Shops in Ethiopia's capital were largely closed yesterday morning and taxi drivers remained on strike following deadly riots and government warnings that any more civil unrest would be dealt with sternly.
Ethiopian security forces opened fire on stone-throwing protesters in the capital on Wednesday, leaving at least 22 people dead, the government said. EU observers said some opposition politicians have been placed under house arrest following the government's victory in last month's election.
A senior member of the opposition United Ethiopian Democratic Forces was being held in his office by police and the top two leaders of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy were under police surveillance, officials said yesterday. Five office workers for the coalition were arrested, party members said, and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said two of their investigators were missing.
PHOTO: AP
Taxi drivers and shop owners in the Ethiopian capital had gone on strike Wednesday, after two days of protests that mainly involved students. The government said police were allowed to use any means necessary to quell disturbances and that taxi and private bus drivers who did not work faced criminal charges.
Nevertheless, taxi and private bus drivers remained on strike for a second day, forcing those who did go to work to walk.
The government said 22 people were killed and 40 injured in Wednesday's violence. At one hospital in the capital, four of the 11 bodies seen by a reporter had gunshot wounds to the head.
The elections were seen as a test of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's commitment to reform his sometimes authoritarian regime. The protests have broken out despite a ban on demonstrations imposed after the May 15 legislative election.
The US government has touted Meles as a progressive African leader and a key partner in the war on terror; US troops have even trained with Ethiopian troops that patrol the border with Somalia.
Meles has also played a role on British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Commission on Africa, which has made recommendations to G-8 countries on how to help this continent. But the violence threatens to destabilize Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world, as well as raising doubts about the government's commitment to democracy and human rights.
Ethiopia's opposition won more than 80 percent of the vote in the capital last month, but the government claimed victory based on results in rural areas. Opposition parties say there was widespread fraud and intimidation, charges the ruling party denies. The head of the EU observer mission said Wednesday that some opposition politicians had been placed under house arrest.
"The mission has conveyed to the government its condemnation of the home arrests and other harassment and threatening measures imposed on the opposition," said Ana Gomes.
The shooting Wednesday began after the army's special forces arrived at the central business district where protesters were throwing stones. One wounded man lying on a hospital trolley after emergency treatment said police shot at peaceful protesters.
"The police were running at the crowd, firing shots. I got shot in my leg," said the 22-year-old day laborer who identified himself by one name, Getu. "I was just trying to get home to avoid the trouble."
Gomes, who visited one of the hospitals, said that while there was some looting, "many of the injured, mostly by gunshot wounds and including women and children, claim they were shot at random by security forces while waiting for public transportation." She called for the prosecution of anyone found to have used excessive force. The minister of information, who is also the ruling party spokesman, said the opposition was behind the protests.
"Today, some of their followers -- and some who wanted to use this opportunity for looting -- have gathered in some parts of Addis and disrupted the smooth functioning of life. So the government had to use the anti-riot police to resolve the situation," Bereket Simon said.
He said seven buses were destroyed and civilian cars were attacked and businesses and banks were damaged. Bereket rejected claims the police used excessive force.
The two main opposition groups issued a joint statement demanding an end to the violence.
"These murderous acts have resulted in the killing and wounding of a large number of innocent Addis Ababa citizens," the statement said. "The responsibility for these atrocities lay solely with the government and ruling party."
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of