April 24, 2000
ONE STUDENT KILLED, MANY WOUNDED, DOZENS ARRESTED IN NEKMTE
Government security forces have killed one female student, DIRIBE JIFARA, and wounded many others in Nekemte (Wellega,Western Ethiopia) after students expressed their support to their colleagues in Ambo who had been repressed by the government. Police not only opened fire on students (Meskerem 2 School, etc..) but rounded up and jailed many others including teachers and civil employees. Among the imprisoned figure: teachers Tesfaye Burayo along with his wife, Tesfa Tomsa and (from Neji town), Haka Weltuja, Abera Gubena along with his son Abdisa Abera, Belatchew Tadesse, Mengistu, Sileshi Ayana, Fitcho Kena'a and student Yonatan D'negede
It is to be noted that the government officials have blamed the deaths of students in Ambo (killed by the police) on the students themselves and continued to detain scores of youngsters, teachers and parents at the Senkole and other detention centers.
Officials of the Oromia region, where more than 21,000 prisoners have been signaled by March 2000, have recently denied the facts (at a public meeting in Nazreth/Adama town) and asserted that there are no political prisoners in the region. In a similar meeting in Mekelle, officials of the ruling Tigrean front (the TPLF) have also denied the fact that they are holding hundreds of prisoners in secret and underground prisons in the region. Of the many who have disappeared under custody, the government has not accounted on any one.
SOCEPP
