OPDO members that opposed new Master plan being hunted
ESAT News
May 15, 2014
Members of the Oromo Peoples Democratic Organisation (OPDO), a member party
of the EPRDF, who have labelled the new Addis Abeba Master Plan as "the
agenda of the TPLF", are being detained by government securities.
Sources within OPDO, choosing to remain anonymous, have said that although
the government and the Party called people to discuss on the new Plan, those
that have openly aired their opposition to it are being detained.
OPOD has been divided into pro and anti TPLF groups and the Pro TPLFs are
chasing those that do not support TPLF, the sources added.
EPRDF is trying to deflect the rising anger and protest of Oromo protesters
by igniting inter-ethnic conflicts, the members have stated.
They say that cadres have been dispersed in universities and unemployed
youth are being sent to the homes of other ethnic groups to start a
conflict.
OPDO members state that OPDO has been organising youth in Eastern and
Western Wollega to assail and burn the homes of selected people. They urged
people to pass these trying times using the "venerable culture of tolerance
and respect."
Meanwhile, police released over 100 students that have been detained after
the students protest in Dire Dawa University while 40 students are still
being detained accused of "inciting the violence."
Similarly, students of Haromaya University that have been sheltered at local
churches following the protests in the University have been evicted and were
taken to unknown places by cars. The removal order reportedly came from the
Eastern Military Command of Ethiopia. Teaching has barely begun in Haoromaya
University after the student riot.
ESAT's successive efforts to speak to the officials of the Oromia region
regarding the security issues in the region have been unsuccessful.