Righting wrongs in Ethiopia

By Daniel Fikreyesus

February 17, 2006

This government is torturing Addis Ababa University students, has killed several students and other innocent people, and is jailing thousands of young men and women. Endrias Eshete is personally involved in the killing of many Addis Ababa University students.

Here is the current political situation in Ethiopia:

The ruling party of Ethiopia, the Tigrian Liberation Patriotic Front lost a democratic election in May 2005 after 14 years of horrifying leadership. International observers — the European Union and the Carter Center — pointed out that the election was full of fraudulent actions and the intimidation of the opposition party and its supporters. Once the votes were counted and the government realized that it was losing, it banned all protests and prolonged releasing official election results.

In the first week of June 2005, students of Addis Ababa University met on Sidist Kilo Campus to protest massive election fraud by the ruthless Meles Zenawi regime. The students were angry at the government, which tried to hoodwink international public opinion by creating a nonexistent rural-urban divide in which the government claimed it had lost the election in big cities in Addis Ababa but had won in rural areas. The regime falsely claimed it had the support of peasants. Actually, most students were the children of farmers from the rural areas where many have been held hostage by the regime. The student protests were supported by the Addis Ababa Taxi and Minivan Drivers Association, which boycotted government orders to go to work for one solid week.

More deaths ensued as unarmed youths who were frustrated by the regime’s violent approach to the historic May 15 elections were murdered on June 8 by Meles Zenawi’s Special Forces.

In November, the opposition boycotted the parliament and the government jailed all opposition leaders. The crackdown on the public has intensified since then, and gross human rights violations have been reported by Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch. More than 70,000 young men and women are in concentration camps around the country. The European Union and many European countries have suspended direct foreign aid to the government, which is using the money to buy arms and pay its solders.

Nevertheless, Endrias Eshete and the Ethiopian government don’t represent the poor people of Ethiopia, as they have kept Addis Ababa University closed for months now.

You can get more information at Human Rights Watch.