Ethiopia rejects HRW 'lies'

2005-05-10 23:09

Addis Ababa - Ethiopia on Tuesday dismissed as "lies" a highly critical report from a leading human rights watchdog accusing the government of suppresing alternative voices and committing numerous abuses.

"These are the same old stories, this report is a bunch of lies that is politically motivated," information minister Berekat Simon said of the findings presented by the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

"It is not a credible organisation," said Berekat, who also serves as spokesperson for the campaign of the ruling Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in Sunday's upcoming general election.

Earlier on Tuesday, five days before the polls, HRW accused the Ethiopian government and ruling party of muzzling dissent and harassing and detaining people perceived as political foes in the country's southern Oromia state.

The 44-page report accused the government of having intensified its clampdown during the run-up to the election.

The country's main opposition umbrella group, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), has also criticised the government for failing to uphold the rule of law by intimidating, torturing and even killing its supporters.

- AFP