Prime Minister Meles Zenawi

Ethiopia's ruling party and the main opposition groups in parliament agreed to an electoral code for next year's polls, an opposition official told AFP Wednesday. The code sets out campaigning, voting and party symbol guidelines as well as how to deal with intimidation and violence, abuse of office and corruption. It also includes the setting up of a panel to handle election disputes. "The agreement was reached on consensus by all participants after two months of negotiations," said Ayalew Chamiso, head of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy party (CUD). "The agreement enables the elections to be carried out in a peaceful, fair ... Read Full Story

A coalition of Ethiopian opposition parties on Saturday presented a common manifesto and said they will field joint candidates in next year's general elections. The Forum for Democracy and Dialogue, an amalgam of eight parties, unveiled their 65-page manifesto in Addis Ababa, as it begins a bid to unseat Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who has been in power since 1991. "We have agreed to move this country forward. For the last 150 years, political change has only come through the barrel of the gun. We want to break that tradition and change power through the ballot box," said one of its leaders, Gesachew Shiferaw. ... Read Full Story

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi accused Eritrea on Saturday of sowing havoc in the region as Addis Ababa reiterated calls for sanctions over Asmara's alleged support for Somalia's rebels. "It is going on and on with its creating havoc agenda. The character of this regime is not changing," Meles told parliament. He said that Ethiopia has done its best to establish a dialogue with its former foe, with which it fought a 1998-2000 border war that left more than 80,000 dead. "We believe in dialogue, we have actually knocked on the door many times and they haven't responded," he said. Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of ... Read Full Story

Ethiopia announced on Saturday that a top rebel leader in the restive Ogaden region had surrendered, leading to the seizure of some four tonnes of explosive material. "Over 37 quintals of chemicals, which the self-styled Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) kept to produce explosives, were seized in Somali Regional State," the Ethiopian News Agency said. The official agency said that the seizure came after "ONLF military affairs coordinator in Warder and Korahe zones, Abdi Mohammed Awhasen" surrendered on October 3. ENA also said 7,000 bullets were seized from an ONLF cache. The agency claimed that Abdi Mohammed Awhasen had surrendered after refusing to carry ... Read Full Story

Ethiopia will conduct a nationwide canvass of opinion to enable people to submit their ideas on how to tackle climate change, state media reported on Tuesday. The Ethiopian News Agency said the Horn of Africa country's population would be consulted over two months and the results of the forum would help shape Africa's position during key talks in Copenhagen in December. "A global climate change forum will be organised for the public in various parts of the country from September 29 to November 28," ENA quoted State Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Abera Deressa as saying. The forum will aim to gather public ... Read Full Story