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Ethiopian police foil ’terrorism’ plot — report
2006-02-21 09:06:50
By ADDIS ABABA
ETHIOPIAN security forces have foiled a plot to ’unleash armed urban terrorism’ in the capital Addis Ababa by a group linked to the main opposition party, the state-run Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) said yesterday.
Quoting a statement from the Federal Police Anti-Terrorism Taskforce, ENA said security forces had arrested several members of the group and seized a cache of TNT explosives, bombs and small arms.
’The group was planning to launch simultaneous attacks... targeting various government officials, peoples’ delegates, public figures as well as private and public institutions,’ ENA said in a report on its website.
It did not say how many people were arrested.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has repeatedly accused the main opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) of conspiring to incite violence in an attempt to topple him, after a May election the CUD says was rigged.
The government denies ballot fraud in the parliamentary poll that handed Meles another five-year term at the helm of sub-Saharan Africa’s second most-populous country.
’The clandestine group is linked to the Coalition for Unity and Democracy which it said opted to pursue the path of violence after the May elections,’ ENA quoted the police as saying.
Police accuse unnamed groups and individuals who live abroad of financing the group, ENA said.
Last month police said several public buildings and hotels in Addis Ababa were damaged by explosive devices planted by unknown people.
CUD officials were not available for comment.
Post-election clashes between police and protesters in which more than 80 people were killed, and the arrest of top CUD leaders on treason charges have tarnished Meles’ image.
Western donors, who once lauded Meles as one of a new generation of African leaders, have withheld direct budget aid to the Horn of Africa country over the post-election crackdown on the opposition and media.
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