ADDIS ABABA, March 4 (Xinhuanet) -- The US human rights report on Ethiopia could not in any way be taken as serious as it was essentially based on rumors, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry said Friday.

    The ministry said in a statement that it carefully examined thereport which was issued on Monday.

    "What is regrettable is that the report does not even pretend to have attempted to critically examine the fabricated stories andlies which the US State Department took as a premise to make sweeping judgments with absolutely little care about likely consequences," the statement said.

    "The objective of the sources of the lies and the innuendoes has always been obvious," it said.

    It said this report "does not in anyway reflect the reality of today's Ethiopia and cannot be seen as constructive for the promotion of human rights."

    "It is in light of this that the Foreign Ministry rejects as baseless and as frivolous the said human rights report on Ethiopia.The report would make no contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights in Ethiopia, or in Africa," it noted. Enditem