The Ethiopian government on Friday announced it was pardoning a number of high-profile political prisoners, including members of the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), in a bid to promote “national dialogue.”
The surprise move comes amid a lull in the brutal 14-month conflict in northern Ethiopia after a dramatic shift in battlefield fortunes at the end of last year saw government forces retake a string of key towns and the TPLF’s retreat to its stronghold in Tigray.
“The key to lasting unity is dialogue. Ethiopia will make any sacrifices to this end,” the government communications service said in a statement announcing the amnesty.
Photo: AP
“Its purpose is to pave the way for a lasting solution to Ethiopia’s problems in a peaceful, nonviolent way ... especially with the aim of making the all-inclusive national dialogue a success,” it said.
It listed several prominent members of the TPLF as well as opposition leaders from the Oromo ethnic group, the largest in Ethiopia, and the Amhara.
It was not immediately clear how many of those granted amnesty had yet been freed.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed — a Nobel peace laureate who reportedly went to the battlefront in November to lead his troops — had also called for “national reconciliation” and “unity” in a statement issued as Ethiopia celebrated Orthodox Christmas.
The war in the north has claimed the lives of thousands of people and left hundreds of thousands more facing famine conditions in Tigray, which is under what the UN says is a de facto blockade.
The pardons coincided with a mission to Ethiopia by US Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman, who is pushing for talks to end a conflict that has threatened to tear apart Africa’s second most populous state and destabilize the region.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the amnesty announcement.
“I will remain actively engaged in assisting Ethiopia to bring an end to the fighting and to restore peace and stability,” he wrote on Twitter.
Among the prominent TPLF figures to be granted amnesty are Sibhat Nega — a party founder — as well Kidusan Nega, Abay Woldu, Abadi Zemu (also a former ambassador to Sudan) and Mulu Gebregziabher.
One of those already freed is Amhara politician Eskinder Nega, one of several leading government opponents rounded up after deadly protests erupted in 2020 over the killing of popular Oromo singer and activist Hachalu Hundessa.
Balderas for Genuine Democracy, which Eskinder founded, posted a picture on Facebook of him and a colleague posing with fist pumps outside the maximum security Kaliti Prison in the capital, Addis Ababa, where they had been held.
Jawar Mohammed, an Oromo media mogul and one-time Abiy ally turned opposition politician who was arrested after the 2020 bloodshed, was also given a pardon.
In all, 239 people were killed in the demonstrations and violence over just a few days in June and July 2020 that saw Abiy grapple to maintain control and keep a lid on the simmering ethnic tensions and resentments.
Hachalu’s songs channeled marginalization among his Oromo ethnic group, and were the soundtrack to anti-government protests that swept Abiy, the country’s first Oromo leader, to office in 2018.
Feltman — who on Wednesday announced he would resigned this month from his post — held “constructive, substantive discussions” in Addis Ababa with Abiy, US Department of State spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Thursday.
END OF AN ERA: The vote brings the curtain down on 20 years of socialist rule, which began in 2005 when Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer, was elected president A center-right senator and a right-wing former president are to advance to a run-off for Bolivia’s presidency after the first round of elections on Sunday, marking the end of two decades of leftist rule, preliminary official results showed. Bolivian Senator Rodrigo Paz was the surprise front-runner, with 32.15 percent of the vote cast in an election dominated by a deep economic crisis, results published by the electoral commission showed. He was followed by former Bolivian president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in second with 26.87 percent, according to results based on 92 percent of votes cast. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped
ELECTION DISTRACTION? When attention shifted away from the fight against the militants to politics, losses and setbacks in the battlefield increased, an analyst said Recent clashes in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country’s federal system and creating an opening for militant group al-Shabaab to gain ground. Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states — Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West — that maintain often fractious relations with the central government in the capital, Mogadishu. However, ahead of elections next year, Somalia has sought to assert control over its member states, which security analysts said has created gaps for al-Shabaab infiltration. Last week, two Somalian soldiers were killed in clashes between pro-government forces and
Ten cheetah cubs held in captivity since birth and destined for international wildlife trade markets have been rescued in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. They were all in stable condition despite all of them having been undernourished and limping due to being tied in captivity for months, said Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which is caring for the cubs. One eight-month-old cub was unable to walk after been tied up for six months, while a five-month-old was “very malnourished [a bag of bones], with sores all over her body and full of botfly maggots which are under the
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability
RSS