Haacaaluu Hundeessaa poses while wearing a traditional costume, in Addis Ababa, March 2, 2019
Addis Ababa:
At least 50 people have been killed in the Oromiya region of Ethiopia during protests following the shooting of a popular singer, a spokesman for the region said on Wednesday, exposing the political heart of the prime minister. before next year’s elections.
Musician Haacaaluu Hundeessaa was shot dead Monday night in what police said was a targeted assassination.
Protests reflecting anger over the killing of a popular figure and a feeling of political marginalization erupted the next morning in the capital and other cities in the surrounding Oromiya region.
The dead included protesters and members of the security forces, spokesman Getachew Balcha said. Some companies were also burnt down.
“We were not prepared for this,” he said.
Police said on Tuesday that a policeman had also been killed in Addis Ababa and that three explosions had killed and injured an unknown number of people.
Prominent Oromo opposition leader Bekele Gerba and media tycoon Jawar Mohammed were also arrested when Jawar’s bodyguards refused to disarm during a confrontation with the police.
Haacaaluu, whose funeral will take place on Thursday, provided a soundtrack to a generation of young protesters. Their three years of bloody street protests forced the unprecedented resignation of the former prime minister and the appointment of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in 2018.
Abiy, Haacaaluu and Jawar are all Oromo, the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, who have long complained of being excluded from power.
Jawar was a prominent supporter of Abiy’s appointment, but became more overtly critical last year. Jawar’s popular Oromo Media Network gives him the opportunity to quickly mobilize support through Oromiya and his power base could pose a significant challenge to Abiy’s party in next year’s elections.
The federal structure of Ethiopia means that power has traditionally been derived by claiming the support of large ethnic voting blocs. Under the previous administration, voting was rarely free or fair and opposition activists were often imprisoned, tortured or led into exile.
Abiy allowed much greater political freedoms and promised that the next polls will be free and fair. But his new ruling party, based on a pan-Ethiopian vision, faces stiff competition from emboldened new regional brokers like Jawar, determined to claim rights for their people after decades of repression.
(Additional reporting by Ayenat Mersie; Writing by Katharine Houreld, Editing by Angus MacSwan, Gareth Jones and Giles Elgood)
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
