Date: Friday, 04 August 2017
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Ethiopia has arrested its state minister for finance on suspicion of corruption, state-run television said on Friday, part of an anti-graft drive that the government says has led to dozens of arrests in the last two weeks.
Alemayehu Gujo is the highest-ranking official to have been detained so far in the sweep that has also involved business owners. Zayed Woldegabriel, Director General of the Ethiopian Roads Authority, was also detained on Friday, the state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) said.
In an emergency session, Ethiopia's House of People's Representatives lifted Gujo's immunity from prosecution, the EBC said in a breaking news announcement.
"A warrant was then issued and led to his arrest," the broadcaster said, citing the Attorney General's Office.
Friday's arrest followed the detention of more than 40 officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation, the capital's housing development agency, the state-run Ethiopian Sugar Corporation, and the Ethiopian Roads Authority.
Charges brought so far include embezzlement and the siphoning off of billions of birr.
The anti-corruption drive is partly a response to unrest that wracked the Horn of Africa country in 2015 and 2016 and which was sparked by a scheme to development and expand the capital, Addis Ababa. The protests turned into broader anti-government demonstrations over politics and human rights abuses.
The violence included attacks on businesses, many of them foreign-owned, including farms growing flowers for export.
The government subsequently acknowledged that maladministration and abuse of power was rife and that it needed to broaden political participation.
On Friday, it lifted a 10-month state of emergency that was imposed in the wake of the unrest. (Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Editing by Katharine Houreld and Catherine Evans)
(Adds details on arrests)
By Aaron Maasho
August 4, 2017 / 11:47 AM
ADDIS ABABA, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Ethiopia on Friday lifted a state of emergency imposed last October following months of protests that killed hundreds of people.
More than 29,000 people were arrested during the period and nearly 8,000 of them are on trial for taking part in the violence, Defence Minister Siraj Fegessa said.
The unrest was provoked by a development scheme for the capital Addis Ababa and turned into broader anti-government demonstrations over politics and human rights abuses. It included attacks on businesses, many of them foreign-owned, including farms growing flowers for export.
"The country's stability is in far better shape. In some areas where security issues remain, local security forces have the capacity to restore order," Fegessa said in a report read in parliament.
Siraj said nearly 29,000 people were arrested in the provinces of Oromiya, Amhara and SNNP, as well as Addis Ababa during the period.
"7,737 of them are currently on trial over charges of taking part in violent and terrorist acts during the unrest," he said.
Measures initially imposed under the declaration included granting powers to security services to stop and search suspects and to search homes without court authorization.
Another rule barred diplomats from travelling beyond a 40 km (25 miles) radius of the capital without permission. There was also a dusk-to-dawn curfew on access to economic installations, some infrastructure and factories for unauthorized people.
Those restrictions were eased in March but Addis Ababa maintained a ban that stopped citizens from having any contact with opposition groups branded as terrorist movements.
Ethiopia has designated five groups, including two armed secessionist groups, as terrorist organizations.
Another directive barring the "preparation, distribution and exhibition of material that could incite chaos" was also retained in March.
The violence in Oromiya, the largest and most populous region which surrounds Addis Ababa, and to a lesser extent in the Amhara province north of Addis Ababa, put a shadow over a nation where a state-led industrial drive has created one of Africa's fastest growing economies.
The government also often faces international criticism and opposition to its authoritarian approach to development.
In April, a government-sanctioned investigation said 669 people had been killed in the violence.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has called on Ethiopia to allow his agency to investigate abuse claims. (Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Editing by Elias Biryabarema and Angus MacSwan)
