Aljazeera || Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said the death toll from protests last month stood at 86, calling on citizens to resist “forces” threatening to impede progress in the country
Rallies against Abiy, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, erupted in the capital, Addis Ababa, and other parts of the Oromia region on October 23 after a high-profile activist and media mogul accused security forces of trying to orchestrate an attack against him – a claim police denied.
“We have to stop those forces who are trying pull us two steps back while we are going one step forward,” Abiy told a news conference with local news organisations broadcast by state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting on Sunday.
The latest death toll, which the government late last week had put at 78, included 82 men and four women, Abiy said. Of those, 76 were killed in “communal clashes” while 10 were killed in “confrontations with security forces,” Abiy said.
The dead included 50 members of the Oromo ethnic group, the country’s largest, while 20 were from the Amhara ethnic group, the second-largest.
supporters of highly-influential and controversial activist Jawar Mohammed took to the streets on October 23 and 24 to protest after he said on Facebook that police had surrounded his home in Addis Ababa and tried to withdraw his government security detail.
Jawar, who holds United States citizenship and is the founder of the Oromia Media Network, was at the centre of the initial street protests that last year brought Abiy to power – but he has recently become critical of some of the prime minister’s policies.
During a speech in Parliament the day before the incident at Jawar’s house, Abiy discussed media “fomenting unrest”, focusing on the role of Ethiopian diaspora figures.
“Using their second nationality and foreign passports as an advantage, these media owners are likely to run away to their safe havens after inciting conflicts and leading the country into chaos,” Abiy said.
Both men are from the Oromo ethnic group, and their feud highlights divisions within Abiy’s Oromo support base that could complicate his bid for a five-year term when Ethiopia votes in elections planned for May 2020.
Since his appointment last year, Abiy has initiated political reforms which have won him international praise but also lifted the lid on long-repressed tensions among the many ethnic groups in the country of more than 100 million. The prime minister won the Nobel Peace Prize last month for his peacemaking efforts which ended 20 years of hostility with longtime enemy Eritrea.
Ethnic violence in Ethiopia has left more than two million people internally displaced, according to the United Nations.
Jawar vs. Abiy!
Jawar has already announced that those burned down places of worship were torched by the victims themselves just to make his ‘well disciplined’ army. According to his well conducted investigation there are more Oromo victims which means the other victims created their own demise. So what is your problem with the PM for using ethnicity in describing the savage act? He was just using the lead by Jawar. He is doing his assigned job. I tell you Jawar is the most feared person now over there. When the very capable president told the nation and the world that the red line has been crossed, Jawar told her off and to stick it!!! Now he announced that the ‘neftegnas’ are after him and his media outfit. I tell you he is the most feared person in the country. It seems that he knows very damaging skeletons on the PM and he is ready to spill the beans on him at a moment’s notice.
I don’t see any real conflict between these two individuals. One claims to have the support of more than 50 million people. That is right, 50 million and those 50 million are not from diverse background but from one. The other one is allegedly the leader of 100 million people including the 50 million already claimed by his challenger. From the recent revelation I am not sure why and for what these two act out for us to be adversaries. They both have skeletons in their cabinets. So I tell these two to take their ‘siyasas’ somewhere else. I will not believe the bone the ‘leader’ of the 100 million people has with the OLF now or in the past. What was all that negotiation about in 2018 in Asmara? It was a charade? How could that be? How and what do you negotiate with someone you worked for? I think we all have been had by the slick willies!!! What is the world coming to? As far as I have always known, those who claim to be guided by the Holy Scriptures they are not supposed to do or never do things behind your back. These two are sitting on soiled chairs.
That was why exactly I opined about the leadership before. I had made my conviction very clear that from now on no one from the three ethnic groups, Oromo, Amhara and Tigray should be given the top leadership position. Anyone from these three is guaranteed to bring along boatloads of undesirable baggage along all the way to the palace. That is if the country is desired to continue in its present day status. All the indications show me that its fate already sealed. And it is becoming too difficult for me now to believe in what the young PM is saying. He said 86 citizens were butchered and more 400 were arrested. I scoured all over the web and could not find a single mug shot of those who committed the savage act or the list of the deceased. He did not say anything about those members of the security who were allegedly just watching the carnage from the safe distance. This accusation was made by the Oromo survivors who fell victims because they refused to join the massacre. I did not hear a single word from him about these government paid by-standers.
So folks!!! Don’t be surprised if you hear a rash of new ‘republics’ in the near future.