Over 242 Extremists Arrested in Addis Ababa, Says Police

Police claims that the extremists were deployed to carry out TPLF’s mission in the capital by creating instability 

Getu Aragaw, Addis Ababa Police Commissioner (photo : EBC)

Borkena

November 12, 2020

Addis Ababa Police Commission said on Thursday that it has arrested 242 individuals who were allegedly on a mission to create chaos in the city.

Getu Aragaw, commissioner, told local journalists that the individuals were deployed by Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).  What they were exactly doing and the circumstances under which they were arrested is unspecified.

He said that Addis Ababa police is “working with the federal police and community members to ensure security and peace in the capital.” He called on the public to continue to work with security forces.

Furthermore, police claimed that it seized firearms including hand grenades nd bombs. According to the commissioner, 18 hand grenades, 2 mines, 1 anti-tank mine, 97 radio communication devices, launcher pad, 4 combat binoculars and over 4500 ammunitions, among other things, were seized in the past five days, as reported by the state media.

In a similar development, 26 individuals in Jimma, South Ethiopia, and 25 individuals in Hawassa, also south Ethiopia, were arrested on Thursday while on an operation to carry out a mission they took from TPLF.

Jimma City Mayor, Tijani Nasser, told VOA Amharic service reporter that Ak 47 and handgun and over 700,000 Ethiopia birr worth of foreign currency was seized. He linked the operatives with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and National Movement of Amhara (NaMA). Yusuf Ibrahim, deputy chairperson of NaMA, said that his party does not have an office in the city and that his organization has not received information about it. NaMA is one of the youngest and influential political organizations in the country that is increasingly being seen as a threat among radical ethnic nationalists’ groups including OLF and TPLF.

Sidama region security office disclosed that 20 TPLF and 5 OLF members have been arrested as they were attempting to organize a youth movement, as reported by VOA Amharic. 

Security authorities tend to link the increase in illegal activities in different parts of the country with the operation in the northern part of Ethiopia, which the government calls “operation to enforce the rule of law,” against the TPLF leaders. 

However, the operation is exhibiting  hallmarks of a full fledged war. Among other things, heavy artillery are used on both sides (Federal government and TPLF forces). Federal government authorities have disclosed that a repeated air strike operation has been carried out in the past few days. Hundreds of soldiers are said to have been killed (from both sides) in addition to Ethiopian Defense Force members killed when TPLF launched a sudden attack in the evening of November 4. The BBC reported that thousands of people crossed the border to Sudan.