BULCHA DEMEKSA: GOVT. DETAINED 107 IN THE PAST 2 MONTHS

By ANITA POWELL
Associated Press
2007-09-06

Ethiopia has detained 107 of its citizens over the past two months without charge, according to an opposition lawmaker who said Wednesday he believed the detainees were suspected of links to a southern insurgency.

Opposition lawmaker Bulcha Demeksa said he compiled the figure of those detained since July in Addis Ababa and southern Ethiopia from reports from family members.

Ethiopian law provides that any one arrested should appear in court within 48 hours and be charged.

Federal police officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday and repeated calls to other government officials went unanswered.

Bulcha said his total of 107 included three staff members of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council in Nekemte, 220 kilometers (137 miles) west of the capital, that the council said were arrested on Aug. 23 and had not been taken to court since.

Hiwot Emishaw, an official of the group, said, "They were allegedly arrested for disseminating papers to incite violence. Our organization is saying they have not been engaged in such an act."

Bulcha told The Associated Press he suspected the detainees have been held on suspicion of belonging to the Oromo Liberation Front, which has been fighting for greater autonomy in southern Ethiopia. One of the detainees, he said, was a 63-year-old man.

The Oromo make up a third of Ethiopia's 77 million people, and have been the center of dissent against the ruling Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front.

Bulcha, whose Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement party is a minority in parliament, said that he had complained to government officials, but has not received any response.

BULCHA DEMEKSA: GOVT. DETAINED 107 IN THE PAST 2 MONTHS

By ANITA POWELL
Associated Press
2007-09-06

Ethiopia has detained 107 of its citizens over the past two months without charge, according to an opposition lawmaker who said Wednesday he believed the detainees were suspected of links to a southern insurgency.

Opposition lawmaker Bulcha Demeksa said he compiled the figure of those detained since July in Addis Ababa and southern Ethiopia from reports from family members.

Ethiopian law provides that any one arrested should appear in court within 48 hours and be charged.

Federal police officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday and repeated calls to other government officials went unanswered.

Bulcha said his total of 107 included three staff members of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council in Nekemte, 220 kilometers (137 miles) west of the capital, that the council said were arrested on Aug. 23 and had not been taken to court since.

Hiwot Emishaw, an official of the group, said, "They were allegedly arrested for disseminating papers to incite violence. Our organization is saying they have not been engaged in such an act."

Bulcha told The Associated Press he suspected the detainees have been held on suspicion of belonging to the Oromo Liberation Front, which has been fighting for greater autonomy in southern Ethiopia. One of the detainees, he said, was a 63-year-old man.

The Oromo make up a third of Ethiopia's 77 million people, and have been the center of dissent against the ruling Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front.

Bulcha, whose Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement party is a minority in parliament, said that he had complained to government officials, but has not received any response.

EHRCO: Release or Prosecute those Detained in Nekemte

Check back with ETP for more news throughout the day

____________________

Also:
- Today's Top HEADLINES
- INTERNATIONAL news
- Picture of the Day
____________________

Plea to all Ethiopians regardless of Political Party Affiliation

____________________

(ETHIOPIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL - EHRCO)

Urgent Appeal -- Police in Nekemte town, Eastern Wellega Zone in the Oromia Region, detained fifteen people since August 23, 2007 without taking them to a court of law until the date of issuance of this report.

The police came with a search warrant stating that they are suspected of hiding arms and papers calling for violence. However, although they searched their homes and found nothing, they took away the individuals without an arrest warrant and held them in detention since then.

Three of the detainees are Executive Committee Members of EHRCO's Nekemte Branch Office.

*Released on August 30, 2007 around 6:00 PM

EHRCO expresses its grave concern over the detention of its members and other citizens and urges the government to immediately take them to a court of law or release them.

EHRCO also calls on those who stand for the respect of human rights, local and international human rights groups, government envoys and concerned individuals to exert pressure on the government to take the detainees to a court of law or to release them without delay.(MORE...)

Today's Top HEADLINES

-EACA chairman’s letter to the UN on the Ogaden (Ethiopian American Civic Advocacy)
-MSF says blocked from Ethiopia's volatile Ogaden
-UN Assessing Needs of Civilians in Ogaden(AUDIO REPORT)
-CUD Accuses Government for 'Mishandling' Inflation
-ETHIOPIA FINALIZES STUDIES FOR BUILDING HYDROPOWER DAMS
-Somali govt. sacks its ambassador to Ethiopia
-Somalia opposition conference in Eritrea delayed
-US calls for urgent deployment of Somali peacekeepers
-TOP STORIES FROM LAST WEEK (The Week in Review)

_______________________

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THE WORLD’S OLDEST WOMAN DOING IN HOUSTON?
(Alemayehu G. Mariam)

We call her Dinkenesh. They call her “Lucy”. But what’s in a name? “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” said Shakespeare. But Lucy is one of a kind. She is unlike any other hominid fossil ever found. She is the most complete hominid skeleton of the Pliocene Epoch [1.8-5.3 million years ago]....But what in the world is she doing in Houston, Texas?(More...)

_______________________

INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES

-Guinea-Bissau 'to shoot down drug planes'
-Protests Persist in BURMAA, Despite Arrests
-Bush discusses Iraq, China military
-Shiite’s Tale: How Gulf With Sunnis Widened
-UN Says Iran's Cooperation a 'Significant Step Forward'
-Forbes: Merkel most powerful woman

_______________________

Musharraf's allies question deal with Bhutto

Allies of Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf have raised objections to a power-sharing deal he is negotiating with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, casting fresh doubt on the future of the embattled president.(More..)

_______________________

Picture of the Day

(An Ethiopian reggae fan looks at photographs of Bob Marley at an exhibition in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.(Antony Njuguna/Reuters)
In February of 2005, MARC LACEY of the New York Times, who at the time Was covering the celebration of Marley’s birthday in Addis Abeba wrote, “If he had been onstage, Bob Marley would have waved his graying dreadlocks in the air and beseeched black people to continue struggling. In that lilting voice of his, he would have sung of love, of unity, of his beloved Ethiopia.”

Ethiopia held a special place in Marley’s heart; he regularly expressed his interest to move there permanently. Unfortunately, the emergence of the DERG hindered Marley’s wishes from becoming reality.

-MARLEY IN HIS OWN WORDS (VIDEO)



___________________________________