US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
Ethiopia is a federal republic led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition. The population is estimated at 77 million. In the 2005 parliamentary elections, the EPRDF won a majority of seats to remain the ruling party for a third consecutive five-year term. In local and by-elections held in April 2008, the EPRDF and allied parties took virtually all of the more than three million open seats contested nationwide. Prior to the vote, ruling coalition agents and supporters used coercive tactics and manipulation of the electoral process, including intimidation of opposition candidates and supporters. Political parties were predominantly ethnically based, and opposition parties remained splintered. During the year fighting between government forces, including local militias, and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), an ethnically based, nationalist, insurgent movement operating in the Somali Region, resulted in continued allegations of human rights abuses, particularly diversion of food aid from intended beneficiaries suffering from a severe drought.
Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts
During the year fighting continued between government forces, including government-backed and -affiliated militia, and the ONLF, an ethnically based, nationalist, insurgent movement operating in the Ogaden area of the Somali region, triggering widespread allegations of human rights abuses by all parties to the conflict. Credible reports of human rights abuses continued, including extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, abductions, and arbitrary arrest by government soldiers. Deliveries of food and medicine were restricted as a result of insecurity, lack of capacity, and military restrictions.
Since it was outlawed in 1994, the ONLF has engaged in low-intensity armed conflict with the government. The regional conflict in Somalia that began in late 2006 spread to the Somali region and, allegedly fueled by support from the Eritrean government, resulted in greatly increased armed activity by the ONLF, whose members share ethnic ties with Somalis. During the year another insurgent group, the United Western Somali Liberation Front (UWSLF), had a limited presence in the region.
Since the military began significant counterinsurgency operations in the Ogaden region in response to the April 2007 slaying of Chinese and domestic oil exploration workers, the government has continued to limit the access of diplomats, NGOs, and journalists to the Somali region, citing serious security concerns. Human rights groups and others asserted that the government denied access to the region to prevent potential critics and observers from monitoring ENDF operations. The government allowed some humanitarian access but restricted the ability to investigate human rights abuses. Reports of human rights violations largely have come from interviews with second-hand sources or alleged victims who have fled the Somali region. NGO personnel have been compelled by ENDF and regular police officials to report ONLF activity and faced beatings and death threats from these entities if they did not comply. Some villagers reported that local authorities threatened to retaliate against anyone who reports ENDF abuses.
Reliable sources reported increasingly violent ONLF attacks on police and military elements during the year. Civilians, international NGOs, and other aid organizations operating in the region reported that both the ENDF and the ONLF were responsible for abuses and harsh techniques used to intimidate the civilian population.
Development workers reported being frequently stopped for questioning by the ONLF. However, ONLF fighters were reported to be generally supportive of development efforts and encouraged development workers to continue their work 
. The UWSLF, in contrast, had a more hostile attitude towards development workers
Source/ US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
