- A campaigner for the opposition party Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) of the Medrek coalition group was killed by a militia of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. The ruling party of Mr. Zenawi is preparing for the upcoming May election by intimidating the opposition, using employment and food as a weapon for votes and utilizing its media monopoly to divide the opposition.
An Ethiopian opposition activist was beaten to death by pro-government militia in the western part of the country after he refused to stop campaigning for his party before May 23 elections, an opposition leader said.
Beyanza Deba was killed while campaigning for the Oromo Federalist Congress, part of Ethiopia’s Medrek opposition alliance, near the western town of Ambo when four members of a militia aligned with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s ruling party beat him on April 7, said Merara Gudina, a member of parliament and chairman of the OFC. He died of his injuries on April 16 after being hospitalized in the capital, Addis Ababa.
“He died campaigning,” Merara said in a phone interview today from Harar in eastern Ethiopia. “This is the militia of the government trying to block rural campaigning.”
Bulcha Demeksa, a leader of the Oromo Federalist
Congress (OFC), told Reuters the activist, Biyansa Daba, was attacked at home
by members of the ruling party.
"Biyansa Daba was beaten on April 7 with the butt of a gun," Bulcha
said. "He died in hospital on April 16. He was a very strong up and coming
figure."
