Huge protests and gun battles have engulfed parts of Ethiopia’s Amhara region, after a move by the Federal Government to centralise the regional security forces of the country’s 11 states and dissolve a paramilitary force.
Demonstrators blocked roads with rocks and burning tyres to prevent the military from travelling around. Protesters fear that the government’s decision would leave them exposed to attacks by neighbouring regions.
Ethiopia’s regional states have their own special forces to protect their borders and fight rebels.
In the chaos, two aid workers with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) have been killed in the Amhara region, the charity said, amid civil unrest triggered by a federal government.
Chuol Tongyik, a security manager, and Amare Kindeya, a driver, were “shot and killed” while returning to the capital Addis Ababa from Amhara on Sunday, CRS said in a statement on Monday.
“The depth of our shock and sorrow is difficult to measure and we are angered over this senseless violence,” said Zemede Zewdie, CRS country representative in Ethiopia. “CRS is a humanitarian agency dedicated to serving the most vulnerable people in Ethiopia.”
Amhara’s regional government said on Monday that it had banned protests in Gondar, which has seen some of the largest demonstrations, imposed restrictions on the circulation of three-wheeled vehicles there and ordered bars to close by 9 pm.
The Ethiopian federal government announced the policy last Thursday, in a bid to build “a strong centralised army.”
People from several towns in Amhara responded with protests, while some units of the region’s security forces refused to disarm and clashed with the federal military.
The prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has vowed to push on with dismantling these regional security forces, calling them a threat to Ethiopia’s integrity.
“This decision will be implemented for the sake of the multinational unity of Ethiopia and the peace of its people, paying a price if need be,” Abiy said.
