By Engidu Woldie
ESAT News (August 19, 2016)
The Ethiopian regime on Friday rejected a call by the UN Human Rights Commission that called for the regime to allow international observers to investigate the killing of hundreds of protesters in the ongoing uprising against the government.
The permanent representative of the regime in Geneva submitted a written reply to the Commission rejecting any independent investigation into the extrajudicial killings during the protests. The regime says in its response that it would carry out any investigation by itself if there were any violations of human rights.
The United Nations Human Rights Commission said last week that the regime in Ethiopia should allow international observers to probe into the killings of hundreds of peaceful protesters in the Amhara and Oromo regions.
“Allegations of excessive use of force across the Oromiya and Amhara regions must be investigated and that his office was in discussions with Ethiopian authorities,” Reuters quoted Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights as saying.
“The use of live ammunition against protesters in Oromiya and Amhara, the towns there of course would be a very serious concern for us,” Zeid told Reuters in an interview in Geneva.
At least 200 people were shot and killed two weeks ago as regime security forces rained bullets on peaceful protesters in the Amhara and Oromo regions who called for regime change. Hundreds of people were also detained.
An estimated 700 people were killed in the Oromo region in the last 9 months of protest and tens of thousands have been detained.