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Prime minister brands EU election report "garbage"

[Ethiopia] Ethiopian Prime Minister - Meles Zenawi. IRIN
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi described as "garbage" on Monday an EU election report that raised doubts over the fairness of the country's recently concluded national polls. "The statement, in my view, shows that the mission has turned out to be something worse than a farce," he said at a news conference in Addis Ababa, the capital. "We shall, in the coming days and weeks, see what we can do to expose the pack of lies and innuendoes that characterise the garbage in this report," he added. The EU's chief election observer, Ana Gomes, said on Thursday that key aspects of Ethiopia's 15 May parliamentary elections had failed to meet international standards. She reported widespread human rights abuses and said opposition members were arrested and witnesses to election violations intimidated. Meles said: "What the implications of this will be in terms of relations between Ethiopia and the EU we will have to wait and see. But I don't think you will be surprised if Ethiopia were to insist that it should not be patronised." In a statement released on Friday, the EU said the 10-page report was "balanced and impartial". The EU is one of Ethiopia's most important donors, funding food aid and development programmes worth at least 400 million euros (US $490.9 million) every year.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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