ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Ethiopia’s opposition accuses the regime of pulling out all the stops to prevent change in next year’s elections, using a familiar arsenal of arbitrary arrests and trumped-up coup charges.
Still reeling from 2005 polls in which it says it was robbed of victory by the incumbent regime, the opposition is warning that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi will do what it takes to maintain his 18-year-old stranglehold on power.
“Our position is that we want the 2010 election to be fair and free but from what we see it will be very difficult,” said Temesgen Zewde, one of the leaders of Ethiopia’s largest opposition coalitions, Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ).
UDJ’s overseer Birtukan Midekssa was re-arrested in December after having her pardon from a life sentence for treason revoked on the grounds that she denied expressing remorse.
“Harassment, imprisonments, closure of our offices are going on throughout the country. The pattern of intimidation from the ruling party is the same that we saw in 2005,” said Temesgen. “We are very much worried”.
The 2005 vote, the country’s third pluralist elections since the 1991 ouster of a Soviet-backed dictatorship, was widely condemned as having fallen short of international standards.
Some 200 people died in post-election violence after opposition complaints of widespread fraud.
Despite international condemnation of the regime’s repression of opposition protests, it has been business as usual since, with the West continuing to treat Ethiopia as a key ally in the troubled Horn of Africa region.
In recent weeks, 41 opposition and former military officers were arrested on charges of plotting to assassinate top officials in Meles’ government and sabotage public installations.
The suspects in what is dubbed the Ginbot-7 (May 15) case have appeared in court twice, but police want more time to conclude investigations.
The government alleges that the conspiracy was masterminded by exiled government opponent Berhanu Nega. But speaking from his US base last week, Berhanu said the allegations were a fabrication by a government in “panic”.
Communications Minister Bereket Simon denied that government made up the plot to stifle the opposition in the run-up to polls.
“It is not a political set-up but a criminal offense which the government has ample evidence of,” he said.
Bereket said government would ensure the 2010 elections are “free and transparent” and that everything is done to prevent the deadly post poll unrest of 2005.
Berhanu dismissed the pledge as “posturing designed to fool the international community.”
Merara Gudina, leader of another opposition party, the Union of Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) also scoffed at the government’s pledge.
“The ruling party’s statement on free and fair elections is contradicted by the reality on the ground. Reports we receive are that the same harassment of the opposition is continuing,” said Merara.
The opposition leader charged that Addis Ababa’s refusal to allow foreign election observers was further proof of the regime’s intentions.
“If we have nothing to hide, the election should be observable,” he said. “This country really needs change and the government is trying to block a peaceful regime change.”
“If you close political space, people are looking for other ways and means,” he said. “This government is increasingly dictatorial” and has “proved incapable of solving the main issues”.
May 14th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
I AM NOT GOING CAST VOTE FOR PART TIME ETHIOPIAN
MY UNTHINKING EMOTION TELLING ME NO, BUT MY RATIONAL THINKING AND HEART TELLING ME YES, THUS I DECIDED TO USE MY BRAIN THIS TIME INSTEAD OF MY IRRATIONAL EMOTION. I BEEN CONTEMPLATING TO CAST MY VOTE TO ONE OF THE OPPOSITION, BUT THESE OPPOSITION DO NOT HAVE NO REAL CONNECTION NOR GRASS ROOT CONCERN WITH THE MASS, AND MOST OF THE OPPOSITION AND ITS LEADERS LEAVE IN COMFORT ZONE IN THE WEST DRINKING WHISKY AND EATING BURGER, THE ONLY THING THEY WANT IS THE PALACE FOR PERSONAL GRATIFICATIONS, NOT THE ACTUAL JOB. BESIDE THEY ARE NOT ETHIOPIAN THEY ARE AMERICAN CITIZENS EVENTHOUGH THEY HOLD DUAL CITIZENSHIP CARD, ETHIOPIA FOR THEM IS JUST SECONDERY THING UNLIKE THE PEOPLE WHO IS LIVING IN THE COUNTRY,THEREFOR I SHOULD NOT VOTE TO A TOURIST (PART TIME ETHIOPIANS) FROM AMERICAN WHO HAPPEN TO BE ETHIOPIAN AMERICAN . THUS I MADE UP MIND MIND THIS TIME, I WILL BE CASTING VOTING TO EPRDF (WOYANES) TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE FULL TIME ETHIOPIANS.
May 14th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Temesgen and UDJ, I agree with the comment that you are posturing. What have you done and on what encounters can you charge Woyane for harassement, intimidation and narrowing down the political space? Woyane has got in to trap mainly by the defiance of our heroine Birtukan. She made them make the terrible mistake of imprisioning her and Woyane has incurred a big damage out of that. But the rest of you have been good boys, taking every care not to upset Woyane. You have been such a loyal opposition taking every pain to bow for the orders and wills of Woyane. Shame on you.
Let me remind you the 2005 election, the people who were ready to stand their ground and fight for their freedom come out in to the street and faced the Woyane’s. Hundereds were killed, thousands were injured and arrested, but they did a very good job of exposing the brutality of Woyane. They loudly spoken to the world that Woyne is living on the blood of innocent Ethiopians. They showed the world that Woyane survives with its ruthless and immoral henchmen who do not hesitate to kill mothers and children in front of their family. Woyane hasn’t still revived from the harm it incurred due to the atrocities it committed in the aftermath of the election. That is what peaceful struggle means, going out and standing for one’s freedom and pay every sacrifice required. That is what Ghandi did, the Indians were beaten, arrested, and killed but they persisted and won their freedom.
Temesgen and other UDJ members came out of their hideout to scrap votes in the coming election after such a long time of silence and inaction. That is laughable. Peaceful struggle is a process, it is in the process that people get organised and coordinated so that they can come out as strong force against any opperession. Temesgen and co are expecting the exhausted, harassed, humilated, traumatized, poor Ethiopian people to come out for election and put them in power through the ballot box.
Hell with all fake and useless oppostion parties except AEUP!
May 14th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
It is time to get rid of weyane before the upcoming weyane fake election.
Just forget the fake oppostions like Lidetu and hailu shawel of aeup that are now highly supported by weyane, instead lets all get ready to eradicate the weyane criminal gangs from ethiopia.
Time ethiopians to come together and to fight weyane seriously even better than any other time before.
No more play and endless argument with weyane. No more begging of the idiot and racist elements of weyane to respect thier own rules. It is time to show them that we are capable of getting rid of them by anymeans possible.
weyane never understand any peaceful ways, since to most weyane idiot and racist elements peaceful struggle means like begging the weyane and a sign of cowardness.
but the fact of the matter is that ethiopians have an apparent history to settle our freedom not from a vagabond racist element like weyane even italy and other big enemies are defeated by ethiopians.
time to talk less and to work hard against weyane.
time to get rid of the weyane ill mannered racist elements from ethiopia.
There is no way that weyane would have a peaceful life, while our brothers and sisters are dying, killing, and arrested by weyane, killed by hunger, and etc….there is no single way anymore…..
death to weyane
May 14th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
UDJ is tainted. Woyane has infiltrated the party both in the leadership and membership level. What is the evidence? you may ask. Well, at the moment, action speaks better than words. UDJ needs to clean up house before it breaks into pieces. It seems, UDJ’S future is bleak until Birtukan gets out of jail and breaths life into it.
FREE BIRTUKAN
May 14th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
to Sharew behailu,
You are sick!
May 14th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Sharew:You should be one of the Weyane condomes.
May 14th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
ቅጥረኛውና ባንዳው Sharew Behailu
ለመሆኑ ያንተ ዜግነት የየት አገር ነው: እዚህ ሆነህ የምትበላውና የምትጠጣው ምን ይሆን አወ ውስኪ ላታገኝ ትችላለህ በዚህ አንጣላም: ለመሆኑ ከበርገር የተሻለ ምግብ የምትበላ ሰው ሆነህ ነው: ይገርመኛል ቅጥረኛውና ባንዳው ጌታህ የምን ሀገር ፓስፖት ነበረው አሁንስ ለመሆኑ ኢትዮጵያን እየገዛ የኢትዮጵያ ፓስፖርት አለው ብለህ ታስባለህ:
ወያኔ የሚባሉት የፋሽሽት ቅጥረኞች በሙሉ የሱማሌና የሱዳን ፓስፖርት አይደለም እንዴ ያላቸው: ዛሬ በስልጣን ላይ ያሉት ሰዎች ምን ያህሉ ናቸው የካናዳ የግሊዝና የአሜሪካን ፓስፖርት ያላቸው ስም ልጥራልህ ወይስ አንተም የሶማሊያ ፓስፖርት ይዘህ ነው የምትጨነቀውና ምጥ ውስጥ ገብተህ የምትሰቃየው:
ጌቶችህና አንተ የባዕዳን አገር ፓስፖርት ይዛችሁ ኢትዮጵያን ለማፍረስ ትንቀሳቀሱ የነበረው ከዘርም ወርቅ ዘር መርጣችሁ እናቴ የመኒ ናት አባቴ ሱዳናዊ ነው እያላችሁ አገር ለማፍረስና ታሪክ ለማጥፋት የሀገሪቱን ሀብት ለመዝረፍና ዳር ድንበርን ለማፈራረስ ትሯሯጡ እንደነበር አስበው: ታዲያ የአሜሪካን ዜግነት ይዘው ህዝባችን ተበደለ ሀገራችን በባንዳዎች ፈረሰች የሀገራችንን አንጡራ ሀብት ወደባዕዳን ሀገር አሸሹት ለህዝባችን እንድረስለት በማለት ከግል ጥቅማቸው ለሀገራቸው ቢቆረቆሩ ጥፋቱ እምኑ ላይ ነው:አንተ እዚህ ሆነ እነሱን የምትቃወምና ወያኔን የምትደግፍ ከሆነ ምን አባትህ ሆነህ ነው እዚህ የምትኖረው: አናይህም ገብተህ ሆት ዶግም ሆነ ውስኪውን ስታንቆረቁረው አናይም ቀጣፊ ባንዳ:;
ምንም በል ምን ቀኑ ደርሷል ምርጫም በለው ስጦታ ፈንቅለ መንግስትም በለው መቀማት ስልጣንን ልታጡአት አፋፍ ላይ ደርሳለች: የሚገርመኝ ምን ተወራ ምን ተባለ በማለት እንቅልፍ አጥታችሁ ሌትና ቀን የምታምጡ ወያኔዎች የት አባታችሁ ትገቡ ይሆን አገራችሁንና ህዝባችሁን ለጥቅም ብላችሁ የሸጣችሁ ሆዳሞች ጉድ ፈላ የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ ከዳር እስከዳር እየተንቀሳቀሰ ነው በምንም ዓይነት እናንተን ከማጥፋት ወደኋላ የሚልበት እርህራሄም ሆነ ወገናዊነት አይሰማውም ደሙን ጠጥታችሁ ስጋውን በልታችሁ አጥንቱን ቆርጥማችኋል: ምህረት ወይም ድርድር ወይም ምርጫ የሚባል ነገር የለም ምርጫ ከተባለ እናንተን ማጥፋት ወይም ላለማጥፋት እንጅ የስልጣን ምርጫ የሚባል ነገር አይኖርም ጅብና አህያ ባንድ ቤት ለመኖር የሚስማሙበት አገር የለም ምርጫን አትፈልጉትም ሰላም እንቅልፍ ይነሳችኋል; ታዲያ እንዴት ብሎ እናንተን በሰላምና በምርጫ ማነጋገር ይቻላል::
መለሰ ሰይጣዊው በረከት ዲያቢሎስ ስዩም ተላላኪው የምን ሀገር ፓስፖርት እስከዛሬ እንዳላቸው ታውቃለህ? ፓስፖርት የሌላቸው ከርከሮው አባ ዱላና በልቶ የማይጠግበው አዲሱ ነገሰ እንዲሁም የመለሰ ጠባቂ ሳሞራ እንደምሳሌ ላቅርብልህ ከኔ የበለጠ አንተ የምታውቃቸው ይመስለኛል:
አንተ ባንዳ ልምከርህ አፍህን ሰብስብ አንተ መረጥክ አልመረጥክ የምትፈጥረው ነገር የለም አንተ እዚህ ሆነ መምረጥ ከቻልክ ሌሎቹ ለመምረጥና ለሀገራቸው ለመታገልም ሆነ ወያኔን አልመርጥም ለማለት የማይችሉት ለምንድን ነው: ልዩነታችሁ አንተ ቅጥረኛና ባንዳ መሆንህ ሲሆን እነሱ የህዝብና የወገን ፍቅር ያላቸው እናት ኢትዮጵያን ሀገራቸውን የሚወዱ ከጥቅምና ከሆዳምነት ነጻ የሆኑ እውነተኛ የሀገር ልጆች መሆናቸው ነው: አንተ ግን ሆድህ ከሞላ እንደጋማ ከብት ለዛሬ ብቻ የምታስብ ስግብግብ የበላህበትን ወጭት ሰባሪ የጠባኸውን ጡት ነካሽ መሆንህ ነው::በናትህም ሆነ በአባትህ እንደጌታህ ባንዳ የባንዳ ልጅ ካፈጣጠርህ በሀጢአትና በርግማ የተፈጠርክ እርጉም መሆንህን አትርሳ::እመነኝ እንዳንተ ያሉ ብዙ ናቸው በመካከላችን ያላችሁት ወየው ቀኑ የጎደለ ዕለት በቸር ይግጠመን::
May 14th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Mr. Sharew raised very interesting question, if the opposition by the chance of magic miracle get elected, will they withdraw their american citizenship and become full time Ethiopian, or will they still hold their american citizenship or european citizenship while serving as leader our our belovit it nation ?
May 14th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Sharew Behailu ! are you part time or full time ethiopian? which one are you? or are you someone who is so confused to know what the issues are and who is fighting for the people? Just by reading what you wrote I can guess what kind of person you are. I don’t expect much from your kind.
May 14th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Sharew,
You banda, Please shut your stinking mouth! We Ethiopian are tired of you Hodams! Air head!
God Bless Ethiopia & Ginbot 7
May 14th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
The beast had been frightening citizens and stinged them with its venom since it came out of the wild.Guns and bullets don’t vote;people vote.The tplfwoyane is wrigling on the same ground it had been wounded with the mighty voice of Ethiopians on that election day, in year 2005;it lost the election to Ethiopians and failed on the ground lifeless;but then it had regained transient life from the blood it drank from its victims;now, still licking its wounds and being frightening by same fate it had encountered in that unforgetable time would definitely happen,what else would this beast do other than showing its desperation in vain.
May 15th, 2009 at 2:57 am
The farce weyanne elections are meant ro recrown the ethno-fascist Meles Zenawi and give hime legitimacy to misrule and plunder the country. Thus, the right thing to do for the genuine opposition is to boycott his sham elections. Ethiopians know that some in the opposition are using their seats in the weyanne parliament as a means of their livelihood and enriching themselves. The call for boycotting should include all the weyanne institutions inluding their business empires.
May 15th, 2009 at 3:40 am
በቅድሚያ መለስ ቃውሳዊ ዜግነቱ ምንድን ሆነና ነው?ግማሽ ለግማሽ የኢትዮጵያውያን ባለስልጣናት ዜግነታቸው ምንድን ነው? ሃምበርገርስ የምግቦች ሁሉ ምርጥ ነውን?አይይይ ጭንቅላት የዝንብ ቀፎ ብዬሃለሁኝ ሻረው ወይንም ተጋደልቲ አታክልቲ ናይ መክዋንንቲ ያፋጫል ባልና ሚስቲ
May 15th, 2009 at 6:03 am
Abebe! You have an insight what UDJP, with Ato Temesgene as loyalist Kinijit parliamentarian, and UDJP formed in collaboration of dissident UDJP to work in collaboration with TPLF with a limited political space as it was prior to 2005. That has even become dismal in the local election. Even after that and having broken away from Kinijit/AEUP has recently formed a coalition with loyalist and ethnic-based parties, and Tigrai Harena into what is known as Medrek with Gebru Asrat as Chairman. This set up is counterpat to TPLF/eprdf, with loyalist oppsition parties and UDJP to serve as teletafi parties: Medrek/UDJP+.
On the armed struggle, Ginbot 7 is a prelude for confrontation between EPLF supported freedom fighters and TPLF/eprdf regime. Using that confrontation as a prext, TPLF is using a plot by Ginbot 7 to continue to purge officials and military personel from the Amahara ethnic group, of ANDM its own teletafi party let alone adminstering the Amahara “Kilil” by it own ethnic cadres, and reducing the education standard to 10th grade level, and denying employment unless they become TPLF/eprdf members.
May 15th, 2009 at 7:02 am
Aha,
Though it didn’t come out clearly I can see that there are two groups in UDJP , the opportunist who appear to be compromiser and those who realy stand for freedom and democracy (Birtukan is the prominent). I think now the opportunist such as Temesgen and others seem to have dominated everything in UDJP. They are deliberately confusing peaceful struggle with inaction and evasion. But their real motive is playing the political game safe out of their fear and lack of real committment.
They haven’t done any signficant effort to organise the people and to listen to its grievance. Particularly the MP’s haven’t done anything even to voice out the suffering of the people to speak against all kinds of oppression and intimidation Woyane has been doing in the past few years. How could they expect such depressed and suppressed people will come out and freely vote for them? This is very rediculous.
As for Arena or Siye and Gebru, I don’t think they have any signficantly different political agenda from Woyane. I think its just personal feud which is the main motive behind their political activity. They have controlled Medrek, so I don’t expect any meaningful change in Ethiopian politics from Medrek.
I want to see AEUP, though they have been also quiet and inactive, I appreciate their effort to raise the 8 preconditions for free and fair election.
May 15th, 2009 at 7:57 am
For it to function and struggle as a genuine opposition party, the UDJP should cleanse itself of pro-weyanne persons like ato Temesgen Zewdie and his followers sitting in the weyanne parliament. It is known that the UDJP was desperate and wanted to include as many persons to patch up itself as a viable opposition party. But the inclusion of ato Temesgen is more of a liability to the party and is discrediting and undermining the party. This man is interested only in taking part in the shame elections of the ethno-fascsists and getting a seat to secure his economic interests.
The other apparently soft or pro-weyanne and waveing person holding a key position in the party is Dr. Yacob Hailemariam. In the absence of strong and anti-fascstic figures within its leadership, the UDJP will be like the parties of professors Beyene, Merera, ato Bulcha and ato Lidetu who have been the loyal servants of ethno-fascism in Ethiopia.
Support genbot7 and intensify the struggle against ethno-fascism in Ethiopia.
May 15th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
I ASSUME TO SPONSOR A FREE AND FAIR ELECTION ,FIRST AND FORMOST WE MUST HAVE A LEGITMATE ,FAIRLY AND DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED REGIME .DOES THE T.P.L.F REGIME FULFIL THIS CRITERIA?? SOUNDINGLY AND LOUDLY —NO— SO WHY DO WE EXPECT FROM TYRRANICAL UNELECTED AND DICTATORIAL REGIME A DEMOCRATIC PROCESS ??? LETS BE REAL TO OUR SELVES AND START TO CALL A SPADE A SPADE –_TPLF(Tigrean People Libration Front) is Representing and advocating ONE and ONLY ONE Ethnic’s of Ethiopia ,TIGRAI . to Expect TPLF to Represnt and fairly administer the Whole Ethiopia with fair and balanced rule is “yewahinet ” —Any Ethnically or Racially organized groups represnt the said groups which does not include others .for Example K.K.K stands for WHITE’S ONLY ,Colored people MUST not Expect K.K.Kto stand for their cause as well . Although that of TPLF (Tigrean people Libration front) Also intended to “Librate Tigrean “not ALL ETHIOPIANS -So lets be fair to TPLF inner Circles and their followers and lests NOT DEMAND WHAT THEY ARE NOT INTENDED TO ACCOMPLISH ,FAIR is FAIR
May 15th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Ms. Wineshit,
The problem started when in amara era, for the last 100+ years THE AMHARA DOMINATED GOVERNMENTS created all the tribalism and discrimination mess, when they served only the amhara tribes, while oppressing,blackmailing and systematically ethnocleansing massgenocided Oromos,Tigreans,Eritreans and otyher non amhara Ethiopians.
May 15th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Debbaba,
እስይ: እንካን, ምን ይጠበስ? ባንተ ቤት ፖለቲካ መሥራትህ ነው:: ወገኛ!!!!!!!!!
May 15th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
All these so called oppostion political parties who intend to participate in the next election dont`t seem to have learned the evil they are dealing with. They still havn`t understood that they going to give Meles the legtimacy to rule the coming years and prolong the sufferings of Ethiopian people.
The best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour; and Melese( The Evil) past behaviour gives us nothing much to support optimism that he will suddenly exhibit good behaviour.
May 15th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
-point conditions as part of the peaceful struggle may not not cut it in of itself, unlessive there there is massive support for the the ongoing boycott of goods and services of TPLF and TPLF affiliated enterprizes via www.ethiopiawinet.net.