Issued on: 01/07/2020 -
A candlelight vigil for the late musician and activist Haacaaluu Hundeessaa at the Oromo Community of Minnesota building in St Paul, Minnesota, on June 30, 2020. © Stephen Maturen, AFP
Text by:FRANCE 24
At least 50 people were killed in Ethiopia's Oromiya region in protests following the fatal shooting of protest singer Haacaaluu Hundeessaa, a regional spokesman said on Wednesday, laying bare splits in the prime minister's political heartland ahead of next year's polls.
Haacaaluu, a hugely popular figure among ethnic Oromos, was shot dead on Monday night in what police said was a targeted killing.
Protests reflecting anger at the killing of a popular figure and a sense of political marginalisation broke out the next morning in the Ethiopian capital and other towns and cities in the surrounding Oromiya region.The dead included protesters and members of the security forces, spokesman Getachew Balcha said. Some businesses had also been set on fire.
"We were not prepared for this," he said.
Police said late on Tuesday that a policeman was also killed in Addis Ababa, and three explosions there had killed and injured an unspecified number of people.
Prominent Oromo opposition leader Bekele Gerba and media mogul Jawar Mohammed were also arrested when Jawar's bodyguards refused to disarm during a stand-off with police.
Soundtrack to a generation
Haacaaluu, whose funeral will be held on Thursday, provided a soundtrack to a generation of young protesters. Their three years of bloody street demonstrations forced the unprecedented resignation of the previous prime minister and the appointment of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in 2018.
A still from the video of Haacaaluu Hundeessaa's 2015 hit Maalan Jira. © Haacaaluu Hundeessaa videos
Abiy, Haacaaluu and Jawar are all Oromo, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, which has long complained of being excluded from power.
Abiy ushered in greater political and economic freedoms in what had long been one of the continent's most repressive states, and won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for ending conflict with neighbouring Eritrea.
But ethnic and political clashes spiked as long-repressed grievances boiled over. Local power brokers competed for access to land and resources in a country with more than 80 ethnic groups.
Challenge to pan-Ethiopian politics
Abiy's attempts to quash the violence and his emphasis on pan-Ethiopian politics sparked a backlash from some erstwhile supporters, and his ability to impose order may be severely tested when polls are held.
Elections were scheduled for August but were postponed until next year due to Covid-19.
Jawar was a prominent supporter of Abiy's appointment, but became more openly critical last year. Jawar's popular Oromo Media Network gives him the ability to mobilise support quickly across Oromiya and his power base could pose a significant challenge to Abiy's party in next year's elections.
Prominent Oromo opposition leader Bekele Gerba and media mogul Jawar Mohammed were also arrested when Jawar's bodyguards refused to disarm during a stand-off with police.
Soundtrack to a generation
Haacaaluu, whose funeral will be held on Thursday, provided a soundtrack to a generation of young protesters. Their three years of bloody street demonstrations forced the unprecedented resignation of the previous prime minister and the appointment of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in 2018.
A still from the video of Haacaaluu Hundeessaa's 2015 hit Maalan Jira. © Haacaaluu Hundeessaa videosAbiy, Haacaaluu and Jawar are all Oromo, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, which has long complained of being excluded from power.
Abiy ushered in greater political and economic freedoms in what had long been one of the continent's most repressive states, and won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for ending conflict with neighbouring Eritrea.
But ethnic and political clashes spiked as long-repressed grievances boiled over. Local power brokers competed for access to land and resources in a country with more than 80 ethnic groups.
Challenge to pan-Ethiopian politics
Abiy's attempts to quash the violence and his emphasis on pan-Ethiopian politics sparked a backlash from some erstwhile supporters, and his ability to impose order may be severely tested when polls are held.
Elections were scheduled for August but were postponed until next year due to Covid-19.
Jawar was a prominent supporter of Abiy's appointment, but became more openly critical last year. Jawar's popular Oromo Media Network gives him the ability to mobilise support quickly across Oromiya and his power base could pose a significant challenge to Abiy's party in next year's elections.
Ethiopian opposition politician held as protests continue
Issued on: 01/07/2020
Killing of Ethiopian protest singer sparks deadly clashes
Issued on: 30/06/2020 -
Text by:NEWS WIRES
At least 10 people died and more than 80 were wounded when the killing of a popular singer triggered blasts and protests in Ethiopia's capital and the surrounding Oromiya region on Tuesday, police and a doctor said.
The unrest spotlights growing divisions in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's Oromo powerbase as powerful ethnic activists that were formerly allies increasingly challenge his government.
Abiy called the killing of musician Haacaaluu Hundeessaa "an evil act" in a televised address on Tuesday night.
"This is an act committed and inspired by domestic and foreign enemies in order to destabilise our peace and to stop us from achieving things that we started," he said.
Haacaaluu was shot dead at around 9:30 p.m. on Monday, police said. Some suspects had been detained, Addis Ababa city police commissioner Getu Argawhe told state media, giving no further details. The killing appeared well planned, police said.
The capital Addis Ababa erupted the next morning. There were three explosions in the city, federal police commissioner Endeshaw Tasew said.
"Some of those who planted the bomb were killed as well as innocent civilians," he said in a televised address on Tuesday night, giving no further details.
A police officer was also killed during a stand-off with the bodyguards of media magnate Jawar Mohammed, he said. Scores died when Jawar's supporters clashed with police last October.
The prime minister, Jawar, and the slain singer are all Oromo, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, which long complained of being pushed to the margins of power until Abiy's 2018 appointment.
Jawar, a once-staunch supporter of Abiy turned vocal critic, was arrested along with Bekele Gerba, a leader of an opposition Oromo political party, and 33 other people, said Endeshaw. Police seized weapons and radios from Jawar's guards, he said.
Jawar's TV station was forced to broadcast by satellite from the U.S. state of Minnesota after police raided its headquarters and detained its staff, it said.
Jawar had posted about the killing on Facebook early on Tuesday, using an alternative spelling of the singer's name.
"They did not just kill Hachalu. They shot at the heart of the Oromo Nation, once again !!...You can kill us, all of us, you can never ever stop us!! NEVER !!" he wrote.
Haacaaluu criticised Ethiopia's leadership in an interview with Jawar's media network last week.
Protests spread
The killing ignited protests in several Oromo cities.
In the town of Adama, the main hospital received around 80 wounded people, medical director Dr Mekonnen Feyissa told Reuters. Most had been shot but some had been beaten or stabbed. Eight people died en route to the hospital or in it, he said.
Footage on social media showed large crowds surrounding a car said to carry Haacaaluu’s body, slowly walking to his home town of Ambo, about 100 km west of Addis Ababa.
In the Oromo city of Harar, pictures appeared to show demonstrators pulling down and beheading a statue of former emperor Haile Selassie's father. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the pictures or video.
Telephone services worked intermittently and the internet was shut down, a step the authorities have previously taken during political unrest.
NetBlocks, an organization that tracks global internet shutdowns, said the shutdown began around 9:00 a.m. local time and that it was the most severe for the past year.
Soundtrack to a revolution
Haacaaluu's songs were the soundtrack to years of bloody protests that propelled Abiy to power.
Haacaaluu, a former political prisoner, rose to prominence during anti-government protests which began in the Oromo heartland. Abiy's ascent to power in 2018 ended decades of dominance by ethnic Tigray leaders.
Abiy ushered in greater political and economic freedoms in what had long been one of the continent's most repressive states, and won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for ending conflict with neighbouring Eritrea.
But ethnic and political clashes spiked as long-repressed grievances boiled over. Local power brokers competed for access to land and resources in a country with more than 80 ethnic groups.
Abiy's attempts to quash the violence and his emphasis on pan-Ethiopian politics sparked a backlash from some erstwhile supporters, and his ability to impose order may be severely tested when polls are held.
Elections were scheduled for August but were postponed until next year due to COVID-19.
(REUTERS)
Issued on: 01/07/2020
Jawar Mohammed is a former media mogul who recently joined the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress Michael Tewelde AFP/File
Addis Ababa (AFP)
Ethiopia police were on Wednesday detaining leading opposition politician Jawar Mohammed, a move that risks inflaming ethnic tensions that have led to multiple deaths during protests in the capital and surrounds.
The capital Addis Ababa was rocked by a second day of protests which erupted on Tuesday following the killing of Hachalu Hundessa, a popular Oromo singer who was gunned down Monday night.
At least eight people have been killed, according to an AFP tally, in the Oromia region which surrounds Addis Ababa and is the heartland of the country's largest ethnic group, the Oromo.
Jawar, a former media mogul who recently joined the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress, was arrested in Addis Ababa along with 34 other people, federal police commissioner Endeshaw Tassew said in a statement late Tuesday.
Endeshaw said that as Hachalu's body was being transported to his native town of Ambo for burial, Jawar and his supporters intercepted it and tried to return it to Addis Ababa, where a clash ensued.
"There was a disturbance between federal security forces and others, and in the process one member of the Oromia special police force was killed," Endeshaw said.
"The security forces have taken eight Kalashnikovs, five pistols and nine radio transmitters from Jawar Mohammed's car," he said of the arrest.
The Oromo Media Network -- which was founded by Jawar before he left to become a politician -- reported there was a call for mass protests until he and the others were released.
- 'A dangerous situation' -
The internet remained cut off for a second day in a government bid to curb the unrest.
In October, reports that the government was attempting to remove Jawar's security detail kicked off days of violence that left more than 80 people dead.
Hachalu's music gave voice to Oromo feelings of marginalisation that were at the core of years of anti-government protests that swept Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to power in 2018.
The motive for his killing has not been identified, but police have said "some suspects" have been arrested.
In Addis Ababa -- where protesters grouped at several points around the city -- security forces on Wednesday fired into the air to disperse demonstrators who were approaching a statue of Emperor Menelik II, widely seen as the creator of modern-day Ethiopia.
Oromo nationalists see Menelik as a driving force behind their perceived marginalisation, and Hachalu called earlier this month for the statue to be pulled down.
On Tuesday protesters in Harar in eastern Ethiopia pulled down a statue of Ras Mekonnen, the father of Emperor Haile Selassie, a doctor in the city told AFP on condition of anonymity, also reporting the death of one person during protests.
- 'Everything is closed' -
In the town of Nekemte in western Ethiopia, a doctor at the Wollega University Hospital, Negeo Tesfye, told AFP: "Yesterday there was a clash between protesters and local police, three people were then shot by regional special forces. Two of those people died."
"Currently everything is closed down, there is no transportation, people are not moving around," he said.
Medical sources and relatives on Tuesday reported three deaths in central Adama, and another in Western Hararge.
Federal police said several people had also been killed during three grenade attacks in the capital, without giving exact figures.
Ethiopia, an ethnic melting pot of 100 million people, has battled deadly intercommunal tensions in recent years, a major threat to efforts by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed -- himself an Oromo -- to bring about democratic reforms in a country long ruled with an iron fist from Addis Ababa.
"The assassination of an important Oromo musician, subsequent protests which have in places involved property destruction and security forces using lethal force, and the arrest of Oromo leaders, creates a dangerous situation and is another blow to Ethiopia's troubled transition," said William Davison, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.
© 2020 AFP
Addis Ababa (AFP)
Ethiopia police were on Wednesday detaining leading opposition politician Jawar Mohammed, a move that risks inflaming ethnic tensions that have led to multiple deaths during protests in the capital and surrounds.
The capital Addis Ababa was rocked by a second day of protests which erupted on Tuesday following the killing of Hachalu Hundessa, a popular Oromo singer who was gunned down Monday night.
At least eight people have been killed, according to an AFP tally, in the Oromia region which surrounds Addis Ababa and is the heartland of the country's largest ethnic group, the Oromo.
Jawar, a former media mogul who recently joined the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress, was arrested in Addis Ababa along with 34 other people, federal police commissioner Endeshaw Tassew said in a statement late Tuesday.
Endeshaw said that as Hachalu's body was being transported to his native town of Ambo for burial, Jawar and his supporters intercepted it and tried to return it to Addis Ababa, where a clash ensued.
"There was a disturbance between federal security forces and others, and in the process one member of the Oromia special police force was killed," Endeshaw said.
"The security forces have taken eight Kalashnikovs, five pistols and nine radio transmitters from Jawar Mohammed's car," he said of the arrest.
The Oromo Media Network -- which was founded by Jawar before he left to become a politician -- reported there was a call for mass protests until he and the others were released.
- 'A dangerous situation' -
The internet remained cut off for a second day in a government bid to curb the unrest.
In October, reports that the government was attempting to remove Jawar's security detail kicked off days of violence that left more than 80 people dead.
Hachalu's music gave voice to Oromo feelings of marginalisation that were at the core of years of anti-government protests that swept Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to power in 2018.
The motive for his killing has not been identified, but police have said "some suspects" have been arrested.
In Addis Ababa -- where protesters grouped at several points around the city -- security forces on Wednesday fired into the air to disperse demonstrators who were approaching a statue of Emperor Menelik II, widely seen as the creator of modern-day Ethiopia.
Oromo nationalists see Menelik as a driving force behind their perceived marginalisation, and Hachalu called earlier this month for the statue to be pulled down.
On Tuesday protesters in Harar in eastern Ethiopia pulled down a statue of Ras Mekonnen, the father of Emperor Haile Selassie, a doctor in the city told AFP on condition of anonymity, also reporting the death of one person during protests.
- 'Everything is closed' -
In the town of Nekemte in western Ethiopia, a doctor at the Wollega University Hospital, Negeo Tesfye, told AFP: "Yesterday there was a clash between protesters and local police, three people were then shot by regional special forces. Two of those people died."
"Currently everything is closed down, there is no transportation, people are not moving around," he said.
Medical sources and relatives on Tuesday reported three deaths in central Adama, and another in Western Hararge.
Federal police said several people had also been killed during three grenade attacks in the capital, without giving exact figures.
Ethiopia, an ethnic melting pot of 100 million people, has battled deadly intercommunal tensions in recent years, a major threat to efforts by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed -- himself an Oromo -- to bring about democratic reforms in a country long ruled with an iron fist from Addis Ababa.
"The assassination of an important Oromo musician, subsequent protests which have in places involved property destruction and security forces using lethal force, and the arrest of Oromo leaders, creates a dangerous situation and is another blow to Ethiopia's troubled transition," said William Davison, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.
© 2020 AFP
Killing of Ethiopian protest singer sparks deadly clashes
Issued on: 30/06/2020 -
The unrest is a challenge for Ehiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. © Michael Tewelde, AFP
Text by:NEWS WIRES
At least 10 people died and more than 80 were wounded when the killing of a popular singer triggered blasts and protests in Ethiopia's capital and the surrounding Oromiya region on Tuesday, police and a doctor said.
The unrest spotlights growing divisions in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's Oromo powerbase as powerful ethnic activists that were formerly allies increasingly challenge his government.
Abiy called the killing of musician Haacaaluu Hundeessaa "an evil act" in a televised address on Tuesday night.
"This is an act committed and inspired by domestic and foreign enemies in order to destabilise our peace and to stop us from achieving things that we started," he said.
Haacaaluu was shot dead at around 9:30 p.m. on Monday, police said. Some suspects had been detained, Addis Ababa city police commissioner Getu Argawhe told state media, giving no further details. The killing appeared well planned, police said.
The capital Addis Ababa erupted the next morning. There were three explosions in the city, federal police commissioner Endeshaw Tasew said.
"Some of those who planted the bomb were killed as well as innocent civilians," he said in a televised address on Tuesday night, giving no further details.
A police officer was also killed during a stand-off with the bodyguards of media magnate Jawar Mohammed, he said. Scores died when Jawar's supporters clashed with police last October.
The prime minister, Jawar, and the slain singer are all Oromo, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, which long complained of being pushed to the margins of power until Abiy's 2018 appointment.
Jawar, a once-staunch supporter of Abiy turned vocal critic, was arrested along with Bekele Gerba, a leader of an opposition Oromo political party, and 33 other people, said Endeshaw. Police seized weapons and radios from Jawar's guards, he said.
Jawar's TV station was forced to broadcast by satellite from the U.S. state of Minnesota after police raided its headquarters and detained its staff, it said.
Jawar had posted about the killing on Facebook early on Tuesday, using an alternative spelling of the singer's name.
"They did not just kill Hachalu. They shot at the heart of the Oromo Nation, once again !!...You can kill us, all of us, you can never ever stop us!! NEVER !!" he wrote.
Haacaaluu criticised Ethiopia's leadership in an interview with Jawar's media network last week.
Protests spread
The killing ignited protests in several Oromo cities.
In the town of Adama, the main hospital received around 80 wounded people, medical director Dr Mekonnen Feyissa told Reuters. Most had been shot but some had been beaten or stabbed. Eight people died en route to the hospital or in it, he said.
Footage on social media showed large crowds surrounding a car said to carry Haacaaluu’s body, slowly walking to his home town of Ambo, about 100 km west of Addis Ababa.
In the Oromo city of Harar, pictures appeared to show demonstrators pulling down and beheading a statue of former emperor Haile Selassie's father. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the pictures or video.
Telephone services worked intermittently and the internet was shut down, a step the authorities have previously taken during political unrest.
NetBlocks, an organization that tracks global internet shutdowns, said the shutdown began around 9:00 a.m. local time and that it was the most severe for the past year.
Soundtrack to a revolution
Haacaaluu's songs were the soundtrack to years of bloody protests that propelled Abiy to power.
Haacaaluu, a former political prisoner, rose to prominence during anti-government protests which began in the Oromo heartland. Abiy's ascent to power in 2018 ended decades of dominance by ethnic Tigray leaders.
Abiy ushered in greater political and economic freedoms in what had long been one of the continent's most repressive states, and won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for ending conflict with neighbouring Eritrea.
But ethnic and political clashes spiked as long-repressed grievances boiled over. Local power brokers competed for access to land and resources in a country with more than 80 ethnic groups.
Abiy's attempts to quash the violence and his emphasis on pan-Ethiopian politics sparked a backlash from some erstwhile supporters, and his ability to impose order may be severely tested when polls are held.
Elections were scheduled for August but were postponed until next year due to COVID-19.
(REUTERS)
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