Rights group blames government for Awasa killings

The Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRC) has blamed the Ethiopian security forces for clashes in the southern town of Awasa last month which, it said, left 25 people dead and a further 26 wounded.

The EHRC report issued on Friday said a 13-year-old boy was among the dead, killed when demonstrators - protesting against a change in the status of the town - clashed with police on 24 May. Two of the victims were policemen. The report added that 36 people were jailed.

“The government was to blame for sending armed people. The other people had nothing but green leaves in their hand and were draped in the Ethiopian flag, nothing else,” said Hailu Mekonnen, Secretary-General of the EHRC.

The five-page document said police opened fire indiscriminately on the protestors - all from the Sidama ethnic group - who had been trying to end their demonstration in the town square of
Awasa. It also claimed that security forces opened fire for ten minutes from a machine gun mounted on an armed vehicle.

Awasa is currently the capital of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People's Regional State, one of the country’s nine federal regions, and administered by the Sidama ethnic group. The demonstration, in which up to 3,000 people took part, was held to protest against changing its status to that of a special zone. The change effectively takes Awasa out of the state and means the Sidama would lose administrative control.

Some farmers fear they could lose the right of ownership to some parts of the farmland – which is located in the fertile basin of the Rift Valley. Religious leaders and elders in the town have been meeting to try and restore calm, but the area is still reported to be very tense.

The federal authorities claim the demonstrators opened fire first, saying many of the them were armed and had been drafted in from nearby towns. They argue that the change in status will benefit Awasa.

“However, attempts by anarchists and criminal elements disguised as promoters of the democratic rights of nations and nationalities are sometimes encountered," a statement from the information ministry said.

“The government seriously warns that all unlawful and anarchic activities against the democratic principles and provisions are strictly prohibited.”