Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said his government would take a measured approach to deal with those suspected to be behind the recent spate of inter-ethnic violence without causing more deaths and compromising the unity of his country.
Briefing journalists on Sunday about the recent ethnic and religious based killings, Prime Minister Abiy disclosed that a total of 86 people have died during the recent unrest in different parts of Oromia State.
Abiy said 76 of the victims were killed amid inter-ethnic clashes or religious-motivated attacks while ten of them were shot dead by security forces.
“The dead comprise 82 male and 4 female” the Ethiopian premier added.
Talking about the ethnicities of the dead, the premier said 50 of them were ethnic Oromo, 20 Amhara, 8 Gamo, 2 Siltie,1 Guragie, 2 Hadiya and 1 Argoba.
The ethnic background of one of the victims is not yet known.
The victims also include 40 Orthodox Christians, 34 Muslims while 12 others were followers of other religions.
“We would work to rectify previous mistakes as we take legal and proportionate measure against perpetrators and they will be accountable for all the crime committed,” he said.
According to the premier, the tragedy demonstrated the value of the Ethiopian people to live in harmony and tolerance has been eroded through time.
Abiy said those forces who consider government’s patience as apprehensive were wrong but admitted that the reluctance created favorable conditions for the perpetrators to launch their attacks and claim innocent lives.
He said the government would be working to widen the political space in parallel with enforcing the supremacy of law in line with the country’s constitution.
MG/as/APA