- Title: ETHIOPIA: DEATH TOLL FROM ELECTION CLASHES RISES TO 26.
- Date: 10th June 2005
- Summary: (BN11) ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (JUNE 9, 2005)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/CU: MENELIK II HOSPITAL MORGUE WITH COFFINS OUTSIDE; COFFINS; PEOPLE VIEWING COFFINS AS THEY WALK PAST (4 SHOTS) 0.17 2. GV/CU/GV: COFFIN BEING REMOVED FROM MORTUARY (3 SHOTS) 0.32 3. (SOUNDBITE)(English) RELATIVE OF DEAD PERSON, GEZACHEW MARERA, SAYING: "Yesterday was not a very good day for Ethiopia, Government soldiers killed many people on the streets of Addis who were innocent." 0.40 4. GV/CU/GVPAN; PEOPLE CRYING AS COFFIN BEING CARRIED AWAY (5 SHOTS) 1.11 5. GV: TRAFFIC AND STREETS; CLOSED SHOPS (3 SHOTS) 1.24 6. GV/CU: PEOPLE SITTING AT COFFEE BAR (2 SHOTS) 1.29 7. GV: PEOPLE WALKING TO WORK DUE TO LACK OF TRANSPORT 1.34 8. TV: MESCAL SQUARE AND MAIN MERKATO "MARKET" AREA 1.38 9. GV: WHITETRUCK; BANANA TRUCK; STREET SCENE (3 SHOTS) 1.53 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 25th June 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
- Country: Ethiopia
- Reuters ID: LVAAFYL74EZBVJ1DVVDW5376FJWB
- Story Text: Ethiopian Soldiers and police patrol deserted
capital as death toll from Wednesday clashes rises to 26.
Ethiopians searching for the bodies of their dead
relatives trawled the capital's morgues on Thursday (June
9).
At the main Menelik II hospital morgue, workers with
cotton wool in their noses laid out at least five narrow
wooden coffins -- the victims' shoes, shirts and trousers
laid neatly on top.
Some older residents in Addis Ababa worry the country
is on the verge of returning to its totalitarian past
rather than embracing a democratic future.
They say the protest crackdown is an eerie reminder of
the coup that deposed Emperor Haile Selassie and brought
Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam to power in 1974.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's Ethiopian People's
Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has ruled since
1991, when his guerrilla army deposed Mengistu.
Information Minister Bereket Simon told Reuters four
more people died overnight from injuries, raising the death
toll from Wednesday's violence to 26.
Ethiopian authorities blamed the main opposition
Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) for inciting crowds
to loot shops, rob banks and attack police. But the CUD
said the clashes, after two days of student protests in
which one person was killed and hundreds arrested, were
spontaneous.
A local rights group, which gave death toll figures to
the media, said authorities had arrested one of its members.
With Addis Ababa residents still in shock over
Wednesday's violence, troops patrolled deserted streets and
most shops remained shut. Blue taxis that usually clog the
capital's streets were nowhere to be seen.
The violence flared after weeks of opposition
accusations that the ruling party intimidated voters and
rigged the polls to hold on to power in the strategic Horn
of Africa nation which the United States views as a key
ally in its "war on terror."
Ethiopian security forces rounded up some opposition
figures on Thursday, a day after police and troops fired
into crowds killing at least 26 people amid unrest over
last month's disputed elections. A day after the shootings,
red-ber
eted special forces
rode in a convoy of armoured vehicles through the empty
streets of the capital, strewn with rocks and lined by
shops with metal shutters clamped over their windows.
Less than a month ago, the same streets were
overflowing with people voting in what diplomats described
as Ethiopia's most democratic elections in its history.
But a month's delay in official election results until
July 8, compounded by claims of victory by both sides and
accusations of fraud, has ratcheted up the tension in
Africa's top coffee grower since May's landmark polls.
Early results show the EPRDF and allies have won enough
seats for a third five-year term to rule the nation of 72
million, sub-Saharan Africa's second most populous.
However, the CUD has increased its share of
parliamentary seats by nearly tenfold and made a clean
sweep in Addis Ababa -- surprising all observers.
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