| Oromo youth chant slogans during a protest in-front of Jawar Mohammed’s house, an Oromo activist and leader of the Oromo protest in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, October 24, 2019. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri |
Prominent Ethiopian activist Jawar Mohammed called for calm on Thursday amid protests that have killed 16 people and are challenging Nobel Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in his political heartland.
Addressing hundreds of his supporters who have set up camp around his house in Addis Ababa, Jawar said: “Open the blocked roads, clean the towns of barricades, treat those who have been injured during the protests and reconcile with those you have quarrelled with.”
People have been killed in at least four cities since clashes broke out Wednesday, officials and a witness said, after police fired gunshots and teargas to break up demonstrations in support of Jawar.
A media entrepreneur and activist from the Oromo ethnic group, the country’s largest, Jawar organised protests that propelled Abiy to power last year.
Abiy oversaw rapid political reforms after decades of repressive rule, winning international praise that culminated in last week’s award of the Nobel Peace Prize for ending a decades-long conflict with neighbouring Eritrea.
But the greater freedoms have unleashed long-repressed tensions between Ethiopia’s many ethnic groups as local politicians claim more resources, power and land for their own regions. This week Abiy accused unnamed media figures of promoting ethnic interests over national unity.
Jawar, a one-time ally of the prime minister, has mobilised protesters from the Oromo ethnic group – the same group Abiy comes from. The showdown is a litmus test for Abiy: if he backs down, it could embolden Jawar and other regional powerbrokers. But widespread violence would tarnish his reformist credentials.
A spokeswoman for the prime minister did not respond to requests for comment.
Late on Tuesday night, police had surrounded Jawar’s house and told his bodyguard to leave, he told Reuters. Hundreds of people quickly gathered in support. Protests spread to other parts of the capital and other cities, where police fired teargas and bullets to disperse them.
On Thursday, Jawar supporters dug in, erecting tents outside his house and bringing mattresses. Some chanted: “We don’t want Abiy, we don’t want Abiy”.
Half a dozen policemen stood at a distance from the protesters.
“One week, one month, we don’t care,” said a young protester, who asked for anonymity for fear of repercussion from the security forces. “We will stay here until the government tells us why they did this to Jawar.”
PROTESTS AND POLITICS
Jawar, an Ethiopian-born U.S. citizen, mobilized many thousands of young men all over the Oromiya region to protest against the government from 2016 to 2018, finally forcing Abiy’s predecessor Hailemariam Desalegn to step down – the first time a prime minister had resigned since independence.
Jawar and Abiy were photographed together frequently last year but remarks by the prime minister in a speech to parliament on Tuesday suggested frustration.
Abiy said, without naming anyone, “Media owners who don’t have Ethiopian passports are playing both ways.”
“We tried to be patient. But if this is going to undermine the peace and existence of Ethiopia … we will take measures.”
Abiy must walk a delicate line between increasing political freedoms and reining in strongmen building ethnic powerbases.
Some Ethiopians have criticised Jawar for using ethnically-tinged language, but many young Oromo men consider him a hero.
Ethiopia is due to hold elections next year. The four main ethnically-based parties in the ruling coalition, which has held power since 1991, will compete with new, more strident parties in their home regions. Jawar could help mobilise support for the ruling coalition – or a rival.
“The rise in tension and violence that ensued yesterday is driving wedges into the ever-widening fissures among political parties in the country,” said Fisseha Tekle, Ethiopia researcher at Amnesty International.
DEATH TOLL CLIMBS
On Thursday morning, the army was deployed in Dodola, about 300 km (185 miles) south of the capital, after six people were killed, said an official at Dodola hospital. He said three had been shot and three beaten to death.
“The number will definitely escalate,” he added. “We are hearing gunshots and people shouting.”
A army spokesman said he had no information on the army being deployed anywhere.
In the town of Ambo, 100 km (60 miles) west of the capital, five protesters had died from wounds from gunshots and stones since Wednesday, Oromiya regional police commissioner Kefyalew Tefera told Reuters by phone on Thursday.
Security forces fired to disperse protesters setting tires alight, 30-year-old Solomon Kidanu told Reuters by phone as gunshots cracked in the background.
In Harar, 500 km (310 miles) east of the capital, police shot two people on Wednesday, an official said, and protesters killed a third because they suspected him of being an informant.
“Today the city is calm this morning but the road to Addis Ababa is closed by the young men,” he said.
A businessman in Addis Ababa told Reuters he saw two dead protesters brought to the city’s Alert Hospital on Wednesday. Several roads heading out of Addis Ababa remained closed.
Residents in several other towns and cities across Oromiya told Reuters that Jawar’s supporters had begun to block roads.
REUTERS