AP Worldstream
April 18, 2001; Wednesday 8:55 AM Eastern
BYLINE: ABEBE ANDUALEM

Clashes between stone-throwing youths and police spread to Addis Ababa's sprawling Merkato market Wednesday in the worst violence in the Ethiopian capital in eight years, and several deaths were reported.

The clashes erupted for the second day when the youths battled police along the thoroughfare running between the two campuses of Addis Ababa University that hundreds of students left rather than accept a government ultimatum to end their weeklong protest over lack of academic freedom before noon (0900gmt) Wednesday.

It was not clear whether the violence between the youths and the police was connected to the university protest, but a source at Black Lion Hospital near the main campus said at least one student had died in the street violence.

An eyewitness, who asked that his name not be used, said he saw three bodies in the Merkato area west of the university campuses as well as three burned municipal buses.

It was not immediately possible to obtain official confirmation of the deaths.

The sound of gunfire peppered the air during most of the morning and into the afternoon. All public transport in the northern half of the city came to a halt.

The 1 p.m. (1000gmt) news broadcast on state radio made no mention of the disturbances, nor did the state-owned Addis Zemen newspaper. Ethiopian broadcast media are either owned by the state or the ruling Ethiopian Peoples' Democratic Revolutionary Party.

Students carrying books and suitcases streamed out of the campuses where police had already taken up positions inside.

Kassa Haile, a second-year political science student, termed an ''idle threat'' the Ministry of Education ultimatum to the students end their protest by noon (0900gmt) Wednesday or face explusion with no possiblity of readmittance.

Third-year geography student Tewodros Wuletaw said high school and university students all over the country were joining in the protest. It was not immediately possible to determine whether the walkout had spread to other cities.

There is no national student association in Ethiopia nor is there an association at Addis Ababa University, the country's first, which was established up by Emperor Haile Selassie in the early 1960s.

Last September Addis Ababa university students tried to set up a student council but later abandoned the effort because of what they called interference from the administration and the government.

Among the students' demands was the replacement of police guarding campuses entrances by private security guards. Education Minister Guenet Zewdie said the government agreed in principle but that the change would take time.

Since the EPRDF's arrival in power in May 1991, street demonstrations or protests of any kind have been very rare. The last comparable violence broke out in 1993 when students protested the firing of 42 lecturers.

Student unrest in the mid-1960s and 1970s preceded violent upheavals in Ethiopia that forced the country's last emperor, Haile Selassie, to institute reforms and ultimately led to his ouster in 1974. Students were also influential in organizing resistance to the military regime that ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to May 1991.

Late last month, the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi confirmed reports of a power struggle within the Tigray People's Liberation Front, the core group of the EPRDF, and the explusion of 12 of its members due to disagreement over the conduct of Ethiopia's 2 1/2-year border war with Eritrea.