Detained Ethiopian opposition leaders stage hunger strike

Nov 27, 2005 (ADDIS ABABA) — Detained Ethiopian opposition leaders on Sunday vowed to stage a hunger strike to pressure the government to release them.

“As of Monday, all of whom are behind bars, with the exception of the diabetic people, are starting an indefinite hunger strike until the government responds to our demands and releases us from prison,” Bertukn Mideksa, deputy chief of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), told AFP.

Police have been holding 48 people, including several CUD officials, at the Criminal and Forensic Investigation Department in central Addis Ababa since their arrests early this month during violent protests, which claimed the lives of 48 people, over a disputed election result.

The CUD officials have yet to be formally charged, although Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has accused them of plotting a coup and said they could be tried for treason, which carries the death sentence in Ethiopia.

“There was no crime committed in order to charge us, even the police are unable to relate our party to the violence that occured in Addis Ababa,” Bertukn said.

“This is only a political movement, which has nothing to do with crime,” she added.

The Ethiopian high court last week agreed to a police request to extend the detentions, ostensibly to give prosecutors more time to investigate.

Violence erupted in the Horn of Africa nation, one of the world’s poorest countries, following the May 15 elections, which the opposition claims were fraudulently won by Meles’s ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front.

At least 37 people were killed when police opened fire on crowds in Addis Ababa in June, heralding a massive crackdown on the opposition.

(AFP/ST)