"Shooting at unarmed students is a shameful misuse of government power. The Ethiopian government has to investigate and prosecute the authorities responsible for firing on the students"
Saman Zia-Zarifi, Academic Freedom Director for Human Rights Watch (May 2002)


"The attacks on academic freedom have now degenerated into a wholesale assault on civil society in Ethiopia."
Saman Zia-Zarifi, Human Rights Watch's Academic Freedom Director (05.10.2001)


"The Ethiopian government is violently suppressing any form of protest and punishing suspected opposition supporters."
Peter Takirambudde, director of Human Rights Watch's Africa Division (13. January 2006)


"The problem with taking Meles as a symbol of a promising but tragically underfunded African renaissance is that his government has amassed an appalling human rights record during its 14 years in power. While this government is an improvement over its brutal predecessor, its human rights record is nonetheless extremely grim."
Chris Albin-Lackey, Sandler fellow at Human Rights Watch (July 4 2005)