Ethiopian govt, opposition ink non-violence pact

ADDIS ABABA, June 10 (AFP) — Ethiopia’s government and opposition signed a non-violence pact on Friday after deadly clashes in the capital this week during protests over disputed elections that killed at least 27 people.

A lone Ethiopian street boy rests in front of a closed shop in Addis Ababa. (AFP).

But prospects for the agreement, brokered by alarmed foreign donors to ease tensions over the violence and the May 15 polls, appeared dim as the two sides traded new accusations of malfeasance immediately after it was sealed.

And, witnesses reported new mass arrests of suspected election protestors, with at least 30 more being rounded up in a crackdown that began hours after police opened fire on crowds on Wednesday killing 26 and wounding hundreds.

The latest arrests brought to at least 150 the number of detentions since Wednesday and nearly 700 since Monday when one person was killed in clashes as student protests against alleged massive vote fraud began in defiance of a government ban on post-election demonstrations.

Authorities have said 520 students were arrested on Monday but would neither confirm nor deny new detentions although an official with the Ethiopian Human Rights Council said his group believed “thousands” could now be in custody.

The main opposition group, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), continued to claim that 14 of its employees have been arrested without charge and that its leaders are being followed by security forces.

The government has blamed the CUD for inciting the violence through illegal protests, defended its actions in the face of domestic and international criticism and vowed to deal severely with any lawbreakers.

Yet, two days after the worst violence in Addis Ababa since student riots in 2001 killed more than 30 people, the city began to return to life as businesses slowly re-opened and a strike by taxi drivers lost steam.

However, anger remained palpable as many of the wounded claim they were shot by security forces for no reason and were merely innocent passers-by caught up in clashes between police and stone-throwing demonstrators.

In a bid to calm matters, the influential foreign donor community hastily drafted the non-violence pact for the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the CUD and the other main opposition group to sign.

In it, the groups stated their “commitment to the succcessful and peaceful conclusion of the electoral process in a manner that fully respects the wishes of the people, the rule of law and constitutional process of the country.”

They condemned all acts of violence and incitement to violence and agreed “to exercise restraint and seek resolution of all issues through legal and peaceful means only.”

They also agreed to accept as binding decisions made by the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) and the courts on complaints of fraud during the polls.

But within minutes of the accord being signed at a ceremony at NEBE headquarters, the two sides were at each other’s throats again, leaving implementation of the pact in doubt.

The CUD accused the EPRDF of launching a campaign to destroy the opposition through murder, arbitrary arrests and harassment and said it would be “absurd” to think the agreement would have any effect under current circumstances.

“With all the killings, arrests and harassment which have engulfed the country, it would be naive to expect the noble goals of this declaration will be implemented,” said Yacob Woldemarin, a CUD official at the ceremony.

“We therefore emphatically demand that the EPRDF release all persons … imprisoned since June 6, 2005, stop the murder of innocent people and cease and desist from restricting the movements of leaders of our party,” he said.

Minister of Information Berekat Simon, who signed the agreement on behalf of the EPRDF, appeared taken aback by the comments and accused the CUD of violating the accord.

“We agreed this morning in our meeting with EU observers and donor ambassadors to desist from such accusations and inflammatory language and with that knowledge we prepared our statement,” he said.

“But the CUD, even before the ink has dried, have started to accuse the EPRDF and started using language that we had agreed to stop,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, the opposition claimed victory in a legal battle with the election board as a court ruled the release of provisional poll results was “illegal” and ordered a halt to the issuance of unofficial returns.

NEBE spokesman Getahun Amogne said the board had appealed the verdict which he called “very illegal,” noting that it had already delayed by one month until July 8 its validation of final results.

He also said an ad hoc commission had been created to screen and investigate nearly 300 complaints of vote fraud filled by both the ruling party and the opposition.