Ethiopia opposition accuses Meles, newsmen arrested
By Tsegaye Tadesse
ADDIS ABABA, June 2 (Reuters) – Ethiopian authorities arrested eight journalists on Thursday, accusing them of inciting “insurrection” after elections which opposition leaders accuse the government of rigging to stay in power.
Intensifying their war of words with the government, the main opposition party filed an unprecedented legal challenge against Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, accusing him of violating the law by imposing a month-long post-election ban on rallies.
“The eight journalists were arrested in connection with their reports following the May 15 parliamentary election,” said a statement from Kifle Mulate, president of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association, comprising members of privately owned media.
“…state repressive measures against members of Ethiopian Free Press Journalists had markedly subsided over the past several months,” Kifle said. “At present, however, the government seems to have resumed the repression once again.”
An information ministry official who declined to be named said the reporters faced charges of inciting violence brought by state prosecutors.
“Some of these journalists working for newspapers owned by political parties have been calling for an insurrection, and engaged in outrageous propaganda which could endanger public safety,” the official said.
Kifle said those arrested on Thursday included the editors and deputy editors of the weekly newspapers Menelik, Netsanet, Abay and Addis Zena.
OPPOSITION EMBOLDENED
Lawyers said opposition parties had filed the lawsuit against Meles on Wednesday, emboldened by major gains in the May 15 parliamentary polls and an outpouring of support in Addis Ababa, capital of the country of 72 million.
Lawyers for the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) were summoned to court on Thursday to discuss the case.
“We will investigate whether the federal instance court has the jurisdiction to hear the case and if there is a case to institute an action,” Presiding Judge Wolde-Michael Meshesha told the court.
It was not clear when the court would decide whether to hear the case, or rule on the lawyers’ demand that Meles be summoned.
The elections were only the second real multi-party polls to be held in Africa’s top coffee grower, emerging from centuries of feudalism followed by decades of totalitarian Marxist rule.
Provisional election results show Meles’ ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and its allies have won enough seats to form the next government, but with a sharply reduced majority.
The election board has said that to date the EPRDF and its allies have won 311 seats in the 547-member parliament. Final, official results are due on June 8.
Opposition groups have rejected the unofficial results, accusing the EPRDF of vote-rigging and intimidation, and the CUD filed a separate complaint against the election board on Tuesday, accusing it of bias.
Foreign diplomats praised the polls as Ethiopia’s most democratic, but the European Union said the process had been marred by media manipulation by the EPRDF and irregular counting.