FEDERAL
REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA
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Ethiopia-
The Curtailment of Rights
With the legacy of the Derg behind it,
the EPRDF proclaimed, as it instituted a four-year transitional period
(1991-1995), its commitment to democratization and respect for the rule
of law and pledged to establish human rights in the country. The transitional
legislature ratified the major international human rights treaties. The
constitution of today's Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia offers
detailed basic human rights guarantees and provides for the incorporation
into domestic laws of all the human rights treaties to which Ethiopia is
party. New laws were enacted that guarantee the respect of human rights
and civil liberties, institute the independence of the judiciary and the
press, and provide for multipartyism and free universal suffrage, theoretically
allowing the convening of competitive elections for the first time in the
country's history. Upon taking power in 1991, the EPRDF actively promoted
a policy of ethnic federalism that influenced the subsequent constitutional,
political, and administrative restructuring of the country. At the same
time, it moved effectively to dominate the political system by favoring
regional parties affiliated with it and clamping down on opposition and
civil society groups. The emerging contours of the political scene generated
a particular set of human rights problems.
(A908) 12/97, 54pp., $7.00
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Reckoning Under the Law
In 1991, the government of former President Mengistu was overthrown
by the military forces of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic
Front and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, ending 17 years of repressive
rule. The Mengistu government was responsible for torturing, murdering
or disappearing tens of thousands of Ethiopians from 1974 to 1991. In 1994,
we investigated the process established by the Transitional Government
of Ethiopia to bring former officials of the Mengistu regime to justice
for these human rights violations, believing that this process of accountability
is essential to the building of democratic institutions in Ethiopia.
(A611) 12/94, 38 pp., $5.00/£2.95
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EVIL DAYS:
Thirty Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia
For the past thirty years under both Emperor Haile Selassie and President
Mengistu Haile Mariam, Ethiopia has suffered continuous war and intermittent
famine until every single province has been affected by war to some degree.
Evil Days documents the wide range of violations of basic human rights
committed by all sides in the conflict, especially the Mengistu government's
direct responsibility for the deaths of at least half a million Ethiopian
civilians. The Ethiopian army and air force have killed tens of thousands
of civilians. The notorious urban "Red Terror" of 1977-78 was matched by
indiscriminate violence against rural populations, especially in Eritrea
and Tigray. Counterinsurgency strategies involved forcibly relocating millions
of rural people and cutting food supplies to insurgent areas. Also, these
military policies were instrumental in creating famine, and the government
used relief supplies as weapons to further its war aims. There is now a
prospect of lasting peace, but concerns remain such as the demand for justice
and the future protection of human rights.
(0383) 9/91, 416 pp., ISBN 1-56432-038-3, $20.00/£14.95
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(A306) Human Rights Crisis as Central Power
Crumbles, 4/91, 24 pp., $3.00/£1.95
(A305) Mengistu's Empty "Democracy," 3/91,
14 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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