You will forgive me for not trying to pronounce your names. I will simply refer to you as gentlemen. Let me just say I am pleased to meet you today. You have already begun your testimony, so perhaps you touched on this matter earlier, but I would like to go back to what Human Rights Watch said in one of its reports.
The organization mentioned that the Ethiopian government was planning a coordinated and sustained attack against its political opponents, journalists and human rights advocates. The Ethiopian government was probably responding to concerns voiced by external groups when it put in place an electoral body and gave it the mandate to crack down on election offences and fraud.
With the May 2010 election looming, do you think that the above-mentioned mechanism is legitimate? Is its goal to quell the criticism coming from outside of the country? Is it an initiative designed to restore the government's image?