Ethiopian opposition MPs protest against new Addis mayor

Reuters

May 9, 2006

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Members of the main opposition stormed out of parliament on Tuesday in protest against a decision preventing the party from running Ethiopia’s capital in spite of its victory in city elections last year.

Sixty parliamentarians from the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) walked out after Prime Minister Meles Zenawi decided to appoint an interim mayor to run Addis Ababa for the next year.

“The appointment of a provisional administration indicates that the rights of the people of the city have been snatched from them by the ruling party,” CUD parliamentary whip Temesgen Zwedie said. “This is a terrible defeat for democracy.”

The CUD captured all the Addis city council seats in last year’s election in a symbolically powerful victory.

Both council and parliamentary polls were held on May 15 last year and the opposition made huge gains despite losing overall to Meles’ ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).

The arrest and treason trial of leaders of the CUD has prevented many from taking their seats in Addis, delaying the appointment of a mayor.

“We have been asking the government to seek a political solution and free our leaders in jail so that the people of the city would be governed by the people they voted for,” Temesgen told reporters.

The trial of 75 CUD leaders, civil society activists and journalists is in progress in Kaliti, 20 km (13 miles) east of Addis Ababa.

Their arrest and prosecution followed the deaths of at least 80 people in clashes between protesters and security forces over election results that the opposition said were rigged.

The arrests have tarnished Meles’ once-bright democratic credentials and prompted donors to halt direct budgetary aid to the Horn of Africa nation.

Temesgen said the walk-out was symbolic and that the MPs would return to their seats.

Meles said earlier that CUD members elected to Addis Ababa council could not constitute a quorum to take over the administration by April 18 in accordance with the decision of parliament.

“Under the circumstances, there was no option but to appoint a provisional administration which would administer the city for one year,” he said.

Meles proposed Berhanu Deressa, an experienced administrator and former World Bank official to serve as mayor.

The mayor and his cabinet of nine technocrats were elected by 300 for, 54 against with eight abstentions.

Opposition accused of emulating E. Europe

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopian opposition leaders charged with plotting to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi were accused on Monday of emulating east European pro-democracy demonstrators.

In a trial that has outraged rights groups, 75 opposition leaders, journalists and civil society activists stand accused of treason, inciting violence and attempting to commit genocide.

“The evidence will show how the opposition leaders were haranguing the public to emulate the Ukrainian and Georgian revolution and bring down the constitutional government in Ethiopia,” lead prosecutor Shimeles Kemal said.

The 75 were charged in December after two separate outbreaks of violence in which at least 80 people were killed in clashes between protesters and security forces over results from an election last May that the opposition say were rigged.

The post-election crackdown tarnished Meles’ democratic credentials and prompted donors, including Britain and the European Union, to halt direct budgetary aid to sub-Saharan Africa’s second most populous nation.

The prosecution opened its case on Monday in a hall converted into a tribunal in Kaliti, 13 miles (20 km) north of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.

Prosecutors began by showing videos — including five hours of two news conferences by the Coalition for Unity and Democracy

— which they said proved the opposition’ss illegal intentions.

“The evidence will show how leaders of the opposition were attempting to subvert the public so that it would not have confidence in the May 15, 2005, parliamentary election”, Shimeles said.

The defendants have refused to enter pleas in what is Ethiopia’s biggest court case since the genocide trial against former Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam and henchmen began 14 years ago.

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