Half a hundred detainees after the murder of a leader of the Ethiopian government party in Amhara

1 May. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The Ethiopian authorities have announced the arrest of 47 people suspected of participating in the assassination of the leader of the government Prosperity Party in the Ethiopian region of Amhara (north), amid tensions over the government’s decision to dissolve the regional special forces. for the peace process with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF).

The Security Forces have indicated that terrorism suspects are being investigated, while indicating that they were targeting senior leaders in the Amhara region and “were coordinated locally and abroad to overthrow the federal government by violently attacking the constitutional system and controlling the governmental structure of the region”, says Fana BC.

Thus, Addis Ababa has assured that the attackers were “extremist forces” that have received logistical and financial support from various countries with the aim of carrying out “missions to carry out terror” at the regional and federal level with weapons, communication devices satellite and laptops with “various information”.

They have also accused “extremist forces” of creating false rumors and spreading propaganda, “dividing the people along ethnic and religious lines, and forcing the country away from the path of change and development it started into chaos and disorder.” .

The leader of the party in Amhara, Girma Yeshitila, has been one of the central figures in the controversial decision to dissolve the special forces of the Ethiopian regions to integrate them into the Armed Forces. Amhara’s special forces are especially powerful and sided with the Army in the war against the TPLF.

At the bottom of this issue lies the fear that these regional forces will become a threat to the Army since they are configured “around ethnic identities” which, in the worst case, could end up degenerating these troops into opposing militias. to the federal government.

Following Girma’s death, the Ethiopian Joint Security and Intelligence Intervention Force announced the start of “decisive action” against the extremist forces it blames for the killing.