Killing of Ethiopia Residents by Ethiopia troops no accident

Vastavam web: Residents of a town in Ethiopia’s restive Oromia region on Monday disputed the government’s characterisation of a deadly shooting that left nine civilians dead as an accident.Ethiopian state media said Sunday that soldiers shot nine civilians near the town of Moyale on the Kenyan border after mistaking them for members of the banned Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) who were trying to sneak into the country.”The government is just disseminating misinformation,” said one resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

A second resident — who also did not want to be named said the bloodshed began on Saturday after a crowd formed to separate two motorcyclists who had collided and began arguing.”It was then a military vehicle came along. The military jumped out of the car and started shooting aimlessly, killing indiscriminately,” said the resident, who fled across the border to Kenya along with many others.Ethiopia declared a state of emergency last month after the surprise resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who will stay in office until a successor is chosen.

Oromia was the epicentre of a protest movement against Ethiopia’s one-party rule that started in late 2015 and spread to the neighbouring Amhara region, leaving hundreds dead and resulting in tens of thousands of arrests.A 10-month state of emergency imposed in October 2016 quelled much of that violence, but the government remains unpopular among the Oromo, Ethiopia’s largest ethnicity who inhabit Oromia.Both residents said the Shawa Barri area where the shooting happened was home to young men who were active against the government and spread word of the recent strike.