ETHIOPIA: Ex-regional president charged of instigating ethnic violence

Ethiopian prosecutors on Wednesday charged the former president of the Somali Region, Abdi Mohammed Omer and 46 others with instigating ethnic violence there last year. Omer, who spent more than a decade in charge of the vast gas-rich region, was arrested last August. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has promised to rein in the powerful security […]

Ethiopian prosecutors on Wednesday charged the former president of the Somali Region, Abdi Mohammed Omer and 46 others with instigating ethnic violence there last year.

Omer, who spent more than a decade in charge of the vast gas-rich region, was arrested last August.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has promised to rein in the powerful security services and made peace with separatist groups including ONLF rebels whom Abdi had spent years trying to crush.

Last year, 58 people died and more than 250 were injured when violence broke out in Jijiga, capital of Somali Region.

According to the five-month federal investigation that resulted in Abdi and 46 other officials being charged, organized mobs were ordered to “kill, loot and destroy” non-ethnic Somali residents and their properties.

Abdi and the other officials were charged with “direct or indirect involvement” in instigating ethnic Somalis to take up arms against non-Somalis.