Ethiopian security forces arrest 50 suspects for plotting armed violence
Thursday March 21 2024
A general view shows motorists and a biker near the Tigray Martyrs monument in Mekele, Tigray Region, Ethiopia on June 22, 2023. PHOTO | REUTERS
Ethiopian security forces have announced the arrest of 50 suspects for plotting armed violence and terrorist activities in the country's capital, Addis Ababa, and its surroundings.
The Ethiopian Joint Security and Intelligence Task Force said in a late Tuesday statement that the apprehended suspects are members of a covert armed group.
According to the task force, the group had been "conspiring to perpetuate armed terror activities in Addis Ababa and its surroundings after their mission to create chaos and violence in the country's Amhara region was foiled by the coordinated efforts of regional and federal security forces."
Read: Renewed conflict hits Ethiopia's Amhara region
The task force said that the covert group has been recruiting members and organising logistics in various parts of Addis Ababa. The suspects were apprehended after a secretive operation conducted by the National Intelligence and Security Service over the past five months.
They were seized in possession of various weapons, bombs and explosives, incendiary materials, resources used for the group's sustenance, currency notes from different countries, as well as various documents.
The task force further disclosed that the main coordinators of the covert group are individuals based in different foreign countries. Over the past months, the group has been working to create its own political, military, information, finance, media, and propaganda wings.
In August 2023, the Ethiopian parliament ratified a six-month state of emergency rule in the Amhara region amid prolonged conflict between the military and local militiamen. The state of emergency rule followed several days of fighting in towns across Amhara, the country's second most populous region, between federal forces and local militia known as Fano.
In February this year, the Ethiopian parliament further extended the initial six-month state of emergency for an additional four-month period with a view "to further solidify the existing peace in the region with a level that could never be reversed."