July 20/ 2004

The Ministry of Justice of the ruling EPRDF has officially dissolved the Metcha Tulema Association and confiscated its assets and property. Established decade ago during the reign of the Emperor Haile Sellasie, the association had never been banned and had functioned as a peaceful body in the service of the Oromo people of Ethiopia.

The illegal action by the EPRDF falls within its characteristic drive to control or dissolve all autonomous civic or mass associations/organizations. The Metcha Tulema association had often been the target of repression by the EPRDF though its present predicament stems from its opposition to the arbitrary decision on the part of the regime to change the capital of the Oromiya region/Kilil from Addis Ababa to Nazreth/Adama.The association also criticized the regime’s brutal repression of Oromo students though its attempt to stage a peaceful demonstration in Addis Ababa was brutally suppressed. The EPRDF has blamed the student arrest on the illegal OLF organization and has recently tried to railroad the association by accusing it of being behind some bombing attempts in some schools. The chairman and another top leader of the association are under arrest and are in jail awaiting formal charges.

The illegal dissolution of the Metcha Tulema association is one more example of the relentless campaign by the EPRDF to subdue and control the civil society and to continue its ethnic discrimination and repression. It deserves strong condemnation by the world at large.

SOCEPP