Chelenko killing is”unacceptable”, says Lemma Megersa. Vows to go after perpetrators

Chelenko not acceptable, says Oromo regional state president

Ethiopian News
borkena
December 13,2017

In a press statement held with Oromia Broadcasting Network,regional sate media, Lemma Megersa who is the president of Oromo regional state of Ethiopia condemned the killings of civilians by security forces in Chelenko town, in Hararge – south eastern Ethiopia.

Lemma called the action “unacceptable”

He added that Oromia regional state is saddened by the incident.

Insinuating that the killing was illegal, he stated that a government body that is supposed to have commitment for rule of law should not have committed such an atrocity.

From what he said, the regional state does not seem to have knowledge that the security forces who perpetrated the attack, which led to the death of 15 civilians as confirmed by government media, were deployed in the region. Fifteen others were wounded in the incident.

He vowed that his regional government will investigate as to who ordered the deployment of the forces and gave the order to kill civilians and bring then before the law.

In what opposition politicians and activists called unofficial deceleration of another state of emergency, government announced last month the formation of Ethiopian National Security Council “to stabilize the security of the country.”

With Siraj Fergessa, Defence Minister, as its secretariat, the council is given power to function like “Command Post”, a body that was created during the official state of emergency in 2016. It is authorized to take “appropriate action”

The US embassy in Addis Ababa issued a statement today regarding Chelenko massacre and called on government to “hold accountable those responsible for violence”

The civilians killed in Chelenko were killed when protesting the killing of a youngman by Somali special police. Recently, more than 50 Oromo language speaking Ethiopians were killed by Somali special forces and more than half a million Oromo were displaced from the Somali-Ethiopia region following large scale ethnic conflict.
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