Ethiopian Action for Unity and Democracy

PRESS RELEASE
December 21, 1999, Washington DC

Today, Ethiopians held another demonstration in front of the U.S. Congress in Washington DC, from 3:00 – 4:00 pm. Braving the rain and cold wind, the demonstrators stood at the corner of Independence and New Jersey Ave. carrying umbrellas and placards, some of which read:

U.S. Government:- Stop Supporting Dictators in Ethiopia!
Help Free the Political Prisoners in Ethiopia!

The purpose of today’s demonstration was to make the U.S. Government and the international community aware of the gross human rights violations in Ethiopia, particularly the plight of the thousands of prisoners of conscience. After the demonstration, representatives of the League and the Wolayita Development Association met with Mr Michael Westphal, Legislative Assistant to Senator Jesse Helms, chairman of Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee. The representatives appealed for Senator Helms’ intervention regarding the thousands of political prisoners and the recent mass arrest, torture & killing of students and teachers in the Wolayita region of Ethiopia. The representatives also gave Mr. Westphal the latest report of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council and other documents. After the discussion, which lasted about one hour, Mr. Westphal advised the representatives that Senator Jesse Helms takes human rights issues seriously and that his office will investigate the cases we presented.

Fit. Mekonnen Dori, Dr. Taye Woldesemayat, Ato Abera Yemaneab, Ato Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin, Prof. Alemayehu Tefera, Shaleqa Getachew Mengiste and other brave Ethiopians continue to languish in disease-infested jails under inhumane conditions. Fitawrari Mekonnen’s health is in critical condition, and he is deprived of proper medical treatment. We demand Meles Zenawi’s regime to stop this inhumane treatment of a 70-year-old patriotic Ethiopian.

Ethiopian Democratic Action League, in cooperation with other civic and political organizations, is organizing weekly demonstrations in front of the Ethiopian embassy and the U.S. Congress to voice our demand for the respect of human rights and the release of thousands of prisoners of conscience in Ethiopia. The next demonstration is scheduled for TUESDAY, December 28, starting at 12 noon in front of the Ethiopian embassy.

We are calling on everyone in the Washington DC area who stands for freedom and justice to join us in the weekly demonstrations to give voice to Ethiopia’s voiceless prisoners of conscience.

We also call on everyone to help make the economic boycott of TPLF-owned commercial enterprises a success. For more information about TPLF’s monopoly of the Ethiopian economy, please contact us at TEGBAR@juno.com.

We Demand Freedom!
We Demand Respect for Human Rights!

December 20, 1999
The Honorable Jesse Helms
United States Senate
Washington DC

Dear Senator Helms;

We address this appeal to you to solicit your kind intervention regarding the thousands of prisoners of conscience in Ethiopia, and in particular that of Dr. Taye Woldesemayat and Fitawrari Mekonnen Dori.

Dr Taye Woldesemayat is the president of Ethiopian Teachers Association. He has been in jail without trial since May 29, 1996. He was arrested at Addis Abeba Airport on his return from a two-month working visit to Europe. Dr Taye was in solitary confinement for several months with his hands and feet shackled 24 hours a day.

Dr Taye returned to Ethiopia from the U.S. in 1991 after graduating from a university. He was assistant professor of political science at Addis Abeba University until he and forty-two other professors who were considered critics by Meles Zenawi’s dictatorial regime were arbitrarily dismissed. In 1996, he was returning to Addis Abeba from Germany and other European countries after participating in conferences representing the Ethiopian Teachers Association. Representatives of the Dutch National Association of Teachers and the African Teachers Association were with him when he arrived at the Addis Abeba Airport, but they were unable to prevent his arrest.

Fitawrari Mekonnen Dori is a prominent leader of an opposition party named Alternative Forces for Peace and Democracy in Ethiopia. In February 1994, he came to the U.S. to participate in a reconciliation talks that was organized by the Carter Center in Atlanta. Soon after he returned to Ethiopia, he was arrested by TPLF security police on charges of crimes he allegedly committed during the previous regime. Currently, the seventy-year-old Fitawrari Mekonnen is gravely ill and deprived of proper medical treatment in jail.

Both Dr Taye and Fit. Mekonnen are strong advocates of peace and democratic rights in Ethiopia.

In Ethiopia today, there are over 13,000 prisoners of conscience, most of whom are detained without trial for several years. Many of the prisoners are journalists, political party members, students, teachers, religious leaders and small farmers who opposed the regime’s nationalized land policy.

The Marxist regime of Tigrean Liberation Front (TPLF) led by Meles Zenawi, which came to power in 1991, so far defied all public appeals and calls by international human rights groups to release the prisoners of conscience.

Dear Senator Helms: We appeal to you to impress upon Meles Zenawi’s regime to free Dr. Taye Woldesemayat, Fitawrari Mekonnen Dori and all the other prisoners of conscience in Ethiopia.

Sincerely,

Elias Kifle
Secretary