Wüstenschiff

Two rallies to counter the ongoing Muslim protests in Ethiopia are being organized this weekend in Addis Ababa. The public gatherings — one sponsored by the government and the other by the opposition Semayawi (Blue) party — are scheduled to take place at the same time at Meskel Square on Sunday, albeit with differing views on the controversial matter. The government is urging Addis Ababa residents to show up in big numbers on Sunday to denounce what it calls the “growing Muslim extremism” in the country, while Semayawi party leaders say they want to use the occasion to bring up the related subjects of “jailed religious and political leaders” as well as an end to “government interference” in mosque and church affairs.

An opposition leader in Ethiopia says police have prevented his group from staging a rally to demand the release of jailed activists. Yilkal Getnet, who heads the opposition Blue party, said Sunday that police raided their headquarters in the capital, Addis Ababa, on Saturday night and beat up some party members. He said police also seized banners and equipment that would have been used during a street protest on Sunday.

Some 100 members of Ethiopia's opposition Semayawi (Blue) party were arrested and some badly beaten over the weekend, the party says. Party chairman Yilekal Getachew said equipment such as sound systems were confiscated ahead of a rally on Sunday which was banned. Communication Minister Shimeles Kemal denied there had been a crackdown. The government said the venue had already been booked by a pro-government group condemning religious extremism. The governing EPRDF maintains strict control over public life in Ethiopia. The public protest Semayawi organised in June was the first major demonstration on the streets of Addis Ababa since 2005 when hundreds of protesters were killed in violence.

In der äthiopischen Hauptstadt Addis Abbeba hat es am Sonntag (1. September) eine Demonstration gegen religiösen Extremismus gegeben. Wie Radio France International berichtet, beteiligten sich bis zu 80.000 Menschen aller Konfessionen. Grund für die Demonstration sei eine ansteigende Zahl muslimisch- militanter Gruppierungen. Ende August soll es beispielsweise in Oromia, im Süden des Landes, zu Auseinandersetzungen mit der Polizei gekommen sein, bei der fünf Menschen starben.

Ethiopia’s federal police on Saturday dismissed opposition allegations that police have arrested opposition protesters on mass following anti-government demonstrations last week. Thousands of opposition protesters took to the streets of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, last weekend in protest to the country’s 2009 anti-terrorism law. Demonstrators criticised the broadly defined anti-terrorism law saying it is being used by government as a tool to arbitrary detain critical journalists, human rights activists and dissidents ...

At least nine students have died during days of protests in Ethiopia's Oromia state, the government has said. However, a witness told the BBC that 47 were killed by the security forces. She said the protests in Ambo, 125km (80 miles) west of Addis Ababa began last Friday over plans to expand the capital into Oromia state. The government did not say how most of the deaths had been caused but the Ambo resident said she had seen the army firing live ammunition.

Mindestens 80 Studenten und Schüler sind nach GfbV-Informationen seit Anfang April bei Protesten in neun äthiopischen Universitätsstädten von Sicherheitskräften erschossen worden. Allein in der vergangenen Woche gab es mehr als 50 Tote, rund 300 Personen wurden verletzt und mehr als 2.000 junge Menschen willkürlich verhaftet. Die Protestbewegung wendet sich gegen die Ausweitung der Stadtgrenzen der Hauptstadt Addis Abeba zu Ungunsten des von Oromo-Bauern bewohnten Umlands im Bundesstaat Oromia.

Activists claim security forces have killed at least seven students in more than two weeks across Ethiopia’s Oromia state, where students have been protesting a government plan to expand the area of the capital, Addis Ababa, into Oromia. Oromia police have confirmed three fatalities in what it termed provocations by “anti-peace elements.” Images of severely injured students have been posted on social media, and hundreds of other protesters have reportedly been rounded up in a crackdown on those demonstrating against several state-led development projects. Oromo students, the opposition and diaspora activists liken the proposed Addis Ababa and the Surrounding Oromia Special Zone Integrated Development Plan, or the Master Plan, to a land grab. They fear that it will displace Oromo farmers and undermine Oromia’s interests by expanding Addis Ababa’s boundaries. Addis Ababa is in the state of Oromia and serves as the regional and federal capital. In theory, the Ethiopian constitution protects Oromia’s “special interest” in Addis Ababa in the provision of social services and use of natural resources and on joint administrative matters.

It’s not the first time the security forces have reacted violently to protests in support of the group. At least nine students were killed in May 2014 while defending the rights of famers in the region when the “master plan” was first announced [...] The Ethiopian media has paid little attention to the protests. Demonstrators have been taking to Facebook and Twitter to report the clashes, with additional coverage coming from diaspora media.

An unidentified attacker has reportedly thrown a hand grenade into the largest mosque in Ethiopia's capital, injuring at least 16 people, officials said. Information Minister Getachew Reda told Al Jazeera that no one died in the attack, which occurred at the Anwar Mosque in Addis Ababa after Friday prayers. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Police and security officials quickly descended to the scene and prevented an Al Jazeera camera crew from filming at the mosque. Al Jazeera's Charles Stratford, reporting from Addis Ababa, said tensions were high in the city on Friday night. "It's important to recognise that Muslim-Christian relations in this country have been largely pretty good over recent years. There hasn't been anything like this," our correspondent said. Reda told Al Jazeera that the attack may have been aimed at causing confusion and panic, following violent protests against the government in Oromia state in recent days.

Die Beschwerden der Oromo gegen die gefühlte Unterdrückung durch die äthiopische Zentralregierung sind so vielfältig wie die Stimmen, die im Namen eines "Oromo-Nationalismus" (vermeintlich) für die Anliegen von Äthiopiens größter Volksgruppe kämpfen. Politisch repräsentiert sind die Oromo formell durch die Partei OPDO, die Teil der autoritär regierenden Parteienkoalition ist. Aus Sicht der meisten Oromo vertritt diese aber nicht die Interessen des Oromo-Volkes, sondern dient sich der Machtclique in der Hauptstadt an.

The violence-torn Horn of Africa is seeing a fresh wave of repression as Ethiopian authorities crack down on protests by the country’s largest ethnic minority. Human rights groups say an attempted land grab by the federal government has seen violence flare in the Oromia region, with up to 50 protesters killed by security forces so far this month. Campaigners from the Oromo ethnic group say they have been labelled “terrorists” by Ethiopian authorities as they fight the government’s plan to integrate parts of Oromia into the capital Addis Ababa.

The Ethiopian government is now faced with unprecedented rebellion from the Oromo ethnic group, consisting 35% of the Ethiopia's population, which it disingenuously claims is inspired by terrorism. The immediate pretext is the Addis Ababa Master Plan encroaching and displacing Oromo farmers, but this masks a deeper grievance which has been brewing for at least two decades under this regime, and for over a century under successive highland Ethiopian rulers. In the following, I will try to provide some context and offer some analysis of the danger Ethiopia and the region are facing ...

Security forces have killed at least 140 people during a crackdown on anti-government demonstrations in Ethiopia in recent weeks, activists and rights groups say. The protests - by members of the country's largest ethnic group, Oromo - have been prompted by fears that farmers will be displaced by government development plans. The government has admitted to killing dozens of protesters, and has promised to launch an investigation [...] The protests have largely calmed down, but security forces remain in affected areas.

Ethiopia's government is set to abandon plans to expand the boundaries of the capital, Addis Ababa, which have caused months of deadly protests. [...] The ruling party in the Oromia region said it was dropping the plan following discussions with local people. The Oromo People's Democratic Organisation (OPDO) made the decision after three days of talks, the state broadcaster EBC reports. The OPDO, along with the Addis Ababa city authority, would have been responsible for implementing the "master plan".

FEAR is so pervasive in Ethiopia’s largest region Oromia, where the government is accused of killing scores in a crackdown, that people don’t even like to give their names. Oromia, which surrounds the capital Addis Ababa, is dotted with machine-gun mounted vehicles and Ethiopian soldiers who locals say have disrupted daily life with incessant checks, harassment and intimidation. “If you go out in the evening, the police will arrest you, check your papers and your phones. If you have music or photos linked to the protests, you’re in serious trouble,” a young man in his twenties said in Ginchi, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Addis Ababa.

Dozens of university students protested in Ethiopia's capital on Tuesday, demanding an end to police crackdowns that followed months of demonstrations over plans to requisition farmland in the country's Oromiya region late last year. The government wanted to develop farmland around the capital, Addis Ababa, and its plan triggered some of the worst civil unrest for a decade, with rights groups and U.S.-based dissidents saying as many as 200 people may have been killed. Officials suggest the figure is far lower but have not given a specific number.