July 01, 2020 (GSN) - At least 10 people died and more than 80 were wounded when the killing of a popular singer triggered blasts and protests in Ethiopia’s capital and the surrounding Oromiya region, police and a doctor said.
The unrest spotlights growing divisions in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Oromo powerbase as powerful ethnic activists that were formerly allies increasingly challenge his government.
Abiy called the killing of musician Haacaaluu Hundeessaa “an evil act” in a televised address.
“This is an act committed and inspired by domestic and foreign enemies in order to destabilize our peace and to stop us from achieving things that we started,” he said.
Haacaaluu was shot dead at around 9:30 p.m. on Monday, police said. Some suspects had been detained, Addis Ababa city police commissioner Getu Argawhe told state media, giving no further details. The killing appeared well planned, police said.
The capital Addis Ababa erupted the next morning. There were three explosions in the city, federal police commissioner Endeshaw Tasew said.
“Some of those who planted the bomb were killed as well as innocent civilians,” he said in a televised address, giving no further details.
A police officer was also killed during a stand-off with the bodyguards of media magnate Jawar Mohammed, he said. Scores died when Jawar’s supporters clashed with police last October.
The prime minister, Jawar, and the slain singer are all Oromo, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, which long complained of being pushed to the margins of power until Abiy’s 2018 appointment.
Jawar, a once-staunch supporter of Abiy turned vocal critic, was arrested along with Bekele Gerba, a leader of an opposition Oromo political party, and 33 other people, said Endeshaw. Police seized weapons and radios from Jawar’s guards, he said.
Jawar’s TV station was forced to broadcast by satellite from the U.S. state of Minnesota after police raided its headquarters and detained its staff, it said.
Jawar had posted about the killing on Facebook early, using an alternative spelling of the singer’s name.
“They did not just kill Hachalu. They shot at the heart of the Oromo Nation, once again !!... You can kill us, all of us, you can never ever stop us!! NEVER !!” he wrote.
Haacaaluu criticized Ethiopia’s leadership in an interview with Jawar’s media network last week.
PROTESTS SPREAD
The killing ignited protests in several Oromo cities.
In the town of Adama, the main hospital received around 80 wounded people, medical director Dr Mekonnen Feyissa told Reuters. Most had been shot but some had been beaten or stabbed. Eight people died en route to the hospital or in it, he said.
Footage on social media showed large crowds surrounding a car said to carry Haacaaluu’s body, slowly walking to his home town of Ambo, about 100 km west of Addis Ababa.
In the Oromo city of Harar, pictures appeared to show demonstrators pulling down and beheading a statue of former emperor Haile Selassie’s father. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the pictures or videos.
Telephone services worked intermittently and the internet was shut down, a step the authorities have previously taken during political unrest.
NetBlocks, an organization that tracks global internet shutdowns, said the shutdown began around 9:00 a.m. local time and that it was the most severe for the past year. (Reuters)
