Ethiopia has learnt with disappointment of the decision of the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to cancel the deployment of its observation mission for the upcoming general elections, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia said on Wednesday in a statement.
All possible efforts were made by the Government of Ethiopia to conclude the Administrative Arrangement for the deployment of the mission, but these were to no avail.
The European Union’s refusal to monitor Ethiopia’s upcoming election had to do with the union’s intent to breach the sovereignty of the nation, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The EU insisted that its election observation mission would use VSAT as a telecommunication tool while monitoring the election, a claim Ethiopia rejected arguing the move would compromise national sovereignty, Dina Mufti said in briefing on Tuesday.
“It is impossible to apply a new communication tool as election monitoring mechanism which would be beyond the control of the Ethiopian Telecommunication system,” he said
The EU also claimed it would announce the election results before the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) would do. Ethiopia once again rejected the EU’s second claim and that led the EU to cancel deployment of the election observation mission to Ethiopia.
While the Government was working tirelessly and expeditiously hoping to reach an agreement on the modality of the deployment, it is very unfortunate to have learnt that the issue of communications equipment was put forth as a deal-breaker for the EU to observe one of the most hoped-for democratic elections in the country’s history, the Ministry’s statement reads.
MG/abj/APA