Meles in Row With the Opposition Over Situation in Oromia

Meles in Row With the Opposition Over Situation in Oromia

The Reporter (Addis Ababa)
February 4, 2006 Posted to the web February 6, 2006
Binyam Alemayehu
Amongst widely circulating reports from many circles concerning the worsening instability in Oromia, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and MPs representing Oromo opposition parties had a row over the situation in the Oromia state.
The disagreement took place at the 14th regular session of the House of Peoples' Representatives on Thursday when Meles presented a half-year performance report.
Oromo MPs from the opposition camp heavily criticized the report saying that it presented no remedies to the situation other than blaming the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).
"The Prime Minister's report has belittled the recent instability in Oromia region just as it had understated the issue last month," remarked Gebru Gebre-Mariam of the Oromo National Congress (ONC).
Several other MPs, including Bulcha Demeksa of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), and Tesfaye Chala of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) indicated that OPDO-led assaults had resulted in the torture, jailing and persecution of hundreds of citizens suspected of being opposition sympathizers.
Reaffirming the previous stance of his party, Meles insisted that the situation currently prevailing in the Oromia state was the concern of the region, and the federal government would not intervene unless the regional government asked for it. "I have been given detailed information regarding the situation but the president of Oromia himself has assured me that the situation has been put under control and that no federal intervention was need," he told the House.
Some OPDO MPs took the opportunity to lay the bulk of the blame on OFDM and ONC saying that human rights violations, including rape and torture, were committed in some constituencies by these parties.
On Wednesday, Ethiopia's Ministry of Information (MoI) issued a statement refuting a report by the London-based Amnesty International that several thousand citizens in Oromia were facing torture and ill-treatment.

The statement admitted that 86 students were under police custody for allegedly disrupting the teaching-learning process and damaging school property. It said the report of Amnesty International was "incredible" and "misleading".
It is to be recalled that Amnesty's report said secondary school students, teachers, farmers and businesspeople were arrested during November when peaceful anti-OPDO demonstrators clashed with riot.