Opposition staged rare protest rally

By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA, April 16 (Reuters) - Ethiopians marched on Thursday to demand the release of a jailed opposition leader in the first political protests since a disputed 2005 election ended in street violence that killed 199 people.Birtukan Mideksa, the 34-year-old leader of the Unity for Democracy and Justice party (UDJ), was first jailed with other opposition leaders after the 2005 poll. She was pardoned in 2007 but then re-arrested last year.The former judge has been in solitary confinement since December and went on hunger strike for 13 days in January."We are marching today to tell the government that the imprisonment of our leader is illegal," said Debebe Eshetu, a senior UDJ official who was also jailed in 2005."She has been put in jail to weaken our party and to warn politicians who are outside the same thing may happen to us."Birtukan is seen by regional analysts as the country's foremost opposition politician and critics of the government say she has been jailed because of the threat she could pose at next year's parliamentary elections.Experts expect Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government to win that poll since the opposition was weakened by the imprisonment of many its top figures in 2005.Ethiopian opposition parties routinely accuse the government of harassment and say their candidates were intimidated when Ethiopians went to the polls last April for local elections.The Meles government denies it.Former Ethiopian President, Negaso Gidada, who is now an independent member of parliament, took part in Thursday's march. He told Reuters there was no democracy in Ethiopia."I am convinced that our democratic rights and human rights are being abused," he said as the demonstrators marched on the prime minister's office and the palace of President Girma Woldegiorgis.Guards barred them from entering the palace, but they were allowed to deliver a protest letter.The demonstrators were given a letter in return that said Birtukan had broken the law and so could not be released.The protest, which was approved by the authorities, was limited to 250 participants who all had to wear a government-issued identity badge. Security was low-key with only a small number of plainclothes police mingling with the crowd and almost no uniformed officers present.Protesters waved placards, played music and shouted slogans but drew little visible support from passers-by."The government have killed people who protest so I would not shout like this," one onlooker who declined to be named told Reuters. "These people are very brave."