Paramilitary kills 40 in Ethiopia
News & Trends •
the forces are seen as loyal to the regions leader abdi omer who has since resigned1 at least 40 people were killed by paramilitary forces in eastern ethiopia over the weekend a senior regional official said on monday in the latest spate of violence driven by ethnic divisions1 on monday the oromiya regional administrations spokesman negeri lencho said heavily armed members of a paramilitary force from the somali region had carried out cross-border attacks in oromiyas east hararghe district1 we still do not know why liyu forces raided the areas on saturday and sunday he said referring to the paramilitary soldiers1 but we know that all the victims were ethnic oromos. at least 40 were killed in the attacks1 a week earlier mobs looted properties owned by ethnic minorities in the somali regions capital jijiga1 the central government said the unrest had been stoked by regional officials who had fallen out with central authorities trying to address rights abuses in the region1 the spokesman said the officials had said the government was illegally forcing them to resign and that liyu forces had taken part in the attacks under their orders1 unrest first broke out along the border of the countrys somali and oromiya provinces in september displacing nearly a million people though the violence had subsided by april1 authorities in the somali region were not immediately available for comment1 ethnic violence has spread in the diverse country of 100 million people where anti-government protests broke out in the oromiya region over land rights in 20151 hundreds were killed by security forces over a two-year period1 the violence is the biggest domestic challenge facing reformist prime minister abiy ahmed who took office in april1 in a separate incident a stampede among thousands who attended a visit by a prominent political activist in the town of shashemene killed three people on sunday officials from the oromiya regional government said1 the event was held to mark the return to ethiopia of jawar mohammed an activist who had been in exile in the u.s. but played a key role in mobilising oromo youths through social media1 amid the chaos another person was beaten to death by a mob after rumours circulated he had carried a bomb residents said1 police did not take action while all that took place the witness told reuters. it is an example of the lawlessness that is taking root in the country. reutersnan1