Ethiopia’s Abiy says protests’ death toll rises to 86

After spate of violence, prime minister calls on Ethiopians to resist ‘forces’ threatening to impede progress.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said the death toll from protests last month stood at 86, calling on citizens to resist “forces” threatening to impede progress in the country

Rallies against Abiy, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, erupted in the capital, Addis Ababa, and other parts of the Oromia region on October 23 after a high-profile activist and media mogul accused security forces of trying to orchestrate an attack against him – a claim police denied.

The threat of intra-ethnic strife in Ethiopia PM Abiy Ahmed warns Ethiopia ethnic violence could worsen Ethiopia: Youth gather at Jawar Mohammed’s house to show support “We have to stop those forces who are trying pull us two steps back while we are going one step forward,” Abiy told a news conference with local news organisations broadcast by state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting on Sunday.

The latest death toll, which the government late last week had put at 78, included 82 men and four women, Abiy said. Of those, 76 were killed in “communal clashes” while 10 were killed in “confrontations with security forces,” Abiy said.

The dead included 50 members of the Oromo ethnic group, the country’s largest, while 20 were from the Amhara ethnic group, the second-largest.

Abiy also provided a religious breakdown of the victims – 40 were Christians, 34 were Muslims and the rest belonged to other religions.

ALJ

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