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DE RUEHDS #0294/01 0430411
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FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7749
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
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RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
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RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
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RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC

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