Government criticised over Awasa shootings

Opposition parties in Ethiopia have condemned the government for the shootings in the southern town of Awasa, claiming that 38 people were killed and not 15 as reported by the federal authorities.

One opposition leader, Beyene Petros, told a press conference in the capital, Addis Ababa, on Thursday that "brutal force" was being used against people demanding basic rights, after fighting broke out on 24 May.

"This must stop immediately," said Beyene, who heads the Council of Alternative Forces For Peace and Democracy in Ethiopia and the Southern Ethiopia People’s Democratic Coalition.

Skirmishes flared up as around 3,000 demonstrators started protesting about plans to change the status of Awasa, which is the capital of the Southern Nations and Nationalities State, currently administered by the local Sidama ethnic group, which believes it will lose out under the new proposal.

Also present at the press conference were Hailu Shawel, president of the All Amhara People’s Organisation, and Prof Merara Gudina, chairman of the Oromo National Congress.

This was a tragic massacre against the Sidama people, who are attempting to peacefully demonstrate against the government's decision to relocate the central Sidama Zone from Awasa to another location," said Beyene. "This has resulted in the deaths of 38 innocent Sidamas. I am quoting this figure on the basis of dead bodies. This is a confirmed figure."

He added that there were an undetermined number of wounded in the areas around Awasa – which is 150 miles south of Addis Ababa.

Beyene said the government figures had come from health centres and hospitals, but had not taken into account other bodies that had not been taken to hospitals.

Awasa has now been ruled out of bounds to United Nations staff, and the area is said to be very tense. Security sources in the town told IRIN that a curfew was still in place – a week after the shootings.

The state minister for information, Netsannet Asfaw, insisted that the security forces had not used excessive force. She said the demonstrators had opened fire on the security forces first, resulting in the deaths of two policemen.

She said the government now had information that two more people had died, bringing the total number of deaths confirmed by the federal authorities to 17.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Council is investigating the shootings and is expected to publish a report shortly.