Ethiopia’s main opposition leader urged the government today to end military patrols and free people detained during post-election unrest to create a conducive climate for ending a row over the disputed polls.

Hailu Shawel, chairman of the main opposition coalition, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), said he had been freed yesterday from several days of house arrest but others who had been jailed during the violence must also be released.

Addis Ababa residents estimate about 3,000 people have been detained since unrest erupted last week over alleged rigging of the polls. Hospital officals say at least 36 people were killed, mostly when police opened fire to try to end the disturbances.

Hailu, placed under house arrest on Saturday, pledged to adhere to an accord the CUD struck with the government a day earlier condemning the unrest and promising peace.

"Security forces who had blocked the entry to my residence have gone away. I am now free," he said, adding it would be helpful if other detainees were freed.

"The CUD is committed to implementing the agreement reached with the ruling party."

"But in order to implement the agreement it is incumbent on the ruling party to create the right environment by removing troops from city streets and also release those in detention."

Asked for comment, an information ministry spokesman said without elaborating that anyone found not to have been involved in the violence would be released.

Diplomats called last month’s election the most democratic in Ethiopia’s history. But a delay in announcing the official results, now due on July 8, compounded by claims of victory by both sides and accusations of fraud, have prolonged the tension in Africa’s top coffee grower.

The ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) accused the CUD of stirring up the violence, and said that on June 8 police opened fire after looters and rioters attacked them with stones.

The CUD says the protests were spontaneous.

Early results show the EPRDF and allies won enough seats to give them a third five-year term ruling the nation of 72 million, sub-Saharan Africa’s second most populous state. But the opposition surprisingly increased its share of parliamentary seats nearly tenfold and made a clean sweep in Addis Ababa.

The EPRDF, the CUD and the smaller opposition coaliition United Ethiopian Democratic Front signed a declaration on Friday condemning the violence and pledging to work together to produce a peaceful resolution of the dispute.

The CUD later said its adherence depended on the EPRDF releasing its supporters.