http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/ethiopia-security-forces-kill-up-to-50-people-in-crackdown-on-peaceful-protests-a6777631.html
Ethiopia security forces kill up to 50 people in crackdown on peaceful protests
Attempted land grab by Ethiopian government has led to violence
against ethnic group
Michael Day
_at_michael2day
Thursday 17 December 2015
The violence-torn Horn of Africa is seeing a fresh wave of repression
as Ethiopian authorities crack down on protests by the country’s
largest ethnic minority.
Human rights groups say an attempted land grab bythe federal
government has seen violence flare in the Oromia region, with up to 50
protesters killed by security forces so far this month.
Campaigners from the Oromo ethnic group say they have been labelled
“terrorists” by Ethiopian authorities as they fight the government’s
plan to integrate parts of Oromia into the capital Addis Ababa.
Some Oromo protesters fear that they will be forcibly evicted from
their land as part of the rapid expansion of the capital, which they
call a federal “master plan”.
The government has claimed that the protesters are planning to
“destabilise the country” and that some of them have a “direct link
with a group that has been collaborating with other proven terrorist
parties”.
International observer groups have condemned the violent crackdown on
protest movements, however.
“Instead of condemning the unlawful killings by the security forces,
which have seen the deaths of more than 40 people in the last three
weeks, this statement in effect authorises excessive use of force
against peaceful protesters,” said Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty
International’s regional director for East Africa, the Horn and the
Great Lakes.
“The suggestion that these Oromo – protesting against a real threat to
their livelihoods – are aligned to terrorists will have a chilling
effect on freedom of expression for rights activists,” he said.
The latest round of protests, now in their third week, has seen
thefederal government mobilise its Special Paramilitary Police units
from other states, as well as army units, against the ethnic Oromo
people, Ethiopia’s biggest ethnic group of about 25 million people out
of a population of approximately 74 million.
The protests began last month in Ginci, a small town about 50 miles
west of Addis Ababa. Initially, campaigners’ demands were limited and
concerned the fate of a local stadium and the clearing of nearby
forest for development by foreign investors.
The uprising spread quickly, however, to more than 130 towns across
Oromia. And gruesome images of protesters wounded, or killed by
security forces appeared on social media sites despite deliberate
power blackouts and disruption of internet services.
The Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, said on state television on
Wednesday evening that the government knew that “destructive forces
are masterminding the violence from the front and from behind”. He
said he would take “merciless legitimate action against any force bent
on destabilising the area”. The government said that the outlawed
Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) was involved.
Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism legislation permits the government to use
unrestrained force against suspected terrorists, including pre-trial
detention of up to four months.
People that have been subject to pre-trial detention under the
anti-terrorism law have reported widespread use of torture and
ill-treatment. All claims of torture and ill-treatment should be
promptly and independently investigated by the authorities.
“The government should desist from using draconian anti-terrorism
measures to quell protests and instead protect its citizen’s right to
freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” said Ms Wanyeki.
Since moving into Ethiopia’s highlands in the 1600s, the Oromos have
been discriminated against by the ruling Tigray and Amhara classes,
who often saw them as “uncivilised”, according to the historian John
Markakis.
Received on Fri Dec 18 2015 - 23:03:41 EST