Meles says post-war crisis over

President Meles Zenawi, in an interview with the BBC, has said he is unhappy with the number of deaths that occurred during recent student riots. “The situation got out of hand very quickly. I am not happy that there were so many deaths... but at that time we had to restore law and order.” Regarding the number of students who had fled into neighbouring Kenya, Meles said no students had recently been arrested or detained, and denied that the government had intimidated opposition parties. He said those who had been arrested during and immediately after violent protests in April were “detained under the law of this country [and included people] who had mountains of criminal records in the past. It so happened some of these unemployed youths were members of certain opposition parties.” Meles said “around 5,000” had been picked up. Answering questions about the firing of former Chief-of-Staff General Tsadkan Gebretensaye, Meles said there had been an attempt to “clean up the system”. He said “many of us are not satisfied with the way he conducted himself during ... the crisis after the war”. Meles said Tsadkan had not conducted himself appropriately “during the split, and before the split in the movement”, in reference to the split in his own Tigray People’s Liberation Front. Meles said in the interview that he was convinced that the armed forces were behind him, and dismissed as “wild rumours” reports that there were damaging splits in the army. In relation to his future, the prime minister said he was sure there was “no possibility of my being ejected by extra-constitutional means”. He said: “I think what has happened is that a bit of dust had been gathered in the movement, particularly during the conflict with Eritrea.” He said of the war with Eritrea that he felt, “like many others, it was in the best interests of our country to kill ourselves to resist aggression”. He said he was confident that his position was secure, but that in the future he could accept a constitutional vote against him as an “achievement... that democracy has been achieved”.