"The government declared a state of emergency on Sunday after more than a year of unrest in Oromiya and Amhara regions
Ethiopia accused elements in Eritrea, Egypt
and other states on Monday of arming, training and funding groups that it
blames for a wave of protests and violence in regions around its
capital Addis Ababa.
The government declared a state of emergency on Sunday after more than a year of
unrest in Oromiya and Amhara regions, where protesters say the government has
trampled on their rights in pursuit of industrial development.
Rights groups say more than 500 people have died in clashes with
police and other confrontations. The violence has damaged around a dozen
factories and equipment mostly belonging to foreign firms, accused by
protesters of purchasing leases for seized land.
“There are countries which are directly involved in arming,
financing and training these elements,” government spokesman Getachew Reda told
a news conference.
He named Eritrea, which has a long-running border dispute with
Ethiopia, and Egypt, embroiled in a row with Addis Ababa over sharing Nile
waters, as sources of backing for “armed gangs”, although he said it might not
come from “state actors”.
“We have to be very careful not to necessarily blame one
government or another. There are all kinds of elements in the Egyptian
political establishment which may or may not necessarily be directly linked
with the Egyptian government,” Getachew said.
Egypt has dismissed previous accusations that it was meddling in
Ethiopian affairs. “Egypt firmly respects the principle of non-interference in
the internal affairs of other countries,” a Foreign Ministry statement said
last week.
Eritrea routinely dismisses charges that it wants to destabilise
its neighbour and instead accuses Addis Ababa of stoking unrest on its own
soil.
Source: Mail & Guardian
Africa
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