ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Ethiopia on Saturday slammed the EU Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM), saying that it went beyond its mandate.

    The Ministry of Information said in a weekly statement that theEU-EOM has contributed its share to the June 8 violence due to twocardinal mistakes it committed before and after the May 15 parliamentary elections.

    On June 8, police and security forces in the capital Addis Ababa opened fire on stone-throwing crowds who were looting shops,robbing banks, attacking police and trying to free detainees in custody. At least 36 people were killed and thousands were detained after the deadly violence.

    The ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) blamed the opposition parties for inciting the worst violence seen in the capital in four years. However, the opposition parties denied they were behind the protests and ensuing violence.

    The opposition parties have accused Prime Minister Meles Zenawi-led EPRDF party of massive electoral fraud.

    The ruling party retains control of parliament, according to official election results that have been ratified.

    According to the government's statement, the EU mission is duty-bound to submit and declare the official report to the concerned legal bodies.

    However, the statement said, the mission, against the regulations of its tasks as an observer, illegally and secretly leaked unfounded information to the opposition which gave them confidence wrongly so as to lead them to violence in the streets.

    It also said the EU-EOM, against and beyond the scope of its mandate and task, has included the human rights issue in Ethiopia and the June 8 incident in a report issued here on Thursday.

    The report, issued by EU-EOM chief Ana Gomez, mentioned seriousviolations of human rights and freedoms in Ethiopia, saying that "... fearful witnesses were unable to testify and, in one case, an important witness was killed."

    According to the report, a witness from the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy was assassinated on July 16, five days after testifying in front of the complaint investigationpanels.

    The Ethiopian statement said all these issues should not have been part of the report as they have no connections to the mission's task, adding that the report also included other publicly knownlies that humiliated even members of the opposition parties.

    The EU report has gone further to echo the white lies of the opposition that a witness was assassinated five days after testifying, said the statement. Enditem