One killed in riots in northwestern Ethiopia

ADDIS ABABA, Mar 4, 2005 (ENA) — A member of the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), a member party of the ruling coalition, was killed and a resident of Kuy town, in northwestern Ethiopia, was injured in a market riot allegedly sparked by members of the opposition All Ethiopian Unity Party (AEUP).

The East Gojam Zone administration information branch office said it obtained information from police that the causality occurred when organized AEUP members try to prevent tax collection at the market place in Kuy town, Debay Tilatgin Woreda district of the zone on 26 February 2005.

The branch office said the AEUP members were calling the public at the market place not to pay taxes, saying: We will seize power killing “weyane”, Tigray People’s Liberation Front — dominant party in the ruling coalition.

Security forces have requested the AEUP members to refrain from their actions, the office said. However, the office said, they refused and aggravated the riot by throwing stones on tax collectors and security forces, in the midst of which a bullet fired from an unidentified direction has killed farmer Tewabe Lakew who was a member of ANDM and a resident of Kidisti Kebele neighbourhood in Debay Tilatgin Woreda.

Another resident of Kuy town by the name Mengiste Alehegn was also injured, the office said citing the zonal police. Police have found out that AEUP members from kebeles in Bichena, Debre Markos and its peripheral areas were deployed to coordinate the riot, according to the office.