DATE=4/17/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N ETHIOPIA DEMONSTRATION (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261446
BYLINE=BRECK ARDERY
DATELINE=UNITED NATIONS
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Several dozen people today (Monday)
demonstrated outside United Nations headquarters to
protest what they call discrimination by the
government of Ethiopia against the Oromia region of
that country. VOA Correspondent Breck Ardery reports
from the United Nations.
TEXT: The demonstration, sponsored by a coalition of
Oromo groups in North America, focused on the recent
fires that have burned through more than 100-thousand
hectares of forests in the southern part of Ethiopia,
primarily in the Oromia region. The Oromo
demonstrators claim that the government of Ethiopia
actually set some of the fires in an effort to drive
members of the Oromo Liberation Front out of the
forests.
The government of Ethiopia has absolutely denied
setting any fires.
The demonstrators also called on the government of
Ethiopia to declare a truce in the war with
neighboring Eritrea. Asfaw Beyene, a biology professor
in California and a spokesman for the Oromo
demonstrators, says the war is weakening the
government's ability to deal with the famine in
Ethiopia.
/// BEYENE ACT ///
When you put millions of dollars every day to
feed an Army, and we suspect there is a lot of
food and support channeled toward the military,
that definitely makes the famine worse. The
government is busy organizing a war front
instead of helping people in the south and
gathering international attention to the
situation.
/// END ACT ///
However, the government of Ethiopia says the war is
not detracting from efforts to fight famine and that,
in any case, the government has a responsibility to
defend its territory. (Signed)
NEB/BA/LSF/TVM/gm
17-Apr-2000 18:37 PM EDT (17-Apr-2000 2237 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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