Ethiopia protests continue, spread beyond capital
Nov 4, 2005 (ADDIS ABABA) — Political protests spread to other parts of Ethiopia Friday after a week of bloody clashes between demonstrators and police in the capital.
Western diplomats said they had reports of several deaths in protests outside Addis Ababa Friday. Scattered gunfire and rioting also was reported in the capital, where doctors said at least one person was wounded.
Police have killed at least 40 people since violent confrontations began Tuesday in the capital, following largely peaceful protests Monday, medical officials said. The medical workers asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation from government officials, who put the number of dead over the week at 13 civilians and one police officer.
Protests erupted Friday in Dessie, Gondar, Bahar Dar, Arba Minch, Awassa, Dire Dawa and other towns, according to Western diplomats, hotel owners and tour operators.
Protesters in Bahar Dar – a tourist site northwest of Addis Ababa – stopped a bus carrying 20 European tourists, including Spaniards, and tried to set it on fire using cans filled with petrol Friday. Police fired in the air to disperse the rioters and the bus drove off, said Dario Morello of Greenland Tours.
“The tourists were terrified. The situation is not good,” he said.
Diplomats told The Associated Press they had reports of police continuing to round up suspected opposition leaders overnight, perhaps as many as 3,000 people.
Ambassadors from 21 countries that donate large sums of money to Ethiopia issued a statement expressing concern at the violence, calling for an urgent investigation and recommending all political detainees be either charged or released.
European Union chief election observer Ana Gomes sent an urgent appeal to E.U. governments and the European Commission to act to end the “bloodbath.”
“Stop the killing of Ethiopians who dare to believe that democracy is possible in Ethiopia,” she said in the letter obtained by The Associated Press.
“Most ironic is that Europe counts in Ethiopia, a country which depends on European aid, the largest recipient in Africa. Europe could definitely make the difference for democracy in Ethiopia,” Gomes said. “Instead, current European leaders are choosing to fail it. In doing so, they are not just failing Ethiopians. They are also failing Europe.”
The May 15 election had been seen as a test of Meles’s commitment to reform. Meles was appointed by U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair to his Commission for Africa to help draft a blueprint for ending poverty and building democracy. But at home his government has little tolerance for dissent and has been accused of severe human rights abuses.
The U.K.’s minister for Africa, David Triesman, has called on both sides to show restraint and for an urgent, independent investigation into the violence. The U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office advised Britons against nonessential travel to Ethiopia.
Ethiopian special forces armed with heavy machine guns and sniper rifles patrolled Addis Ababa in Humvees and armored personnel carriers Friday. Opposition supporters went from shop to shop, ordering merchants to shut down and go home. Taxis were off the streets, and diplomats reported gunfire near the U.K. and Vatican embassies. Protesters threw stones at buses near the Canadian Embassy in a different part of the city, witnesses said.
Amid the protests, a New York-based media watchdog said authorities have threatened to arrest journalists and made statements that could endanger independent reporters in the capital. The government also appears to be using state media to smear foreign and independent media.
International development agency ActionAid said Thursday police had detained its policy manager in Ethiopia, Daniel Bekele, for three days without charge or access to his lawyer. Other civil society leaders have also been detained during a crackdown on organizations suspected of not being pro-government.
(AP/ST)