ESAT News (January 25, 2016)
Federal and regional forces are conducting mass arrests in Konso, southern Ethiopia following demand by the people of Konso to have their own zonal administration. Federal government and regional security forces were reportedly trying to force a large number of detainees to sign a piece of paper that says the demand for a self-administered zone was raised by “opposition political forces namely Patriotic Ginbot 7, but not the people of Konso.”
Konso is now under the control of federal forces; and businesses and schools have been closed for three weeks now, a source told ESAT on the phone.
The source said that regional special forces have gone to door to door in the middle of the night in Fasha, Duria and Kolme Kebeles to force people to sign the papers, but were to no avail as people refused to do so.
The federal government has reportedly sacked officials of the Woreda administration, including speaker of the council, for supporting the demand by the people of Konso.