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Ethiopia: Opposition Seeks U.S. Support in 'Struggle for Democracy' Members Signed Document Voluntarily - Spokesman
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The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa)
20 September 2007
Posted to the web 20 September 2007
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia's main opposition, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) is seeking the support and backing of the United States government in its struggle for democracy in the country, its Spokesman said in an interview.
Speaking with VOA in the United States where a five-man delegation of the opposition CUD is in the United States, CUD Spokesman Hailu Araya said his party's struggle in Ethiopia was a struggle for democracy and that CUD hoped the United States will stand on the side of those fighting for democracy.
Spokesman Hailu Araaya told the American broadcasting service that the delegation came to America to thank the Ethiopian Diaspora for its support.
"You know we have been in prison for almost 21 months, and the Ethiopians in the Diaspora have been helpful, so supportive in many ways such as diplomatically, financially and so on. So we wanted to come to this country to meet them face-to-face and say thank you to them," VOA quoted the Spokesman as saying.
"The other thing is," Hailu went on," there is a struggle going on in Ethiopia to establish democracy there, and this democracy needs the support of the people not only in Ethiopia but also outside Ethiopia.
Hailu said the delegation was also there to discuss with them on how to work together to promote the struggle for democracy in Ethiopia.
In July this year, the Ethiopian government pardoned and released from prison 38 of the country's top opposition leaders including journalists who were on charge of treason following the 2005 parliamentary elections the opposition says was rigged.
Dr.Hailu said the delegation has been meeting with members of the U.S. Congress, and that they were looking forward to meetings with Bush administration officials.
"Yes we have met with Congressman Donald Payne (chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa), and we are going to meet other senators soon," Hailu said..
He said current Ethiopia-U.S. relations are good, and hoped they would get better with U.S. support for the struggle for democracy in Ethiopia.
"I think Ethio-American relations are good at the moment. We hope that they will keep improving because the United States is the supporter and champion of democracy and the struggle going in Ethiopia is to establish democracy in Ethiopia, the Spokesman said. When the Ethiopian government pardoned and released from prison 38 opposition leaders in July, the government said the opposition leaders had signed statement of apology.
Araaya confirmed the opposition did sign a statement to be released from prison.
"Well we were released on pardon basis. We were pardoned. As you said yes, we did sign a document and then on basis of that document, a pardon board reviewed our case and then presented to the president of the country, and the president issued a pardon declaration. And so we are released with all our full rights that a citizen should have," Araaya said.
In what appeared to be contrary to what was said- that the opposition signed the document under pressure- Hailu said the opposition leaders signed the statement voluntarily with an apology to the Ethiopian government.
"We signed it voluntarily. We apologized to the people, to the government. Yes, we did. That's what the paper said, and that's what we signed," he said.
CUD Chairman Hailu Shawel, in an interview with the BBC the day they were released, said they signed the document under duress.
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Next elections are in January 2008, but according to the Spokesman, that is not what CUD will focus for now.
It would rather concentrate on rebuilding, he said.
It is not clear whether he was speaking of his party or rebuilding of the country in the context of the overall efforts towards development.
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