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11/03/2005:

"Uneasy Calm Returns to Ethiopia's Capital"

Uneasy calm returned to Ethiopia's capital on Thursday, a day after riot police fired guns to quell protests against Ethiopia's disputed parliamentary elections. Police killed at least 23 people and wounded dozens more, hospital doctors and health workers said.

Doctors at five hospitals said the bodies of 23 people killed in the clashes were brought to emergency rooms and at least 150 people were treated for injuries, including a 7-year-old boy who was shot in the hip. Doctors refused to give their names for fear of reprisals.

Members of Ethiopia's special forces, in armored personnel carriers, regular troops armed with sniper rifles and federal police patrolled the streets Thursday, the first day of calm after two days of protests.

Ethiopia's information minister, Berhan Hailu, disputed the number of casualties, saying 11 civilians and one police officer were killed, and 54 officers and 28 civilians were injured.

Berhan said demonstrators burned several buses and destroyed four houses, but that calm was returning to the streets of the city of 3 million people later Wednesday. He said the government was ''sorry and sad'' for the violence, but he blamed it on the main opposition party.

The killing of civilians was a political setback for Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, touted by the Bush administration as a progressive African leader and a key partner in the war on terror.
nytimes.com