Information on membership cards of the Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Coalition (SEPDC) could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

The SEPDC is a member of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition government (ARB 28 Nov. 2002, 15042). Its chairperson, Beyene Petros, is "one of a handful of opposition members of the federal parliament" (HRW 2003, 38).

The SEPDC reportedly boycotted Kebele council elections held in December 2001 in the Southern Nations Nationalities and People's Regional State (SNNPRS) (Addis Tribune 4 Jan. 2002). The SEPDC called for the election to be nullified, charging that during the December 2001 Zonal and Woreda council elections identity cards were issued to its candidates, one day before the day of the election, and their names were not announced as candidates, while some were cancelled from the electoral list (ibid.).

Sources consulted by the Research Directorate point out that according to Beyene Petros, chairman of the SEPDC, members of his political group experienced harassment at the hands of the Ethiopian authorities during election periods that took place between 2000 and 2001 (Addis Tribune 4 Jan. 2002; ibid. 26 May 2000; ibid. 19 May 2000; Africa News Service 25 May 2001; Country Reports 2001 2002, 251, 253, 256, 268-269; HRW 2001, 47; ibid. 2003, 38).

In addition, the party said that EPRDF cadres had harassed its members and supporters who participated in the Woreda and Zonal December 2001 election (Addis Tribune 4 Jan. 2002). The Africa News Service (ANS) reports that in May 2001government special forces rounded up, arrested and killed political activists belonging to the SEPDC (25 May 2001).

Local elections at the district, kebele and the zone level "were to have been held months ago but tensions between opposition militants and regional authorities had brought the Ethiopian government to put them off" (The Indian Ocean Newsletter 17 Nov. 2001). According to this source, "the situation [was] especially tense in the Hadiya region where the partisans of Beyene Petros [were] numerous" (ibid.). Beyene's supporters purported that it was impossible to conceive of democratic elections in a climate of "strong military presence, unreasonable detention of opponents, and forced flight of other opponents to Addis Ababa to avoid imprisonment" (ibid.).

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), in March 2000, Beyene Petros accused the EPRDF of arbitrarily arresting and imprisoning members of his party (2001, 47). After the start of the May 2001general elections, "Petros complained that police had killed seven SEPDC supporters who were protesting against electoral fraud outside two polling stations in the south" (HWR 2001, 47). HRW reported that in 2002, the Chairman of the National Elections Board (NEB) threatened to sue Petros for accusing the NEB of having assigned government officials and government party members to act as election judges (ibid. 2003, 38).

Country Reports 2001 points out that, in 2001, that members of SEPDC were subjected to harassment, arbitrary arrests, detentions and killings (2002, 251, 253, 256, 259, 268-269). Country Reports 2002 indicates that in the course of the year 2002,

no action was taken against the security forces responsible for beating or abusing persons in the following 2001 preelection and postelection cases: The April beating of Ayele Amore, an SEPDC supporter, in Badoacho; the April injuring of four SEPDC members during clashes between the army and the SEPDC in Badoacho in the Shone Woreda; and the May beating of Selfamo Kintamo, an elderly supporter of the SEPDC and the uncle of a SEPDC parliamentarian, in Soro (31 Mar. 2003; Sec.1c).

In 2000, citing the leader of the SEPDC, the Addis Tribune stated that elections in the southern region were marred violence (19 May 2000). Petros Beyene reportedly said that police had accidentally shot dead two women who were in the process of voting and that security forces had thrown a hand grenade killing five people (Addis Tribune 19 May 2000). The SEPDC claimed that, as a result of the grenade blast, seven people died, 12 were wounded, while that 19 SEPDC members were "'being held in prison under inhuman conditions'" (ibid. 26 May 2000).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Addis Tribune [Addis Ababa]. 4 January 2002. "Opposition Parties Boycott Elections in South." (Africa News Service 7 Jan. 2002/Dialog)

_____. 26 May 2000. "Opposition Political Parties Call for Fresh Elections." (Africa News Service/Dialog)

_____. 19 May 2000. "Three Political Parties Win Elections in Addis Ababa." (Africa News Service/Dialog)

Africa News Service. 25 May 2001. "Ethiopians Hold Demonstration in Front of US Congress." (NEXIS)
Africa Research Bulletin: Political Social and Cultural Series (ARB) [Oxford]. 28 November 2002. Vol. 39. No. 10. "Ethiopia: Party Purge."