Church lashes out at Govt

By Henry Neondo

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) last week expressed deep concern with the recent events in Ethiopia and lashed out Ethiopia government for its highhandedness in dealing with dissenting voices.

According to a statement issued from Geneva and Nairobi attributed to Rev Samuel Kobia, head of WCC and Dr Mvume Dandala, head of the AACC, the two church leaders said that it was disheartening to see Ethiopian government go over the board against a peaceful student demonstrators.

Over twenty people have lost their lives and several hundreds were injured, as a result of action of the security forces against the demonstrations.

The demonstrations were staged to protest against alleged voting irregularities in the parliamentary elections of May 15.

According to Ethiopia's press reports, the security forces not only blocked the demonstrations, but also intimidated and beat up the people including opposition candidates.

The protest demonstrations are now in their third day, and emotions and tensions are running high.

The two church leaders said that it is imperative that the authorities in Ethiopia exercise utmost care and understanding in handling the present crisis so that the situation is not allowed to further deteriorate.

The WCC and AACC call on the government of Ethiopia to ensure that the security forces exercise maximum restraint in handling the protesters and refrain from using excessive force.

"We have received reports of large numbers of arrests made by the security forces without due process. Consequently, we request that those held in detention should be properly treated and not held incommunicado, tortured and/or beaten", they said.

They further appealed to the government of Ethiopia to enter into a dialogue with the opposition political parties and civil society groups in order to find an amicable settlement of the present crisis.

They also called on the churches of Ethiopia to play their prophetic and pastoral role in helping to bring the situation to normalcy, and assure them of our readiness to support their efforts towards bringing peace, justice and reconciliation.