Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Saturday warned of further instability and vowed to bring to justice those responsible for violence that left at least 67 people dead this week.
“The crisis we have faced will become even more fearsome and difficult if Ethiopians don’t unite and stand as one,” Abiy said in a statement issued by his office, his first remarks since the violence broke out. “We will unswervingly work to ensure the prevalence of the rule of law and to bring perpetrators to justice.”
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate also said that what began as protests against his government had quickly morphed into clashes that took on an ethnic and religious dimension.
Photo: Reuters
“There has been an attempt to turn the crisis into a religious and ethnic one. In the process our comrades have become victims in terrible circumstances,” he said.
Homes, businesses and places of worship had been destroyed, and that an untold number of Ethiopians had been displaced, he said.
Violence erupted in Addis Ababa, the capital, and in much of Ethiopia’s Oromia region on Wednesday after a high-profile activist accused security forces of trying to orchestrate an attack against him — a claim police officials denied.
The activist, Jawar Mohammed, is credited with promoting the protests that swept Abiy to power last year, but he has recently become critical of some of the leader’s policies.
Both are from the Oromo ethnic group, Ethiopia’s largest, and their feud highlights divisions within Abiy’s Oromo support base that could complicate his bid for a five-year term when Ethiopia votes in elections in May next year.
Abiy was in Sochi, Russia, for the Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum when Jawar’s supporters started mobilizing in Addis Ababa. Prior to Saturday’s statement, he was facing criticism for saying nothing about the unrest.
In an interview on Friday, Jawar accused Abiy of acting like a dictator and said he could challenge his former ally in next year’s elections.
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