Ethiopia has announced the release of several prominent opposition leaders. International news agencies reported this on Friday on the basis of a government statement broadcast via Ethiopian state television. The regime also says it wants to enter into a dialogue with political opponents. The releases are the most important breakthrough in the war that started 14 months ago in the East African country, which left thousands dead and more than two million people forced to leave their homes.
Among the opposition leaders to receive amnesty are Eskinder Nega, Bekele Gerba and Jawar Mohammed; three prominent opposition figures who were detained in late 2020 on suspicion of terrorist activities. Their arrests were linked to large-scale protests surrounding the murder of popular singer Hachalu Hundessa.
Hundessa, Gerba and Mohamed are from Oromo, a region historically known for resistance to central government. The Amharic Nega is a critical journalist and blogger, and winner of the prestigious American press freedom award ‘Pen America’s Freedom to Write’. The question is how long the men will be free: Nega was also released with great fanfare in 2019, after he was sentenced to eighteen years in prison in 2012.
In addition, Ethiopia announced the release of several leaders from the northern state of Tigray. Until 2018, when current Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power, the five million Tigreans in Ethiopia were the most powerful ethnic group in the country. After that they lost influence and resistance arose. In November 2020, Ahmed invaded Tigray. Since then, Ethiopian government forces and Tigrese rebels have been fighting each other.
The release of the Tigrese leaders may lead to peace talks, but for now the war continues. Two unnamed aid workers told Reuters news agency that government forces carried out a heavy bombing raid on a refugee camp in Tigray on Saturday, killing 56 and injuring 30. Among them would also be children. There have been numerous bombings in the area in recent weeks, but this seems to have claimed an extraordinary number of casualties.
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