Ethiopian regime rejects UN call for investigation into killings of protesters

Photo: Social media

ESAT News (August 12, 2016)

The Ethiopian regime on Thursday 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 over the weekend.

Getachew Reda, a government spokesman, told Al Jazeera on Thursday that the UN was entitled to its opinion but the government of Ethiopia was responsible for the safety of its own people.

The United Nations Human Rights Commission said on Wednesday 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.

Reda, however, told Al Jazeera that it was not necessary to send observers to specific parts of the country since the UN already had a massive presence in Ethiopia.

At least 200 people were shot and killed this weekend alone 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.