As Ethiopians in the Oromo region continue to have a security concern, Ethiopian government says that the situation is under control
borkena
July 19, 2020
The office of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia claims what it has called “unrest” in the country is under control.
In a Press conference on Saturday regarding the current affairs in the country, Nigussu Tilahun, Head of the Press Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, said: “security forces in the areas where there was the disruption of peace worked with local residents to overcome the challenge.”
He added that an investigation is well underway to bring those who were involved to justice. “While there was an attempt to restore calm and provide those who are affected by the situation with humanitarian aid, there was a mobilization call to trigger violence again but the community worked with the security structure to foil the call for violence,” said Nigussu Tilahun as reported by state media Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation EBC).
For the government, the “unrest” was a plot to disrupt the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), and to keep Ethiopia languishing in poverty.
“Although the agents of those who wanted to do so tapped all their power to destabilize the country and disintegrate it, the government and the people stood united to foil the plan,” Nigussu said.
He added that the government is now determined to enforce the rule of law in the country.
In the days following the assassination of Hachalu Hundessa, at least 240 people are savagely massacred in the Oromo region of Ethiopia by a group that claims to struggle “for the liberation of Oromo people.” People mostly targeted were ethnic non-Oromo and followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
Properties worth billions of Ethiopian birr were destroyed in a matter of hours in cities like Shashemene, Batu, Arsi Negele – among other areas of Oromo region.
Special forces of Oromo regional state were in close distance to where there have been savage attacks and destruction of property for hours. But it seems that they ignored their responsibility to defend the life and property of citizens which many Ethiopians understood as an act of collaboration with radical ethnic Oromo nationalists and brainwashed youth groups -“Qeerroo”- who unleashed their barbaric attacks.
Many of Ethiopians tend to think the attack and destruction of property would not have happened, had there been a resolve on the part of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government to strictly enforce the rule of law when more than 86 people (non-ethnic Oromos) were killed in the region following a claim by Jawar Mohammed (activist and owner of Oromia Media Network) that his life is in danger back in October 2019.
Politics and rule of law mixed?
Many support that the government is finally showing signs of interest in enforcing the rule of law. While Abiy Ahmed’s administration is talking about resolve and determination to act on criminals involved in the brewing of what many Ethiopians think was ethnic cleansing in the Oromo region of Ethiopia, a considerable number of people are perplexed by government action. The government still seems to tend to appease extremist ethnic Oromo nationalists.
Many talk about the arrest of Eskinder Nega and Yilkal Getnet, among others, as something that is motivated by politics rather than a pursuit of enforcing the rule of law in connection with the killing of Hachalu Hundessa and the monstrous cruelty against non-ethnic Oromos in the Oromo region of Ethiopia.
So far there is no indication that either Eskinder Nega or Yilkal Getnet are involved in any way in the killing of Hachalu Hundessa or the attacks that claimed hundreds of people in the Oromo region of Ethiopia.
Unlike Jawar Mohammed and Bekele Gerba, both are among the Oromo Federalist Congress leaders, Eskinder Nega was attacked by security forces while in detention.
Those issues are raising questions if Abiy Ahmed’s government is sincere about the rule of law.
There are noticeable doubts in social media conversations if his government is capable of preventing another orchestrated attack in the Oromo region or other parts of Ethiopia.
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