Ethiopian govt disputes report on political oppression

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, May 10, 2005 (AP) — The Ethiopian government has disputed Human Rights Watch’s suggestion that systematic political repression in the country’s largest state has kept people there from freely participating in the country’s third general election campaign.

In a report, the rights group calls into question the fairness of the electoral process in one the U.S.’ closest allies in Africa, saying the ruling party has cracked down on political activities in the state of Oromia.

The southern state is home to the Oromo people, who make up 32% of Ethiopia ‘s 73 million people, and it has been the center of dissent against the ruling Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front.

“The political freedoms required for elections to be a meaningful exercise of Ethiopian citizens’ fundamental right to participate in the selection of their government do not exist for many Ethiopians,” the New York-based organization says in the report.

Information Minister Bereket Simon dismissed the report as an attempt to undermine Ethiopia .

“Human Rights Watch are lying and they are fooling nobody,” Bereket told The Associated Press. “This organization is politically motivated and bent, as usual, on undermining Ethiopia .”

Opposition parties, however, disagreed.

“Oromia is a big problem,” said Berhanu Nega, vice chairman of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy. “From the information I have, in a good part of Oromia it is becoming almost impossible to hold a fair election.”

He said his party would ask the National Electoral Board to suspend the elections in many areas of Oromia and other places where the opposition has been unable to campaign freely.

Since 2001, the U.S. has increased relations with Ethiopia , despite two previous elections that were generally considered unfair. U.S. troops have been working with Ethiopian soldiers to improve security in the region, as Ethiopia shares a long border with Somalia, a lawless country the U.S. fears could be used by suspected terrorists as a hideout.

The May 15 elections are considered an important test of the ruling party’s willingness to bring democracy to Ethiopia , which has invited international observers into the Horn of Africa country for the first time.