Political parties denounce killing of Oromo, Somali in Eastern Ethiopia

ESAT News (September 22, 2017)

Opposition political parties denounced the loss of lives in Eastern Ethiopia in recent clashes which they say was the work of the TPLF regime. They say in a statement issued today that the solution to Ethiopia’s crises is to remove the brutal regime once and for all.

The Ethiopian National Movement said in a statement that the current conflict is “orchestrated by the TPLF armed forces, which recruited, trained, armed and commands the Liyu Police Force, a genocidal force.”

“The responsibility for the consequences lies squarely with the regime,” the Movement said.

“Ethiopia’s TPLF-led EPRDF regime thrives by a deliberate policy of divide and rule. Over the past 26 years, it has fanned old conflicts and engineered new ones among various communities to facilitate its repressive rule and the unbridled looting of public and state resources,” said the Ethiopian National Movement.

The statement further said that “ during the past three years, the regime faced massive and sustained popular resistance from the Ethiopian peoples, who are tired of its illegitimate and brutal dictatorship,’” and added that the regime “has been emboldened not only by the silence of the international community to the atrocities committed against the people over the past three years, but also continuing political and material support, including lethal weapons.”

The Movement called on the U.S., European Union and China which it said were viewed as accomplices of the regime, to “exert pressure on the regime in Addis to desist from the war it has declared on the Oromo and other peoples of Ethiopia and restore peace.”

Similarly, the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Forum (Medrek) in a statement condemned the killing of civilians in Eastern Ethiopia and held the regime accountable for the crises.

Medrek said the growing ethnic tensions in various parts of Ethiopia was deeply troubling and called on the people to stay vigilant and reject the vicious policies of the regime.