Tue Nov 3, 2009 5:06am GMT
* Parties say arrests are politically motivated
* One party says seven members murdered in a year
* Government says it will investigate names
By Barry Malone
ADDIS ABABA, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Ethiopian opposition parties say nearly 450 of their members have been jailed to stop them running as candidates in national elections in May next year.
Documents given to Reuters by four opposition parties listed the prisoners' names, the dates on which they were arrested and the jails in which they were being held.
One party, the All Ethiopia Unity Organisation (AEUO), has recorded seven murders of members over the last 12 months that it says were politically motivated.
"These jailings are to stop our members running in elections," Gizachew Shiferaw, deputy leader of the Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party, told Reuters. "It has become a strategy for the ruling party. Ethiopia is a one-party state."
Most analysts say the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) will easily win the 2010 elections -- but opposition parties say that is because government harassment will stop their members contesting.
The authorities strongly deny the claims and say only criminals have been arrested.
"Nobody has been imprisoned or killed for political activity, to my knowledge," Bereket Simon, the Ethiopian government's head of information, told Reuters, adding that the authorities would further investigate the documented names.
"Our preliminary investigation indicates that these people are engaged in real crime," he said. "We can't release criminals because they are opposition members."
NO CHANCE OF WINNING
Bereket said the opposition was trying to discredit the electoral process because they realised they had no chance of winning in 2010. This week, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and three opposition parties agreed a set of rules for the elections.
Police and soldiers shot dead about 200 protesters after the opposition accused the government of rigging elections in 2005.
Along with the AEUO and the UDJ, the other two parties who gave Reuters lists of detainees were the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) and the Oromo Peoples' Congress, who have been refused permission to form an alliance.
Most of those listed are ethnic Oromos who, despite being Ethiopia's largest group, have not held power in modern times.
Meles comes from the Tigryan ethnic group, who make up only 6 percent of the population but dominate the political elite.
Another three parties told Reuters members were regularly arrested and held briefly to scare them off registering for the polls. Those parties have not yet begun documenting the cases.
Photographs seen by Reuters show vandalised buildings in small towns outside the capital Addis Ababa that the opposition says are their regional offices.
Ethiopia has never had a peaceful transition of power. Meles took over in 1991 after a rebel group led by him and others overthrew a communist regime. (Editing by Daniel Wallis)
C Thomson Reuters 2009
FACTBOX-Who are the Ethiopian opposition?
Tue Nov 3, 2009 5:06am GMT
Nov 3 (Reuters) - Ethiopian opposition parties say nearly 450 members have
been jailed to stop them standing as candidates in national elections in May
next year. The government says they are trying to discredit a poll they have
no chance of winning.
Here are some key facts about the opposition in Ethiopia:
* Eight parties are trying to register as a coalition to fight the elections
under the name Medrek -- the Forum -- while retaining their own structures
and leadership.
Some Ethiopians worry Medrek is united only in its opposition to the
government and there are too many policy differences among its leaders to
govern effectively.
* Parties outside the Medrek coalition include the All Ethiopia Unity
Organisation and the Ethiopian Democratic Party. Although both are
represented in parliament, they have been less active in campaigning than
Medrek so far.
* Several ethnicity-based rebel groups operate in the vast country, notably
the Ogaden National Liberation Front and the Oromo Liberation Front.
Opposition parties say the rebels are used as an excuse to arrest
politicians.
* A group of parties called the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) led
the opposition during the last national elections in 2005. When the
government declared victory, they said the result was fixed and street
protests broke out in Addis Ababa.
* Security forces killed about 200 protesters who Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi said were trying to overthrow his government. CUD leaders were jailed
after being accused of inciting the violence.
* The opposition leaders were pardoned in 2007 but the CUD broke up soon
afterwards. One of its leaders, Birtukan Mideksa, formed the Unity for
Democracy and Justice party (now part of Medrek), but was sent back to
prison after the government said she had violated the terms of the pardon.
* Another CUD alumnus, Berhanu Nega, went to the United States and formed an
opposition group, May 15th, named after the date of the 2005 poll. He was
convicted in absentia in August this year of plotting a coup with former and
serving military officers.
* Three opposition parties have agreed a code of conduct with the ruling
Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), but Medrek
refused to participate in the talks, demanding bi-lateral negotiations on
issues it said were left out, including reform of Ethiopia's electoral
board.
* Meles has dismissed the opposition as "former Mengistu loyalists", a
reference to former communist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam whom a rebel
group led by Meles and others overthrew in 1991 after a 17-year civil war.
* Medrek has three prominent ruling party defectors in its ranks -- former
President Negaso Gidada, former Defence Minister Seye Abraha and former
regional President Gebru Asrat. Meles has called them "a sprinkling of new
spices" for the opposition. (Reporting by Barry Malone; Editing by Daniel
Wallis)
C Thomson Reuters 2009
