Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa 12 January 2010– Ethiopian election officials are predicting more than 20 million voters will register for parliamentary elections in May. The process is now underway for both candidates and voters in all areas except the troubled Somali region. But opposition parties are complaining their supporters are being harassed, intimidated, and in some cases jailed.
Qinati Abdisa, 50, a regional leader of Ethiopia’s Oromo Federal Democratic Movement, was arrested at his home this month on a weapons possession charge. He was convicted and sentenced to three months in jail. His family says the weapon was planted by security agents who searched their house.
OFDM chairman Bulcha Demeksa charges Qinati’s arrest was timed to prevent him from registering as a candidate for parliament. “The period of registration will end in about three weeks. If you are not registered, you cannot campaign. If you don’t campaign, you don’t get elected. So Qinati Abdisa is finished as far as the election is concerned, unless the Supreme Court of Oromia reverses their decision,” he said.
Oromos are the largest of Ethiopia’s many ethnic groups. They make up about 40 percent of the population. But Oromia is also home to a nationalist insurgent group, the Oromo Liberation Front. Bulcha says he is receiving reports that police are searching the homes of other opposition figures and finding documents linking them to the OLF.
“I know in other cases, they have taken documents and left them in their houses and have gone in and taken it and charged them with association with OLF. I know this. I’ve seen cases where it is absolutely true,” he said.
Opposition leaders in the northern Tigray region say their supporters are also being intimidated in advance of the elections. A group of Tigrayan farmers were detained last month when they traveled to Addis Ababa to tell international rights groups the government was denying them food aid for political reasons.
Gebru Asrat, leader of the opposition Arena Tigray party, says security forces accused the farmers of betraying the country, and threatened them with long prison terms for talking to foreigners. “Seven people were arrested. They came to plead to the international community about their complaints, but the security caught them and for five days and sent them back to Tigray. It is the [party] cadres and the security who are controlling the situation there. The courts have no authority. It is the intelligence and security people who have the power,” he said.
Government officials flatly deny the charges, calling them an attempt to undermine the election. In a telephone interview, Ethiopia’s National Electoral Board spokesman Mohammed Abdurahman challenged the opposition to provide evidence to back up their allegations.”We don’t believe in this country people are arrested for their political views, so they have the right, if somebody is arrested because of being a member of political party, then the board would solve that problem, but it should be supported with evidence, because somebody arrested for some criminal, committing a crime, if he’s associated with being a member of some party, that would not be right, acceptable,” he said.
There has been no independent confirmation of any of the charges or counter charges. An American journalist who traveled to Tigray this month to verify the allegations about the use of food aid for political purposes was detained by security agents for two days and threatened with deportation. His case is pending.
January 13th, 2010 at 9:43 am
1.The traitor of Oromo Ato Koba Midekessa and his TPLF horse oranization (OPDO) are exposing oromo’s who want to bring change for their people.
2. The late popular leader Kehedetu is attacking other opposition groups more than TPLF does.
Time will come all the enemy of Ethiopians will fall like a snow. And they will melt, perish forever but Ethiopia and Ethiopians will see the light of freedom.
January 13th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
ወየ ጉድ
January 13th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Is this what Hailu Shawel called a Democractic election in various medias?
Is this what Hailu Shawel echo verbal diaspora supporters are endorsing the weyane fake election day in and day out?
Is this what Weyane cadres are trying to cover and screaming about a fake democracy and a fake fair election?
If the weyane is brutual on this fake election…think what weyane will do if there is a little more space than now to carry out election…or think if there are many other people want to participate in the election what weyane will do……
Lets all stop talking about weyane and start fighting weyane practically by supporting best oppostions using money, labor, time, and other resources…..
Lets not only limited to throw our anger against weyane only verbally…lets show the weyanes that we can also defeat them….
January 13th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
This is very bad. The Government denies everything. According to the government, Ethiopia is the most democratic country in the world. But this is not the case. Meles is a pathological lier and so are his officias.
We have to intensify the struggle. The present government should be replaced by another more patriotic and democratic government.
January 14th, 2010 at 3:54 am
የወያነ ዋናው አላማው ተወዳዳሪ እንዳይኖረው ታላቅ ጥረት ቢያደርግም የገጠመው ችግር መውጣጫ አለማግኘቱ የወሰደው እርምጃ እያሳሰበው በመሆኑ መአድ,ኢደፓ የምርጫው አጨብጫቢዎች ለማድረግ ያለመው ተሳክቶለታል ነገር ግን የኢትዮጵያውያንን ፍላጎትና ዝግጅት በፍጹም አልገባውም አይገባውም ምክንያቱም የሚታየው ሁሉ የጠመንጃ ጉልብት የሚያሸንፍ ሓይል እንዳለ ያለውንም ጉልበት የሚሰብር የለም የሚል ትምክሕት አሁንም አልለቀቀውም እንግዲህ የተቃዋሚው ጎራ በተቻለው አባላቱን ማጠናከር ለምርጫው ተጠናክሮ ያለስጋት መሰናዶ ማድረግ እኛም በውጭያለነው ለምርጫው አስፈላጊውን መሰንዶ ማድረግ ይጠበቅብናል የገንዘቡንም አቅም በተቻለን የምርጫውን የመሬት ስፍፋት የተመራጮች ቁጥር የቆሳቁስ ይዞት ማመቻቸት ሓላፊነት አለብን
January 14th, 2010 at 10:07 am
The TPLF is basically an ethnical fascist organization whose prime goal is the sustenance of a racist system it has imposed on Ethiopians. Fair and free elections can not be expected from fascism and Meles will use all the means to ensure Tigrayan hegemony and supreamcy in the country. He is conducting periodic farce elections to position himself as the biggest recipient of western aid in black Africa. Many Ethiopians are also cooperating with him by forming ineffective opposition groups whose presence in the country is of no use than serving as a showcase for the ethnical fascist. It is better for these opposition groups to disband and stop being used as showcases by taking part in the ethnical fascist`s sham elections. The popular movement Ginbot7 has shown the right way to remove the ethnical fascists from power and usher the country into an era of democracy and freedom.
Boycot the sham elections of the ethnical fascists and rally behind the popular movement Ginbot7.
January 15th, 2010 at 11:57 am
Bullshit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 20th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
ቅንነት የሌለው ሁልጊዜ መውደቂያው ሲደርስ መላ መፍጠር ውደዱኝ ማለት ይፈልጋል መጠላቱን በማወቁ ይወደዳሉ ያላቸውን እንደሱ የተተፉትን በድርጎ በስልጣን እርካን ቦታ ይኖርሓል ብሎ በማታለል በጉቦ ይገዛቸዋል ነገርግን ተጠልተው ስለሆኑ ጨርሰው ያስጠሉታል
እውነትን ለማጉበጥ
አስመስሎ መሮጥ
በትእቢት በጎጥ
በዘርም መለጠጥ
ትንብት ብሎ ቅዠት
መሪ ብሎ ቅጣት
ወያነ የሚመራው ስራዓት
ኢትዮጵያን ለማጥፋት
በዘር ሲያበጣብጥ
የሌለውን ሲያምጥ
የትላንትናው ብልጥ
መያዥያ የለው ቅጥ
አየነው ሲያላግጥ
አጉል መቀባዠር
ተቆርቓሪን ማጎር
እውነተኛን ማሰር
ድንቄም አስትተዳደር
ሆዳም ተሰብስቦ
በውሸት ተክቦ
ሙስናው አንግቦ
አሸባሪ ስራዓት
የቀጣፊው ብዛት
ቀሚ ባደባባይ
በጠራራ ጸሐይ
ሰሚ ያጥኣ ዋይዋይ