Ethiopia Blames Egypt for Anti-Government Protests; Cairo Denies

For the first time in the current regime’s 25 years in power, Ethiopia has declared a nationwide state of emergency, following months of unrest and anti-government protests, CNN reported. Another measure the Ethiopian government has implemented to ‘restore order’ is shutting down mobile internet services and blocking social media in the Oromia region.

The country’s Oromos, which constitute one third of its population, were among the protestors. The ethnic group has been marginalised and persecuted based on their actual or suspected opposition to the government, especially since 2011, when the Ethiopian government declared the insurgent Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) a terrorist organisation. According to an Amnesty International report, members of the Oromo ethnic group have been unlawfully arrested, tortured and sometimes killed. 

“At the borders, innocent civilians are killed every month. Sometimes, they just break in through the window and shoot while people are sleeping,” said Abdelkadir Gumi, Secretary General of the Oromo Refugees Association (UORA) in an interview with CairoScene. 

Things reached boiling point between the ethnic group and the Ethiopian government after clashes with security forces left 52 people dead - due to a stampede, according to the official narrative - on October 2nd during the Oromo holy festival of Irreechaa – though Ethiopian activists claim over 500 people were killed by government forces.

The Ethiopian government has blamed Egypt for the unrest. Voice of America has quoted Ethiopian government spokesman Getachew Reda as saying: “We have ample evidence that trainings have happened, financing has happened in Egypt, the jury is still out whether the Egyptian government is going to claim responsibility for that.”

Reda reportedly also said, “We know for a fact that the terrorist group OLF [Oromo Liberation Front] is receiving all kinds of support from Egypt.”

Cairo has denied the accusations categorically on several occasions, saying it would never infringe upon another country’s sovereignty. This was also communicated during a meeting between Egypt’s Ambassador to Ethiopia Abou Bakr Hefny and Ethiopian foreign affairs minister.

Earlier this year, an Oromo refugee immolated himself in front of UNHCR's Cairo office in protest of the organisation's "lack of assistance." A woman also died trying to rescue him. Sources in Cairo's human rights community told CairoScene that the country's Oromo refugees will be demonstrating outside the organisation again tomorrow to protest the organisation's "massive'" rejection of refugee status applications.

(Main Image: Zacharias Abubeker/AFP/Getty Images)