Ethiopia blames foreigners for unrest, U.N. experts seek probe | Land Portal
Language of the news reported: 
English

By: Aaron Maasho 

Date: October 10th 2016

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation


Ethiopia accused "elements" in Eritrea, Egypt and elsewhere on Monday of being behind a wave of violent protests over land grabs and human rights that have prompted the government to declare a state of emergency in the Horn of Africa nation.


The unrest has cast a shadow over Ethiopia, whose state-led industrial drive has created one of Africa's fastest growing economies but whose government also faces criticism at home and abroad over its authoritarian approach to development.


Ethiopia declared a state of emergency on Sunday after more than a year of unrest in its Oromiya and Amhara regions, near the capital Addis Ababa, where protesters say the government has violated their land and other political rights.


"There are countries which are directly involved in arming, financing and training these elements," government spokesman Getachew Reda said, referring to the protesters, although he added that those responsible might not have state approval.


Getachew told a news conference the six-month nationwide state of emergency had been declared to better coordinate security forces against "elements" intent on targeting civilians, infrastructure and private investments.


A panel of seven United Nations experts called on Monday for an international investigation into the violence in Ethiopia, which rights groups say has killed about 500 people, a figure the government says is exaggerated.


"The scale of this violence and the shocking number of deaths make it clear that this is a calculated campaign to eliminate opposition movements and silence dissenting voices,” Maina Kiai, a U.N. rights rapporteur, said in a statement.


Last week, protesters damaged around a dozen factories and equipment mostly belonging to foreign firms, accused by the demonstrators of buying property leases on their seized land.


That flare-up followed a stampede on Oct. 2 in which at least 55 people were killed after police fired teargas and shots into the air to disperse protesters during a crowded annual festival in the town of Bishoftu in Oromiya.


Protesters had chanted anti-government slogans and made arm gestures to symbolize repression, while some had waved flags of an outlawed rebel group, the Oromo Liberation Front.


(...)


Read full article here


Photo source: Andrew Heavens via Flickr/Creative Commons (CC By-NC-ND 2.0). Photo: © Andrew Heavens

Copyright © Source (mentioned above). All rights reserved. The Land Portal distributes materials without the copyright owner’s permission based on the “fair use” doctrine of copyright, meaning that we post news articles for non-commercial, informative purposes. If you are the owner of the article or report and would like it to be removed, please contact us at hello@landportal.info and we will remove the posting immediately.

Various news items related to land governance are posted on the Land Portal every day by the Land Portal users, from various sources, such as news organizations and other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. The copyright lies with the source of the article; the Land Portal Foundation does not have the legal right to edit or correct the article, nor does the Foundation endorse its content. To make corrections or ask for permission to republish or other authorized use of this material, please contact the copyright holder.

Share this page