Ethiopia parliament lifts state of emergency: state media
Tuesday June 05 2018
Abiy Ahmed, newly elected Prime Minister of Ethiopia, addresses the house of Parliament in Addis Ababa, after the swearing in ceremony on April 2, 2018. The country's parliament has lifted state of emergency citing relative calm. AFP PHOTO | ZACHARIAS ABUBEKER
Ethiopia's parliament on Tuesday voted to lift a nationwide state of emergency imposed after the former prime minister's surprise resignation in February, state media said.
Parliament put an early end to the planned six months of emergency rule imposed after Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn stepped down, state-run Ethiopian News Agency reported, citing the country's "relative stability and calm."
Hailemariam resigned after nearly two years of anti-government protests led by the country's largest ethnic groups, the Oromo and the Amhara.
That unrest left hundreds dead and resulted in tens of thousands of arrests and the imposition of an earlier 10-month state of emergency in October 2016.
Abiy Ahmed, an Oromo, was appointed prime minister in April by the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which controls all seats in parliament together with its allies.