EX-PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER

After the ruling EPRDF had arbitrarily expelled three American election observers and EU observer who had witnesses the 2002 rigging, ex president Jimmy Carter sent in a few observers from his Carter Centre and then flew in their wake to Addis Abeba to declare, on arrival, that the election process is fair and democratic. This partisan endorsement even before any investigation on the ground has been justifiably condemned by the Ethiopian opposition forces. Mr. Carter's position is not unexpected as he has been a partisan supporter of the Ethiopian dictator and done several injustices to the Ethiopian people over the years since the Ogaden War of 1978.

SOCEPP condemns the Jimmy Carter endorsement given to the regime that rigged the May 15 election and robbed the Ethiopian people of their chance to have democratic governance. That Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has banned all peaceful demonstrations and put his repressive forces on alert should have given Mr. Carter an inkling of what is at stake. The Carter team did not travel to most of the 35,000 voting sites nor did it investigate the killings and arrests of opposition members, supporters and candidates that had been going on for the past months and specially in the last days leading to the election. No investigation, no right to speak but the Carter team rushed to endorse the process and the results and in this way did an injustice to the struggle of the Ethiopian people who for the past 14 years have been battling to secure their human rights from the clutches of a repressive regime that continues to be admired by Mr. Carter.

As the Ethiopian people and the opposition forces continue the struggle for their democratic rights, SOCEPP calls on all peace loving forces to give their support to the people and to condemn the usurpation by the Meles Zenawi regime. Repression will not break the will of the people for democracy and the Ethiopian people have many experiences, since the time of Mussolini, of double standards and foreigners giving backing to their tormentors.

INJUSTICE ANYWHERE IS INJUSTICE EVERYWHERE

SOCEPP