Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2016 00:41:27 +0200
Five alleged arsonists caught in Gondar
ESAT News (September 22, 2016)
One of the alleged arsonists caught in Gondar
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Seven people were caught in Gondar for allegedly trying to make arson attack on businesses in the town, sources told ESAT.
Reports reaching ESAT from Gondar say seven arsonists were caught on Wednesday and Thursday with evidences of fuel and other combustibles in their possession.
A lady, whose name is withheld, and two men were caught on Thursday by residents while trying to start a fire. Four others were arrested on Wednesday when they were about to set ablaze shops that were saved from the recent fire at a Saturday market, where fire gutted down a number of shops last week.
The residents, who caught the arsonists, have handed over them to the custody of the local police.
Witnesses told ESAT that all the five arsonist said they came from Tigray region and were sent to carry out arson attack in Gondar. One of the arsonists have reportedly swallowed the SIM card of his phone when confronted by the residents in a bid to hide his contacts. Questioning by police revealed that there are 50 arsonists sent to Gondar and Bahir Dar to set fire on businesses and public transportation, according to the sources.
The sources allege that the arsonists were trained in Adwa, Tigray and were sent to Gondar to carry out the crime in an attempt by the regime to incite ethnic strife. Their ID shows that they were from Tigray and some of them were provided with a special pass to come to Gondar to carry out the arson attack, residents allege. Their bank notes show a huge amount of money has been deposited to their account, the witnesses who talked to ESAT said.
The residents accuse the TPLF regime of planning to incite ethnic violence as uprising against the regime was getting even stronger. They say it was an attempt by the regime to sidetrack the issue to ethnic tension between the people of Tigray and Amhara.
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Ex-army officer exposes torture of detainees in secret location
ESAT News (September 21, 2016)
A former member of the army who was among the thousands of youth detained by the regime from the Amhara region recounts horror stories of hard labor, hunger and disease in a secret location in a jungle in the Benishangul Gumuz regional state of Ethiopia.
Up to 2000 youth rounded up from Gondar, Bahir Dar and Chilga, among others in the Amhara region were taken to Benishangu, where they spend the day cutting stones and doing hard labor.
The detainee, who spoke to ESAT on condition of anonymity for fear of further reprisal by the regime, said he escaped with the help of his former comrade who happened to be one of the soldiers guarding the detainees in a wilderness. “He took me out the morning before the detainees heads were to be shaved. He walked with me for three hours and left me where I would be safe to continue my journey to safety,” he said.
The escapee said he served for 7 years doubling as an intelligence officer for the regime which he now deeply regrets.
The detainees were being brutally beaten daily, he said adding that his right shoulder is dislocated after he was hit with the butt of a rifle.
He fears that many of the detainees could die as a result of the hunger, beatings and hard labor. “The soldiers, let alone the detainees, do not know where they are. It is a very cruel environment to survive. On top of the harsh jungle, there is torture. They wouldn’t survive the harsh environment even if they were let free.”
Thousands of the youth were rounded up and taken to several concentration camps, some of them to secret places following the uprising in the Amhara and Oromo regions where protesters demand an end to the tyrannical regime in Ethiopia.
Over a thousand people were killed by security forces and tens of thousands have been detained this year alone. The Ethiopian people have been demanding political and economic freedom in a country where Tigrian oligarchs rule with iron fist totally dominating the political life, the economy and resources of the country.