APRIL 21/2001

RELEASE ALL DETAINED STUDENTS AND END THE REPRESSION

SOCEPP calls on the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to release immediately and without condition the thousands of students being illegally held at SENDAFA and other detention camps.Reports reaching SOCEPP have revealed that the detained students and civilians are being mistreared and beaten by the police as a "punishment". With the student unrest spreading to towns in the provinces, the government police in these areas have also stepped up the detention and brutal action dircted against the stud ents. In Addis Abeba itself, leaders of some legal political organizations have been arrested and newspaper vendors have been beaten up and jailed. It is obvious that the government, which sparked the crisis by invading the university campus and brutally beating up students, has opted for the use of force and violence as a means of dealing with the students demand for academic freedom and rights.More soldiers have been brought into the capital and ominously enough there are re! ports that the government is usi ng ethnic considerations and loyalties to secretly arm people in the capital city.This is for sure a harbinger of lawlessness and carnage if the situation gets out of hand.

SOCEPP considers the repressive actions of the Meles government which it holds responsible for the loss of som many lives and the destruction of property. The government must imemdiately cease all the repression, release all the students detained at Sendafa and other places, stop the repressive action agaisnt newspaper vendors, release all detianed political leaders and reply positively and peacefully to the demands of the students.

SOCEPP