Scattered gunfire and rioting continue in Ethiopia

Residents of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa stayed largely at home amid a fifth day of renewed protest over the results of May elections the opposition calls fraudulent. There were reports of more scattered gunfire and rioting in parts of the capital.

Ethiopian special forces, driving six US-built Humvees, patrolled the capital this morning with heavy machine guns and sniper rifles. Opposition supporters went from shop to shop, ordering merchants to shut down and go home.

Diplomats said they had reports of police continuing to round up suspected opposition leaders overnight, perhaps as many as 3,000 people. There were also unconfirmed reports that protests had spread to other parts of the country.

A group of ambassadors from 21 countries that donate large sums of money to Ethiopia issued a statement “expressing deep concern” at the violence, calling for an urgent investigation and recommending the arraignment or immediate release of all political detainees.

Businesses were closed and taxis were off the streets today, and gunfire was reported near the British Embassy. Protesters were throwing stones at buses near the Canadian Embassy in a different part of the city, witnesses said.

Police have killed at least 40 people since violent confrontations began on Tuesday, following largely peaceful protests on Monday, medical officials said, asking not to be identified for fear of retaliation from government officials.

Government figures place the number of dead at 13 civilians and one police officer, with 54 officers and 28 civilians injured.

“We know that there are some problems in some parts of the city today, but I don’t have exact figures on casualties so far,” Information Minister Berhan Hailu said yesterday.

The violence erupted over protests of May 15 elections that gave Prime Minister Zenawi Meles’ Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front control of nearly two-thirds of parliament.

Opposition parties say the vote and counting were marred by fraud, intimidation and violence, and accuse the ruling party of rigging the elections.

The election had been seen as a test of Meles’s commitment to reform. Meles has been lauded in the West as a new kind of African leader, appointed to British Prime Minister Tony Blair to his Commission for Africa to help draft a blueprint for ending poverty and building democracy. But at home his government has little tolerance for dissent and has been accused of severe human rights abuses.

The protests began peacefully on Monday, when taxi drivers blew their horns to show support for the opposition. Thirty of the drivers were arrested, which may have sparked protests on Tuesday that deteriorated into deadly clashes.