Addis Ababa – The Ethiopian Government has warned the Armed Opposition Group, Oromo Liberation Front, that they must hand over their weapons after being welcomed back into the country in September.
Reformist Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, removed the group from a list of terrorist organizations earlier this year and hundreds of its fighters returned home from neighbouring Eritrea in September.
“The Oromo Liberation Front first came home after disarming some of its forces,’’ Kassahun Goffe, the deputy minister of information, said in a Wednesday statement.
“It should disarm the remaining forces or else the government will be forced to take measures to ensure the safety of our citizens and protect the constitutional order of the country’’.
The warning came after the group’s leader, Dawud Ibsa, said on local television that disarmament had never been part of negotiations before they returned from Eritrea.
Leaders of the Oromo Liberation Front were warmly welcomed by tens of thousands of Ethiopians in the capital Addis Ababa on Sept. 15, after some 1,500 fighters returned to Ethiopia from neighbouring Eritrea.
The return was also marred by violence that killed at least 23 people and saw hundreds arrested, with some victims blaming Oromo youths.
The Oromo Liberation Front was established in 1973 to spearhead the struggle of the Oromo people the biggest ethnic group in Ethiopia, but one that has long complained of marginalisation.
The new president is an Omoro, something that has been welcomed by many. (dpa/NAN)
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