Ethiopia "My country has degenerated to a dictatorship"

She had only four weeks to look after her baby. Birtukan Mideksa was then sent into jail. The young judge, since then, longer than a year, is still in jail. As the vice chairperson of the opposition party CUD (Coalition for Unity and Democracy), she is one of the numerous "political prisoners" in Ethiopia, as per information from countrymen abroad. At this right time, activists are holding rallies worldwide, like the one in Vienna yesterday, to bring attention to the miserable human rights situation in this east African Country. "My country has degenerated to a dictatorship since the election in 2005. It is very dangerous to have any sort of political discussions" complains Hailu Y. who is living in Vienna, in a conversation with KURIER.

International election observers had also noticed election irregularities. The opposition was talking of massive manipulations. Since then repression has further increased. Human rights organizations report of massive constrains on freedom of expression, freedom of press, political motivated imprisonments and torture.

Furthermore, the largest "show trial", as it is called by the opposition, goes into its final stage. Several dozen politicians (practically the whole CUD leadership) journalists and employees of aid agencies are among others ho are accused of genocide and treason .Some are threatened with the death penalty. Background: The forceful crackdown of the protests after the election which caused the death of number of people.

The Ethiopian ambassador in Vienna, Congit Sinegiorgis, of course, denies all accusations. Rule of law is a basic pillar in her native country she says. The justice system would act independently .Other representatives of the government try to silence critics with the terrorism - club.

Ethiopia, in the horn of Africa, is an indispensable supporter of the west in fight against fundamentalism, which would mean its military intervention in neighboring Somalia after Christmas. In a blitz military action, the Islamist who took power and who had connection to Al Qaida was ousted.

However, some donor countries want to think over their financial help. It is known, that Ethiopia as a developing country gets one billion dollar per year as budgetary help, an amount that covers 40% of the country's yearly budget. According to Hailu Y. "this money could be used as means of pressure in our struggle for more democracy"