In early April the US State Department released its annual Human Rights Report, which again criticised the human rights situation in Ethiopia. The report has in the past provoked an annual rebuttal from the Ethiopian authorities, often countering the US report on an almost point-by-point basis. However, this year the Ethiopian government dismissed the report in its entirety, citing numerous repetitions from the 2009 report and claiming that it contains unfounded allegations of human rights abuses from earlier reports.

The reaction from the Ethiopian government is not surprising. There is broad consensus among analysts that the political environment in the country has deteriorated significantly since the 2005 general elections. The US report cites numerous cases of intimidation, detention, torture and unlawful killing of opposition members. Large-scale arrests of opposition members are well documented, as was seen around the 2010 elections and the rounding-up of hundreds of opposition members in March (April 2011, The political scene). The government has resorted to jamming the radio frequencies of foreign radio stations, including Voice of America and Germany's Deutsche Welle, a charge that was admitted to by Mr Meles, in the run-up to the May elections. The virtual monopoly on power now enjoyed by the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)-it captured all but two seats in parliament and nearly all regional and district offices in the 2010 general elections (May 2010, The political scene)-has put Ethiopia's multiparty democracy credentials in serious doubt.