Hailu Shawel seeks immediate medical help

EthioMedia

February 15, 2006

Engineer Hailu Shawel

ADDIS ABABA – Engineer Hailu Shawel, the jailed president of Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (Kinijit), has suffered a retinal detachement in his left eye, with loss of vision being imminent unless reversed by an emergency medical intervention, a source told Ethiomedia early Thursday.

“Unless the detached retina is surgically re-attached in the shortest time possible, the condition could result in a permanent loss of vision in the affected eye,” the source said.

The source also stressed that it was imperative Ethiopians call on Western governments, US senators and members of the U.S. Congress as well as all humanitarian organizations to pressure the Government of Meles Zenawi to allow the prominent Ethiopian opposition leader to leave his country for medical help immediately. Engineer Hailu was being treated at Police Hospital in Addis, whose physicians said time was of the essence in the proper treatment overseas.

The Kinijit leader was undergoing medical treatment in the United States last October when his stay was disrupted by a sudden return back home for an emergency meeting of his party in Addis Ababa. Subsequently, he and most of the Kinijit leaders, independent journalists, trade union leaders were arrested during a nationwide crackdown to quash public protests in connection with the fraudulent May 2005 elections.