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Brigadier Common Tefera Mamo
BBC Information Africa/ @BBCAfrica
- Brigadier Common Tefera Mamo was due in court docket on Friday after being arrested this week, his spouse stated.
- Tefera final Sunday criticised Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s technique in opposition to the Tigray Folks’s Liberation Entrance (TPLF).
- His spouse, Menen Haile, informed Reuters a member of the family who noticed him in detention after he was picked up from a gathering in Ethiopia on Monday.
A distinguished Ethiopian normal who has been crucial of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s authorities was due in court docket on Friday after being arrested this week, his spouse stated.
Brigadier Common Tefera Mamo commanded the Amhara area’s army, which has backed Abiy’s federal troops in opposition to rebellious forces in northern Tigray, till February when he was eliminated for unexplained causes.
Final Sunday, he gave a TV interview the place he criticised Abiy’s technique in opposition to the Tigray Folks’s Liberation Entrance (TPLF) and likewise accused Amhara members of the prime minister’s ruling celebration of being motivated by cash.
On Monday, Tefera was picked up after assembly a pal in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa and flown by helicopter again to Bahir Dar, the capital of Amhara, his spouse Menen Haile informed Reuters, citing a member of the family who noticed him in detention.
The president and spokesperson of Amhara’s regional administration didn’t reply to requests for remark or affirmation of his arrest. Police didn’t reply both.
Critics say Abiy, who received a Nobel Peace Prize after taking energy as a reformist in 2018, is cracking down on dissent round Ethiopia. He says he’s guaranteeing stability and law-and-order within the multi-ethnic nation.
Clashes and arrests
Tefera’s case comes throughout stories of arrests and a conflict in a single city of Amhara, Ethiopia’s second most populous area, the place a 2019 rebellion led by a dissident normal killed the regional president and chief of military employees.
On Thursday, allied federal and regional troops clashed in Motta with members of a volunteer militia generally known as Fano, in accordance with Fano member Tafere Damete. He gave no extra particulars.
Fano had been serving to federal and Amhara troopers within the Tigray battle, and in his TV interview, Tefera had stated the motion shouldn’t be sidelined.
A scholar chief, Eshetu Getinet, informed Reuters that two Fano members had been detained in current days within the regional capital and operations have been underway to choose up extra.
One journalist from native media outlet Ashara, which has focussed current reporting on Fano, informed Reuters that 5 of its journalists have been additionally detained on Thursday.
Including that they shut down Ashara’s workplaces in Bahir Dar, he stated:
Those that took them have been carrying a uniform of Amhara particular forces, Amhara police and anti-riot forces. I used to be hiding in a bathroom once they took them.
Amhara officers, army and police had no remark.
Ethiopian military spokesperson Colonel Getnet Adane referred a Reuters request to the federal government spokesperson, who didn’t instantly reply.
Daniel Bekele, head of the Ethiopian Human Rights Fee, stated his group was monitoring Tefera’s detention intently. “We’re gravely involved concerning the wave of arrests which has additionally included journalists,” he informed Reuters.
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