Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 11/17 - As preparations get underway to form an independent commission to investigate recent bloody riots in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa and parts of the country, the government has vowed it would not hesitate to take action against any persons found to have abused public trust.

If excessive force or any other measure was used while security forces were carrying out their duty, it would readily take corrective measures to set the situation right, the government-owned daily, The Ethiopian Herald, said Wednesday.

At least 40 civilians and seven policemen died during street protests which left many others injured, private property and government vehicles destroyed.

During the violence 90 policemen were injured, 20 of them seriously, Getye Dejene, deputy commander of the Federal Police crime prevention department, confirmed.

Thousands of people were detained in the wake of the riots that, from 1 November, brought business and general life in Addis Ababa to a standstill for a week.

On 14 November the Federal Police said it had set free 3,858 of the detainees from prisons in and around the capital, saying "they were not found to be direct actors in the violence."

The government accuses the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) party as the chief mastermind of the riots.

Top leaders of the party are among 58 persons already formally charged for the violence.

Parliament this week nodded approval to the establishment of the inquiry commission to look into the causes of the violence, the destruction of property and the loss of lives during the unrest.

The government said the commission would also examine the appropriateness of the measures taken by security forces to restore peace and order.

But, it is not justice, peace and stability that are at issue in normalisation of the Ethiopian situation. Public confidence in the authorities is also at stake.

At the parliamentary polls in May this year, CUD routed the ruling Ethiopian People`s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) from the capital, taking all 23 seats in the city council.

In several constituencies in the other regions, the leading opposition party has since maintained that EPRDF took victory by fraud.

Observers of the Ethiopian political landscape saw the riots as a bungled attempt by the CUD to lead the authorities into submission to its demands that included power sharing.