BRITAIN reacted furiously last night after riot police in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, shot dead at least 23 people, including several women, in a second day of demonstrations over elections that the opposition claim were rigged.

As violence flared, Ethiopia’s Ambassador in London was called to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the British Ambassador to Ethiopia delivered a strong protest note in Addis Ababa.

Continued violence is a deep embarrassment for Tony Blair, who championed the Ethiopian Prime Minister as belonging to a “new breed” of reformist African leaders. Ethiopia is one of Britain’s biggest aid recipients.

As scores of wounded were taken to hospitals across the capital, gangs of youths shouted anti-Blair slogans at British people. A Briton working for the UN told The Times: “They were not threatening, but there is a lot of anger over Britain’s support of this Government. They shouted things like, ‘Tell Blair to open his eyes’, and, ‘Tell your Government what is happening here’.” Another Briton said: “When is the West going to realise this Government is a bunch of morons?”

Meles Zenawi, the Prime Minister, is a leading member of Mr Blair’s much-vaunted 17-member Commission for Africa, which has led the campaign for greater aid, debt relief and more trade opportunities for African countries in return for economic and democratic reforms. He won plaudits for liberal economic reforms in the world’s third poorest country, where the average annual income is less than £55.

Last night Addis Ababa streets were left deserted and strewn with bricks, smouldering rubbish, glass and burning tyres after battles between police and protesters in most areas of the run-down city.

Heavy machinegun fire and explosions had echoed through the city and its sprawling shanty towns as hundreds of heavily armed riot police fanned out across the capital. Embassy and UN workers had been told to stay inside, but were ordered home during a mid-afternoon lull in fighting.

The death toll from two days of political violence is now more than thirty, but expected to climb much higher. Ambulances took casualties to hospitals across the city.

“Oh, God help us,” said a 19-year-old student, Tigest Daniel, whose mother was admitted with gunshot wounds. “How can they shoot women? Don’t they know that women are mothers?” he demanded.

Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country with more than 72 million people, has been tense since the ruling party won a third five-year term in May elections. Despite a pronounced swing to the opposition in many areas, there has been little change.

Mr Meles, a former hardline Marxist rebel, has frequently accused the main opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) — popular with Addis Ababa intellectuals — of plotting to incite violence and overthrow his Government.

Troops in his personal bodyguard, mostly fellow northerners from Tigré province, shot dead at least 36 students in June in protests on the campus of Addis Ababa university.

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