Berhanu Nega of CUD opposition

Addis Ababa – Ethiopian opposition has accused Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government of rampant human rights abuses and of failing to uphold the rule of law ahead of election in the impoverished Horn of Africa nation.

The Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), an umbrella group of opposition parties, late on Friday denounced a string of abuses by the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) against its supporters.

The charge came a day after Zenawi accused the opposition of fomenting ethnic hatred ahead of the May 15 general elections.

“The ruling party is illegally arresting, capturing and killing people whom it suspects of supporting the opposition,” said CUD spokesperson Ledtu Ayalew in a live televised address.

“It is violating the people’s rights, which it claims to be advocating,” he added.

“In the days of the EPRDF’s rule (since 1991), 25 ethnic clashes have taken place. These are more than what happened during the regimes of emperor (Haile Selassie) and the military junta (Mengistu Haile Mariam),” Ledtu said.

Late on Thursday, the prime minister accused the CUD of fomenting ethnic hatred and likened it to the Rwandan Interahamwe militia widely blamed for the country’s 1994 genocide that killed about 800,000 people.

“It is a shame to call us or to liken us to the Interahamwe,” said Berhanu Nega, a CUD official, in the televised speech.

“It is the government that was in power that promoted the hatred policy. Therefore when EPRDF raises this, it makes us think what the ruling party is having in mind,” he added.

CUD also accused the ruling party of failing to alleviate abject poverty and create employment, but “instead it is creating millions of new impoverished citizens.”

It also accused the government of displacing residents by demolishing their house in the name of development.

The barrage of accusation between the rival parties comes only days before next week’s elections, the country’s third since Meles’ EPRDF came to power in 1991 and the first to be held with international observers.

There are 1 845 candidates representing 36 political parties and independents running for the 480 seats up for grabs in the 547-member federal parliament, only 14 of which are held by the opposition.