Ethiopian security forces in bloody crackdown

Addis Ababa

Ethiopian security forces are carrying out a relentless and bloody crackdown on peaceful protests in the Oromia region, at a cost of scores of lives, Human Rights Watch reported on Monday.

"Almost daily accounts of killings and arbitrary arrests have been reported to Human Rights Watch since 2016 began," said the New York-based non-governmental organisation.

The demonstrations began in November due to a government plan to expand the boundaries of Addis Ababa into the Oromia region surrounding the capital, raising fears among Oromo people that their farms would be expropriated.

Authorities dropped the urban development plan on January 12 and announced the situation in Oromia was largely under control.

But the demonstrations continued, along with the brutal response. "Flooding Oromia with federal security forces shows the authorities' broad disregard for peaceful protest by students, farmers and other dissenters," said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

Protesters and witnesses told HRW that since mid-January, "security forces have shot randomly into crowds, summarily killed people during arrests, carried out mass round-ups, and tortured detainees," the report said.

The Oromos are the largest ethnic group in the east African country, estimated at 27 million people in a total population of some 99 million. Their land encircles Addis Ababa and they also live on large tracts of the west, centre, east and south of Ethiopia.

Their language, Oromo, is distinct from Amharic, spoken by the Ahmara people and used by the national administration.