5505 Commecticut Avenue,NW, Washington, DC 2005

ewpd@ewpd.info or ewpd@yahoo.com

To All Peace Loving People:

We would like to bring to your attention the current situations and particularly the suffering of women in Ethiopia.

• Since the May 15, 2005 parliamentary elections in the country, the government arrestedalmost all opposition political leaders leaders and thousands of their supporters since the opposition complained about vote rigged by the government. Independent jornalists,human rights activists are elderly and have chronic health problems.
• As documented by international human rights organization, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, tens of thousands of young people are imprisoned and some have disappeared. Most of the prisoners are placed in deplorable detention camps that are infested with malaria and venomous snakes. Some of the detention camps are very far from the prisoners' homes. Mothers, wives, daughters and sisters are burdened to travel long distance to take food and necessary supplies to their loved ones. In the absence of males in household, women are also burdened with the responsibility of providing for the families
• All those are the top of the object poverty in the country and high HIV/AIDS prevalence in which women are affected the most.

Our organization has been advocating for peace and the respect of human rights in general and women's rights in particular since its establishment in 1991. It is our belief that the current situation in Ethiopia is a sum total of all the failed policies and human rights abuses by governments in Ethiopia.

We appeal to the international community and to all peace loving people gathered in this conference to urge your governments to pressure the Ethiopian government

• To release all political prisoners;
• Accept the call of all opposition groups for a Peace and Reconciliation conference where all concerned would discuss the faith of the country and come up with a peaceful solution to the current political crises.

The Ethiopian people have suffered for too long because of lack of good governace, continuous palitical turmoil, wars, poverty, and human rights abuses. A government that respects the rights of its citizens and upholds the rule of law would help establish a democratic society, address the chronic economic problem and alleviate the misery of the peaple. Without such a government, peace in the country and in the region will remain an illusion.

Please help us achive our goal to have a just peace in Ethiopia. Together, we can make a difference!!