Ethiopia Detained Two Prominent Opposition Politicans

Ethiopia Detains Two Prominent Opposition
Politicians

30 ugust, 2011 | Peter Heinlein (VOA)
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Two prominent Ethiopian

opposition politicians have been

detained, at least one of them on

terrorism-related charges. But

opposition leaders are questioning

the charges, saying the detentions

appear politically motivated.

Bekele Gerba

Government spokesman Shimeles

Kemal says senior opposition

figure Bekele Gerba was detained

Saturday, charged with having ties

to the newly-outlawed Oromo Liberation Front, or OLF, which is
fighting for independence for Oromos, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic
group.

"Bekele Gerba was arrested, detained by the Federal Anti-Terrorist
Task Force in his alleged connection with his involvement with the
recently proscribed terrorist organization OLF," said Shimeless.

Bekele, an English teacher at Addis Ababa University, is a member
of the executive committee of Ethiopia’s main opposition coalition,
Medrek, and deputy chairman of the Oromo Federal Democratic
Movement (OFDM).

Olbana Lelisa

Medrek leaders say another prominent Oromo opposition politician,
Olbana Lelisa of the Oromo People’s Congress, was also detained.
It was not immediately clear whether Olbana was also charged with
terrorism.

Mogga Frissa, who currently serves as chairman of both Medrek
and OFDM, says both men were involved in external
communications for their parties. In that capacity, they had been
disseminating data about drought and malnutrition in remote regions
of southern Ethiopia, data that sometimes contradicts government
information.

Mogga said Bekele in particular had told of the arrests of people
who had supplied information for a recent BBC news report. That
report alleged Ethiopia has used billions of dollars in development
aid as a tool for political repression.

"Bekele was talking about the famine in Ethiopia, and people were
giving information to these people," said Mogga. "He heard some
people who gave information to the BBC have been imprisoned in
[the] south. So we suspect this is the cause."

Ethiopia’s government strongly denied the BBC report, calling it
irresponsible. A statement posted on the foreign ministry website
noted that opposition parties and the group Human Rights Watch
had made the allegations previously, and they had been found to be
groundless.

The statement argues that allegations of aid misuse are aimed at
persuading donors to cut off assistance, at a time when millions of
people are suffering from one of the worst droughts in decades.

Opposition: Detentions a "witch hunt"

Veteran opposition leader Beyene Petros was among those quoted
in the BBC report. In a telephone interview Tuesday, he said he
stands by allegations of aid abuse. Beyene called the arrests of
Bekele and Olbana part of a “witch hunt” that will have a chilling
effect on anyone who might provide embarrassing information to the
press.

"They are harassing our supporters and people down in the south,
especially one individual whom they alleged has been guiding them
to some locations where the BBC reporters obtained information,"
said Beyene. "The government has dispatched security operatives to
the area trying to dig up charges against individuals providing
information, which the government finds sensitive and wants to hide."

The latest arrests come at a time when two Ethiopian journalists
who were critical of the government are facing charges of
involvement in terrorist activities. Those arrests have raised
concerns from international human rights and press freedom groups,
who say the pretext of terrorism is being used to silence dissent.

Prosecutors, however, allege the journalists were involved in plot to
sabotage electricity and telephone lines, and say the charges have
nothing to do with their professional activities.

Courtesy