Thousands imprisoned after days of violence

Published on 19/06/2005 00:39

EARLY tomorrow morning, Rahel will set out from her small house in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, and start searching the streets for her husband.

The last time she saw him was 11 days ago, when he popped out to buy food from a nearby stall. He never came back. The father-of-two became one of thousands of people who disappeared after being picked up by police at the climax of three days of political violence.

"People say some of the prisoners might be in court on Monday or might be released," said Rahel, who only wanted her first name to be used to protect her identity. "I will go out to find him. His daughter is crying and I can't be on my own any more. But we haven't heard anything about him since he disappeared. We don't know anything for sure."

She is not the only one in the dark in Addis Ababa a week after clashes between armed police and stone-throwing protesters left at least 36 dead.

The unrest started on Monday last week when students at Addis Ababa University defied a government ban on demonstrations to protest against what they saw as a string of irregularities in Ethiopia's May 15 elections.

It came to a climax two days later when police in the commercial heart of the city opened fire on crowds that the authorities claimed were trying to storm banks and police stations.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Council on Friday said it was taking the government to court in an effort to track down six of its members who disappeared after the unrest.

The government on Friday confirmed that up to 3,000 people were arrested in the aftermath of the violence. Around 700 were released over the past three days, either without charge or on bail.

Bereket Simon, Ethiopia's Minister of Information, defended the mass arrests and use of deadly force, saying they had contained the violence.