We shall negotiate while fighting. We shall fight while negotiating, … Whichever road leads to peace quickly will be the road we follow.

Since these individuals are people who have been openly trying to change the constitutional order through force and street violence, they can use the parliamentary immunity as a cover-up to topple the constitution itself, …...

I have no problem talking to anybody so long as it helps the purpose of peace.

The CUD (Coalition for Unity and Democracy) leaders are engaged in insurrection — that is an act of treason under Ethiopian law. They will be charged and they will appear in court,

We regret the death but it was not a normal demonstration,

The CUD is responsible for the damage and loss of life that has occurred in the capital in the last three days,

It does surprise me that intelligent people in the 21st century could claim that if you respond to the terrorists with force, you spawn terrorism, but if you appease them, you somehow tame them. This...

The EU report speaks for itself. The statement in my view shows that the mission has turned out to be something worse than a farce, … We shall in the coming days and weeks see...

The (CUD) officials who have been arrested will be taken to court, … They are responsible for all these things.

As a person, I have never been discourteous or nasty to anybody. I may have stood my ground a bit too directly, a bit too firmly, and I believe I have, over a number of...

What the implications of this will be in terms of relations between Ethiopia and the European Union, we will have to wait and see but I don’t think you will be surprised if Ethiopia were...

They will not be released and they are accused of engaging in insurrection… they will have their day in court.

I know more now than I did in the past about the process of democratization. I know more about the pitfalls.

We have taken measures and beefed up our defense capabilities around the border since December to prevent any miscalculation by the other side,

I don’t know what the prosecution will ask for but the death penalty is still legal in Ethiopia. On a personal note that is not the penalty I would like to see applied, … It...

The most stupid mistake a counter-insurgency operation can make is alienating the population. If you alienate the population, you’re finished.

I regret the deaths but these were not normal demonstrations. You don’t see hand grenades thrown at normal demonstrations,

The violence has marred the image of Ethiopia, … The worst is clearly behind us and we do not expect any such violence in the near future.

Of course everybody’s thinking evolves over time.

We shall negotiate while we fight and we shall fight while we negotiate,

What we have detained is people who have tried to overthrow the duly constituted government, and that in my view is treason under the laws of the country,

We are aware of the buildup in TSZ. The scale has increased in recent days and this is a matter of concern to us,

We have no intention of playing fast and loose with this document, with the OAU process, … We only hope that this time around the other side really means what it says.

the Ethiopian government is looking all matters with utmost patience.

What we have is a pattern of prevarication, a pattern of trying to draw out the process and consolidate the hold on our territory, … If that’s the case — and it appears to be...

Out of 60 CUD control committee members, the government decided to arrest only 25 suspected of being involved in violence,

It’s true we have our disagreements on border issues, we have disagreements on trade and related issues, but you don’t go invading a country whenever you have a dispute on trade issues, … We have...