Mass arrests as police kill 36 in clashes

THOUSANDS of people have been arrested across Ethiopia after violent clashes in which police killed 36 people, a New York-based human rights group reported yesterday.

The political unrest prompted Britain yesterday to suspend a planned $54.1 million increase in aid to Ethiopia, one of the world's poorest countries.

Human Rights Watch said student activists and opposition supporters were rounded up in a crackdown after last week's fighting.

"Opposition rhetoric may well have contributed to last week's unrest, but the government must take responsibility for the conduct of its own security forces," said Georgette Gagnon, the group's deputy Africa director. "The security forces have killed dozens of protesters and arbitrarily detained thousands of people across the country."

Ethiopian federal police said some detainees were being held at Ziway detention facility, 90 miles south of the capital Addis Ababa, but they could not give exact numbers.

"I don't have the exact figure but some detainees are in Ziway because of these disturbances," deputy police commissioner Hassan Shauffa told The Associated Press. "I don't think there are hundreds, let alone thousands, arrested in the regions."

Police have released many detainees and will free more in coming days, a government official said on condition of anonymity because the statement related to internal security. In the capital, police detained at least three members of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council earlier this week.

"We consider the arrest and detention of these EHRCO (Ethiopian Human Rights Council) staff part of the government's continuous attempt to paralyse its work, and if possible neutralise it altogether," the council said yesterday.