Ethiopia's next general election is scheduled for May 23, 2010 and analysts say it will be another election where Prime Minister Zenawi's ruling party riggs the election as well as continue to harass people in the rural away from the diplomatic community in the capital city. With less than 3 months left to the election, the Ethiopian government's western allies remain relectant to put pressure on Meles Zenawi's ruling party. BBC 4 Radio’s ‘The World Tonight’ program interviewed the head of UK's department for international development Howard Taylor, who defended his country's financial support to the government, including military training for Zenawi's security forces who massacred hundreds of people during the last 2005 election after receiving similar western training in 2004. The BBC report showed more evidences of the pre-election human rights abuses in Ethiopia, including the beating of MP Mekonnen Geleta, who is a represenative of "MEDREK," the main opposition party in the country. Medrek is a coalition of the eight large opposition parties, including UDJ (formerly CUD), OPC/UEDF and OFDM - the top three parties from the previous 2005 election.


UK's DFID head Howard Taylor said Ethiopia's current "stability" in the unstable horn of Africa region is important to UK's wider effort of development and counter terrorism. He said Zenawi's ruling party that rigged the last election is "a government that is capable and committed to providing developmental assistance and basic services" in Ethiopia.


FULL STORY/VIDEO: BBC




(Mshale.com) The top U.S. envoy for Africa, Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson, met with reporters February 24 and answered questions on a wide array of issues: Ethiopia, Kenya, Niger, Cote d’Ivoire, Somalia, and China’s operations in Africa. Carson spoke at the Foreign Press Center in Washington and took questions from journalists there and in Johannesburg and New York through a video feed.  Asked to offer his view on the 2010 election in Ethiopia, Carson said it would be premature to comment prior to the voting. “Let’s see how they turn out. What we do say to Ethiopia, to the government, to the opposition parties and to the citizens is that we hope that this election will be run freely and fairly and that there be a level playing field for all — that the government and the opposition take their responsibilities seriously, that both sides respect the political rights of the others and that both carry out their responsibilities.”

Carson said the United States also has strongly urged that these elections be “substantially better in their aftermath than the 2005 elections, in which there was very bitter and serious violence in their wake. We all want Ethiopia to continue to move along an upward and more inclusive and stronger democratic trajectory,” he said. “Elections are simply an important process in the selection of democratic leaders. We want this to go well” and are “looking for an outcome that makes things better for everyone: free, transparent and open, with both sides taking their responsibilities seriously.”

FULL STORY: MSHALE