Key U.S. Africa Ally Faces More Unrest After Scores Killed
- Ethiopian government seen unlikely to make concessions
- Demonstrations involved country’s two largest ethnic groups
Ethiopia, a key U.S. ally in the fight against Islamist militants in East Africa, faces the prospect of further unrest after a crackdown on anti-government demonstrations held by its two largest communities over the weekend that Amnesty International said left 97 people dead.
Security forces opened fire on protesters in the country’s Amhara region, with the worst bloodshed in the northern city of Bahir Dar where at least 30 people were killed in a day, the London-based rights group said Monday. Deaths were reported in at least nine towns in the Oromia region, where demonstrations by Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group began in November, according to Amnesty. Communications Minister Getachew Reda acknowledged there’d been fatalities, without being specific, and said the protests were illegal.