The Ethiopian government has said it will launch an independent investigation into the killing of protesters by security forces during anti-government demonstrations in recent weeks.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, government spokesperson Getachew Reda insisted, however, that police violence in the country was “not systemic”.
Ethiopia’s Olympic marathon silver medallist Feyisa Lilesa crossed his hands above his head as he finished the race in Rio – bringing the world’s attention to a wave of protests in his home country.
It is an anti-government gesture used by protesters in the Oromia region.
Ethiopia’s government normally keeps a tight grip on the country and there has not been anything on this scale in the last 25 years.
here has not been a specific trigger and what we are seeing is an accumulation of years of frustration from ethnic groups who say they have been marginalised by the government.
Demonstrations began in Oromia last November. Protests have also sprung up more recently in the Amhara region.
Oromia and Amhara are the homelands of the country’s two biggest ethnic groups.
New York-based Human Rights Watch says that more than 400 people have been killed in clashes with the security forces in Oromia, although the government disputes this figure.
So what is behind this?
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Hundreds of Ethiopian-Americans marched together on Tuesday in protest against the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) party in their home country — and the U.S.’s lack of response to political repression in Ethiopia.
The Ethiopia’s ruling party coalition won all 547 parliamentary seats in the 2015 elections, due in part to the lack of space for critical voices. Authorities use arbitrary arrests and politically motivated prosecutions to silence journalists, bloggers, protesters, and perceived supporters of opposition parties. Security forces respond to peaceful protests with excessive force, and detainees routinely allege torture and ill-treatment. Repressive laws restrict nongovernmental activity. The government has not adequately investigated allegations of abuses associated with its “villagization program,” or the development of sugar plantations in the Lower Omo Valley affecting 200,000 indigenous people, both of which benefitted directly or indirectly from donor assistance.
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