Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi blamed the opposition and the international community for a political crisis that has seen scores killed and jailed since elections a year ago.
Meles, in an interview with British newspaper The Times published on Monday, said the opposition was encouraged by mixed signals from the international community and hoped to topple him.
”They miscalculated,” The Times quoted Meles as saying in an interview on Sunday. ”Ethiopia is not a spineless, corrupt ex-Soviet rump. Ethiopia is not Ukraine.”
Fraud-plagued elections in Ukraine in 2004 sparked demonstrations that helped bring down President Viktor Yushchenko.
Monday was the first anniversary of the Ethiopian elections that returned Meles to power, but which international observers had called seriously flawed.
Violence that erupted during several protests over the elections has left more than 88 people dead over the past year. In violence last week that could point to growing militant opposition to the government, nine bombs exploded across Ethiopia’s capital, killing four people and injuring more than 42 others. Police said it was a coordinated attempt to discredit the government, but there was no claim of responsibility.
In a case stemming from the protests, 111 independent journalists, opposition leaders and aid workers were standing trial for treason and attempted genocide — charges that could bring life in prison or death. London-based human rights group Amnesty International has called the defendants ”prisoners of conscience who have not used or advocated violence”.
In January, Britain cut all of its aid to Ethiopia’s government and redirected the £50-million to humanitarian agencies or local governments because of concerns about the central government’s handling of the unrest sparked by the election.
Meles, in the interview, denied accusations the elections were stolen and rejected criticism his security forces overreacted to the political unrest.
”Whoever violates law in Ethiopia, no matter how powerful, will be held accountable,” he said.
He accused Britain of cutting off aid without consultations, and described groups like Amnesty International as ”self-appointed guardian angels of democracy in Africa [who] believe that these bloody African leaders will not democratise unless we breathe down their necks all the time”.
Meles had served on British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Commission on Africa, which concluded its work last year with calls for more aid for the continent, but also for African leaders to embrace democracy and economic reform. Meles had been widely praised as a reformer, but the 2005 elections sparked international concern about his commitment to human rights. — Sapa-AP