Ethiopia opposition says jailed leader
ignored by West

29 January, 2010 | By Barry Malone
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    ADDIS ABABA
    (Reuters) - The West
    is ignoring a jailed
    Ethiopian opposition
    leader to keep the
    Horn of Africa stable
    despite her being this
    week named on a
    United Nations list of
    arbitrary detainees, her
    party said on Friday.

Birtukan Mideksa, leader of the Unity for Democracy and Justice party
(UDJ), was first jailed with other opposition leaders when the 2005
election turned violent. She was pardoned in 2007 but re-arrested last
year accused of violating that pardon.

"This matter is being more or less hushed," Seye Abraha, a senior UDJ
official, told reporters in Addis Ababa.

"They talk of security and stability in the absence of democracy and
respect for human rights. We are cursed by geography."

Analysts say Ethiopia has been a key U.S. ally in its fight against
terrorism.

Seye warned that repression in Ethiopia could eventually destabilise the
region.

"A country with a lot of internal problems, a country that is also in a
region that is rampant with a lot of security problems, could take down
the region (if) the political problems in this country are not corrected on
time," he said.

Birtukan had been seen by regional analysts as the country's foremost
opposition politician and critics of the government say she has been
jailed because of the threat she could pose at this year's parliamentary
elections.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has repeatedly ruled out releasing Birtukan
ahead of the May 23 polling date.
The elections will be the first since the disputed 2005 election that
ended in bloodshed when about 200 opposition protesters were killed on
the streets by police and soldiers. Seven policemen were also killed.

Meles said they were marching on state buildings to topple him.

Experts expect the Meles government to win in May and the opposition
say that is because they are harassed and jailed. The government says
the opposition are trying to discredit the poll because they have no
chance of winning.

A Human Rights Watch report last week also accused Western
countries of being silent on Ethiopia and singled out the United States
and Britain for criticism.

                                         Courtesy
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" Mideksa became the exception
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head Ethiopia's newest political party..."
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