Impartiality of Ethiopia riots inquiry questioned

Dec 8, 2005 (ADDIS ABABA) — An Ethiopian opposition leader on Thursday questioned the independence of a commission investigating whether police and soldiers used excessive force to quell post-election protests that led to at least 82 deaths.

Ethiopia’s parliament this week endorsed 11 members of the commission, which is supposed to be independent and neutral.

But opposition members who voted against the appointments said the previous government employment of some appointees could colour their judgment in favour of the ruling party.

“We have great concern about their neutrality because they have served the government in various capacities,” Beyene Petros, chairman of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), told Reuters. “That was why we voted against them.”

The opposition also claimed that some of their nominees had been dropped.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, whose ruling party won the polls, had promised to set up the panel to investigate two separate bouts of unrest that erupted over the results of the May 15 parliamentary poll.

Opposition charges of vote fraud led protesters into the streets of the capital Addis Ababa in June and police killed at least 36 people putting down the demonstrations.

Another 46 were killed in November in a new round of protests over the election, only the second real multi-party vote in Ethiopia’s 3,000 year history.

The commission will prepare a report giving the total number of deaths, the amount of property destroyed and whether there were human or constitutional rights violations.

Although the panel will have the authority to summon anyone in the country as a witness including top government officials, it has no power to prosecute or otherwise act on its findings.

Those will be forwarded to parliament at a date yet to be determined.

The nominees to the panel include religious representatives, lawyers, academics, businesspeople and an economist.

(Reuters)