to the Interahamwe,” said Berhanu Nega, a CUD official, in the televised speech.
“It is the government that was in power that promoted the hatred policy. Therefore when EPRDF raises this, it makes us think what the ruling party is having in mind,” he added.
CUD also accused the ruling party of failing to alleviate abject poverty and create employment, but said that “instead it is creating millions of new impoverished citizens.”
It also accused the government of displacing residents by demolishing their house in the name of development.
But at a ruling party rally in Addis Ababa attended by at least 600,000 people on Saturday, Meles renewed his call for Ethiopians to vote for his party.
“We have been in power for the last 14 years and you have seen what EPRDF can do and what it has done,” he told the rally.
“If you elect us, I promise in the name of all party members that we will do all we can for the well-being of the people and the country,” Meles said, adding that he would improve the lives of women and youths in this Horn of Africa nation of about 70 million people.
The ruling party said that around one million people attended the rally carrying banners that hailed the EPRDF and bashed the opposition, but police estimated the figure at between 600,000 to 700,000.
“Accept people’s verdict”, “No to violence”, “Diversity is Unity”, “No Interahamwe-type philosophy”, “No to anti-peace tendency”, “EPRDF is for Development, Peace, Employment” and “EPRDF is our party that will led us to success”, read some of the banners.
The barrage of accusations between the rival parties comes only days before the election, the country’s third since Meles’ EPRDF came to power in 1991 and the first to be held under the watchful eyes of international observers.
There are 1,845 candidates representing 36 political parties and independents running for the 480 seats up for grabs in the 547-member federal parliament, only 14 of which are held by the opposition.
Pre-election arrangements have caused controversy, most notably a decision by the government in March to expel US election observers from the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the International Republican Institute (IRI), and IFES, formerly the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, claiming they were illegally operating in the country.
Last month, the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) refused to recognise the observer status of 30 local non-governmental organizations although a high court on Tuesday ordered the body to reverse the decision.