September 3, 2002

     To: Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD)
      POSTBOKS 8034 DEP
     0030 OSLO
      E MAIL: POSTMOTTAK@NORAD.NO

                              AN OPEN LETTER OF PROTEST

                              SOCEPP strongly objects to the invitation of EPRDF judge Woubsihet Kibru to Oslo to take part in a human rights conference sponsored by NORAD. Supreme court judge Woubishet is one of the judges who condemned Ethiopian teachers' Association chairman Dr. Taye Welde Semayat to five years of imprisonment when the teacher was railroaded t hrough the kangaroo court presided by the likes of Judge Woubishet. The judge has also condemned many other innocent people to prison terms following the political diktat of the ruling EPRDF. That his person could be invited by NORAD highlights the existing neglect and lack of any consideration to the plight of the Ethiopian people as it is a cruel joke to invite one of the violators of their human rights to a human rights conference.

                             SOCEPP has in the past raised its voice against such acts that sprinkle salt on the wounds of the Ethiopian people and specially the more than 15,000 political prisoners suffering in the fetid cells and dungeons of Prime Minster Meles Zenawi. Institutions and governments who continue to "do business as usual" with the repressive EPRDF and who even go overboard to invite a human rights violator to a human rights conference are doing disservice to themselves. SOCEPP calls upon NORAD to apologize for the error and to send back Judge Woubishet without any delay. It is morally condemnable to hobnob with the tormentors, torturers and human rights violators of the Ethiopian people.

                              SOCEPP