ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia The Woyanne regime tightened security in the capital on Thursday after police said they had arrested more than a dozen leaders of the rebel Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and accused them of plotting terrorist attacks.
The mostly middle-aged men were paraded on state television late on Wednesday alongside a stack of assault rifles that police said were seized during several raids in Addis Ababa.
Merrara Gudina, chairman of the ONC, also dismissed the charges against his party and accused the Ethiopian Woyanne security services of planting infiltrators in the opposition who they would later “expose” and arrest as insurgents.
“We have no link or association with the OLF whatsoever,” Merrara told Reuters. “Most of the dirty work against us is being done by the government.”
Ethiopia The Woyanne regime, which is an ally of the United States and the biggest military power in the Horn of Africa, blames insurgents supported by neighbouring Eritrea for bomb blasts that killed eight people and wounded many in the city earlier this year.
Extra police were on patrol on Thursday, searching vehicles and members of the public, while car hire companies and hotels were told to scrutinise their clients thoroughly.
“The detainees, who have links to OLF leaders in Asmara, were mobilising finance and dispatching illegal weapons and also recruiting members for their anti-peace activities,” a joint intelligence and police taskforce said in a statement.
It said some of the men had been operating “under the disguise” of membership in legal opposition political parties like the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) and Oromo National Congress (ONC).
It gave no other details, but added that the taskforce had also arrested the leaders of “Kawerj”, a previously unknown movement that it said was a self-styled extremist group also plotting attacks in the capital.
A week ago, the authorities arrested OFDM general secretary Bekele Jirata and accused him of working with the OLF, one of several rebel movements opposed to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
The OFDM denies it. In April, it accused Meles’ government of intimidation as voters went to the polls for the first time since post-election violence in 2005 killed 199 civilians.
The party said most of their candidates had been threatened and forced to pull out of the race.
There was no immediate comment from Asmara on the Ethiopian Woyanne allegations. Both Horn of Africa countries routinely trade accusations of supporting each other’s rebels since they fought a 1998-2000 border war that killed 70,000 people.