Britain to press Ethiopia’s tyrant over crackdown

By Nita Bhalla

January 17, 2006

“Some spoke of how they were taken away in mass round-ups in Addis Ababa and how they suffered appalling beatings at the hands of the security forces. Witnesses spoke of seeing people tortured and killed at Dedesa camp in west Ethiopia, where about 50,000 people were detained.” – The Observer; Jan 2, 2006 (Caption and photo montage: Ethiomedia; Photo: Courtesy of Andrew Heavens)

KISUMU, Kenya (Reuters) – The government said said on Monday it would press Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to talk with jailed opposition leaders facing treason charges.

Zenawi has been feted by the West as one of a new generation of African leaders but his democratic credentials have come into question over the deaths of more than 80 people and opposition arrests after disputed May elections.

Hilary Benn, aid minister, said he was seriously concerned about the situation in the East African nation.

“Since the May elections, people have been shot down on the streets, people have been arrested and many are currently on trial,” he told Reuters.

“These problems have to be resolved by dialogue, not by locking people up and not by violence on the streets.”

Benn was in Kenya visiting British-funded projects before heading to Ethiopia on Tuesday.

The government froze a planned 20 million pound rise in aid to Ethiopia after the first wave of police shootings during a June crackdown on protests over alleged fraud in elections that returned Meles to power.

Benn said international donors had formed a united front in protest at the government crackdown on the opposition and had collectively agreed that direct budget support would not be given to Addis Ababa this year.

He added that a planned increase in aid to Ethiopia of 50 million pounds for 2006 would now not be given as direct budget support but channelled into development efforts in other ways.

The government has charged 131 people — including leaders of the opposition Coalition for United Democracy, journalists and some aid workers — with treason and insurrection.

Benn said he wanted to see that all due processes were strictly observed in court, that people had access to their lawyers, were allowed visit from their families, and got medical attention if they needed it.

“The only way forward is by dialogue with those representing all the shades of opinion in Ethiopia, both government and opposition, and you’ve got to do that in parliament in the end,” he said. “I don’t see how you can do it through the courts.”