Ex-US president Carter defends Ethiopian demo ban, lauds election

ADDIS ABABA, May 16 (AFP) — Former US president Jimmy Carter said Monday that a month-long ban on all post-election demonstrations in the Ethiopian capital was “not excessive” and lauded the conduct of the weekend vote.

Carter, here at the head of a 50-strong team of election monitors, said his mission had not found any evidence of opposition claims of widespread fraud and that the few irregularities uncovered would not tarnish Sunday’s polls.

The ex-US leader said he had been satisfied by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s personal explanation of his decision to ban public demonstrations in Addis Ababa for the next 30 days, a move questioned and criticized by many.

“His opinion was that this was a cautionary measure, temporary in nature, geographically limited to prevent any confrontation of a violent nature between winners and losers here in the capital city,” Carter told reporters.

Carter said he and his team’s co-leaders, former Botswanan president Ketumile Joni Masire and former Tanzanian prime minister Joseph Warioba, had agreed that the “very narrowly defined directive” was not repressive.

“We believe collectively that the decision of the prime minister was not excessive in preventing any possible arousal of animosity or violence among his own supporters or the opposition,” he said.

“But I am sure that other people would have other opinions,” Carter added quickly.

Ethiopia’s opposition, which appears to have had significant electoral success in Addis Ababa based on very early partial returns, had pounced on the demonstration ban as an illegal curb on free speech, expression and assembly.

But Carter said Meles had told him that he feared the opposition’s strong showing in the capital might enrage ruling party supporters and spark confrontations with overly jubilant government foes.

Based on his observations and what Meles told him, Carter said he did not expect the opposition to have fared nearly as well outside Addis Ababa where the prime minister’s party commands strong support.

It is in the countryside that Ethiopia’s two main opposition groups have alleged that most abuses took place, including vote rigging and voter intimidation, but Carter said his team had seen nothing to justify nullifying the poll.

“My impression is … that the irregularities reported did not impede the overall ability or individual ability of voters to express their view,” he said, adding that some opposition complaints had been exaggerated.

“Many allegations were difficult to substantiate and at least some were exaggerations,” the Carter Center also said in a statement announcing its preliminary findings from the election.

Ethiopia’s electoral board said Monday that more than 90 percent of the country’s 26 million eligible voters cast ballots in the election with only minor logistical hitches, calling it a highly successful exercise in democracy.