EU concerned over “harassment” ahead of Ethiopian elections
ADDIS ABABA, April 16 (AFP) — The European Union on Saturday expressed concern over reports of “harassment” in the Horn of Africa nation, ahead of general elections scheduled for next month, officials said.
“Reports of harassment, imprisonment, and other activities of intimidation are worrysome,” said Rob Vermas, the Dutch ambassador, representing the EU in Ethiopia, while welcoming about 50 EU observers who arrived on Friday.
EU officials said the decision by the Ethiopian government on March 30 to expel three US democracy groups, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) was disappointing.
“The recent issuance of a directive on local observers is disappointing,” Vermas explained.
“The NEBE’s (state-run National Election Board of Ethiopia) directives will virtually exclude many local NGOs (nongovernmental organisations) from observing the election,” Vermas explained.
The election will be the third since the governing EPRDF’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi came to power in 1991. It will however be the first in Ethiopia to be held under international scrutiny amid complaints that local observers have been unfairly denied access.
There are 1,845 candidates representing 36 political parties and independent candidates running for the 480 seats up for grabs in the 547-member federal parliament, only 14 of which are held by the opposition.
About 100 more EU election observers are expected to arrive on May 10.
Vermas spoke a day after Ethiopia’s Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) claimed that nine of its members had been arrested since March 26 in acts that amounted to harassment in Hadiya Zone, about 360 kilometres south of the capital Addis Ababa.
“The nine CUD members have been arrested under the excuse of agitating the public on behalf of the coalition and they are still behind bars until the issuance of the statement,” the CUD said in a statement released here on Friday.
But the governing Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) denied any knowledge harassment of members of the opposition.
“EPRDF have no idea of the claims of CUD,” the party’s official said.
“Our members are governed by election rules issued by the election board and our party in particular,” the official, who requested to remain anonymous, told AFP.
On Thursday, Ethiopian police said they had arrested at least eight members of the opposition All Ethiopian Unity Party, for allegedly inciting violence in northern Amhara state.