Ethiopia frees opposition figure after 3 months of jail

February 4, 2009 (ADDIS ABABA) – Ethiopian authorities have released an opposition leader from jail after three months over accusations of working with Oromo rebels.

The leading member of the opposition Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), Bekele Jirate, is freed today on bail. The Ethiopian security services had detained him last November for working with the rebel Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).

OFDM leadership welcomed the move saying his release without charges proves he is innocent. “I am very happy because not only is he important for our party, he is innocent,” OFDM leader Bulcha Demeksa told Reuters.

The rebel OLF is one of the main armed opposition groups in Ethiopia, the government says the Oromo rebels are backed by its foe Eritrea to destabilize the regime. Authorities also accuse them of plots to blast public building in the capital.

Since the 2005 elections, the opposition parties accuse the Ethiopian government of unlawful detention and oppression due to protests they organized against fraud in the parliamentary elections of 15 May 2005.

Further the OFDM accuses Zenawi’s government of intimidating its nominees for local elections and forcing them to pull out their candidatures as voters went to the polls last April for the first time since the 2005 bloodshed.

Last December, authorities re-arrested Bertukan Midekssa, the leader of the opposition Unity for Democracy and Justice party arguing she had give a delay to confirm that it had been released after plea for pardon she filed.

The ministry of justice said last month that Midekssa by her rejection didn’t make use of the opportunity to regret and so she failed to discharge her responsibility.

However Bulcha Demeksa, the OFDM leader, launched today a call for her release saying “She has been jailed because she is a very strong and serious contender to Prime Minister Meles.”

(ST)