Protests in Ethiopia leave at least five dead, possibly many more

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“Both then and today, the demonstrators are ostensibly protesting the expansion of Addis Ababa’s municipal boundary into the surrounding Oromia region, which protesters fear will displace Oromo farmers from their land”, HRW said.

Anti-terror rhetoric by Ethiopia’s authorities might escalate right into a brutal crackdown on protesters, . “The party [Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front] looks to have neither developed the society – we are begging food aid now – nor democratized the state-society relationships in Ethiopia”.

According to Bloomberg, Communications Minister Getachew Reda said a minimum of five people have died during the demonstrations, which he said started off largely peaceful and have degenerated into extremist Oromo groups trying to incite further unrest by attacking Amhara, officials, factories and government installations. Such growth is already visible in parts of the capital, where shopping malls and luxury hotels are sprouting up. A government that the Oromo community of Sioux Falls says has inappropriately used funds by purchasing weaponry and using them against Oromo students.

Government officials said the armed members of the opposition group were arrested on Wednesday at Bermariam Midmar locality. It aims to expand the populated capital Addis Ababa into Oromia state. A gesture they feel is a step in the right direction. The government claims it desires to use the economic momentum to enact a master plan of “Rational Development”.

The Oromo make up Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, at about 27 million individuals. However, Amnesty International, as well as the Oromo Federalist Congress, claim the death toll to be as high as 40. Al-Shabab has previously targeted Kenya, Uganda and Djibouti who have also deployed troops to Somalia under the banner of the African Union to bolster the country’s weak U.N.-backed government from an insurgency by the militants. According to reports from the region, the conflict began in the town of Ginci, about 55 miles from Addis Ababa. The constitution declares the “special interest” of Oromia in the capital should be respected, although this hasn’t been defined by law.

“The upper layer is development, but the hidden agenda is how to assimilate Oromos”, he said. Tri-County Sun Times http://thevillagessuntimes.com/2015/12/19/protests-in-ethiopia-leave-at-least-five-dead-possibly-many/