Ethiopia’s police have arrested additional 1,217 people who were suspected of instigating and participating in ethnic clashes that rocked different parts of the nation over the past two years. an official has said.
“The government has identified about 2, 517 individuals who were involved in ethnic based conflicts over the past two years and about 1,300 of them have so far faced the full forces of law, said Nigusu Tilahun, Head of Press Secretary at the Prime Minister Office in a briefing on Friday.
“They are suspected of instigating, orchestrating, leading role and participating in the conflicts that are resulted in loss of lives, damages to property and displacements of people”, he told journalists.
Over 1.3 million have been displaced due to ethnic clashes since prime minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in April last year, mainly in Southern Ethiopia as well as Amhara and Benishangul Gumuz regional states.
About 875, 000 displaced community members have so far returned to their villages, Nigusu noted.
Ethiopia had seen the highest number of people forced to flee their homes within their country in the first half of 2018, according to the IDMC report on global displacement.
Conflict has uprooted some 1.4 million Ethiopians from their homes since the start of 2018, according to the report.
This has been largely due to new ethnic clashes in Gedeo and West Guji region in southern Ethiopia, and continued violence in the Oromia-Somali border region.
Around one million newly displaced people have been sheltered in Gedeo and West Guji zones in Southern Ethiopia with host communities where food provision, water and health services are stretched beyond capacity.
MG/as/APA