August 23, 2005
Tedla Desta, Addis Ababa

Commissioners express "surprise and concern" over defamatory article in state owned daily.

The eagerly awaited European Union Election Observers' final report of the 3rd Ethiopian national elections will be released in mid September, sources told The Daily Monitor.

The document according to some media reports was to be released this week. And some opposition parties claim that it shows they have won the election.

The source in the EU who spoke on conditions of annonimity however said: "The date given by the media is inaccurate information. Though not yet fixed, it is supposed to be made public in September. But there probably may be a report to be issued regarding the Somali region election and the re-elections in different regions of the country before the final report."

The source declined to comment on whether the claims by opposition parties were true or not.

Meanwhile, the EU has expressed its concern regarding an article that was published on The Ethiopian Herald entitled "Gomes, Clarke: Neutral Observers or hidden dealers." The article heavily criticizes both the European Union's Chief Election Observer in Ethiopia Ana Gomes and the Head of European Commission Delegation to Ethiopian, Tim Clarke for having a biased close relationship with-Chairman of Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) Hailu Shawel and another high ranking member of the party, Dr. Berhanu Nega.

European Commissioners Benita Ferrero -Waldner, responsible for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy and Louis Michel responsible for Development and Humanitarian Aid on their joint statement stated their concern. "We are deeply surprised and concerned about [the] defamatory article"

The article also alleges that some reliable sources had leaked the information to the writer that the EU observer (Ana Gomes) has been promised 20% of the money collected from the Diaspora provided that she writes critical observations on the elections.

"Allegations made in the article are completely without foundation and are totally unacceptable. Both Ms Gomes and Mr Clarke are people of integrity who have played a very important role, in their respective mandates, throughout this difficult election process, the release added.

Ana Gomes is back from Brussels in her continuing capacity as Chief Observer, to follow the remaining aspects of the election process.

ደሴ ነሐሴ 17/1997/ዋኢማ/ በሰሜን ወሎ ዞን ቡግና ምርጫ ክልል በ21 ምርጫ ጣቢዎች በድጋሚ በተካሄደው የህዝብ ተወካዮችና የክልል ምክር ቤት አባላት ምርጫ ብአዴን ኢህአዴግ በከፍተኛ ድምጽ ማሸነፉን የምርጫ ክልሉ ማስተባበሪያ ጽህፈት ቤት ገለጸ፡፡

የጽህፈት ቤቱ አስተባባሪ አቶ አባተ አሰፋ ዛሬ ለዋልታ እንደገለፁት በሀያ አንዱ ምርጫ ጣቢያዎች ብአዴን ኢህአዴግን ወክለው ለተወካዮች ምክር ቤት አባልነት የተወዳደሩት አቶ በረከት ስምኦን 20 ሺ 241 ድምፅ ሲያገኙ ቅንጅት ለአንድነትና ለዲሞክራሲን ወክለው የተወዳደሩት አቶ ደስታው ካሴ 548 ድምፅ አግኝተዋል፡፡

ለክልል ምክር ቤትም በተመሳሳይ ሁኔታ የብአዴን ተወዳዳሪዎች ማሸነፋቸውን አስተባባሪው ተናግረዋል፡፡

በዕሁዱ ድጋሚ ምርጫ 21 ሺ 470 ነዋሪዎች ድምፅ የሰጡ ሲሆን ከመካከላቸውም 10 ሺ 574 ያህሉ ሴቶች ናቸው ብለዋል፡፡

በምርጫ ጣቢዎች በተዘጋጁት 63 የሚስጥር ድምፅ መስጫ ቦታዎች ህዝቡ ሳይጉላላ ድምፁን እንዲሰጥ የተደረገ ሲሆን በድምፅ ቆጠራና በኮሮጆ ማጓጓዝ ሂደት ያጋጠመ ችግር አለመኖሩንም ገልፀዋል፡፡

የቅንጅት ለአንድነትና ለዴሞክራሲ ተወዳዳሪዎች በድጋሚ ምርጫው እንደማይሳተፉ ማመልከቻ ቢጽፉም የእጩነት መታወቂያቸውን ባለመመለሳቸው በውድድሩ የተሳተፉ በመሆናቸው የህዝብ ድምፅ ማግኘታቸውን አስተባባሪው አስታውቀዋል

Meles is getting seperate. Gebrelekuskus, what say you?

Ankasa Doro

Beseferut Kuna Mesefer Aykerem.

Perhaps this bloody election drama perpetrated by the Woyanes will come to an end when the truth will set the nation free and the people safer.

No matter what the accusations against the distinguished European observer team, the people of Ethiopia and the whole world already know full well what has been going on in the country since May up until now.

simply put, why should we give them the luxury to rule and kill the innocent when we can get rid of them for the benefit of the entire population of the country. We can, and must get rid of them from power under the roads, as we have been doing so. let democacy reign in Ethiopia too.

Ms Ana Gomes and Mr Clarke cannot be bought unlike Mazimke and hence they are being attacked.It is typical of Meles's government.What a shame to stoop down so low, especially as a leader of a country.
I am very disappointed that the report won't be released until middle of September.Why the delay?

Email: zghiwet@yahoo.ca

Already the preliminary report is a ****ing indictment of the post voting day election process in the country. In all honesty , the once shinning start to a freer and fairer election in Ethiopia has been corrupted by hasty and anxious politicians in the opposition and tyrannical party ideologues in the ruling EPRDF.

This election could only be remembred as Ethiopia's tragically lost opportunity for a democratic progress.

Very sad !

City: Addis

Hammer,

I don't think you should see it as a lost opportunity for democracy in Ethiopia. The game is not over yet.

Meles must be regrating the day he agreed to allow the EU to observe the election. I think this is what he meant when he said during BBC interview "we made a miss-calculation". We should thank our lucky star for the EU and America to participate in the election. Without them we wouldn't have a true voice to air the real situation on the ground.

It also shows us that the past elections weren't elections at all, looking at the situation at the moment.

What worries me is if Meles stays in power it will be the last time the Ethiopian people will get to chose their government. It will also be a deterent for other african dictators not to allow eU and USA observert to an election.

City: AA

Fellow Ethiopians,

Have you read the article above. I quote '.......The article also alleges that some reliable sources had leaked the information to the writer that the EU observer (Ana Gomes) has been promised 20% of the money collected from the Diaspora provided that she writes critical observations on the elections.'

Woyane acuses Ana Gomes of being promised 20% --- , What a lie and what an absolute terrible mistake made by them? However, the life of Woyane is built on corruption. They think everyone is corrupt like them. Particularly Meles and Bereket are the most corrupt high officials in Ethiopia. Therefore, accusing an EU official of corruption is something to be laughed at and probably to be read as their own experience in the poor country, Ethiopia.

Email: lalibela@yahoo.com

City: AA