Ethiopia- Election inquiry report was done after necessary efforts

Oct 30,2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — while presenting the commission’s final report to the House of People’s Representatives, here today, acting chairman of the commission, Mekonen Disasa, indicated that the commission has done an in-depth research on the incidents before finalizing its report.

The acting chairman said that measures which were taken by security forces to stop the unrest was legal and necessary and their target was to protect the country from getting into even more violence, the Ethiopian radio reported Monday.

He said during those incidents human rights were not fully respected, but it does not mean that the government has made no effort to protect human rights. He added that security forces were given repeated order by the government to respect human rights.

The acting chairman said the report also looked into the extent of damage in terms of both loss of life and property destruction caused due to the violence.

Members of the commission responded to different questions raised from members of the House on the report.

The House has referred the report to the Legal and Administration Affairs Standing Committee for further scrutiny with 276 acceptance votes, 116 against and six abstentions.

The Independent Inquiry Commission was set up by the House of People’s Representatives under proclamation number 478/98.

(ST)