RESOLUTION OF ETHIOPIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENT ASSOCIATIONS

AND CONCERNED ETHIOPIANS IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA

CONCERNING THE ONGOING STANDOFF BETWEEN THE EPRDF AND

ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

On May 6th 2001, we members of Ethiopian University Student Associations and Concerned

Ethiopians in the San Francisco Bay Area discussed the current Addis Ababa university students

movement and passed the following resolution by acclaim.

WHEREAS Addis Ababa University students were lawfully and peacefully exercising their

democratic and constitutional right when they were assembled on campus to meet with and submit a

number of reasonable requests to Ms. Genet Zewdie, Minister of Education of the EPRDF, on April

11, 2001, when Federal Police on campus, without cause or provocation, violently dispersed the

assembly, killing at least one student and injuring at least fifty students; and

WHEREAS Ms. Genet Zewdie herself has publicly declared that the violent attack was not ordered

by her or by the government and was unprovoked; and

WHEREAS Addis Ababa University students were within their right during the ensuing discussions

in demanding that Federal Police, who had caused them undue intimidation and physical harm, be

removed from campus and replaced by campus service officers; and

WHEREAS barred from demonstrating on campus, students were within their right to take their

protests to the streets of Addis Ababa on April 17 and 18, 2001; and

WHEREAS the police were most at fault in using massive, excessive and violent force on April 18,

2001, when they fatally shot at least forty-one protesters and physically injured at least five hundred

people; and

WHEREAS government forces were most at fault in indiscriminately, violently and without due

process arresting some three thousand people and amassing them at the Sendafa detention center

between April 18 and 26, 2001; and

WHEREAS the detention without charge or trial of these thousands by the government constituted

a violation of the writ of habeas corpus; and

WHEREAS detainees were subjected to cruel and degrading treatment including near-starvation

rations; and

WHEREAS subsequent to the much-publicized release of most students on April 26, at least one

hundred students and non-students still remain unlawfully detained; and

WHEREAS the government's demand that students be required to sign letters apologizing for the

destruction of property and the violence that occurred on April 18 preemptively and unfairly shifts

the blame from government authorities to students; and

WHEREAS the subsequent and continuing extra-judicial arrests, detentions and disappearances of

student leaders, independent journalists and human rights activists by government authorities further

demonstrate heavy-handed state repression of the basic and inalienable rights of self-expression; and

WHEREAS by these and such repressive acts the Ethiopian government has caused the escalation

of tensions between itself and most other universities and colleges and tens of high schools

throughout the country, leaving students with no other recourse than to withdraw from classes; and

WHEREAS the students' insistence that the release of their compatriots and the withdrawal of

federal police from campuses constitute prerequisites to the resumption of their studies is fair and

just;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that Ethiopian University student unions and concerned

Ethiopians unswervingly stand by and support their Addis Ababa University siblings and will labor

fully to provide them with moral, publicity and financial support until their just demands are met; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the EPRDF assume direct responsibility for the violence,

fatalities and injuries instigated and inflicted by the Federal Police on Addis Ababa University

Students on April 11 and April 18, and for the escalation of tensions in the intervening periods and

subsequently leading to the current stand-off; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that all students, human rights activists, journalists and others

arbitrarily and illegally detained in connection with this stand-off be immediately released without any

preconditions and upon their own recognizance; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the International Committee of the Red Cross and other

human rights advocacy groups be allowed immediate and unrestrained access to student and

non-student detainees incarcerated in connection with this matter; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that an independent neutral commission comprising members

acceptable to the injured parties be appointed to conduct a fair, impartial and public investigation to

determine responsibility for the instigation and escalation of both physical and psychological violence

visited upon protesters, bring the perpetrators to justice, and seek appropriate remedies for the

injured; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the same commission conduct an investigation into the party

or parties responsible for the destruction of public and private properties committed April 18, 2001,

and make public its findings and recommendations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution and supporting documents be distributed

widely to educational institutions, human rights groups and concerned government authorities in the

United States and Ethiopia seeking their endorsement and/or independent follow-up action.

Reviewed and Issued by the duly appointed representatives of the Stanford Ethiopian Students

Union (SESU), the University of California at Berkeley Ethiopian Students, the California State

University at San Jose Ethiopian Students Association (SJSU-ESA), the Progressive Ethiopians

Discussion Forum of Northern California and Radio Ethiopia of San Jose this May 11, 2001.