Rights group criticises crackdown on opposition

Ethiopian authorities are intimidating, arresting and using excessive force in rural areas to quell dissent over disputed election results, a human rights group said on Friday. Human Rights Watch said federal police were terrorising opposition activists and students in the wake of protests against the outcome of elections in May 2005 that returned Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's ruling party to power. "The Ethiopian government is violently suppressing any form of protest and punishing suspected opposition supporters," said Peter Takirambudde, the group's Africa director. "The government is deepening its crackdown in Ethiopia's rural areas, far from the eyes and ears of international observers in Addis Ababa," he said. Ethiopian officials were not immediately available for comment. Takirambudde called for a credible independent investigation into abuses by police in rural and urban areas. Some governments have already announced they will withhold US $375 million in direct budgetary support to the Ethiopian government because of the unrest that followed the elections. At least 88 people were killed during protests in the capital, Addis Ababa, in June and November. Opposition leaders, journalists and aid workers were rounded up and are still detained in prison, awaiting trial for treason, genocide and other charges. The report - which focused on two rural regions, Oromiya and Amhara, where the opposition won unprecedented numbers of seats - said that police raids occurred during the night and that thousands still remained in detention in camps around the country. It cited the cases of a 38-year-old farm worker and a 40-year-old widow, who claimed that police beat them with rifle butts and batons, resulting in serious injuries. Another case alleged that a 17-year-old girl was stopped at a police checkpoint, beaten and detained for seven days by federal police for no apparent reason other than travelling to a funeral. Farmers in Oromiya - Ethiopia's largest region - told Human Rights Watch they had been denied access to fertilisers and seeds by administrative officials, who view them as opposition supporters. People who voiced support for opposition parties had reportedly been detained without being charged for 30 days or more by local courts.