Photo credit: Al Jazeera
3. ‘Ethiopia Declares State of Emergency Following Violent Protests‘
In October, the government of Ethiopia was forced to issue a state of emergency, following weeks of deadly protests by the Oromo people who are demanding inclusion in the government.
Speaking on state-owned television, Ethiopia’s prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, insisted that the state of emergency was meant to protect life and property.
“The state of emergency will not breach basic human rights enshrined under the Ethiopian constitution and won’t also affect diplomatic rights listed under the Vienna Convention,” Desalegn said.
Since January, thousands of Oromo people, the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, have been staging massive protests on the streets of Addis Ababa and other parts of the country, calling for the amendment of the electoral laws to allow for the inclusion of the majority of the country’s population.
Human rights organizations claim that hundreds of civilians have been killed and thousands of others detained by Ethiopian security forces for participating in the protests.
