Shops re-open as Ethiopia threatens strikers

Shops re-open as Ethiopia threatens strikers
08 Nov 2005 10:30:02 GMTSource: ReutersBy David Mageria and Tsegaye Tadesse
ADDIS ABABA, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Shops re-opened and private minibuses returned to the streets of the Ethiopian capital on Tuesday after the government threatened to cancel licences of residents heeding an opposition call for a strike.
Many small traders resumed business in the Mercato market area where police last week confronted stone-throwing protesters in clashes that killed more than 40 people.
The violence has fuelled fears for stability in the Horn of Africa's dominant power and prompted Western donors to urge both the government and opposition to show restraint.
The main opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) said on Monday its members were complying with a call for a week-long strike over the recent killings and a May poll it says was manipulated to keep Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in power.
But by early Tuesday, blue minibuses and taxis sped down the streets of Addis Ababa for the first time since the security crackdown, as local government threatened action against striking citizens, according to reports by state-owned media.
"The government has the responsibility to ensure the public is served," Information Minister Berhan Hailu told Reuters. "There is no problem anymore so (businesses) do not have a reason to stop working."
Traders in Mercato said the authorities had posted notices warning shopkeepers their licences would be revoked if businesses remained closed. Wary of more violence, many opened their shop doors and shutters half way.
The state-owned Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) also said the government had published the names or photographs of 32 people -- mainly journalists from the private media and civil society activists -- it says it wants to arrest because of the violence.
U.S. DEPLORES VIOLENCE
The list included Kifle Mulat, head of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association and Abayneh Berhanu, a senior CUD leader.
"The Federal Police called on the public for the usual cooperation in providing tip offs to nearby police station as to whereabouts of the suspects," the ENA added.
The government on Monday brought to court 24 top opposition leaders, civil society activists and journalists it accuses of instigating violence by being mouthpieces for the opposition.
The court remanded them in police custody for another 14 days to allow prosecutors to complete investigations.
Last week's killings -- 42 in Addis Ababa and four elsewhere in rural Ethiopia -- followed the deaths of 36 people in June in similar protests over the election.
Meles, once hailed by the West as part of a "new generation" of African leaders but now under pressure over his democratic credentials, has ordered an inquiry into both bouts of unrest.
Washington has "deplored" the violence.
"We particularly note the need to end lethal force, random searches, indiscriminate beatings and arrests, to release political detainees, to grant immediate access by families," U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said on Monday.
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