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Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Political tensions in Ethiopia’s Oromia region led to the death of at least 52 people in a stampede instigated by clashes with security forces on October 2. The incident occurred during the Irreechaa festival, an annual traditional Oromo celebration in the town of Bishoftu, 60 km south of the capital city Addis Ababa.
During the festivities, anti-government protesters began demonstrating, chanting slogans and preventing speakers belonging to the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO), from being heard. Several protesters were also waving the flag of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a militant group advocating for an independent Oromia.
In response, security forces shot tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd initiating a fatal stampede. The government put the death toll at 52 but opposition groups claim it is significantly higher.
This incident is the latest in a series of fatal clashes between protesters and police in recent months. There have been frequent demonstrations in Ethiopia’s two most populous regions, Oromia and Amhara, since the end of 2015. The two regions are the homes of Ethiopia’s two largest ethnic groups, the Oromo and the Amhara, both of which claim to have been politically and economically marginalized by the country’s ruling elite.
The long-standing ethnic and political tensions erupted into violence in December 2015 when government announced plans to expand Addis Ababa by expropriating large amounts of Oromo farmland. Although the expansion plan has since been scrapped, the demonstrations have continued as a means of expressing multiple grievances by the Oromo and Amhara peoples.
Source: ERA
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