Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-07-Speech-4-210"
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"en.20050707.30.4-210"2
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".
Mr President, some may wonder how, on a day when the plague of terrorism has again hit innocent civilians in a European capital, we can continue to debate the matters on our parliamentary agenda as planned. The answer is of course that, while our hearts go out to the victims and their families, we must
allow cowardly acts of terror to disrupt our democratic institutions and processes. To do otherwise would in fact give the cowardly terrorists the sick satisfaction and perverse pleasure they seek to achieve by perpetrating such monstrous crimes against humanity.
Ethiopia is, unfortunately, a country with a long history of poverty and famine. It is also a country with a long history of autocracy and state terror. During their fourteen years in power, the governments led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi have continued to amass a shameful human rights record. Many critics of his government have been routinely subjected to harassment, imprisonment and torture. Last month, after the recent parliamentary elections in the country, opposition demonstrations in the capital Addis Ababa were met with brutal attacks by the Ethiopian police. The demonstrators, mainly university students, claimed, with good reason, that there had been widespread electoral fraud. The security forces fired indiscriminately on the unarmed demonstrators, killing at least 36 and injuring over 100. An estimated 5 000 people were arrested and thrown into military detention centres. Following international reaction, many have now been released, but a large number are still in detention.
Over the last few years, Ethiopia has received – and continues to receive – a considerable amount of development aid from the West, much of which is from the EU. Many argue – quite rightly – that we ought to reconsider how this aid to African countries is given, because it would appear that in some cases at least – and Ethiopia is an example – the granting of financial help may bring about the collateral danger of helping to establish a non-democratic regime the policies of which further lead to national poverty. I ask you to support this motion for a resolution."@en1
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