Thursday, October 31, 2019

Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde Says “Red Line Crossed”
Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde says a red line is crossed in a reference to the massacre that has happened last week. when that happens, ” Let us say a red line should not be crossed ,” she said.

Borkena
October 30, 2019

Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde is speaking out for the first time after the latest massacre that claimed the lives of 70-80 Ethiopians, according to the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission figure, in Oromo region of the country.

The feeling of sadness, is beyond words when seeing when our innocent citizens are killed brutally and shockingly, when they are displaced and hassled because ethnicity and religion are employed for a political purpose.

It was in a twitter message on Wednesday that the president expressed her anger and frustration in the Ethiopian official language, Amharic.

One of her tweeds could be translates to  “A ‘red line’ that we have to draw and respect for the sake of our country and people has been crossed; we all have a role to play to rescue our country from the danger that it is facing. All concerned bodies have to do their part. Let us say a red line should not be crossed.”

She is the first top government official to condemn the massacre unequivocally.  At this writing, no other government official has openly expressed anger about the massacre in the Oromo region of Ethiopia which has shocked the entire country.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has not said anything yet on his personal or official social media account. In his personal, account the last thing he tweeted about is his congratulatory message to Canadian Prime Minister whom he described as “my friend” on October 23, the day the massacre started. He tweeted “Congratulations to my friend @JustinTrudeau for your reelection victory. Wishing you all the best ahead.”

On October 26, the official Twitter account of the office of the prime minister shared an image of the statement which many Ethiopians described as “too little, too late.” In the letter, he said that all those involved in what he described as “conflict” will be held responsible and that his government will “decisively” work on that.

But what he did since a day after the “official statement” is appeasing, many Ethiopians on social media say, the very ideology that has become an inspiration for radical ethnic Oromo nationalists to unleash brutal killings of innocent civilians in the region.

On Wednesday, government media outlets reported that the office of the prime minister has organized a press conference. Who will be giving a press conference is unclear, and has become a point of speculation.

Meanwhile, Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, which is reformed under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration, has issued a stern statement calling for the Ethiopian government to hold all those responsible for the brutal and shocking killings of innocent citizens. 

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