ETHIOPIA: THE MAYOR OF ADDIS ABABA CONFIRMS THE WAGING OF A TERROR CAMPAIGN AGAINST COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARIES.

Record ID: 444339

  • Title: ETHIOPIA: THE MAYOR OF ADDIS ABABA CONFIRMS THE WAGING OF A TERROR CAMPAIGN AGAINST COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARIES.
  • Date: 12th February 1978
  • Summary: 1. EXTERIOR GVs: street scenes in Addis Ababa (2 shots) 0.14 2. INTERIOR MV: Mayor of Addis Ababa, Dr. Alemu Abebe speaking in English at news conference in Addis Ababa. 0.56 3. MVs EXTERIOR: street scenes in Addis Ababa of revolutionaries carrying guns and chanting. (10 shots) 1.28 4. INTERIOR MVs: Mayor Alemu addressing news conference with newsmen taking notes. (6 shots) 2.24 ALEMU: "There was moments when some areas were impossible to functioning. There was daily assassinations. There was time when we had to bury as much as five, six comrades per day. There was time when it was impossible to read the newspaper without the photograph and history of a certain comrade being published and how he was assassinated. But they were enjoying, and practically not much has been done on that, or on their control. And because of this the White Terror was reigning very much in Addis Ababa. And for the 'Kebele' elected, for the members of the committee for the defence of the revolution, for revolutionary individuals, for progressive people who stood for the strengthening of the 'Kebele', it was impossible to walk on the street without glancing back and forth, and this intolerable condition which was suffocating the revolution, and which was practically going to a brink of certain drastic and decisive counter-revolutionary action was realised very well by the prot-mass. When number of counter-revolutionary force people, especially the agents of the E.P.R.P., were exposed and they were asked to give their hands, they were asked to surrender, they wanted to resist. And of this they were annihilated on the spot. And these exposed agents of the PRP especially, were given political education, were detained by the 'kebele', not to be shot one after the other, as I hear is said in most of the western papers." A 'kebele' is a district revolutionary council elected by people living in a certain area. Dr. Alemu has described it as an association giving urban dwellers the opportunity to participate in the political, social and economic development of the nation. Initials RH/2225 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 27th February 1978 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
  • Country: Ethiopia
  • Reuters ID: LVA7K15ICZOCVW5TXVSP4X5RRL3X
  • Story Text: In the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa last Wednesday (8 February), the city's mayor, Dr. Alemu Abebe, confirmed that a so-called "Red Terror" campaign has been waged against members of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party since last December. the Ethiopian authorities regard members of the party as counter-revolutionaries or the "White Terror" and numbers are known to have been shot in the streets of Addis Ababa, particularly after the midnight curfew. Dr. Alemu confirmed that counter-revolutionaries have been killed. but said the number of deaths was not nearly as high as the 750 reported in the Western press. The mayor also justified the so-called "Red Terror" by saying it had made the streets of Addis Ababa safe again.

    SYNOPSIS: Dr. Alemu's comments on the action of the Red Terror campaign here in Addis Ababa were made to a group of foreign journalists who were invited to Ethiopia by the authorities to be briefed on the situation.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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