One-party rule a tough habit to break

Ethiopia | Hardline leaders risk civil war, practice oppression to stay in power | Jamie Dean

When a reporter for Ethiopian Review donned a burqa to disguise herself as a Muslim woman, slipped into the village of Kore, some 125 miles from the capital city of Addis Ababa, and investigated reports of escalating violence, her findings were more grisly than many feared. The anonymous reporter said her clandestine visit Nov. 24 to a village largely off-limits to journalists found government officials inciting Muslims to attack Christian neighbors. At least 10 people were dead, some with slit throats. More than 100 homes had been burned, and thousands had fled the city to live in squalor at makeshift shelters.

Hostilities in Kore are a small piece of a much larger campaign of violence and oppression being waged by the country's ruling party, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). In early November, government security forces opened fire on opposition supporters in Addis Ababa, killing at least 40 and arresting hundreds more. A nearly identical scenario unfolded in June. In each case, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi charged that the protesters initiated violence, a cover for the government's crackdown.