08/01/2016

New mass protests in Ethiopia: Ethnic conflicts are a considerable challenge for the authoritarian government in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is not a guarantee of stability in the Horn of Africa (Press Release)

The Oromo people is one of the largest nations of Africa. They live in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan. In Ethiopia, they form the largest ethnic group with at least 33 million members (approximately 35 percent). As alleged opponents of the government they are relentlessly oppressed and persecuted. Photo: Rod Waddington via Flickr

On Sunday, tens of thousands of people gathered in the city Gonder in northern Ethiopia – despite an official ban on demonstrations – to protest against the government’s policies and to demand a change of power in the country. This was reported by the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) in Göttingen on Monday. “Members of the ethnic group of the Oromo have been demonstrating in and around the capital Addis Ababa for months. Now, the wave of protests has spread to other ethnic groups in the north of the country,” said the STP’s Africa consultant, Ulrich Delius. “The fact that tens of thousands of people are publicly demanding the government to step down, despite the relentless measures of the security forces, shows how serious the protests are for the government of Ethiopia. The country is shaken by serious ethnic conflicts, and it cannot live up to the European Union’s vision of an anchor of stability at the Horn of Africa.”

“The population group of the Tigray has been ruling with an iron fist and excluding the other ethnic groups for the last 25 years,” said Delius. “Now, Ethiopia’s rulers must face the consequences. They agreed on a federal constitution – and if they fail to implement it, Ethiopia might break apart.”

This was the second large-scale demonstration of the ethnic group of the Amhara in Gonder within the last two weeks. About 20 people had lost their lives in clashes between the security forces and protesters during the first demonstrations (July 12 to 14), in which about 8,000 Amhara took part. During the last few weeks, there were no more violent clashes. Here, it has to be noted that the Amhara – with their chants and banners – expressed their solidarity with the Oromo, who have been protesting against a local government reform and against land grabs for several months. In Gonder, thousands of Amhara protesters held their folded arms over their heads to protest against the mass arrests of the Oromo.

The public protests of the Amhara are a consequence of a territorial reform that the Tigray Liberation Movement TPLF initiated after coming into power in 1991. At that time, territories of the Wolkayit (who, ethnically, feel they belong to the Amhara) were assigned to the Tigray region. The recent protests were triggered by the arrest of four members of a self-help organization of the Wolkayit. The protesters are demanding their release.


Header photo: Rod Waddington via Flickr