June 28, 2004

SOCEPP has reported various times that the EPRDF regime in Addis Ababa practices not only ethnic discrimination but also interferes in the affairs of religious institutions to deliberately cause conflicts among the believers. What has happened in Checnha, Zerdo district (Kebele) of Gama Gofa recently is another good example.

Police forcefully entered the church of Zedi Miakael and tried to fence off half the compound with the intention of handing it over to another religious denomination. Orthodox church believers who were attending Sunday Bible school opposed the police action against their church but the police not only fired bullets to disperse them but beat up a number of them including some who were above eighty years old. Numerous others were dragged to prisons and are still being kept behind bars without due process. This is just an example of the continuing provocation by the EPRDF which has led to religious conflicts amongst the people. In many areas, Orthodox Church followers and Protestants have clashed (as happened in Harar recently) and Christian- Moslem conflicts have also been reported in several places. In almost all instances, people have blamed the regime's politics and the machinations of its cadres as being behind the conflicts around religion differences.

It is to be noted that the EPRDF officially practices an ethnic politics that has over the years aggravated ethnic differences, rivalries and led to bloody conflicts.

SOCEPP