Open letter from the Minister of Information to the UK media

News Release - Wednesday 15th June 2005

Open letter from Minister of Information to the UK media

Bereket Simon, the Minister of Information of Ethiopia has today issued this open letter to the UK media.

Open letter from Bereket Simon, Minister of Information of Ethiopia, to the UK media

Thanks to Prime Minister Blair, the campaign to fight poverty in Africa has become a global issue. The extent of the West's support will be debated at the G8 summit in July at Gleneagles, but already the G8 Finance Ministers have voted to write off the debt of the world's poorest countries, to the tune of Ł30 billion.

This is of great assistance to countries like Ethiopia whose government and people are working extremely hard to find a space in the rapidly growing world economy.

Such support is given on the condition of ensuring good governance, transparency and accountability in the recipient countries. This is why the record needs to be put right about some of the allegations reported in the UK press. It should be noted that the process of debt relief is subject to the recipient countries - including Ethiopia - being assessed as having satisfied the stringent criteria set by the donors. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) have agreed that Ethiopia has made sufficient progress and taken the necessary steps to reach its completion point under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.

Firstly, let's deal with the issue of corruption. We cannot deny that corruption still exists in our country. That is why we, as a Government, are so determined to fight and control this scourge. No one can deny that the elimination of corruption is one of the key targets of this Administration, and it is widely recognised that this Government has worked hard to do away with corruption.

My main concern is to set the record straight regarding the third national elections which took place on May 15th 2005, under the supervision of over 300 representatives of organisations such as the EU, the Carter Center, the African Union and the Arab League, as well as the USA, India, Japan, China, Turkey and Russia and monitors from the Embassies in Addis Ababa and the Pan-African Parliament.

All these organisations praised the Ethiopian government for having achieved the first truly democratic elections in the long history of our country, even stating that these elections can serve as a bench mark for Africa.

The Chief Monitor for the European Union Election Observation Mission said that "it was a credit to all parties who participated and a victory for democracy”. The Carter Center considered it as "the most open debate seen in any African election, with the opposition free to stage large rallies” and hailed the very high election turnout.

Despite our relentless efforts, however, there are allegations of malpractice. Needless to say all substantiated allegations will be investigated, in a transparent and accountable manner, based on appropriate mechanisms and processes that have been agreed upon.

The fact that the ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), lost all of the 23 seats in the capital to the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), can be seen as evidence of the existence of the democratic process. Further evidence of the attitude of the EPRDF is proved by the fact that the Mayor of Addis, Arkebe Oqubay, instructed his administration to work diligently and to hand everything over, peacefully, to the new incumbents in September.

Unfortunately, although all parties had previously agreed to work peacefully towards the establishment of the new Parliament, the CUD began to incite some of their members to protest by creating civil disturbances, calling on the students to barricade the University and in defiance of the ban that was already in place, the CUD leadership caused unrest that sadly resulted in the loss of 26 lives and even more injuries. We deeply regret this loss of life and will ensure that it is thoroughly investigated.

On Wednesday 8June, the Ambassador of the EU His Excellency Mr Tim Clark kindly offered to negotiate an agreement between all parties, which was signed by representatives from the EPRDF, CUD and the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) on 10 June. Despite some initial set backs, the pre-conditions set by the CUD have now been retracted and agreement reached, with all parties re-affirming their commitment to the successful conclusion of the electoral process and accepting the legal authority of the National Election Board of Ethiopia. In signing the agreement, all parties have also re-asserted their condemnation of all acts of violence or incitement to violence and will seek resolution of all issues through legal and peaceful means only.