VZCZCXRO3412
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHDS #0038/01 0051348
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 051348Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8523
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA PRIORITY
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ADDIS ABABA 000038 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF DAS YAMAMOTO AND AF/E 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM KJUS ET
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA:  WIDESPREAD STUDENT PROTESTS DRAW HARSH 
GOE RESPONSE 
 
REF: ADDIS ABABA 04228 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary.  Last week was marked by a series of small, 
but widespread student disturbances throughout Ethiopia, but 
predominantly in Addis Ababa and Oromiya.  While the majority 
of student demonstrators called peacefully for the release of 
detained CUD leaders and the resignation of Prime Minister 
Meles Zenawi, some students engaged in rockthrowing and 
vandalized government property.  The GOE responded by sending 
out commando units to augment or even replace police crowd 
control units.  According to media reports, protesting 
students were beaten, and in a few cases killed.  The 
government temporarily closed several high schools and 
universities in response to the protests.  The GOE likely 
sees these incidents as the leading edge of a new wave of 
unrest and is trying to deal with it decisively. 
U.S.-provided Humvees and other military vehicles patrolled 
cities to dissuade protests, however, student protests are 
continuing.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------- 
SMALL PROTESTS SPREAD 
--------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) Private media reported that student protests, 
beginning on December 21, spread over the week to several 
high schools in Addis Ababa.  Embassy RSO investigators 
describe the protests as small in nature, usually 10-25 
students and largely peaceful, but noted that some of the 
non-peaceful protesters vandalized government property. 
Ethiomedia reported that students attacked police vehicles, 
government trucks and buses, calling for the immediate 
release of Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) leaders 
(reftel) and the end of the Meles Zenawi regime.  The 
majority of protests occurred in and around high schools, but 
disturbances were reported at some elementary schools and 
universities.  (Note:  Students attending Ethiopian high 
schools can range from 14 to 21 years of age.  End Note.) 
 
¶3.  (U) According to a variety of media reports, over 30 high 
schools in Addis Ababa alone have seen student protests since 
December 21.  Embassy RSO investigators noted a decrease in 
early January in the number of protests being reported, but 
expected an upsurge January 4, coinciding with the resumption 
of pre-trial proceedings for detained opposition members. 
 
---------------------------- 
GOVERNMENT REACTS FORCEFULLY 
---------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) Government reaction to the protests was swift and 
forceful.  Local police responded initially to the majority 
of protests, but as their resources stretched thin, Federal 
police and elite commando units in U.S.-provided Humvees were 
increasingly called in.  Some of the protests disbanded 
peacefully, but police resorted to beating students brutally 
in many of the disturbances, according to a variety of media 
reports. 
 
¶5.  (U) Police have detained hundreds of students in 
connection with the protests.  Independent media outlets and 
Voice of America (VOA) reported December 27 that Ethiopian 
security forces had rounded up an unknown number of high 
school students in Addis Ababa and took them to an 
undisclosed location.  Reporting two days later, VOA 
announced that additional students had been arrested. 
 
¶6.  (U) While independent, private and international media 
outlets continued to report on the recent upsurge in student 
protests, state-run media outlets published little about the 
demonstrations.  Information Minister Berhan Hailu merely 
stated that there were "minor problems" in the capital's 
schools. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
OTHER REGIONS NOT IMMUNE TO GROWING STUDENT UNREST 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶7.  (U) Student protests have not been limited to the capital 
city; private news sources have reported regional 
disturbances.  Private newspaper Dagim Weekly reported that 
two students were killed in West Oromiya following a student 
demonstration asking the government to release Oromo 
prisoners.  Tomar, another private weekly, reported that 
following student protests in Oromiya, the government 
arrested and held several people at an unknown location. 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000038  002 OF 002 
 
 
Ethiopian Review reported December 26 that hundreds of people 
from West Oromiya were rounded up by special forces and taken 
to Senkele Police Training Center after students held 
protests demanding the removal of Zenawi.  According to VOA, 
four secondary school students were killed in Oromiya 
following demands by students for greater protection of human 
rights.  VOA noted that Oromo regional police officials have 
admitted that over 300 people have been arrested in 
connection with the disturbances. 
 
¶8.  (U) In Gondar, Ethiopian Review reported December 22 that 
in response to earlier protests police entered multiple 
schools in Gondar waiting for the students to arrive.  As 
students gathered within the school compound, police sealed 
off exits and began beating them.  An unknown number of 
deaths and injuries have been reported but not confirmed. 
The sub-regional administrator told Ambassador Huddleston, 
who visited Gondar shortly after the incident, that only two 
students had been injured.  Ethiomedia reported January 2 
that a student protest against the presence of police within 
school grounds resulted in many injured children and 
approximately 75 in police custody.  The protests prompted 
regional authorities to close all schools in Gondar for one 
week. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) The government's heavy-handed tactics have probably 
aggravated what began as largely peaceful local student 
demonstrations.  While these demonstrations are not 
comparable in scale of those in early November, they do 
signal both continuing popular anger over the detention of 
CUD leaders and a willingness (at least amongst the youth) to 
confront authorities.  The GOE's tough response to student 
protesters seems to indicate that it sees the disturbances as 
the leading edge of another wave of unrest that it must 
address now before it spreads. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) We have protested through dipnote to the Foreign 
Ministry and conveyed our concerns in person to Director 
General of America and Europe Division Grum Abay, the Chief 
of the Army General Staff Lieutenant General Samoro Yones and 
National Security Advisor Mulugeta Alemseged about the use of 
Humvees for police-type actions.  Defense Attach Colonel 
Rick Orth has argued to curtail Humvee purchases in the 
pipeline given General Samora's refusal to remove them from 
the streets of Addis Ababa.  The Ambassador has also told the 
international media of our dissatisfaction. 
HUDDLESTON