ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Ethiopian authorities have arrested 35 members of an opposition group accused of plotting to carry out a "terror attack" in the Horn of Africa nation, state media said Sunday.
The Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) said all members belonged to "Gunbot 7" (May 15), a group headed by the former opposition party leader Berhanu Nega.
"The National (security) Taskforce detained 35 suspects on Friday based on the country's law," ENA said, citing the taskforce.
"The Taskforce through a search warrant issued by the court has caught various arms, bombs, satellite, computers, radio communications, military uniforms and planning documents, among others," the state media added.
Berhanu, 51, currently a university professor in the United States, was elected mayor of Addis Ababa during the disputed 2005 polls. He was then jailed for two years along with other leaders of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) party, and moved to the US after his release.
The CUD won an unprecendented number of the parliament's 547 seats in the 2005 elections, which the European Union and other observers said fell short of international standards.
Around 200 people died in violence that erupted after the CUD accused the party of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of rigging the ballot.
The name "May 15" refers to the date the polls opened in the 2005 election.
Ethiopia's next general election is scheduled to be held in June 2010.
Meles, whose security forces were blamed for using excessive force four years ago, has vowed to prepare law enforcement agencies to avoid bloodshed in time for next year's vote
