53 Ethiopians charged in connection with deadly riots that left 16 people dead

Displaced Amhara people from their home in Kemashe Zone, Benishangul Gumuz region. (May 2018)

ADDIS ABABA (Xinhua) — The Ethiopia Federal Attorney General Office on Thursday charged 53 people in connection with deadly riots in June 2018 that left 16 people dead.

The 53 suspects are accused of engaging in riots in the Benishangul Gumuz regional state, located in the western part of the country, in June that left 16 people dead, reported state media outlet Ethiopia News Agency.

The suspects include the former mayor of Assosa, capital of Benishangul Gumuz regional state, as well as head of the region’s special police office.

Over the past year, Benishangul Gumuz regional state has been experiencing intermittent violence, including deadly disputes among locals and other ethnic groups residing in the region.

Benishangul Gumuz, located along the Ethiopia-Sudan border, hosts Ethiopia’s largest development project, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The dam is being built on the Blue Nile River.

Ethiopia follows an ethnic federalism model, which has been credited with giving self-governance rights to more than 80 ethnic groups that make up the country’s estimated 105 million people.

However, critics say the ethnic federalism model magnifies ethnic diversity at the expense of national unity, leading to occasional ethnic tension and clashes.

Global Alliance to open office in Addis Ababa

From left, Betru Gebregziabher and Tamagne Beyene.

by Yonas Abiye

(The Reporter) — The Global alliance for the Rights of Ethiopians, a human rights advocacy group based in the US—better known for lobbying the US congress regarding the human rights track record of the Ethiopian government— is going to open its office in Addis Ababa next week, The Reporter has learnt.

“Encouraged by the ongoing reforms, the group has decided to open its own local chapter,” an official of the group, Betru Gebregziabher, said in a press conference held at Capital Hotel in Addis Ababa, this week.

The Group claims that one of its landmark lobbying efforts, in addition to its massive human rights advocacy work on Ethiopia, is the work it has done for the advancement of the HR 128 resolution and the attention the US lawmaker has given to the serious human rights abuse by the Ethiopian government.

The group led by a renowned artist and rights activist, Tamagn Beyene has been critical of the government on human rights issues while it has been raising funds to victims for the past decade.

According to Betru, the group has donated over 26 million birr it collected from the Diaspora community to the victims of violence, rights abuse as well as displaced citizens in various parts of the country.

Out of the stated amount of financial assistance, 13 million birr was collected in five days and donated to the victims of the Burayou massacre in September, last year.

He further explained that the group has established a voluntary team that will help the government in the ongoing reform activities.

In addition, the group will soon launch a roadmap based on research outputs about its future activities.

He told The Reporter that due to the efforts made by the alliance, over 130 top officials of EPRDF, most of whom TPLF officials, are blacklisted by the US government.

He explained that through the HR 128 resolution, the blacklisted names cannot travel to the US and its partner countries including restrictions on conducting business activities.

The alliance representatives further told The Reporter that they were on the verge of taking the HR-128 resolution to the next level: referred to as HR-169 which would impose a preventing mechanism on development aid to be granted to the government of Ethiopia. However, the group decided to abandon that move in order to encourage the positive improvements being made by PM Abiy Ahmed (PM) and his co-reformists.