Opposition umbrella launched

The United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), the country's largest opposition grouping, was officially launched in Ethiopia on Monday. The new umbrella is made up of 15 groups which joined forces at a conference in Maryland, United States, before launching the UEDF in Ethiopia. It marked the launch by blaming the government for a famine affecting 13.2 million Ethiopians and expressing its opposition to an international ruling on the demarcation of the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea. UEDF head Beyene Petros said a lack of land reform and poor market reforms had exacerbated drought and led to famine. “The famine that is raging in this country cannot be directly equated to the drought,” Petros said. “The current government in power is responsible. “We believe the farming system and land ownership has to be addressed,” added Beyene, a 53-year-old professor at Addis Ababa University. “Famine here is manmade and is the result of distorted economic policies. We firmly believe we can produce enough food for the country.” His party feels more emphasis must be placed on commercial farming, privatisation and implementing land reform and ownership. However, the government dismissed the allegations, insisting that Ethiopia had fallen victim to recurrent drought and famines for decades. “Agriculture in Ethiopia is rain dependent,” government spokesman Zemedkun Tekle told IRIN. “We are trying to avert the drought problem by implementing different solutions.” He said water harvesting and a voluntary resettlement scheme were put in place to avert the crisis. The UEDF also accused the government of failing the interests of the country with the demarcation of the 1,000-kilometre border with Eritrea, scheduled to begin in two weeks time. “The decision of the border commission does not serve the interests of Ethiopia in general and the border-inhabiting Ethiopians in particular,” Beyene said. “This decision will not guarantee peace and that is our yardstick,” he told journalists at a news conference at which the coalition group was launched. “The population has rejected it and we as political parties are there to serve the population and interests of the country. So there is no other position other than to re-negotiate the ruling.” Beyene said the Algiers Peace Agreement – signed between Ethiopia and Eritrea after their two-year border war – has failed to serve the interests of his country. “That has to be re-negotiated as well,” he added. The demarcation of the contested border is scheduled to take place in two weeks time. The UEDF, which has a total of 12 representatives in the 548-member Ethiopian parliament, aims to challenge the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which has held power since the overthrow of the former regime in 1991, at elections in two years time. It claimed polls in Ethiopia had been marred by irregularities and called on the EPRDF to ensure fairness in the 2005 elections.