ETHIOPIA: OPPOSITION CANDIDATES RECOUNT FURTHER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ADDIS ABABA 000294

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/11/2020
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM ET
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA: OPPOSITION CANDIDATES RECOUNT FURTHER
HARASSMENT AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

REF: ADDIS ABABA 002645

Classified By: Classified By: CDA John Yates for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D
)


1. (C) Summary: Two senior ethnic Oromo leaders from the
opposition coalition Forum report being physically abused by
police, militia and civilian agents of the ruling party
during a recent visit to Western Oromia to register
candidates for the May elections. The two leaders have not
filed formal complaints because they believe Ethiopian
Government officials are responsible and any review of the
incidents would be biased. Both said they would likely not
return to Oromia to continue to register candidates because
they feared their safety was at risk. End Summary.


2. (C) Poloffs met on February 2 with Major Mekonnen Gelata,
a member of Parliament and Central Committee member of the
opposition Oromo People,s Congress (OPC) -- one of the eight
parties comprising the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Unity
Forum (Forum) -- and OPC member Colonel Asrat Tekaligne for a
report on their January 25-29 trip to the East Wellega zone
of Western Oromia to register candidates for the May 23
regional and national parliamentary elections. (Note: There
are 14 woredas (municipality equivalents) in East Wellega
zone. End Note.) Mindful of previous difficulties with
local authorities during an October trip to East Wellega,
Mekonnen and Asrat notified the National Electoral Board of
Ethiopia (NEBE) in advance that they planned to register
candidates at NEBE branch offices in the East Wellega zone.
(Note: Proclamation 532/2007 of the amended electoral law
allows candidates to register in person or via a third party
expressly authorized by their party for the purpose. A
candidate registering in person at a local NEBE office must
present evidence that he/she is both a local resident and, if
registering as a candidate of a particular party, has the
endorsement of that party. Parties are required to inform
local NEBE branches by letter of the names of their
candidates and the specific seats (whether federal or
regional parliament) for which they intend to run. If a
candidate is not physically present to register, a party
representative may present these same documents on his/her
behalf, along with proof of the party's authorization to
register absentee candidates. End Note.)

FORUM OFFICIALS GIVEN RUN AROUND
BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES
--------------

3. (C) Mekonnen and Asrat traveled to Nekemet woreda (county
seat equivalent for East Wellega zone) on January 26 and did
not encounter any problems, registering one candidate for the
national parliament and three candidates for the regional
parliament. When traveling to the smaller Gida Ayana woreda,
however, Asrat reported that five traffic police stopped them
in Guten town, 50 km. from Nekemet. According to Asrat, one
of the policemen confiscated the license of their driver and
told them it would be returned after they paid an 80 ETB (6
USD) fine in the nearby town of Gida Ayana for not having a
vehicle permit. (Note: Large commercial vehicles and buses
require permits in Ethiopia, but a passenger car like the
Land Cruiser Mekonnen and Asrat occupied do not require
permits. End Note.) Asrat said that when they reached the
town of Dicho, five km. from Gida Ayana, seven policemen
accompanied by what he called a "large armed militia"
searched their car, frisked them, and told them to turn
around without paying the fine. Mekonnen and Asrat were told
by members of that group that they were acting under the
authority and orders of a Gida Ayana-based official named
Lemesa Gerbi. (Note: A check by embassy with local
authorities found Lemesa listed as &the executive member of
the Gida Ayana Administration in charge of security.8 End
Note.) Asrat said that they went back to Nekemet, where a
woman working in the Roads Office gave them a paper stating
their vehicle did not require a permit. According to Asrat,
a traffic police officer who had followed them from the scene
at Dicho took the paper and &disappeared with it.8 The
next day, on the morning of January 27, Mekonnen and Asrat
paid the fine anyway, but according to Asrat, the policeman
holding the driver's license in Guten, would not accept the
receipt because he claimed it was paid in the wrong
jurisdiction. They continued on their journey with their
driver deprived of his license, but there was no further
incident regarding that particular technicality.

ADDIS ABAB 00000294 002 OF 003



NO ROOM AT THE INN
--------------

4. (C) Asrat recounted to Poloffs that when they visited his
home woreda of Arjo, they could not find a room to stay in at
any hotel in town. According to Asrat, hotel staff told them
that even the smallest hotels were sold out, because the
Government had reserved all rooms. He said he heard the
Deputy Commander of the woreda police threaten their driver
by saying he should leave the town as fast as he could or his
car would be blown up and his life would be in danger. The
driver subsequently drove to a nearby town for the night.
Asrat said they found a &storeroom8 in which they slept for
the night with police and militia noisily walking on the roof
and banging on the door throughout the night.

SUCCESSFUL REGISTRATION OF CANDIDATES
IN THREE WOREDAS
--------------

5. (C) Mekonnen and Asrat said they went to the NEBE branch
office of Arjo on January 28 and Asrat was able to register
his own candidacy for the national parliament as well as
register three other candidates for the regional parliament.
Asrat and Mekonnen were also able to register candidates at
both national and regional levels in both Nunu Kumba woreda
and Diga Koloba woreda without incident.

POLICE AND MILITIA REPORTEDLY STOP CAR
AND THROW STONES
--------------

6. (C) Asrat recounted that they then traveled to Limu
Gelila woreda, where, they said, a group of ten uniformed
policemen, three militia men, and two civilians ordered them
out of their car and proceeded to frisk them, search the car
and luggage, with one of them saying &we don,t want bandits
in our woreda,8 and "go back to where you came from." Asrat
stated that when the crowd began to throw rocks at the car,
they got into the car and drove away quickly. Asrat and
Mekonnen told Poloffs they then went to Finchawa woreda and
found the NEBE branch office on an Ethiopian Government
compound, where the guard would not let them in. Mekonnen
said they could see NEBE workers inside the NEBE office
building looking on. Mekonnen said they began to yell loudly
to draw attention to themselves and the guard finally let
them in. Once they were inside the NEBE office, the NEBE
officials would not accept the same party authorization
letter with their list of certified candidates that had been
accepted in Nekemet and Arjo. They were therefore unable to
register the OPC-designated candidates.


7. (C) In Kombolcha woreda, Mekonnen's consituency and home
town, the two leaders reported to the NEBE branch office.
Mekonnen and Asrat recounted coincidently running into a man
named Abebe Beri, outside the NEBE office, who told them he
wanted to run for the regional parliament as an OPC
candidate. Mekonnen and Asrat reported that upon their
arrival at the NEBE, there was someone video taping their
encounter with Abebe as he began screaming at them and
provoking a fist-fight. (Note: Abebe Beri was an OPC member
during the 2005 election period and was jailed for his
activities after the election. Mekonnen said after Abebe
Beri was released from jail he joined the Oromo People's
Democratic Organization, (OPDO),an affiliate of the EPRDF.
End note.)

ALLEGED BEATING BY MOB AT KOMBOLCHA
NEBE BRANCH OFFICE
--------------

8. (C) Mekonnen and Asrat reported they had to wait three
hours before they could register Mekonnen's own candidacy.
When they were about to finalize his registration and those
of two absentee candidates, Mekonnen stated that a group of
twenty men, many of them known to McKonnen, had collected in
the NEBE entrance. He said the men began to scream at them
and physically carried Mekonnen, Asrat, and Regional OPC
party member Seleshi Belay out of the NEBE office building
into a courtyard where they were beaten, and had their
watches, glasses, wallets, and Asrat,s briefcase taken from
them before the group fled. Mekonnen was finally able to
complete his own registration for the national level
parliament and Seleshi Belay was able to register at the
regional level. They were unable, however, to register the
two absent candidates, Lemesa Temesgen and Ebisa Beyene,

ADDIS ABAB 00000294 003 OF 003


because the OPC authorization letter had been destroyed in
the episode. (Note: An Amharic-speaking British diplomat
reported to Pol/Econ Counselor on February 4 that Ethiopian
state television had broadcast on February 3 film of the
Mekonnen-Asrat-Abebe encounter but not the fracas that
followed. End Note.)

HARASSMENT REPORTED TO NEBE IN ADDIS ABABA
--------------

9. (C) Throughout the trip, Mekonnen and Asrat said they
reported the unfolding events to the NEBE in Addis Ababa.
Asrat said he spoke with NEBE official Ato Nega, who is in
charge of the West Region and Kenea Yedeta who is the East
Wellega Zonal Administrator. Asrat said Nega promised to
follow up, but that he also wanted to hear "the other side of
the story from woreda officials."

OPC CANDIDATES BELIEVE HARASSMENT ORDERED FROM ADDIS
-------------- --------------

10. (C) Mekonnen and Asrat told Poloffs they believed
government officials in Nekemet woreda, in coordination with
the Addis Ababa-based Oromia Administration, had given orders
to the local woreda police and milita to harass them.
Mekonnen and Asrat also believe the NEBE was in collusion
with the officials in Nekemet. Mekonnen and Asrat stated the
head of the NEBE office in Nekemet, to whom they appealed in
an effort to resolve their complaints locally, replied only
that he was "powerless to do anything if an opposition party
had a disagreement with the central government." When
queried if they planned to register their complaints with the
Joint Council of political parties created by the Code of
Conduct, Mekonnen said they would talk to their party to
decide if there was utility in using the new mechanism, but
emphasized that he remained skeptical of the effectiveness of
election laws passed by the Parliament. Mekonnen and Asrat
both said they would probably keep pursuing their candidacies
in the upcoming election, but both added they were unlikely
to go back to East Wellega to continue to try to register OPC
candidates. (Note: The candidate registration deadline has
been extended by 20 days from February 2 to February 22. End
Note.)


11. (C) Comment. Post cannot verify the extent to which the
candidate registration obstacles encountered by Mekonnen and
Asrat in East Wellega were orchestrated by the ruling party
as they believe. What is obvious to us, however, is that the
mechanisms set up by the NEBE and the newly legislated
electoral Code of Conduct are ill-equipped to correct such
pervasive and diffuse harassment as these two leaders allege.
We will nevertheless urge leaders of the OPC, and the Forum
coalition of which OPC is part, to pursue the available
claims process, if only to test its bona fides.
YATES