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By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
April 7, 2011(ADDIS ABABA) – Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged Ethiopian authorities to immediately release 121 members of the country’s main opposition group, who are allegedly detained on charges of terrorism.
“The Ethiopian government appears to be back to the old tricks of ‘detain first, ask questions later,’” said Rona Peligal, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
“The authorities should immediately free the Oromo opposition members unless they can bring credible charges against them.”
Last month Ethiopian authorities carried out mass arrests of more than 200 ethnic Oromo opposition members and supporters accusing them of having links to the banned Eritrea-based rebel group, Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).
Officials from Ethiopia’s biggest opposition group, Medrek, a six-member coalition of opposition group told Sudan Tribune that the latest crackdown is politically motivated, relating it to government fears of a possible eruption of anti-government protests by the Oromos.
Human Rights Watch stressed for the need for the detainees immediate release if Ethiopian authorities cannot credibly charge them.
The Ethiopian Prime Minister on Tuesday told parliament that the detainees are OLF terrorists operating under the cover of a legal opposition party. He said the Ethiopian government has gathered concrete evidence against them.
Those detained include long-serving party officials, former members of Parliament and many candidates in the 2010 regional and parliamentary elections, opposition officials told Human Rights Watch.
During the past few years, Ethiopia’s ruling party led by prime minister Meles Zenawi, has been under fire for arresting hundreds of members of the Oromo ethnic group accusing them of helping the OLF rebel group, labelled by the Ethiopian government as a terrorist organisation.
The OLF has for decades been fighting for the self-determination of Ethiopia’s Oromia region, alleging the government discriminates against the Oromos; the largest ethnic group of the nation.
The Ethiopian government accuses neighbouring Eritrea of arming, training and supplying them with weapons. An allegation Asmara, the Eritrean capital denies.
(ST)