ADDIS ABABA (Halbeeg News) – Ethiopian authorities arrested more than 1,200 people after violence erupted in and around the capital this month, a senior police official said, three times more than earlier estimates.
These are the first mass arrests since reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in April.
Over 30 people died in clashes near the capital, Addis Ababa, following the return of exiled leaders of a former rebel group, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) on 15 September.
Degife Bedi, a police official with the Addis Ababa Police Commission, said more than 1,200 individuals who were “directly involved” in the violence in the capital have been sent to a military camp to be “rehabilitated” and 107 others will face criminal charges. He said an additional 2,000 people were detained at hookah-serving houses, gambling shops, and khat-chewing stores and were later released.
“1,204 are in custody, but they are now being rehabilitated for a short period of time,” the police commission’s Degfie Bedi said. The arrested included people suspected of holding “illegal rallies,” burglaries and other crimes, he added.
The unrest escalated on the day of a rally marking the return to Ethiopia of leaders of the exiled Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which had waged a four-decade insurgency for self-determination for Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group.
Rival supporters then clashed leading to the closure of parts of the commercial centre of Addis Ababa.
The violence escalated two days later, leaving 28 people dead, FBC quotes Maj Degfie as saying.
Most of them died through beating with sticks and stones as rival groups clashed and seven were killed by security officers, Maj Degfie said.
Amnesty International put the number of dead at 58.
It condemned the arrests, saying the government had made a “commendable attempt to empty” prisons and it should not “fill them up again” by detaining people without charge.
“The government must renew its commitment to a new era of respecting and upholding human rights,” Amnesty said.
Halbeeg News and News agencies
Discussion about this post