Ticker
EU scraps Ethiopia election-monitoring plan
By EUobserver
The EU foreign service has scrapped plans to monitor Ethiopia's June elections over a dispute on secure communications. "They [the EU] said they will come with 'V-SAT' communication equipment, which is out of Ethiopia's communication technology system ... Every election area is accessible by the National Telecommunication system, they can use that," an Ethiopian spokesman said Tuesday. The "independence of the [monitoring] mission" could not be guaranteed, the EU said.