British minister to meet with Meles, opposition

January 17, 2006

Addis Ababa – British Secretary of State for Development Hillary Benn arrived Tuesday in Addis Ababa Tuesday on a two-day working visit for talks with both the government and opposition figures at a time when top opposition leaders are on trial.

Benn was due to meet Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and representatives of the opposition, including those of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP), whose top leaders are in jail and on trial for sedition and high treason.

One hundred twenty-nine CUDP leaders and activists, including some 20 publisher and editors of private newspapers are on trial on seven charges related to disturbances in June and again in November in protests against the outcome of general elections last May 15.

Benn was in Addis Ababa in mid-June following the initial disturbances in which some 40 people were killed during street clashes between demonstrators and riot police.

At the time, Benn had informed Meles that Britain was withholding some 50 million dollars in aid to the country to show its ‘displeasure’ over the government’s handling of the protests.

Following the second round of disturbances in early November, the British Ambassador Bob Dewar, whose country at the time held the EU Presidency, had warned Ethiopia that donors would withhold aid money to the tune of 375 million dollars annually in protest against the treatment of opposition leaders and demonstrators.

The British Embassy, which confirmed Benn’s two-day visit and planned talks with Meles and representatives of the opposition, disclosed further Tuesday that Benn would also make a field trip to inspect the impact of the government’s safety net program.

The safety net program, which the British government was supporting along several other donors, aims to try to help some five million needy persons to attain food security by 2009.

Benn will hold a press conference at the British Embassy on Wednesday night at the end of his two-day working visit.

© 2006 dpa – Deutsche Presse-Agentur