Another Inquiry Commission official defects

Ethiomedia
October 21, 2006

Mitiku Teshome of the Catholic Secretariat in Ethiopia and member of the 10-person Inquiry Commission was one of the eight votes that approved the Meles government had used excessive force to quell protests that erupted following the May 2005 elections rigged by the ruling party in power.

Trained in law, Mitiku was the third official who followed the footsteps of Frehiwot Samuel and Wolde-Michael Meshesha, chair and deputy chair of the Inquiry Commission whose debilitating report unmasked how security forces under the command of the prime minister slaughtered 193 Ethiopians, of which 40 were teenagers, "including a boy and a girl, both 14," according to AP.

Following the Inquiry Commission's report released to the Associated Press, Ana Gomes, chief of the European Union (EU) Election Observer Mission to Ethiopia, said it was what her delegation has been saying all along, and blasted European leaders for turning a blind eye to government crimes in Ethiopia. Her denunciations were followed by U.S. Congressman Chris Smith's blistering attack of the Zenawi regime.

"Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's silence speaks volumes. The regime refuses to comment on the report, most likely because they never expected it to see the light of day. We have a responsibility to hold them accountable for their brutal actions as well as their subsequent efforts to suppress this inquiry," Smith, who is the chairman of the Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations Subcommittee and author of the "Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights Advancement Act of 2006" (H.R. 5680) - said in a report released by his office.

Congressman Smith was joined by Congressman Donald Payne, who is co-author of HR 5680, in condemning the activities of the Zenawi regime.

"For over a year, I constantly argued that the Ethiopian government used excessive force against innocent civilians. Many innocent civilians lost their lives. Parliament established a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the killings. The Commission interviewed dozens of people and spent months investigating and documenting what they saw and heard. When the time came to submit the report, parliament was adjourned a day early, denying the Commission the opportunity to present their findings. The decision was deliberate in order to force the Commission to change its findings," Mr. Payne said.

"Over the past week, a friend spoke to both the chair and deputy chairman of the Commission. They clearly stated that they can not turn their backs on all those people who risked their lives to speak to us. They said the truth must come out and Ethiopians must know what happened in June and November," Mr Payne said in a report also released by his office Friday.

Prominent human rights acivist arrested, EU employees face expulsion

ADDIS ABABA -

Yalemzewd Bekele (Photo: EU)

Police in the Ethiopia-Kenya border town of Moyale arrested Friday a prominent Ethiopian human rights activist, her Ethiopian colleague and two foreigners working for the European Union (EU) as the group tried to cross the border into Kenya, media sources said.

Political observers fear government witchhunt of opposition activists in general and those mainly affiliated to the popular Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUDP-Kinijit) in particular may continue indefinitely with the arrest of Zewdalem Bekele and her colleagues.

(A combined report of Ethio-Zagol, AP and EthioMedia)
* List of Inquiry Commission Source: Ethiopian Parliament

EU condemns Zenawi regime over expulsions

Meanwhile, the European Commission bashed the Meles Zenawi regime for violating diplomatic rules. "I am extremely worried about the way the Ethiopian government has reacted," EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel told reporters in Brussels, adding: "The basic rules of diplomacy have not been respected."

Swedish EU official Bjoern Jonsson and his Italian colleague Enrico Sborgi, members of the EU commission delegation in Addis Ababa, are on a plane expected later this afternoon in Brussels, a commission spokesman said.

The two men had been arrested by Ethiopian police Thursday for allegedly attempting to smuggle two Ethiopians wanted for serious crimes across the border to Kenya.

Sources in the capital Addis Ababa said the Italian was a civil society and human rights adviser working for the EU delegation and was expelled from Ethiopia following the arrest.

According to the EU commission, Jonsson worked in the EU delegation's financial department and Sborgi in the security division.

Commissioner Michel said he had summoned Ethiopia's ambassador to the EU for talks.

"Since yesterday I've been trying to get in contact with (Ethiopian) Prime Minister Meles Zenawi but up until now the lines was always busy when I called," Michel said.

The commissioner critizised the fact that he had not been informed at all why the two men were expelled.

"It is unacceptable to expel people without any explanation, that is not diplomatic style," Michel stressed.

"It's a delicate situation. We were not informed that there was a problem with our personnel from the Ethiopian authorities so we are very surprised to hear of their arrest," Michel's spokesman told Deutsche-Presse-Agentur dpa earlier.

State-owned Ethiopian TV reported on Thursday that police had stopped a European Commission car in the southern town of Moyale along the Kenyan border.

The two Europeans were arrested for allegedly smuggling two Ethiopians wanted by authorities across the border to Kenya.

Their action move "violates the sovereignty of the country while jeopardizing the security of the nation," Ethiopian-TV quoted a statement by Ethiopia's immigration department cited by Ethiopian TV.

International human rights watchdog Amnesty International condemned the arrest on Thursday of Ethiopian lawyer Yalemzewd Bekele, who was stopped while she was attempting to cross the border into Kenya.

Amnesty said she was arrested "in connection with the publication and distribution by the political opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy of a calendar of action for non-violent civil disobedience."

The EU is Ethiopia's largest trading partner and one of its biggest donors, but has criticized the country for violating political rights after last year's elections saw scores of opposition party members arrested by the government.

The bloc halted budgetary aid to Ethiopia in the wake of the poll and the wave of violence that followed.

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© 2006 dpa German Press Agency