Jenny Vaughan (AFP)|FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2012
ADDIS ABABA-
WITH hands
clasped together as a symbol of unity, lines of Muslims gather under
the beating sun outside Addis Ababa’s Anwar mosque after Friday prayers
chanting “Amin, Amin,” or “thanks to God.”
They gather – as they have all this year – to protest what they call
unconstitutional government interference in religious affairs,
heightened by the election of Muslim leaders this month the protesters
say were not free or fair
“We have requested an election, a peaceful one, a democratic one, and
we didn’t get (it),” said Zeinu Lopiso, 26, a merchant near Anwar
mosque, speaking at a recent demonstration where hundreds took part.
Zeinu, like many other protesters, refused to cast a ballot in the
October 7 elections to appoint the leaders of the Supreme Council on
Islamic Affairs, the community’s main representative body.
Zeinu opposed holding elections in government offices instead of
mosques, complaining the government handpicked candidates after 17
Muslim leaders were jailed during protests in July, prompting
accusations of a police crackdown.