Mixed response to Ethiopia opposition CUD strike call
Nov 8, 2005 (ADDIS ABABA) — Some shop owners and taxi drivers resumed business Tuesday, saying they were bowing to police pressure to ignore an opposition strike call following a week of bloody political protests.
On Monday, the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy party called a general strike to press the government to allow opposition parties access to controlled state media and reforms of parliamentary procedures that effectively bar minority parties from making changes to laws being discussed in the House of People’s Representatives.
Clashes last week between police and opposition supporters angered by the outcome of elections earlier this year left at least 46 people dead, drew international condemnation and raised questions about Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s commitment to democracy.
Meles and his Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front need to sit down and talk with the opposition and release detainees, thousands of whom were rounded up after last week’s violence, to resolve Ethiopia’s political troubles, said a Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday to avoid adversely affecting relations with the government.
On Sunday, the U.S. and European Union issued a joint statement calling on Ethiopia to release opposition leaders, allow access to thousands of people detained and end a crackdown on independent media. They also urged opposition leaders to discourage violence.
Some shop owners opened their premises and less than half the taxis in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, were on the road Tuesday after authorities ordered them to return to business.
Police told shop owners to open their stores, the businesspeople said. City authorities said in a statement Tuesday that taxi owners should resume their services or return to the city administration their licences, numbers plates and ownership books.
“We are afraid that we could be in trouble if we do not open our shops,” said Zelalem Bulcha, a petty trader selling household goods in central Addis Ababa. “Some people are ready to strike because of the trouble but no one knows what will happen if they do. Nobody wants any more violence.”
Information Minister Berhan Hailu said that businesses should reopen as calm had been restored to the city, otherwise they could face action.
“Now that peace and stability has been restored to the city there is no reason for people, especially the taxi drivers, not to start work,” Berhan told The Associated Press. “The government has announced that it will take measures if people are unwilling to go back to work. The government is responsible to the public to ensure that services are provided, especially transport.”
Authorities took 24 top opposition leaders to court Monday, for the first time since they were detained.
The leaders, including Coalition for Unity and Democracy chairman Hailu Shawel and vice chairman Berhanu Nega and prominent human rights activist Mesfin Wolde Mariam, were ordered held another 14 days during the closed hearing in the same special court where members of a toppled military dictatorship were being tried.
Later Monday, police announced on state television that 32 people, including newspaper editors, members of civil society and other opposition officials were being sought for allegedly helping orchestrate post election violence. Pictures of the wanted men and women were shown during the evening news broadcast and police urged the public to help find them.
Dozens of people, including journalists and opposition members, have gone into hiding in recent days, fearful in what appears to many to be a government crackdown against all political dissent.
(AP/ST)