Africa, Development & Aid, Headlines, Human Rights

POLITICS-ETHIOPIA: Upcoming Poll a “Hollow Exercise” – Rights Group

Joyce Mulama

NAIROBI, May 11 2005 (IPS) - With just days to go before parliamentary elections in Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch has alleged widespread repression in the country’s central Oromia region. This area is populated by members of the Oromo ethnic group, which accounts for about a third of the population.

The claim is made in a 44-page report entitled ‘Suppressing Dissent: Human Rights Abuses and Political Repression in Ethiopia’s Oromia Region’, that was launched Tuesday (May 10).

Human Rights Watch (HRW) claims the repression is aimed at instilling fear amongst voters with a view to influencing the outcome of the May 15 poll – the country’s third multi-party election. This, says the group, continues a decade-long tendency of government “to solidify its grip on power by punishing dissenters and intimidating others into silence”.

‘Suppressing Dissent’ contains testimony of torture, detention without trial and harassment of government critics and others – activities that officials typically carry out under the guise of combating the rebel Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).

Since 1992, the OLF has staged what HRW terms an “ineffectual armed struggle” in Oromia. Although the group formed part of the transitional government that was set up to rule Ethiopia after the fall of dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991, it is now demanding self-determination for Oromia – and a larger portion of national resources for the region.

HRW, a non-governmental group based in New York, also voiced concern over the establishment of organisations in rural areas that are supposedly intended to assist with development.

According to the report, these structures – called “garee”, meaning “group” in the Oromo language – have embarked on projects such as the digging of latrines and road repairs. However, participation in the work of the garee does not appear to be strictly voluntary, even through forced labour is illegal in Ethiopia.

More seriously, HRW notes that the garee are also used to spy on citizens, the relatively small size of these groups allowing officials to keep a close eye on members.

“Since last September, the government has been organising communities in groups of 30 households.for purposes of gathering information about them, controlling their movements and monitoring any meetings they may be holding,” Christopher Albin-Lackey, a HRW researcher, told journalists in Kenya’s capital of Nairobi, Tuesday.

In addition, he noted that the garee are used to force residents to attend so-called community meetings which are effectively political rallies for the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), in power since 1991.

Those who fail to attend are fined. In one case, the refusal to attend by members of a village called Tokke reportedly led to water being cut off to the entire settlement for about a day, in February.

“These rallies are held as often as twice per week. Certainly, these tricks are being used as a tool by the government to maintain political control in the countryside,” said Albin-Lackey.

Similarly, teachers are put under pressure to monitor their students for any sign of pro-OLF activity – this in the wake of anti-government protests by students.

“They (police) told me that I had gone to school not for education but to do politics,” said a 19-year-old woman quoted in the report. She was detained in August 2004.

“They forced me to take off my clothes and I was naked except for my underwear when they started kicking me.They put a pistol in my mouth and said that they would kill me.”

The EPRDF has refuted the claims made by Human Rights Watch.

“This government has done a lot, especially on the democratisation process,” Ajebe Ligaba, deputy head of the Ethiopian embassy in Nairobi, told IPS.

“There is a lot of democratic space and people can meet and talk politics as they wish, both in the urban and rural areas, without being victimised.”

About 35 parties are to contest Sunday’s election, which will see 25 million of Ethiopia’s 74-million-strong population go to the polls. Most of these parties form part of three coalitions – the EPRDF, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (the main opposition grouping) and the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces.

Towards the end of last month, opposition groups accused government of murdering and jailing their supporters, hindering rallies and a variety of other offences – charges that the minister of information, Bereket Simon, was quoted as rejecting.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, in his turn, has alleged that opposition parties are playing on ethnic divisions to gain mileage in their campaigns, and warned that the strategy could result in catastrophe. Zenawi is a member of the minority Tigray group.

Local and international observers will be on hand to monitor the poll, including 150 from the European Union, (although six observers from the United States were expelled from Ethiopia in March, apparently because their work permits were not in order).

However, Human Rights Watch believes that a climate of fear and distrust has been created in Ethiopia which casts a shadow over the ultimate legitimacy of the poll.

“The outcome of the elections is in no doubt.For many people, the election may just be a hollow exercise,” said Albin-Lackey.