Ethiopian govt rejects opposition offer on peace deal
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, June 13, 2005 (AP) — The government rejected an opposition offer to resume a peace deal Monday, saying the opposition must take further steps to save the agreement aimed at ending political violence that left 29 dead.
The ruling party and the two main opposition groups signed a two-page document on Friday in front of diplomats pledging to condemn all violence and exercise restraint. Then the government began arresting opposition leaders, prompting them to call the nonviolence deal meaningless.
Information Minister Bereket Simon told The Associated Press that the country’s main opposition party was too late in trying to renew the pact.
“They have missed the boat because during the signing they attached preconditions to the agreement,” he said. “What they are saying does not go far enough.”
Hailu Shawel, leader of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, was placed under house arrest hours after his party declared the agreement “not worth the paper it is written on” minutes after signing it. But after intense diplomatic pressure, the party leadership announced they accepted the deal “unequivocally and without reservations” late Saturday.
Bereket, though, said Monday the party must meet three criteria before the government will accept their commitment to the pact.
“We would like them to announce that they attached preconditions and that was wrong,” Bereket added. “They shifted the blame to us by saying we have misinterpreted them, but they are just playing with words. They need to announce that it was their mistake and we have not misinterpreted them.”
Ethiopian authorities also placed a senior CUD official, Lidetu Ayalew, under house arrest on Saturday. The government said Hailu and Lidetu were threatening state security and were behind a week of protests in which police fired on demonstrators.
Hailu’s family also has been prevented from leaving their home.
In a statement, the European Union heads of mission encouraged “all parties to abide by their commitments under the declaration and to implement it immediately and in a spirit of cooperation and mutual respect, for the benefit of the Ethiopian people who voted with such faith and hope on May 15, 2005.”
Ethiopia’s ruling party, which has pledged itself to democratic reform but shown authoritarian tendencies, claimed victory in last month’s elections based on provisional results.
The violence that has followed threatens to destabilize Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world, which faces cyclical drought and widespread hunger. It also could strain Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s dealings with the international community.
Meles is a member of U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa, which has called on the developed world to increase aid and trade to Africa and decrease its debt.
Finance ministers from the world wealthiest countries on Saturday agreed to include Ethiopia on a list of 18 countries to receive total debt relief in order to assist development.