Opposition party lambasts federal authorities and state media over civilian deaths and trivial broadcasts in the Oromia Region
By Staff Writer
(Nairobi, Kenya) — The Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice (EZEMA) has issued a sharp rebuke against federal and regional authorities, condemning ongoing civilian massacres across the Arsi Zone and lambasting public media institutions for prioritizing propaganda and trivial current affairs over the loss of innocent lives.
In a statement released following recent ethnically and religiously targeted violence in the Oromia Region, EZEMA asserted that the party has issued more statements on state failure to protect citizen security over the past seven years than on any other issue. The opposition party criticized government officials for attempting to evade accountability by dismissing recurrent massacres as temporary security anomalies, pointing out that the Oromia Region Communication Service’s official response to the Arsi atrocities failed to address systemic governance failures.
EZEMA directed harsh criticism at state-funded media outlets—specifically citing the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC)—for choosing silence regarding the mass killings in Arsi while broadcasting sports updates, such as the Arsi Negelle football match, during the week of the tragedy. The party accused public broadcasters of displaying moral decadence and contempt for Ethiopian lives by tracking disasters abroad while ignoring domestic atrocities, reducing state media to political propaganda tools.
To stem the recurring cycle of violence, EZEMA outlined four key demands: urging officials to abandon excuses and provide a transparent accounting of security failures; calling for pre-emptive security measures and community defense logistics in vulnerable border areas; demanding administrative and legal accountability for negligent officials rather than superficial personnel transfers; and challenging human rights bodies and public media to uphold professional integrity by independently verifying abuses and holding the government strictly accountable.
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