borkena, Ethiopian News
August 4,2017
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Photo – Fana
Ethiopian government lifted the state of emergency which was imposed in October of 2016 following widespread unrest in most parts of Ethiopia.
State media reported that Siraj Fergesa, the secretariat of the command post, an executive body that was presiding over the state of emergency across the country, presented a report to the Parliament regarding the implementation of the state of emergency over the past ten months.
In the report, the regime claimed that the state of emergency reversed what the government called instability. The state of emergency was initially imposed for a six months period but the government decided to extend it over the fear of renewed protest.
According to official government figures, a total of 21,109 Ethiopians were detained in Amhara, Oromia and Southern regions of Ethiopia. Well over 7000 Ethiopians are still in custody indictment with “causing instability and terrorism”
It is not clear, from the government report, if “The Command Post” is to be disbanded or not. The state of emergency also granted additional powers to personnel working in the country’s security apparatus.
Reports by Human Rights organizations, local and international ones, indicate that nearly one thousand unarmed civilians were killed during peaceful demonstrations in different parts of the country immediately before the introduction of the state of emergency.
Pervasive gross human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings were reported during the state of emergency.
When it was introduced in 2016 political commentators were of the view that it only legalizes egregious human rights violations which have become Ethiopian reality. News of the end of it is received with similar indifference. With the “Command Post” structure still in place, the indifference does not seem to be unreasonable.
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