afrol News, 6 September - At least 107 people suspected of being connected with a separatist group [Oromo Liberation Front] in the southern Ethiopia have been rounded up and detained for two months. Ironically, the whereabouts of the suspects could not be established.

An opposition lawmaker of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), Bulcha Demeska, who disclosed the news, said the number was corroborated by complaints from families of the detained suspects who have not been charged since their arrest in July this year.

The continuous detention without charge contravened the Ethiopian law that suspects must be charged within 48 hours after arrest.

Demeska said the missing people included many elders and three activists of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council in Nekemte, 220 km west of the capital. The activists, who were accused of disseminating papers to incite violence [although their group denied the accusations], were arrested on 23 August, but have neither been charged, nor paraded in court.

The OFDM legislator said his formal request asking the government about the whereabouts of the arrested persons fell on deaf ears, as he had not received any response.

The Oromo separatist group has been fighting for greater autonomy in southern Ethiopia.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories